Jalopies, Jets and Jugs

So, on Thursday, while surfing around looking for employment opportunities, I get a call from a 239 area code and I did not recognize the number. It turns out it was from my buddy, Jason, who was heading back to the Naples area after spending a month or so up the Washington, D.C. area.

Now Jason is the brother of Justin and the son of thekenman and Jamie referred to here. Jason is one smart 31 year old dude. He earned himself a scholarship to Princeton prep school and, then, to Harvard. He knows all of this cool stuff about how the economy works and intimate details about some things called derivatives. He is a smart dude with knowledge this old man will never acquire, not that I really need to. Anyway, he got a job working with Warren Buffet in Bermuda, then London and now is living in Naples working on his next adventure in life.

Anyway, I was flattered he called and wanted to stop by and treat me to dinner. It has been a few years since I had seen him and was excited to see him again.

So anyway, he got in at the Taj Mahal just as thejeepjunkie was leaving to pick up the Kid. We sat around getting caught up and the Kid and thejeepjunkie showed back up so we all shot the bull for a while longer. Those boys took off and Jason treated me to a rare, wonderful, dinner at Bonefish Grill.

During dinner, I mentioned I have a blow up mattress he could use on my living room floor and he said thanks and just chuckled. He later negotiated a great rate at the local beachfront Comfort Inn.

While the Kid and thejeepjunkie and Jason and I were sitting around the Taj Mahal, I mentioned I was going to part with $15 and head out to the Daytona International Speedway to catch the practice session of the Historic Racing Series.

The reason for the practice session and not the races on Saturday and Sunday? Well the practice session is not all that crowded and you get unrestricted access to the garages and pit road, you get to roam all around the track and sit pretty much wherever you want, the same racecars drive with almost the same intensity and it is only $15 vs. $20 for Saturday or Sunday. Yep, these days always looking to save a buck or two.

So Jason mentioned during dinner he would like to hang around another day and go to the track with me. Hot Damn. It is always more fun to do things with another car junkie than by myself so I was thrilled.

We hooked up around mid day on Friday and headed, in my new oleragtop, over to the track to see everything there is to see.

We started out on pit road and saw some cool cars on the track and a few down on pit road.

I have always liked this BMW 3.0, similar to the one campaigned by David Hobbs, now a race commentator on SpeedTV

Jason loved this old E-Type Jaguar, heavily modified.

A cool Porsche 914 race car.

Then we headed over to the garage area and saw another cool old Porsche. This is the Rothman sponsored Porsche 962.



The rest of the car was outside and some wrench was drying some fiberglass repair with a blow dryer. Ironically enough, a 962 won the 89 24 Hours of Daytona under Miller High Life sponsorship and I have a poster of that car on one of the walls at the Taj Majal.

We moved on down the garages and I caught a shot of Jason behind this lime green Porsche 911.

Then on down to this Brumos Porsche that, later on Friday, won the Porsche Club Challenge over about 18-20 other club members. It was an exciting race and Jason and I both enjoyed it.

The car, shown partially below, is an Audi R8 which has enjoyed tremendous success in the ALMS series, winning the title this year in a diesel powered racecar.

The Porsche 911 shown below is the only non coupe model of this automobile I have ever seen. I will say that, unfortunately, it was drug back to the garage on a hook after failing trackside during its practice session.

This is a sweet ole Jaguar

and a Lola.

This is the interior of that Lola.



And the drivetrain of another hot racecar, wish I could remember what it is.

This old Jag was set up for the La Cerrara Panamericana and man did it look nice. Excellent stance, period correct wire wheels and fantastic decals.

Here are a few Mustang Shelbys that Jason thought were cool.

While we were walking through this area of the garages, Jason mentioned that it reminded him of growing up with thekenman. Seems thekenman drug Jason and Justin, along with Jamie, through 47 of our 50 states to the annual Shelby conventions.



I still don't know what this is. Noone was around in the garage when we saw it and it had no identifying badges.

Another cool old BMW 3.0.

Jason asked me what this one was and I correctly identified it as a TVR but just to confirm, I asked one of the garage dudes and he corrected me, TVR Griffith.

It seems, much the way the Mini Cooper, a modification by John Cooper to the original Mini, was named after him, the TVR Griffith is a TVR modified by Jack Griffith. And, as I noted to Jason after correctly identifying this racecar, just another bit of trivia which will not result in one red cent in my pocket, much like the Tatra referred to here.

I guess it is his time spent in London that Jason just loves these British classics.

Now this racecar has Nissan pasted on the front bumper but as it is of the 240 era, I thought these were still Datsuns. But I could be wrong and probably am.

Jason pointed out this decal on the side of this racecar and we thought it was pretty funny.

If you are not sure who the "Shelby" is referred to here, check this out.

Later we headed out to observe some practice sessions and got quite an eyeful.

While we were out there on these bleachers, Jason tried to email Justin just to rub in what we were up to, however, like these pipes, his email was experiencing some gremlins.

We also saw two military jets doing maneuvers over the track and at the Daytona International Airport next door to the track. We both commented about the expense we were incurring to have those kids practicing those maneuvers but agreed it was worth the show.

Not only that, but we saw a hot cougar showing a bunch of cleavage arrive to watch her husband, judging by the size of the rocks on her left ring finger, race during the Porsche club race.

and yes, that is my new oleragtop in the background of this image. And you also now know the background of the title of this post, recommended by Jason.

And, as a bonus, on the way home to the Comfort Inn and the Taj Mahal, we saw Kyle Busch's daily driver.


And that is What I Saw Today.