Well, we're finishing up with spring training. I have to say, we put in a lot of long hours, but I really had a lot of fun. It's always good to get off the road and get back into the training center. I made some new friends this time around. Hope to see them out there on the road. I put in my recommendation that Eric and Gerald should be invited back again. It's true that no one listens to my recommendations, but that doesn't stop me from making them. My teacher from Schneider school, Jerry tried to get me to join the TE class. Fortunately I will be on vacation during the next class. It's not that I don't feel honored by the nomination, but I really like just being a mentor as opposed to a formal instructor. I like having no paperwork to do, and since my student and I are dispatched as a team, I get really good miles. Maybe next year I'll give the TE thing a shot. You do have to be a TE to come in-house as a full time instructor, but I'm not sure that that is where I want my career to go right now. I've been giving a lot of thought into getting my own truck. I'll probably be writing more about that decision making process later. It won't be long now before my brother Andrew and I leave to go up to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. I leave for Lynchburg on June 4. We will make a stop in Cincinnatus to visit my Grandmother, then we get on with the racing. One week in Montreal, and then a race weekend in Indy for the USGP. I can't wait to get up there and hear the racing again. That's what I really miss about live racing, the sounds. I don't know what it is, but that to me is racing. Piercing engine noises, the whining of the carbon brakes, the cheering fans, air wrenches, and air horns. Being in your living room watching TV doesn't compare. Plus, on TV, the colors are all washed out. I remember going to my first race (USGP 2000). It shocked me how much brighter all the teams and cars were in real life. I guess they know that the colors are going to be washed out on TV, so they paint everything in a slightly higher wavelength. What you see as red on TV is orange in real life. Grey is closer to white. Reality is much more vibrant.
Anyway, I hope to be able to update this thing while I'm up there. I seem to remember there being an internet cafe near the hotel. I'll try to get some good pictures too.
In solidarity and defiance,
Justin VanAtta
Chairman and Fancy Man
