One more Air Show...

The 2007 version of the CAF Air Show is a done deal. I'm always excited when Air Show weekend arrives and equally glad when it's over. I had some great friends, new and old, help me out with my responsibilities all went well and we all had a great time. I got some great photographs from the ground and in the air....

The Big Gold Dog...

This week marks one year since the passing of Tres, The Big Gold Dog. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about that sweet big dog and all he meant to me. When he slept at night in the hallway, sometimes his paws would be touching the wall and when he was dreaming his feet would make a running sound as they brushed the walls. Sometimes I think I can still hear that sound as I go to bed at night. It is sad, but most of all he makes me remember what true loyalty, love and friendship is all about.

Destroy it and they will come...!

It's very interesting to me that some people, and frankly some that I know quite well, seem to think that tearing down buildings in downtown Midland is the solution to redevelopment of the area. Especially when the replacement is a parking lot.

Having been in the office building business in a prior life I know from an economic standpoint it is hard to redevelop some of these older buildings; still with some vision it has been done in other cities and quite successfully.

But perhaps my friends have a vision too. Midland as the parking capital of Texas. I suppose they see people from Dallas, Houston and Austin coming to Midland to park. Locals too. "Say Honey what do you want to do tonight"? "Well Bobby Sue let's go to downtown Midland and park, I hear there are some real parking bargains down there".

Off and running....!

Some projects that you undertake reach a point at which you know, "this is the break through". Today was that day in our efforts to restore the Chaparral Racing test track back to it's important place in auto racing history. Today we got owner and racing legend Jim Hall's enthusiastic approval to begin.

Our first goal will be to host a regional competition of the Society of Automotive Engineers Formula SAE competitions. Several years ago I had met Midland native Dr. Ron Matthews, the Formua SAE's founder and director of the University of Texas' General Motors combustion engineering research center. Formula SAE has grown to be the largest student engineering competition in the world with over 300 universities around the globe participating. In a strange twist, Jim Hall was one of the first judges of the competition in 1983. Today Dr. Matthews flew out to visit with Jim , the first time they'd seen each other since the original event and the reconnection was immediate.

Hosting this event next summer will require the track to be resurfaced and draw national attention to the Chaparral facility, a good start to further plans.

Life....!

If you don't already, I hope that you have the opportunity to live in the same city as your aging parents. You'll enjoy the experience.

This afternoon at 2:58 my cell phone rang, showing my mother as the caller. You'll learn that when aging parents call your cell phone in the middle of the day, nothing good can come of it. In that microsecond when you see their name in the caller ID you pray that nothing serious is happening then wonder what the hell is wrong now.

Today it was a flat tire. "Hell-o, I must have run over something, I'm in a parking lot and my tire is flat. I wonder what I should do"? You think......"gee Ma I wonder too" knowing full well that I'm on my way to change a tire. So after I changed clothes there I was. Luckily she was on a good flat surface and not in the middle of the street. So after reading the manual on jack placement etc. for that car I got started. Lug nuts loosened, small doughnut spare tire out of the back, car jacked up. So I go to put the spare on and its as flat as the doughnut that it is named after.

My Dad came to the rescue once again. He had had a micro air compressor in his car which I, luckily, took for my own when we sold his car. It actually worked very well. As I was changing the tire I noticed that there were some severe scruff marks around the edge of the original tire, then I spied the valve stem.....completely chewed up with the end broken off.

I asked Ma if she had hit a curb anytime recently. "Well", she says, "I did just now as I was pulling into the cleaners. I like to get real close to the drive in window." And indeed she did! "I did hear a hissing sound but I thought it was the steam cleaners inside the laundry".

But all is well now, I got the tire changed and followed her over to the Exxon station that still has full service, and in a twinkling of the eye they had the valve stem changed, the tire was OK and off to home we went to await the next "event". And I have no doubt that this is God's plan, payback for all those telephone calls from me when I was a kid, when they undoubtedly thought in that microsecond...."What's wrong now?"

Attention racing fans....!

I've been away, been busy and had out of town company. Not a whole lot of interesting news there.......but. One of the things that I've been interested in for the last several years is revitalizing the old Chaparral Racing test circuit, Rattlesnake Raceway south of Midland. This Friday I hope the dream will start to come true.

Late last year I was invited to be on the advisory board of the Chaparral Racing Museum at the Petroleum Museum, thus allowing me to "officially" start talking to people I had met who were interested in preserving this piece of racing history. Friday some of these interested parties are coming to Midland to discuss details and talk about development plans with owner Jim Hall. Should be fun, but more importantly productive in once again having world class racing machines, including the Chaparrals, back on the track.

Happy Labor Day..!

Hope you and yours have a happy Labor Day. I'm taking my Mom out to dinner and then we thought we'd visit the local Teamsters Union.