[What'saCobra?]

Great reading!

Meanwhile, this is not the first time SAAC and Shel' have not seen eye to eye on various issues. Mostly, SAAC has bent to his will or at least subsumed their angst and wall-papered over the bumps until he cooled off.

Given his newly financed entities and market authority, including the Jimmy Price corral, this may not be a temporary issue subject to a change of heart.

Dear Amy can take care of herself. This will be good on her resume either way and no one ever fired by Shel' (of whom i know) has ever suffered too much from it. She has turned things around and everyone knows it. And they know of his legendary temperment & lack of "manners".

SAAC is a business and has been a handsome one at that. They have rendered a service to Shel' worth millions and millions and we all know it. The founder/owners have done rather nicely for their efforts, i think, and they earned what they gained from their investments of time, energy, cash and knowledge (which was slow in coming at first). The individuals involved are not all the same persons and several have worked very hard for Shel's interests and not always just for their own.

Several SAAC "leaders" have been gracious to both members and non-members many times and deserve more than just faint praise.

Errors have been made, admittedly.

But, history has moved on, perhaps. Shel's new operations are more mature and more aggressively protective. This is not the first time Shel' has ranted and raved about "others" stealing "his stuff". And, it won't be the last.

Remember, first and foremost, that Shel' is a Championship race driver, fully embodying all the pluses and minuses that those words describe in professional racing. All of his behavioral variations flow from that mind-set.

When i have been confounded when trying to comprehend his activities and public statements, i have found that explanation the best way to settle things in my own mind.

Professional champions rarely display a charitable concern for other people's feelings during their active driving careers. Intimidation and fear are valuable tools to the professional driver. "Flying off the handle" can become a useful posture to control judges, owners and competitors alike. A skilled marksman rarely retires all his weapons. And, once ingrained, the behavior morphs from skilled posturing to an uncontrolled habit for the emotionally unsecure...

Nor has Shel' mellowed all that much with age (which makes me suspect it is an act), but it is physically harder for him to muster the bluster. Emotionally though, i suspect it is easier with age and edge-softened memory. He likely carries few real regrets... but, i bet he would protest that with the same old same old bluster.

FORD has saved his bacon, again. And, once again, at his very advanced years, he is handing his old financiers a competitive edge in the marketplace. We should all be so useful.

Not every Champion has been as genuinely likeable as Dan Gurney, nor as composed. The knowledge of that kind of simple fact really P's Shel' off sometimes and occasionally explains Shel's red mist. A driver's blood occasionally still runs hot in that old sucker.

If you said i dislike the man, you would be quite wrong. If i said i like him, i would be lying.

i respect and admire his many accomplishments. That's enough. Everything else is either relish or smoke & mirrors.