Rough Roads

Last night we drove up to Duluth, MN. Taking advantage of one of the many out of season deals that the hotels in town give out in the winter months. Twenty percent off rooms and a $20 gas card seemed a too good a deal to pass up. Especially as our little Scion goes to Duluth and back on less than $20 of petrol!
The route to Duluth takes us up I-35. Ah the American interstate system, the counterpart of the UK's motorway system or the German Autobahn. Named for one of the countries great presidents - The Dwight Eisenhower interstate system. With America being a country that worships the automobile you'd expect the roads to be immaculate, a shining example of road construction.
You'd be wrong. I-35 up to Duluth is wretched. Utter rubbish. There are stages of the R.A.C. Rally in the Welsh forests where the surface is smoother. Rutted with cracks and pot-holes the road noise is ridiculous. Ker-thunk, ker-thunk, ker-thunk for mile after mile. In our litte Scion the noise was dreadful, not to mention the shaking. I am actually quite nervous about driving FG up to Duluth on these roads. The only positive is the fact at several points there were signs up telling us of road repairs starting in April.
I can't wait

NASCAn't

Well, another year has passed and I've tried and failed.

I tried to sit thought the Daytona 500 in an attempt to get into NASCAR and failed quite miserably.

How miserably did I fail? I walked out of the room with 8 laps to go when my wife called me for some advice on the taxes and I didn't give the TV a second glance. Mind you, having said that, when I returned some 15 minutes later, as is the case with most any American sport on TV, the race was still going...

I find NASCAR boring. Phenomenally boring. It's more exciting watching the countdown to a closing auction on ebay (an auction I lost by the way).

Here are my observations on NASCAR racing ...

The cars race around in circles for a while.

Cars crash (sometimes lots of cars) and everyone comes in to refuel and take new tyres.

The cars race around in circles again until one crashes, when they come in for tyres and fuel again (repeat this cycle ad nauseum).

The cars are nothing more than mobile advertising hoardings, where every square inch of car surface that can be seen by the TV cameras carries a sponsors name. Parading around displaying these names and messages for the assembled masses to see. Then when they take a commercial break the same drivers appear in the ads shilling their sponsors products.

Lets just say the "acting" in these spots leaves something to be desired, even when the driver keeps his mouth shut.

Then it's back to the "racing". Crank it up, Digger cam, "Boogitty boogitty boogitty" are just a few of the annoying items in the broadcast. Trying to build some excitement into an event that doesn't have any.

Some of you will now say that being a Brit I like that "Formula 1 Grand Prix racing". Not necessarily true. Though I will admit that having the cars make something other than a left hand turn whilst racing is an improvement. I'd rather watch Le Mans or Saloon car racing like the German Touring cars, British touring cars or the Aussies V8 supercars.

So perhaps you think I'm dead set against oval racing.

You'd be wrong.

Here in town we have a 1/4 mile dirt track oval. "Fastest in the Midwest" they used to say. I love to go there on a Friday night and watch them.

Guys that race for the love of the sport. Not big fat sponsorship deals or TV coverage. They do it because they love it.

I once spoke with a racer who ran a Wissota Super stock. That was when he could afford to. He could only race when he had the money to run the car. Think on that Dale Jnr. and Jimmy Johnson. Have you had those days lately? Did you ever have those days? Of course, this years winner Trevor Bayne drove for a team so short of money they were almost part timers thus showing that racers still have money problems even at the highest level. Though I'll wager that after this victory Wood Brothers Racing won't have any problems the rest of the year.

When it comes down to it, for me 500 miles is just too long to watch cars go around and around in circles.

Now if Nascar were to put a race on the calendar just like Friday night racing at my local oval. Ten lap heats followed by C,B and A finals then I might just watch that...

Social Circle

One thing I'm looking forward to with regards to the ownership of the MG is meeting up with like minded souls who own classic cars.

I've already joined up with the Minnesota MG Owners group who have a whole string of events running from March until October and I hope to be able to attend some of them. Their flagship event would be Britfest being held in Hudson, Wisconsin on August 13th. This used to be held in Rogers, MN. A new location so new excitement for everyone. I've seen pictures of the previous gatherings in Rogers and there is quite the impressive line up of MG's, Triumphs, Jags, Mini's, Sprites and who knows what else. Classic British sports cars at their best.

The Intermarque group also have a series of events running through the summer including a monthly picnic at Cherokee Park in Saint Paul (I have seen that gathering several times in previous years though not as a participant) as well the Kick off picnic in Como Park in Saint Paul in May. This sounds to be quite the event. I'll be looking forward to that one.

Plenty to look forward to then especially on a cold blustery February Sunday afternoon with snow falling.

Things are heating up

With a weekend just past that had temperatures into the 50's and a week of temperatures that have sat comfortably in the upper 30's and 40's the snow is melting. The roads are too slushy to think about getting FG out yet. But it's just a reminder that spring (and MG motoring) is on the way!