Another four day Zephyrhills racing event has just concluded and for me, after participating for 15 years, it was one of the best. When I pulled in on Wednesday, I was shocked and delighted to see about 20 midgets already there. It reminded me of past years when you had to arrive earlier and earlier on Wed. to get a spot under the shed. We ended up with between 24 and 26 midgets besides sprints, big cars, stocks, and 5 model A's. I can't wait to see what February brings.

When I started coming to Zhills I drove a Crosley powered TQ midget and watched the more powerful Offy, Alfa Romeo, Chevy 2, Volkswagen, and Sesco powered midgets scoot around the track and envied the power they had. I wondered what it must feel like to drive a midget with all that power available. I get a rush from operating things that could hurt me if I don't keep them under control, so when the time was right I bought myself a Chevy 2 powered midget. Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time and frustration (5 years) trying to get the engines (the first two went to heaven due to oil delivery problems) to put out reliable power and to get the car to handle without fighting my efforts to drive it. Last Feb. I found out the hard way what it was like to have lots of power and not keep control of it. It got away from me in turn one when I used the 1000 lb. car humming along at about 70 mph to experiment with whether or not the outside groove was ready to race on. It wasn't and I hurt my poor, scrawny little neck. Some good usually comes from most of life's mishaps and now I can turn my head farther left and right than I could before, but I don't recommend my unorthodox technique for it. Another good thing was it cost me a lot of money to fix the car, which I really hate. So, you're unlikely to see any more experiments from me in my car and we can all be thankful for that, and besides, I have no need to look any farther left or right.

Well, this past weekend all my hard work on the car to make it work good and look good paid off. I was finally able to run with the heavyweights. It felt great to zip around the track trading positions with the cars I had envied for so long. I also enjoyed the many compliments I got for how the car sounded, angry and hateful. On another note, we should all be grateful to Dale Miller for assuming the presidency of our club when it was in danger of dissolving. He is not retired and works a full time job and agreeing to be president was a huge undertaking, and don't forget his wife died during his tenure. Please take time to tell him thank you.His new partner, Cindy is a godsend. When she was needed Cindy stepped in to help a little bit and poor Cindy, who also works full time, got swamped with an unimaginable amount of work and it's a wonder she didn't crack under the strain.

Then there's Jimmy Jeep who does an amazing job with the web site and an incredible amount of networking for the club. Also, let's not forget the club officers. A lot of decisions need to be made on issues that spring out of nowhere and the answers are not always easy. Lastly, let's give thanks to the folks who volunteer to work in the trailer, sell T-shirts, flag, announce, and especially work alone in turn three. THANK YOU!

I hope you are as excited as I am to welcome our new club president, Bill Wendt. Bill is enthusiastic and dedicated and has what it takes to keep our club fun and vibrant, and he's very talented at finding solutions to those pesky problems that pop up that no one saw coming. Let's all do everything we can to help him. Our next event in Feb. should be fun and exciting. If you have an old car and haven't brought it in a while, we'd love to see you back again. If you're thinking about getting one, please do. We'd love for you to join us.