Having said that, am I crazy or did cheater drive all the way to Chicago from his secret naphtha-soaked bunker to spend a weekend reporting the action but not racing himself 
??? Knowing how much he likes to race, I can only surmise he was either too drunk or too dedicated to his journalistic craft to put down the pen and paper long enough to race one stinkin' lousy little race..
I was thinking the same thing?!... wazzup, Cheater? Did they at least let ya make a lap?
Guys, thanks for all the kind words. They mean more than you could know.
I really was planning to race at least once or twice. Hworth08 mailed me 3-1/2 cars (one was an almost-finished chassis) from the 1,000 or so in his trackside credenza, and I modified two of them (with Don's permission) to suit my weird preferences (for things like 3/32" axles). And Jay painted me a few bodies.
But I knew when Mike PM'd to ask me to do the coverage that there was a distinct possibility I wouldn't have time to race and that proved to be the case. Even said as much to Jay before we left town. Like Tony P says, someone's always got to eat it, and at Da Sano, it was me and a fine meal it was. Bothers me not at all and it gives me a warm and fuzzy to be able in my own way to include all of those who couldn't come to the Sano.
Having done OWH's "Almost Live" coverage from the USRA Scale Nats at Electric City Raceway back in 2003 (IIRC), I knew that doing the reporting would impact my racing. What I didn't count on was Mike Swiss's talents in pushing the program along. I literally ran between the tracks and Mike's PC trying to keep up with the flow of data. It seemed like the "two minutes off" applied to 'between races' as well as 'between heats'!
(And that's no complaint, as I've started way too many races in the wee hours of the morning at other events.) I realized early on that for me, racing the Sano was going to be out of the question. Which really had a silver lining: if I didn't race, I could avoid looking to be as bad a racer as Pappy did!
I'll be hooking the digicam up in a few minutes to add the couple of hundred photos I couldn't add to this reporting before we left. I may not get it all done tonight, for reasons you will learn if you keep reading this overly-long post.
Jay and I had a 7:15 am flight from Midway Monday morning, which meant we had to get everything packed Sunday evening and to set the alarm for 4:30 am in order to drop the rental in time. When we got to the airport at about 5:15 or so, the lines at the TSA inspection were over 100 yards long! A lady ahead of us indicated she flew out of Midway at the same time every Monday and that she'd never seen lines that long. And as we waited in line, the handle broke on the slot box that was my carry-on, so I had to cradle the darn thing in my arms for the rest of the trip. After the obligatory hand inspection, Jay had to toss his Go-Jo hand cleaner, our only loss on the trip due to the TSA.
Unfortunately, our flight from Chicago to Birmingham was not direct; we had to change planes in Nashville. Arrived in BHM right on time at 9:45 am Central, and then Jay realized he'd packed his keys, so we sweated a little waiting for his bag. If it had gotten lost, we we're going to be in a serious pickle, as Mrs. Jay was in Orlando! But Southwest (a TERRIFIC airline in every regard on this trip) popped the bags up within minutes of our appearance in baggage claim and Jay was kind enough to let me wait at the curb rather than have to carry a slot box under one arm while pulling a big wheeled bag to our parking spot.
Then we had to drive from Birmingham to Anniston, which takes a bit over an hour, unpack our suitcases to separate out the slot stuff (I had brought some tools and my things had gotten combined with his). Then I had to drive back to Norcross, about 100 miles, which was a rough trip because of traffic problems and because I was so sleepy I had to stop and nap for a few minutes a couple of times. I hit the bed for a few hours sleep the very instant I got home.
Here's the fun part: my company has agreed to be the backdrop for a series of live promotional TV feeds tomorrow, featuring the Discovery Channels' Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs" as the on-air talent. They have to get an early start and so I have to open the building at... 3 am Eastern!
So if I don't get the Sano report completely done and polished tonight, I hope you guys will cut me a little slack. I know Pappy won't, but that's okay; I know how he is...
Some folks are just too particular on how things should be.
