[RICK LAKE]

I would like to Thank Sharon H. for the hours and hour of work needed to make this event run for 4 days. The lack of sleep, the grumps that have problems that have to be dealt with. All the paper work on each car needed just to start. Her list is endless at times. She is a trooper. Since they took over in 2005 The event has been rained on, 40 degree days, 30 mile an hour winds, 90+ degree days. Humitity in the 90%. She Always smiles and is trying to help everyone. THANK YOU SO MUCH. There are others with Deans Wife also helping, Mat and others.
I am sorry and happy for Clois to stop and pass on this event into great hands. This year he only took out his car for a couple of laps in 4 days. IMO this is not exceptable and told him before knowing he was passing the event over to George he was going to get alot more track time next year. I have told some people that this was to be my last year. With loss of my mother, Deb has all the animals to take care of by herself plus working all day. She is alone at home. This is not one of the easy thing for her to do. Cell phone has helped but the 1,448 mile trip one way still causes issues. Solo driver.
I have been called already and committed to returning another year to help out. Not sure if car will be coming at this time. Was asked to help with teching cars again. I am very happy to see that everyone is working on improvement and there are less and less issues with teching cars. This will give me more time to prevent MY car from future smoking issues.
George put on a super event. When it rained we had class trips into town. Taking a trip around the track in the school bus in the evening is a must thing to do. This event is only going to get better. The track is big and alot of safety thought went into the building of it. Autocross was super on the back side of the track. Got to drive around the track backward for cooling down the motor. Barrel racing is fun and there are a couple of other ideas for the event for next year. I would like to hope that more people make it next year. You have the new dates and a whole 48 weeks to get the car and tow rig ready. There may be a couple of class change rules for next year. We are looking into going back with a novice class again to bring new people to the event and not put pressure on them to over drive themselfs and cars. This is still a fun event. Safety and people having fun are the most important things about this event. Some of the people I have meet over the years also keep me coming back. Having CRAZY Jay N. come each year with something new to drive is worth the price of coming alone. A twin motorcycle motor Can-am car was cool. We had a Lister that was bullet fast but had drivetrain failure on the first day. Looking forward to see if the track record falls next year.
I think next year is the 25th anniversary of R&G, I would like to hope that some of the people who couldn't make this year, WILL return for the 25th event. You guys know who I am talking too BILL P. Lew P. Stacy P. Dave S. John C. You all have 48 weeks to prep for this. You guys are also a big reason for the return trip to R&G. I know that money is tight and times are hard, but this is a great vacation to have. Hasting is a great town also. People are great, food was SUPER, they are still working on the Italian thing with taste. Hotel was great and there are plenty of places to eat. The hotel is 100 yards from Walmart and ACE hardware store that has any nut,bolt, spring, hardware part you can think of. Time to track is 5 minutes, cross highway on side street and you come to the track entrance that quick. I liked Gateway very much except for a couple of riot acts we got from dumb driving on the track. MPH is no different except for the one on one time out. It is nice to say that nobody got a time out or talking too. This is a first. The track crew was excellent and able to handle this large track. The run off areas are huge. George will give you a small bill for running over his grass.
If anyone has any other ideas for the event, PLEASE drop George a line. I REALLY hope for next year to be bigger. We are hoping for a 50-70 car event next year. The dinner and lunch in town where super. I know 1/4 mile is something you guys where looking for. The main problem is safety with this part of the event. Most cars don't have full roll cages and cars are running in the 10's. The insurance companies would have a field day with this. I guess there is a different between roadracing and 1/4 mile drag racing in there eyes.This track got some rain and is well engineering for run off of the water. The whole track was dryed after a heavy rain in 20 minute with only a small puddle in one spot that was not any where near the race line. Looking and hoping some of you guys we have not seen in a couple of years return. Just in case you want to use the old age thing, Pete Tork came back and was running better than ever with a blown SB motor, that's right BLOWN. Rick L.