The Lauderdale Dispatches
 

Friday, noon.

Racers are descending on Fort Lauderdale for the Offshore Grand Prix.


(Grand Prix, because it's $1000 to enter.)

The weather is beautiful. Seas are calm.

The parking lot of the Radisson has been turned into the dry pits.

This is one of the coziest dry pits racers have seen in a long time. They even brought in a bordello-on-wheels.

Racers will know each other very intimately when this is over.

Inspired by the togetherness, Kitten (center), Tami, and Liz are trying to make some money on the side.

Having paid their entry fees, the racers are out of cash. Kitten & the girls had no takers.

Lou-Ann gives first instructions to the boys.

Gino switched to a conveyance more appropriate to the size of the pits.

One guy even has a monkey on his shoulder.

Inhaling all that race fuel does that to you.

Ben Hedrick plays it very safe: Lid over his hyead, and a shiny new SRP helmet.

Kitten took possession of a spanking new cat of unknown origin. Must have been a shady deal.

Inspection time!

Drivers meeting: Course, start times, Manetees, who, when, where, why not.

When Chief Referee Mike Tomlinson hears that I'm racing with Randy, Mike says: "You must be nuts."

The Eagles.

Michelle Schmidt at the driver's party. It was pretty dark. And my hands trembled as I saw her.

There was an attempt to eliminate some competition in F1. The attempt was foiled.

More tomorrow.

Lets Go...wake up..We need updates!!!!!!

Saturday Morning, oh-dark-hundred:
A last hearty meal before the race. The super cat racers are first in everything, also at the breakfast table.

Physicals: Ryan's pulse was still there.

Even luminaries like Steve Miklos had to subject to rigorous examinations of their vital signs.

Watch Steve's left hand.

APBA has a zero tolerance for RWI (Racing While Inebriated.) Randy removed the battery before the test.

Checking out Purple Smurple. Missing mirror. Speedo inoperable. Good to go.

The windows needed a little cleaning.

The results of "Name The Purple Bat."

Vinyl cut & installed by Ryan Beckley.

Peconic rehearsing evasive maneuvers.

Good that I'm NAUI open water certified ....

"Hey! I can drive that thing with closed eyes!"

Thanks for all the pics and updates Peconic - keep them coming when you can, and good luck!

More, more, more..

What was the BS about a black flag?????

Now, Peconic, you need to tell us your side of the story about driving the boat alone.

The last time this happened was when Al Fiengold ran Apache Kid in the Worlds by himself after firing his entire crew. Same results, DQed.

Hope you kicked thier ass and had fun. Randy would have just been dead weight slowing you down.

Ron: Details in that separate post. Nah, with Randy throttling, we would have won fer sure.

No more pictures, the camera was on board (of course) and it objected to the stuffing.

Does anyone have any photos during race time yet?

Last minute updates:

Randy found his wallet (again.) Glenn & MD are on the flight home.

Julie & Matt: I have your GPS.

Thanks Peconic! It is always nice to know where your testing equiptment is!

Congrats on your finish at Ft. Lauderdale! It is one for the history books!

Very appropriate for the Historian...don't you think!

It was wonderful to see you again Peconic!

We look forward to seeing you in St. Petersburg, FL!

Julie

Thanks! I'll bring the gizmo to St. Pete if you don't need it earlier!

B.

Look Forward to it!

Julie

What about the late n hight potos? especially of Glenns performance.

Eddie: They were destroyed. Don't worry. You are safe.