PF2 Report NOT about prizes!

[Michael Fennell <mfennell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, we've gotten off track quite a bit.  The prizes saga has left
a bad taste in a few mouths and overshadowed what was a truly great
time.  So, here's one man's Pizzafest experience:

I expect Duane to write the definitive Pizzafest report, but here's my
two cents now that I'm back on top at work.

Summary: What a blast!  A complete I'm-having-so-much-fun-this-must-
be-illegal good time.  Rob Levinsion reported his face hurting from
smiling so much at PF1.  I noticed this phenomenon midway through Sunday.
About the time of the Nascar go-kart grudge match race.

Highlights:
Friday: Snuck out of work at 3 and headed down from the Jersey Shore,
accompanied by my friend Tom in his Eclipse Turbo.  Straight to 
Generous Georges for a 32oz beer, some damn fine company, and great
pizza.  Finally got a chance to meet Kathryn Lyle and Big Keith Battan
Crazy fool Brett Anderson rode his ZX9R from NY state.  A mere 7 hour 
ride!  Not that it compares to the Ream Trek across the country or Jim 
Hudson's ride from New Mexico.  OR Chris Sorenson coming down from 
Canada.  Knocked out of there around 10:30 or so.

Saturday: Great show at the Rosecroft Raceway.  Nice sized lot.  Great 
Rafael Garces course.  Drove as I normally do at autocrosses - poorly.
My FIRST run was best (61.89, I think fast M3 on streets was 61.1 or so).
The three remaining runs were mostly useful for grinding down the outside
edge of my left front tire.  Grrr...  Had super-fun runs in Duane's
car with Keith Battan and Dave Lasalle.  Yeee-ha.  The Geeze was hammering
around with 4 people in the car.  Bikesh takes the "school bus" award,
though.  Multiple runs with FIVE guys crammed into his E36.  Stereo
blaring, of course.  We even had some Hooters girls join us.  Selfless
Pat drove Jennifer around.  Crazy Curt Kiser (my Pizzafest roomate) let 
her drive his car.  Bikesh did, too, I think.

Bill Love of OG Racing showed up for the racing harness competition, won
by yours truly by 0.03 sec over Mike Donahue ("Fennell can't drive, but he
sure is dextrous").  The drill was to put on a helmet (Bill selected
a nice, old one with a frayed strap), neck collar, and gloves, then
run to the seat and strap in.  And none of those wus-assed cam-locks.

After an excellent dinner (don't choke on your food from laughing too
much!), I recklessly blew $2 on the horses.  Keith Battan told us one
of his nastier "Live in the ER" stories.  Something about Barbie doll
heads, digestion, and perversion.  You had to be there.  We got a big
group photo with one of the horses, harness, and jockey.  Gary Lin did
his best to get punted into the parking lot but was pulled out of danger.

Later, Tom and I tried to meet Jon Farber & Alex Holt in Georgetown, but 
never did.  We DID, however, randomly meet a good friend of mine from 
NEW JERSEY outside a bar!  Bizarre.

Sunday was go-kart day.  Yee-ha.  What a blast!  Special thanks to Bikesh
and Rolling Rock.  Tony Rausch, Rudy Pellogrini, Tom, and
myself spent a whole lot of time whacking into each other.  "Rubbin's
racin".  The "official" race featured Frank "Roadblock" Massaro holding up
the ENTIRE field of 12 or so cars for lap after lap.  He was thoughtful
enough to give a point by, but wouldn't LIFT!  

A bunch of us talked the woman running the 1/2 mile road course go-kart 
track into letting us run head-to-head.  We PROMISED no bumping.  Of 
course, I smashed into the rail hard enough to move it back 2ft all by 
myself.  Levinson had nothing to do with it. :-)

I skipped the Rally to get a little rest (hey!  I was out 'til 2!) and
met up with everyone at Hooters.  Unfortunately, the car wash was cancelled.
It wouldn't be Pizzafest without rain!  Jon Farber and Alex Holt won the
Woody Hair-designed rally.

After in(di)gesting too many wings (thanks Ben!), we headed to Dave & Buster's
Arcade/Bar/Restaurant, where we monopolized all the multi-player driving
games for a couple of hours.  Completely beat, I slunk back to the motel
while the more hardy souls investigated the quality of Sunday night at the
strip clubs.  The Verdict:  Don't Bother.

Monday: Up at 5am for the the trek to Summit Point.  Pretty unpleasant 
weather - cold and damp.  NOT a great time to be driving at Summit Point.
The day started out poorly with Kathryn Lyle experiencing a brake failure
in turn one which ended with her car in the trees out to the right of the
gravel in turn one.  Brett Anderson saved the day with an A-arm replacement
while at the track, heading off an EXPENSIVE tow home.

Ho hum...more of the same.  Talking trash, hanging out, and driving fast.
The weather wasn't too cooperative but it didn't rain.  We ran a little
short on instructors (who'd have thought we'd FILL the school on MONDAY?).

Joe Peng had a little incident in turn 10, backing into the tires on the
inside of the corner with (almost) no damage.  Sadly, Jim Hudson banged
up his track car pretty badly in turn three.  No injuries, thankfully.

The day ended for me around 6pm.  Lots of standing around, not wanting
the event to end.

Phew!  Them's the facts.  They don't begin to convey how much FUN was had.
Many thanks to all the VA guys for organizing.  Woody, Mike G, Rafael,
Frank Massaro (VA guy wannabe), and especially Duane.  I know I left
out some others...  It was the best.

Mike Fennell

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