Assisting with Army Deployment

Last night, I assisted an American Red Cross team in seeing off a group of 1st BCT, 3rd ID soldiers from Fort Stewart off on their deployment to Iraq. Guy McDonald, K4GTM picked me up around 8 PM and we went over to the Truscott terminal at Hunter AAF. The team served coffee, hot chocolate, and tea for the soldiers as they ate a meal, manifested, and prepared for departure. As they boarded the aircraft, the Red Cross team and the USO saw them off with good words of thanks. It was cold and windy last night, but it was a good way to spend an evening.

I brought along my my BC396 and an earphone; it was helpful to be able to listen to Hunter Tower and Base Ops, Hunter Trans Alert, and the DOL folks. Keeping an ear on their radio traffic helped us keep up with what was going on and when things would be happening. I think we were better prepared as a result.

Two things struck me last night. First I was struck by how young many of the these soldiers are. No doubt many of these were on their first deployment (assumed from the lack of unit patches on many left shoulders). I'm not exactly old, but many of these men and women seemed to be just kids. Second, I was struck by just how many female soldiers there were. One of the units on last night's flight was an MP unit and I'll bet the ratio of female to male soliders was close to 50/50. I would be really interested in seeing figures on how the Iraq and Afghanistan wars compare to previous wars and confilicts in the overall ratio of females to males serving.

Godspeed and Best Wishes to all of the Service People that are deployed or are deploying to our many committments overseas.

Mac McCormick III

GPS Navigation Device

I've enjoyed using the Google Map App for Blackberry so much that I finally decided to put a GPS Navigtation Device in the car. I stumbled across a Garmin Nuvi 255W on sale at Sam's Club last week and picked it up. I used it over the last few days, even using it to navigate from Brunswick to home here in Savannah.

I'm not very experienced with these units, but it seems to be a fairly simple and straightforward device. It is easy to program and simple to read. I also like that it disables most of the menus while you are driving, thus eliminating some distraction to driving. It has day and night display modes; the background goes dark at night to protect night vision. I noticed a few discrepancies, particularly in areas where there has been construction. One area that stands out is the Golden Isles Parkway/Cate Rd. area in Glynn County. I downloaded an updated map (free of charge when registering the unit online) today that seems to have fixed a lot, but until I get back out on the road it will be hard to tell.

Mac McCormick III

Speed Performance Awards Ballot

Here's my ballot for the SpeedTV Speed Performance Awards:

Oops: Oops indicates that a mistake or error has been made. Of the choices, only 3 of the 5 to me qualify as a mistake or error. Steven Wallace at Montreal wasn't a mistake, it was simply an example of a lack of experience racing in the rain. Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona wasn't a mistake or error either, Earnhardt Jr. spun Vickers on purpose. That leaves the McLaren fuel error, Briscoe at Motegi, and Latvala rolling down the mountain. While the fire and rolling down a mountain are certainly spectacular, I voted for Briscoe at Motegi because Briscoe's mistake there at a massive impact on his season; had he not crashed there, he would likely have been the IRL champion.

Biggest Hit: All six crashes in this category were spectacular and several of the cars where comprehensively destroyed. In the end, my vote goes to Scott Sharp in the Acura at Road Atlanta in honor of what his crew was able to do in a day: build a new car and get the team in the race that weekend!

Best Move: I'm not sure that it really qualifies as "Best Move" because there weren't very many good moves in the Indy 500 this year, but I'll vote for Castroneves at Indy. What he did at Indy after being out of the car for the first part of the season and having no off season testing/practice was truly impressive.

Best Finish: the two NASCAR finishes smack of blocking and I hate blocking so I can't vote for either of them. Ashley Force Hood's win was a milestone, but as a finish, was it really all that spectacular? That leaves Rossi/Lorenzo, Bergmeister/Magnussen, and Briscoe/Dixon. Out of those three it is really a tough choice because all three are thrillers. My vote goes to Briscoe/Dixon because they were wheel to wheel for the whole last lap, not just a turn or two (but all three are deserving of the win!).

Temper, Temper: Easy choice here: Scott Pruett. I've lost a lot of respect for Pruett over the last few seasons. Pruett blew his top over something that he would have done himself; I just love to watch the pot call the kettle black. In Pruett's world, if he lays the bumper to someone it is racing, if the bumper is laid to him it is unfair.

Biggest Upset: It was a tough choice between Justin Wilson and Coyne Racing at Watkins Glen and Jenson Button and Brawn winning the F1 World Championship. Given the fact that Button and Brawn won the F1 World Championship a season after the former Honda team were also-rans, I had to vote for them.

Best Rivalry: Peugeot flat outperformed Audi this year. Reed/Stewart and Hamlin/Keselowski were at times downright nasty. That left Dixon/Schumacher and Haga/Spies. In the end I went with Haga/Spies.

Biggest Comeback: I've got to go with Jorge Lorenzo at Laguna Seca. To get thrown off the bike like he did and be injured, then to race the next day - that guy deserves the ironman award!

Rookie of the Year: Franchitti and Stewart-Haas rookies? Really? Hardly. To boot, the choice they label as Franchitti is Brawn in F1! I still wouldn't consider Brawn as rookies because they have 2 veteran drivers and a veteran owner/team-boss. Kliegerman did a great job, but what Spies did in World Superbike was special.

Mac McCormick III

Mozilla Firefox

This isn't really radio related, so I didn't include it in my post about the National Weather Service Trip over on the "Monitoring Post." The computers at NWS Charleston weren't using Internet Explorer, they were using the Mozilla Firefox browser. The Firefox browser seemed to have some pretty good features; one of my favorites was to the ability to create panes within a browser window and have multiple sites up within one window or tab. Over the weekend I downloaded and installed Firefox on my home machine to try out. I found that it interfaces with the version of Norton I use just like IE does. I find that sites also load much quicker in Firefox than they do on IE.

In addition to downloading and installing Firefox on the home computer, I have also done the same on my netbook and set it as the default browser on both machines.

Mac McCormick III

Racing Ramblings

Miscellaneous stuff that has come to mind while reading recent racing headlines:

• Earnhardt Jr. Voted Most Popular Driver Again. It almost baffles my mind that a driver who has not accomplished much and finished 25th in points as his teammates finishd 1, 2, and 3 wins the popularity contest. I realize that popularity has nothing to do with results but I don't have to understand it.
• Jimmy Johnson to race in the 24 Hours of Daytona with Gainsco again. I'm happy to see this. I have to admit that Johnson is not one of my favorite drivers but you can't deny his skills in a racing car. I would love to see him in an ALMS GT or Prototype car to see what he could do some serious high tech equipment.
• British Touring Car Championship and the Australian V8 Supercars will be shown on Speed TV this winter! I love the touring cars and the V8 Supercars. Watch the V8 Supercars and learn where Marcos Ambrose came from; those guys make NASCAR look like a bunch of wimps when it comes to wheel to wheel racing; they make racing a Full Contact Sport.
• The DTM and Japanese Super GT series could race together in the future. Now this is interesting. Exciting racing in both series with some interesing machines; I'd love to see that if it could get on US TV.
• Andretti Autosport. Andretti Autosport has hired Tom Anderson as VP of Racing Operations. Anderson was running the Fernandez team in ALMS before they closed down and has a stellar history in American Open Wheel Racing. This could be the shot in the arm that Andretti's team needs. Also, Ryan Hunter Reay is in the running for a seat at Andretti Autosport. They need to hire him pronto; I think he would do a good job in proper equipment and he brings solid sponsorship from Izod. He's also one of the more high profile American open wheel racers.

Mac McCormick III

USF1 - To Be or Not To Be

I just read where the new Lotus F1 team is doing testing. USF1 apparently doesn't even have a new car assembled or anywhere near getting on the track yet. There isn't even much discussion of drivers for USF1.

At this point, as much as I want the USF1 team to succeed, I just don't see them on the grid in 2010. If they do make the grid, they won't be close to competitive. By now, they would have to be closer to having a car assembled and closer to testing. They have a lot of work to do before the start of the 2010 season, including testing a completely new car and they don't seem to be anywhere near ready.

Mac McCormick III

Danica Patrick's 2009 IndyCar Season

I was waiting for the IRL season to end before posting this in the interest of not placing a hex on the rest of her season.

The 2009 IRL season saw great improvement from Danica Patrick over her previous season. Granted, she did not win a race this season but her performance over the whole of the season was vastly improved over her past performances. She finished the season in fifth place in the championship behind only the two Ganassi and two Penske drivers, essentially putting her first in class. This was quite an accomplishment given that Andretti Green Racing (or whatever they are calling themselves now) had far from a stellar or even average season.

Danica Patrick was consistently the best performer on a subpar performing AGR and consistently the best performing non-Ganassi or Penske driver. It would have been expected that Tony Kanaan would have been that driver but instead it was Patrick. What led to her taking that position? In my opinion two things: an improved attitude and better teamwork.

1. In past seasons, Patrick's attitude and temper were stumbling blocks. She lost her temper quickly and it prevented her from performing at her best. She did not handle adversity well and it showed. This season, she seemed to be an almost different person. It would have been hard to blame her for losing her temper with her team's overall performance but she handled with grace in public (I have no idea what she said behind closed doors). She had several incidents in the pits and on the track that she handled more professionally and coolly than she did in previous seasons. I have no doubt that the way she handled the negatives this year led to her improved performance.
2. It was obvious this year that Patrick was better able to work with her team and engineer to keep the car's setup not only stable throughout the races but to improve it throughout the races. She started out races with good handling and was able to maintain and improve the handling throughout the course of the race. She kept her frustrations in check and took what the race offered rather than overdoing things and ruining the day's performance.

Personally, I would love to see what the improved Danica Patrick could do in a Ganassi or Penske car.

Anyway, congratulations to Danica Patrick on an improved season in 2009 and good luck towards continued improvement in 2010.

Mac McCormick III

Blackberry Problems

I am awaiting the arrival of a replacement Blackberry Tour in the next couple of days. The left-right action on my Tour's trackball has always been a bit problematic but over the weekend it practically quit working left-right at all. Monday morning I went to the Verizon store and before I could a sentence halfway out of my mouth, the Verizon rep knew what my problem was. Unfortunately they didn't have any replacements in stock, so they are FedEx-ing me a new one.

It seems that the problem is defective trackballs in the early examples of the Tour. RIM apparently is aware of the problem and it was fixed in later examples.

Mac McCormick III

NASCAR Hall of Fame

This evening, the first five inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be announced. Prior to the announcement, here are the five that I voted for in the open voting on the internet earlier this year:

1. Bill France Sr. Love him or hate him, there is no doubt that without Bill France Sr. that there would be no NASCAR as we know it. There are a lot of arguments that he cheated others out of their stake in NASCAR but he is the one who brought the founders together. It can also be argued that his style was dictatorial but NASCAR is the sanctioning body that has survived and prospered; you just cannot say that about other sanctioning bodies such as AAA, USAC, and CART.
2. Bill France Jr. Once again, there is no doubt that without Bill France Jr. there would be no NASCAR as we know it. Most of the same arguments from the father apply to the son. Bill France Jr. grew the sport from what he inherited from his father as a regional sport to gargantuan national sport that now garners international attention.
3. Raymond Parks The creator of the first superteam before NASCAR was even started, Raymond Parks planted the seed of what Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush operate today. Raymond Parks supported Bill France Sr. with loans before NASCAR was started and in NASCAR's early days. It would not be a stretch to say that there may have been no NASCAR without Atlanta's Raymond Parks.
4. Richard Petty There are only two seven time champions in NASCAR. Along with Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty has to be among the first five. Richard Petty also has the record of 200 wins, perhaps untouchable for the forseeable future.
5. Dale Earnhardt The same argument: The only two seven time champions must be in the first five selected to the Hall of Fame. Besides Earnhardt's success on the track, it must also be mentioned that Earnhardt's death on the track, more than any other's pushed NASCAR from simply paying lip service to safety to being more serious about safety (although in my opinion, they still have a VERY long way to go).

Mac McCormick III

Remembering Stevie Ray Vaughn

A few good ones from the Stevie Ray Vaughn Tribute Concert. I was feeling the urge to look up the tribute concert tonight for some reason. I remember watching this on TV as an Austin City Limits special (if I recall correctly).

Hendrick cars pass inspection

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=4537242&campaign=rss&source=RPMHeadlines

"NASCAR found that the bodies of the cars raced at Dover barely met specifications. The crew chiefs were warned not to bring the Chevrolets back to the track.
The close call led to grumbling by rivals that the Hendrick teams had been given a break by NASCAR and should have been penalized. Darby insisted the cars were legal, by a hair."


If the cars were legal, why can't they bring them back? This smacks of NASCAR's ban of Ray Evernham's Godzilla car at Charlotte in the 90's.

Mac McCormick III

Quotation of the Day - 05 October 2009

"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble."

-Plautus, Playwright


Today has been a day of troubles that has tried my patience. I need to take this to heart for the coming few days.

Quotation of the Day - 04 October 2009

"I don't like religion much, and I am glad that in the Bible the word is not to be found."

-Martin Buber, Theologian and Philosopher

Suzuka F1 Practice

Last night I stayed up late and watched the live practice session from Suzuka for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix. Out of the 90 minute session, there may have been cars on the track for 20 minutes, out of that the bulk of the cars were out for less than 10 minutes; maybe 7 at the most. There was heavy rain and a lot of standing water on the track that made conditions too dangerous for most of the session. Fernando Alonso ended up seventh for the session but I believe that his performance was the best of the session. He set his fast time before the bulk of the cars went out, thus doing it in worse conditions. Once the other cars came out, there wasn't as much water on the racing line making for better grip. I believe even more that Alonso has been carrying Renault the last two years. His performances have been far better than what the car is.

Mac McCormick III

Obama Snubs Fox News

I read a few online articles that indicate that President Obama has snubbed Fox News on interviews. He did the rounds of just about everyone (inlcuding Univision) yet skipped over Fox News. The articles theorize that it is because Fox News' Glenn Beck called him a racist. I don't know if Glenn Beck did or not, I don't watch him and do my best to ignore him; he's yet another good example of TV News putting on a commentator and calling him a journalist. CNN does it with Lou Dobbs and MSNBC does it with Keith Olberman so no one is innocent. What bothers me is that Obama's administration is looking not so much different from the Bush administration.

Obama came into office promising to run things differently. So far, in my opinion, he has not delivered. This is a perfect example. Bush played favorites with Fox News because he preferred their politics. In this case, Obama is just doing the opposite, snubbing Fox News because he doesn't like their politics. In the end, there is no difference.

While I'm thinking about Obama, what is this business with him telling the Governor of New York not to run in the next election. What business of it is the President's? That decision should be up to the Governor and New York's Democratic Party and the President should stay out of it. Obama has clearly overstepped his bounds in this instance.

Mac McCormick III

Renault F1 Discraces F1 and Demeans Motor Sports in General

NASCAR likes to use the blanket violation of "Actions Detrimental to the Sport" to penalize those that transgress against NASCAR. Over the past year, Renault F1 has defined what "Actions Detrimental to the Sport" truly are. There are several versions of the story, but essentially here is what transpired at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Flavio Briatore, team principal of Renault and manager for driver Nelson Piquet Jr. along with chief engineer Pat Symonds and Nelson Piquet Jr. arranged for Piquet Jr. to crash out of the race at an opportune time for the other Renault driver Fernando Alonso. Piquet did so and it essentially handed the race to Alonso who ultimately won the race. It took over a year for this to publicly come to light; Piquet Jr. went to the FIA when he was fired from Renault by Briatore in the last couple of months. In the ensuing investigation, Piquet was given immunity for his testimony, Briatore and Symonds left Renault ultimately being handed by the FIA a lifetime and five year ban respectively. I don't believe that the FIA went far enough; those actions truly were detrimental not only to F1 but motor sport in general. It put the whole sport into disrepute.

• Some reports indicate that Nelson Piquet Sr. informed the FIA of the above at the 2008 Brazilian GP. No further action was taken because no one involved stepped forward? The FIA was informed of cheating and attempted race fixing and no investigation was begun because no one INVOLVED stepped forward? As if you really expect them to?
• Nelson Piquet Jr. waited until he was fired from Renault to go to the FIA. He was given immunity for his testimony. The FIA already knew that he was involved if you believe that Nelson Piquet Sr. had already told the FIA what happened. He didn't deserve immunity. Ultimately, it also came to light through testimony from multiple sources that Piquet was the one who thought up the stunt; because of the immunity he got off with no punishment.
• Renault was allowed to keep the win. If it was proven that they cheated and attempted to fix the race, the win should have been stripped. Simply put, the FIA rewarded cheating.
• The FIA should not allow the same person to be both a team principal and driver manager. It is a conflict of interest. Imagine yourself in a young driver's position when your boss, who is also your manager tells you to "do this or else." You are forced to chose between evaporating your developing career and committing a dishonorable act, essentially a choice between worse and worse. Not a position that I would envy.

Mac McCormick III

Earnhardt Jr. Runs Off at the Mouth

Apparently Dale Earnhardt Jr. has continued to carry on throughout the week and throughout the weekend at Dover about the contact between David Reutimann and he at Loudon last weekend. Apparently hurling insults in the garage area wasn't enough for Earnhardt Jr. First thing first: he should take a page out of his Daddy's book and not say a word. File it away in the back of your head and take care of business later. Second, you shouldn't take to denigrating another driver when you're not on top of your game. Earnhardt Jr. telling Reutimann that he needs to "polish up his craft" is like the pot calling the kettle black.

I came across this gem in a David Newton piece on ESPN.com:

Reutimann admitted he made a mistake. He looked NASCAR's most popular driver in the eye and said he was sorry.

But Earnhardt still criticized him after the race and did so again at Dover. Just a guess, but this has to do more with frustration from a disappointing season for Earnhardt than Reutimann, or one wreck.

"He definitely hasn't had the kind of season I'm sure he would like," Reutimann said Saturday. "A lot of us haven't. He obviously had a very good racecar. When you get taken out, that's not going to sit very well with you.

"I can't blame him, but I've been hand-whipped pretty hard this week. … You can only talk about somebody for so long before you get tired of it. That's kind of the point I'm at right now."

For the record, Reutimann didn't comment on how many times Earnhardt has missed his pit stall this season. He also didn't note that he qualified fifth this weekend and his chief critic will start 24th.

Mac McCormick III

Discourse

Obama is no more a socialist than Bush was a Facist.

Our country is going down the tubes not because Obama is President and not because Bush was President. Our country is going down the tubes because we don't know how to sit down and settle our differences. Instead we are selfish, inflexible and resort to name calling.

This is what happens when our elected officials are politicians instead of representatives. They are concerned not with doing what is best for the country, but only what will get them re-elected during the next campaign. We become tools of the PACs and follow their media messages like lemmings.

We're all part of the problem.

Mac McCormick III

IRL at Chicagoland - A Terriffic Race

What can I say about last night's IRL race at Chicagoland? One word can sum it up nicely: WOW! It was the best oval race I've seen in a long time, by far a better show than the IRL oval races prior to the rules changes at Kentucky and by far better than most NASCAR races this season.

At one point Graham Rahal, Mario Moraes, and Marco Andretti were racing 3 wide wheel to wheel to wheel over fourth place. That fight went on for several laps and unlike a NASCAR race, it didn't end in a crash!

The race ended with Ryan Briscoe taking the win over Scott Dixon in a side by side finish with Mario Moraes taking third from Dario Franchitti in a side by side fight that was nose to tail with the fight for the win!

Unfortunately because it was on Versus and most NASCAR fans won't watch the IRL, it is probably one of the best races only a few people ever saw.

Mac McCormick III

Racing on the Brain

ALMS
I blogged awhile ago about rumor that the ALMS would be going to a 2 class structure in 2010. The series will remain with a 4 class structure, but the structure will be different from the current one. Instead of LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2 the structure will be:

1. Le Mans Prototype (LMP)
2. Le Mans Prototype Challenge (LMPC)
3. Grand Touring (GT)
4. Grand Touring Challenge (GTC)

LMP1 and LMP2 will be rolled into 1 class except for Sebring and Petit LeMans. The LMPC class is an entry class prototype car using an ORECA Courage chassis with 450hp engines. This could be an interesting class to watch, offering a relatively low cost prototype platform to both gentleman drivers and up-and-coming drivers. The GT1 class is all but dead, so the new GT class will be what the GT2 cars are now. The GTC class will be Porsche GT3 Cup cars with the class expected to open up to other manufacturers in the future.

NASCAR
I watched very little of the Michigan Sprint Cup race and really didn't miss it, indicating just how much I've lost interest in NASCAR's top level racing. Instead I watched ALMS with it's varied mix of chassis/engine combinations, tires, and classes and enjoyed some good racing. With the exception of a few races (Watkins Glen being one of them), the Sprint Cup racing just isn't that good and the cars are too similar, with no opportunities for engineering or design originality. I don't like the Nationwide series either. It has become essentially an extra practice session for the Sprint Cup drivers; they come down and take prize money and sponsorship from Nationwide teams and drivers.

Mac McCormick III

Oglethorpe Speedway 17 July 2009

For the first time this year (and I hope not the last) I had the chance last night to go out to Oglethorpe Speedway, the .5 mile clay oval in Pooler, GA. After some rain delays and dinner with the family I finally made it out there shortly after 8 PM. I took a scanner along and listened to the officials on both their frequency and the "Raceceiver" frequency which is used for the officials to talk to the cars.

461.500 - Oglethorpe Speedway Officials
454.000 - Raceceiver (Officials to Cars)

The racing was wonderful and there were some great battles for the lead in all of the classes. There was some boneheaded racing as well. The driver of the 29 car in the 440 class got his first victory; it was pretty cool to see him do a reverse donut in front of the grandstand (the 440's are front wheel drive, so you have to use reverse to do a proper donut)! The 6 and 20 cars in the Pure Stock class were black flagged and parked after abusing each other over last place, the result of a previous coming together on the track. I was watching the race for first, which was a terrific fight at the time when I heard race control get increasingly emphatic with the 6 and 20 to stop beating on each other. I look back to the end of the field and there they were pushing and shoving over last place...

Unfortunately, the Street Stock class was cut short because the rain returned about 3/4 of the way through their race during a caution period. The officials polled the drivers at first to see if the track was still good and they restarted. Eventually the rain began to fall harder and the track just became to slick to race on so it was stopped and called an official race. The Late Model race was postponed until next week, when they will have a double 20-lap Late Model feature.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

ALMS to Two Classes in 2010?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76994

I saw this article on Autosport's website earlier this week. The idea is that the American LeMans Series may go to a single GT class (GT2) and a single Prototype class (P2?) class in 2010 with the idea of helping the series survive during this economic downturn. This may not be a bad idea. GT1 is obviously going away. Aston Martin and Corvette have been the main competitors in GT1 the last few years; Aston has been gone for a couple of years and Corvette is making the move down to GT2 now. P1 is currently an almost all Acura show although there is a slight chance that Audi may come back later in the season and it seems Peugeot will come back for Petit LeMans.

I would rather watch ALMS than Grand Am any day. If this idea would keep the series strong and enable us to see proper GT and Prototype racing then I'm all for it.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Kasey Kahne Wins Sonoma

Congratulations to Kasey Kahne on his win at the weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup road race at Sonoma. He held off Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose handily in the caution filled closing laps. Coming from a sprint car background, Kahne is not one you would think of as a top level road racer; obviously his skills carried over as he proved to be quite proficient on the road course. He qualified well and raced well; his win was well deserved.

Mac McCormick
kf4lmt@comcast.net

The 24 Hours of LeMans

I was disappointed that Audi lost the 24 Hours of LeMans but I will congratulate Peugeot on their win. This year, they undoubtedly performed better than Audi. They not only had a better car this year, they also improved their performance in the pits and their decision making on the pit box. I think a lack of race time also accounts for Audi's performance this year. Peugeot ran the 908 at Sebring and during one of the LMS races this season whereas Audi only ran the R15 at Sebring. Given that the 908 is in it's third year and is a proven, developed machine the lack of race time on the first year R15 prevented Audi from finding and fixing flaws such as the intercooler overheating. You can test all you want, but some problems just aren't going to show up until you go through the stress of racing.

On the other hand, it was wonderful to see Corvette win their last GT1 race. If you don't think a win or class win in this race means something, witness Dan Binks as the 63 Corvette crossed the finish line. This is a man who had his hands in 15 sports car championships, yet he was in tears as he finally got his first LeMans win. Through all of Corvette's LeMans wins, he had never been on the team that won. Hearing our national anthem played as the Corvette team stood atop the GT1 podium was inspiring. Here's hoping that Corvette's GT2 program (if it continues given GM's financial problems) is just as successful.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

TNT Neglects to Mention Serious Injury to Johnny Benson?

I didn't see all of TNT's pre-race coverage before the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan yesterday, but I don't think anyone brought it up until Tony Stewart mentioned it in an interview they did with him during driver introductions. If this is the case, shame on TNT.

If anyone saw them mention it before Stewart's interview, please let me know.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Rick Mears in Racer2Racer

I just got finished reading a terrific article in the latest edition of RACER Magazine. This month's Racer2Racer article by Bryan Herta is with one of my racing heroes: Rick Mears. Mears was coming to the end of his stellar career as I was becoming interested in open wheel racing. While I was familiar with drivers like A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser, Tom Sneva, and others, it was Mears who was at the top of his game at the time. The way he raced, the way he conducted himself, and particularly the way he came back from horrible foot and lower leg injuries made him one of my heroes.

What really prompted me to write this post was something that Mears said in this interview and how much it contrasted with something that Dale Earnhardt Jr., someone considered a hero by many motorsports fans these days, said in an article I recently read. Earnhardt Jr. stated that blocking was part of racing (perhaps in not those exact words, but I can't find the article to get the exact quote). That is the way that NASCAR racing, particularly superspeedway racing is done these days and that just isn't what I grew up knowing as the sport of racing. This is what Mears had to say:

"Blocking is one of my pet peeves... To me, this is racing, it's not called blocking. Blocking takes no talent; the talent is in pulling away from your rival."

To read more of what he had to say, and for what more about racing should be, pick up the July 2009 issue of RACER magazine and read this article. The quote above sums up one of the reasons that I have almost lost interest in NASCAR's version of stock car racing.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Indy 500 Qualifying

Watching Sunday's "Bump Day" qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one could easily assume that that the drama and excitement is back in the Indianapolis 500 qualifying process. As Lee Corso might say, "Not So Fast, My Friend..."

While at first glance, there were 36 cars competing for 33 starting spots, it was obvious all day long that of those 36 cars, only 34 were truly capable of making the necessary speed. Thus the drama was to an extent a creation of the coverage. Stanton Barrett and Buddy Lazier never really had the speed needed to make the field. The competition to not be bumped out was between John Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Alex Tagliani. That was where the drama was. It was odd that the veteran Andretti was finding it hard to make the car handle when his teammates, even Milka Duno, were. That Ryan Hunter-Reay had trouble both weeks finding the speed when teammate Ed Carpenter did was also surprising. These two teams really provided the drama during qualifying. I'm surprised that Tagliani wasn't faster given that Bruno Junqeira put his car in the field fairly easily with little practice. Unfortunately, Junqueira's effort comes to naught as his seat has now been given to Tagliani. I can't help but feel sorry for Bruno; obviously the commercial aspect of racing has trumped the performance aspect of racing. With the performance he turned in, Bruno deserves the ride in the Indy 500.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Ed Hinton Column on NASCAR Paint Schemes

Remember the old days when you could pick out your favorite Sprint Cup Series driver on the backstretch at Dega because of the color on the car? Those days are long gone.

All that I'll add to this column from Ed Hinton is this: "Amen Brother."

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

The Miss California Brouhaha Just Won't Go Away

Once again, the Miss California Brouhaha has managed to stay in the news (as if there aren't more important things going on). Despite my better judgement, I have three comments on this saga:

1. The latest issue at hand, the semi-nude photos, despite the massive attention given to them by the media, are not the problem that Ms. Prejean has. The problem is honesty. On her application, she was asked if she had taken any photos of the nature of those now showing up. She answered no, thus answering falsely. You should not be surprised if you are fired when your employer discovers you lied on an application. It is possible that the pageant organizers are using this legitimate issue to get rid of someone they no longer like, but that is a separate issue.
2. Isn't it odd that Shanna Moakler, one of the pageant officials looking into replacing Ms. Prejean is Playboy's Ms. December 2001. Ms. Moakler posed after her pageant work and Ms. Prejean's photos were taken prior, so the situation is not the same but this whole business smacks of hypocrisy.
3. This story is not important! The major networks should let it drop and cover more important things. Concentrate on our wars, our domestic issues, even theorize on who Obama will select for confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Mac McCormick
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Selective Enforcement of the Law

Friday Letters to the Editor

The third letter is one that really irritates me. Folks violate a law then expect that the police should not enforce that law because it is a "minor" law, because they're "not inconveniencing anyone," or because it is related to their kids. This letter writer even goes so far as to berate the residents of the neighborhood that he was visiting for calling the police about the violation. One wonders if he would be in favor of selective enforcement if the shoe was on the other foot. Take responsibility for your actions, pay your ticket, and move on.

Speaking of kids, isn't it a bad example to set to not take responsibility for your actions?

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Audi's "Truth in 24"

I just got finished watching "Truth In 24," the movie about Audi's 2008 24 Hours of LeMans campaign. I was simply blown away by the film. If it wasn't well past midnight when I started watching it, I would have cranked up the surround sound all the way and let the terrific soundtrack and wonderful noises from the race cars thunder about the house. The camera work was stunning. I will definitely have more to write about this wonderful movie when I am more awake; I was left with goosebumps.

You can get the movie for free on iTunes; just search for "Truth in 24" in the iTunes Store.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Pontiac and the Grand Am Rolex Series

Perhaps I missed it in the coverage of yesterday's Grand Am Rolex Series race at Virginia International Raceway, but I never heard them mention the impending end of Pontiac.  It increasingly looks like Pontiac will be discontinued by General Motors as part of their restructuring.  Pontiac is a major presence in both the Grand Am DP and GT classes.  Pontiac has also been one of the biggest advertisers for Grand Am.  You have to wonder what the end of Pontiac will mean for Grand Am and the teams that are running the Pontiac GT cars and the Pontiac engined DP cars.  Will GM end the Grand Am programs altogether?

Mac McCormick III

kf4lmt@comcast.net

Oppression and Secession

Over the past few weeks, I have been troubled by two words that I have heard protesters using:  Oppression and Secession.  These are two powerful words and I'm not sure that it is wise to use them.  

Protesters have made statements that they are oppressed by our government.  Perhaps our government's current policies are not best for us, perhaps they cause us trouble but I don't think that they can be classified as oppressive.  History offers many examples of oppression; I have a hard time believing that we are an oppressed people.

Some protesters have brought up secession, suggesting that states should secede from the Union because of economic policy.  Did we not learn anything from the 1860's and our Civil War?  Secession led to a war of destruction and to hard feelings and mistrust that lasted for decades and to an extent even to this day.  

Let us choose our words carefully and think carefully about what we say.

Mac McCormick III

kf4lmt@comcast.net

Miss California and Perez Hilton, Intolerance in Entertainment

I wouldn't know Perez Hilton from a hole in the ground.  I wouldn't know Miss California from a hole in the ground.  I don't follow Hollywood and entertainment gossip and I don't follow the various pageants so I don't know a thing about either except for what I've seen on the news over the last couple of days.  What I do know is this:  The entertainment industry has shown itself to be no different from the "conservatives" and Republicans they so often paint as being intolerant. 

During the Miss USA Pageant, Miss California was asked a question about gay marriage, which she answered according to her beliefs (that she was opposed to it).  It matters not whether I agree with her nor does it matter if the judges and the audience agreed with her; it is her right to have that opinion.  Following the pageant, she was blasted by Mr. Hilton (it was he who asked the question, by the way) for her answer, going so far as to refer to her as a bitch on his website and further implied calling her worse.

Some have been upset that Miss California's answer cost her a win in the pageant.  That to me, is not the issue at hand here; the pageant is a private affair and if the judges and those in charge wanted to penalize her for her beliefs, that is their prerogative.  What disturbs me is that there is outrage over what she said and very little to no outrage over Mr. Hilton's response.   He criticizes her for being intolerant of homosexuals but his behaviour towards her is just as intolerant.  He wants her to be respectful of his way of life (homosexual), yet he is disrespectful towards her way of life (conservative).  If the entertainment industry were truly serious about preaching tolerance, there would be just as much outrage over Mr. Hilton's insulting comments as there has been over Miss California's honest answer.

Mac McCormick III

kf4lmt@comcast.net

McLaren's Unsportsmanlike Conduct

The last time McLaren was in trouble, I defended them. This time, I cannot defend the actions of former McLaren Sporting Director Dave Ryan and driver Lewis Hamilton. In the recent fracas over whether or not the allowed Jarno Trulli to pass Hamilton during a yellow flag both Ryan and Hamilton told the race stewards a bold faced lie. The next week at Malaysia, they continued to lie about it despite being presented evidence to the contrary.

What is worse, Hamilton called a news conference at Malaysia to tell eveyone that he didn't want to lie, but was directed to by the team. He was lauded by some in the media for doing so. Hamilton is a grown man. If he didn't want to lie, he should not have. He should have done the right thing even though his team may have directed him to do otherwise. Dave Ryan is no longer with McLaren from the team over this incident. In my opinion, if Ryan is gone then Hamilton should be sent packing as well; he is just as guilty as Ryan is.

This whole episode has been a sorry example of sportsmanship for youngsters interested in motor sports and young people who are moving up the motor sports ladder of talent. A world champion and multiple world championship team should be setting a better example.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

18 More Races for A.J. Allmendinger

I can't be more happy for A.J. Allmendinger. After truly being given the shaft by Red Bull last year he was picked up by Richard Petty Motorsports (Gillette-Evernham) and given a ride for the beginning of this season. He has done pretty well, currently standing 20th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points, not much worse than his more experienced teammates. Autosport reports this morning that he has picked up sponsorship and will have his ride at Petty for at least 18 more races.

Allmendinger is definitely one of the most improved over the last season and deserves the chance to show what he can do.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

More on my Church Decision

I would like to thank those who commented on my last blog post about the Church. I really appreciate the support and the prayers; no doubt they helped me make my decision. As I said in my comment to the last post, I have decided to stay where I am at and try to work toward making things better.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Church Decision

After long and deliberate thought, I have decided not to name the church that is at the center of this post. Writing this has been hard and it was equally as hard to come to decision to speak my mind in the church last night after 15 years of holding my opinions and feelings in. In personal conversation I don't think I would have a problem identifying it, but not in a forum like this.

In recent months, I was coming to the decision to start returning to church after 15 years by attending Wednesday night services. I'll probably never be an every Sunday morning church service attendee but I have started to like the informal yet informative nature of the Wednesday night services and I have taken a liking to the current Pastor.

During the last year, a committee has been working on new bylaws for the Church. Last Wednesday, they presented copies of the old and new bylaws to the Church and there was to be a vote on them this Wednesday night. I read the new bylaws and was immediately struck by the fact that they could have the effect of reversing some of what drove me away from the Church and from organized religion as a whole over the last 15 years. These bylaws would remove the political power of the Church from the hands of a select few and spread it among the Church membership by rotating committee positions and chairmanships and by imposing a form of term limits. To me, things were looking up.

I attended the service last night so that I could cast my vote in favor of them (I have never given up membership in the Church, I simply stopped going for the most part). During the business meeting, it immediately became apparent that there were those who were opposed to the bylaws because they realized that their power in the Church was threatened by them. After listening to almost an hour of the debate, I finally raised my hand and said what I've been waiting for 15 years to say. I told the assembled that they hadn't seen me much for 15 years, then went on to explain why. I told them that I was disgusted by the way previous Pastors had been treated (backdoor politics and backstabbing come to mind) and that I was turned off by the fact that the Church was run by a powerful few. I concluded my stating that the new bylaws would be just the thing to help remedy those problems.

In retrospect, I should have realized that the process was doomed to fail. It did fail. The powerful few were able to garner just enough votes to make the vote fall short of the 2/3 majority by 4 votes. Personally, I think that the failure to pass the new bylaws could very well have been the torpedo that broke the ship's keel. It has led me to reconsider becoming active in that Church again. In closing the service/meeting last night, the Pastor asked if we were serving the Lord or if we were serving ourselves. I truly believe that those who led the defeat of the bylaws were serving not the Lord but themselves. I will be going through a lot of deep thought and consideration in the near future. If you are a religious person and reading this, please keep me in your prayers. There are some hard decisions to come.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

The Gamble

I recently picked up a copy of Thomas Ricks' The Gamble - General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008. I began reading The Gamble this week and found it very much an advantage to have read Fiasco, Ricks' previous book on the Iraq War. General David Petraeus being central to the book, I also have found it helpful to have read In the Company of Soldiers, Rick Atkinson's book about the 101st Airborne in Iraqi Freedom (Petraeus commanded the 101st during that time).

I'll have more to say on The Gamble after I finish reading it, but I found it interesting that Ricks relates a story of one Republican Senator breaking with the Bush line in Iraq after reading Keegan's history of World War I, which I have just finished re-reading. The Senator compared the BEF's General's repeated attacks into German trench defenses to the US Military's resistance to change in Iraq.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Saxby Chambliss and Imperial Sugar

I rarely post anything political, but after reading the article in this morning's Savannah Morning News, I felt motivated to post.

In the aftermath of the Imperial Sugar refinery explosion last February, Senator Saxby Chambliss faced a decision; would he support his constituents in the form of voters that elected him to office or would he support his constituents in the form of businesses like Imperial Sugar that fill his campaign coffers with money. Before I go any further, I'll admit to having no opinion one way or another of Senator Chambliss until this event. I don't share many of his views, but he always seemed to represent the state of Georgia well.

When faced with his decision, it seems that Senator Chambliss decided to support Imperial Sugar. If the accusations are true, Senator Chambliss attempted to encourage the families of the explosion victims not to sue Imperial Sugar. He also vigorously opposed witnesses against Imperial Sugar in a Senate Committee Hearing (a committee of which he was not a member). Senator Chambliss unfortunately decided it was in his best interest to work for a business that provides him campaign money rather than to work for the people he represents: the people of the State of Georgia.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

F1 News - 18 February 2009

A couple of F1 news items caught my eye this morning as I was checking the Autosport website:

1. The USF1 program is interested in testing Danica Patrick. I can only see this as a publicity and marketing move. Danica Patrick would not be a good choice as a team driver for an F1 team, especially a new or lower rung team. She has proven an inability to communicate with her engineer to improve the handling of her IRL car during a race so it would follow that she would be unable to communicate with engineers to develop a new race car. That would be disaster for a new team. Danica would bring a lot of publicity and a lot of sponsorship to USF1, but she likely wouldn't be able to bring anything to the table in regards to car development.
2. Dietrich Mateschitz says that team owners should own F1. I think that he should look back at the history of the CART series here in the US and realize that team ownership of a series is doomed to failure. You need one strong person to run the series. The teams will be concerned about what is best for them and fight politically amongst themselves. That one strong individual would be better able to do what is best for the whole. As much as I dislike many of NASCAR's decisions, it seems that their model for running the series has worked better than others. Although you can use Tony George and the IRL as an argument against it, CART is the series that eventually failed.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

NASCAR Thoughts

Just a few thoughts from the last two weeks of NASCAR at Daytona:

• 50-something cars attempted to make the Daytona 500 and Daytona International Speedway filled the stands, so the economy, according to NASCAR and the talking heads, has had no negative effects on NASCAR. There will always be plenty of cars trying to make the Daytona 500 because it is the Daytona 500. Let's judge the economic impact on car county 5 to 10 races into the season. As far as filling the seats go, let's not forget that Daytona had to reduce ticket prices (something they shouldn't have to use the economy as an excuse to do - ticket prices should be lower in the first place).
• I will preface the following by saying that I am a Tony Stewart fan. Stewart-Haas racing will only be as successful as Hendrick Motorsports decides they will be. Should Stewart-Haas be too good, I wouldn't be surprised if the quality of the chassis and engines supplied by Hendrick to Stewart-Haas adjusts.
• Richard Petty Motorsports is Richard Petty in name only. Anyone who has followed NASCAR for a long time knows that Richard Petty would not run a beer sponsorship. With the 9 car still boldly displaying the Budweiser colors, that pretty much proves that GEM is using Richard Petty's name for the marketing possibilities that it opens up.
• I'm really impressed by the performance of A.J. Allmendinger the last two weeks. He has shown great improvement over the last year and I won't be surprised if Red Bull ends up regretting their decision to dump him for Scott Speed. They dropped Allmendinger just as he was getting his feet under him.
• Once again, NASCAR proves that it has two sets of rules: one for the Superstars and one for everyone else. Jason Leffler gets 5 laps for spinning someone in the Nationwide race but Earnhardt Jr. gets none for spinning someone? I'm waiting to see if anyone with Fox, Speed, or ESPN has the nerve to put a microphone in front of Helton or anyone else with NASCAR and ask why..
• Bud Shootout - Great Race. The Twin 150's - Great Races. The Truck Race - Great Race. The Nationwide Race - Pretty Good Race. The Daytona 500 - Not as good as I thought it would be and not what it had the potential to be (and it wasn't all due to the weather).

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Racer Magazine "Racers of the Year"

After having to take some pain pills for a Kidney Stone, I slept off and on for most of the day so now I find myself awake and looking for something to burn some time. Here is my commentary on some of Racer Magazine's "Racers of the Year" from the March 2009 issue that recently arrived in my mailbox.

Racer of the Year: Kyle Busch
This is hard to argue with. Kyle Busch and an amazing 2008 season; he was successful on short ovals, mid-size ovals, and the superspeedways. He was successful on the road courses. He was successful in three different kinds of cars: Sprint Cup cars, Nationwide cars, and Craftsman trucks. What's more, he also was frequently racing a short track car during the week and on his offtime. There is no doubt that his Sprint Cup season ended on a disappointing note, but if you take his season as a whole in all three series I doubt you can find a much better racer.

Oval Racer of the Year: Jimmy Johnson
I have to take exception with this choice. In my opinion, even though Johnson won his third consecutive championship Kyle Busch was the oval racer of the year. Why? See above.

Road Racer of the Year: Scott Pruett
My Road Racer of the Year would be Alan McNish. I still can't get over his drive in the 2008 Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta. With the support of an outstanding Audi team, he won the LMS championship against a much faster Peugeot. McNish rarely put a foot wrong and more than atoned for it when he did (see Petit LeMans). Despite having the slower car, you never heard McNish publicly complain; he simply put his head down and got on with the job at hand.

Racer's choice of Scott Pruett is one that I can understand, but I have lost some respect for Pruett over the last few seasons. He has complained too much and has proven himself to be a hypocrite. He cries when another driver lays a fender against him but yet he has no problem laying a fender against someone else. You can't have it both ways. If you're going to use your bumper don't complain when someone uses theirs on you; if you're going to complain about someone using their bumper on you, don't use your bumper on them.

Rookie of the Year: Joey Logano
I'm not sure that I would have picked Joey Lagano as Rookie of the Year. He didn't really do a full season in any of the major series in 2008. If he did well this year, he would certainly be a candidate for Rookie of the Year. Personally, I think that Gibbs Racing is doing him a disservice by putting him in a Sprint Cup car this year; he should do a full season of Nationwide or Trucks before going fulltime in the Sprint Cup series.

Team of the Year: Target Chip Ganassi Racing (Indycar)
Given that choices like Hendrick and Roush in NASCAR would have been much more popular choices, I like the choice of Ganassi's Indycar team. I think you could also have just as easily picked the Ganassi Grand Am team for Team of the Year. Both did exemplary jobs in 2008; no one in either series showed up more prepared, exercised better strategy, or adjusted to changing conditions as they did (with the arguable exception of Penske in the IRL). What sets them above Hendrick and Roush is that they did it with 2 cars, not 4 or 5.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Milka Duno to Newman Haas Lanigan?

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-milka-duno-and-robert-doornbos-to-newman-hass-lanigan/

Surely this is a joke. Doornbos I can understand. If it is true, I can only describe Duno's signing as a bought ride. I can't decide whether to be mad at NHL or feel sorry for them. Has it gotten that bad?

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Music and Aviation Memories

I've been continuing my project of reloading the iPod tonight and I just imported Van Halen's Greatest Hits Vol. 1. Listening to some of the tracks off of the CD made me remember a couple of my favorite aviation memories.

First, the track "Dreams" always makes me think of a great Blue Angels video that was made with this song as the backing music. It's a great video and wish I could find a copy of it somewhere.

Second, the track "Right Now" reminds of an F-15 demo at a Robins AFB airshow some years back. There was a slight pause in the flight demos and "Right Now" began playing; during the piano intro folks thought there was a delay in the show. Listening to the scanner, I knew that the F-15 was coming, I just wasn't sure from where... About the time the first hard beat at the end of the piano intro came in, the F-15 from the demo team hit show center from behind the crowd at full throttle! It rates right up there with the 347th Composite Wing's missing man formation for the Blue Angel that died at the Moody Airshow with the most impressive thing I've seen at an airshow.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Savannah Morning News Covers the 24 Hours of Daytona

The beginning of the racing season is here! The 24 Hours of Daytona starts tomorrow. I'll be out of town until tomorrow night, but I'll definitely be watching the last 12 hours of the race (or as much as Speed TV shows). I much prefer the ALMS over Grand Am but it is all sports car racing...

I have often criticized the Savannah Morning News for the utter lack of coverage of motorsports beyond NASCAR and their off and on coverage of Oglethorpe Speedway. Kudos today to SMN for running a good sized article on 24 Hours of Daytona qualifying.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

American LeMans Series 2009?

I admit to being worried about the American LeMans Series for 2009. For the past few seasons it has been my favorite racing series. The diversity in cars, powerplants, and technology has led to great racing.

Audi has pulled out of the P1 category, which will return P1 to where it has been the last few years. In 2009, the only difference is that it will be an all Acura show instead of an all Audi show. I was so looking forward to an Audi v. Acura race in P1 this year. I'll be disappointed to not see those mighty turbo diesels (with the exception of Sebring and LeMans). P1 is quickly looking to be like GT1 has been; will P1 end up dying the death that GT1 has? I hope not.

Porsche will be gone from P2 and it seems like Acura's concentration will be in P1. P2 had become a very interesting category in the last few seasons, are we looking at the decline of the category that was on an upswing?

It looks more and more that the ALMS is becoming a "GT-centric" series. I like the GT cars but I enjoy the multiple classes in one race even more. I love the big, honking P1 cars and their immense power. I love the P2 cars with their compromise of power and agility. I read the other day on Autosport that Audi has sold some R10s to Colin Kolles and that he will be running them in Europe. Let's hope that Audi will sell some R10s to an American Team (Champion...) and we'll see some running here! I fear that it's hoping against hope, but I can dream.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Super Bowl

I've had my brain on other things for awhile and haven't posted anything here in almost a month. I've got a post on the brain about the ALMS, but I haven't had the chance to sit down and type it out; hopefully I'll do that in the next few days. Anyway, on to a brief post.

Wow. The Arizona Cardinals vs. The Pittsburgh Steelers for the Super Bowl. If you'd have told me that the Cards would be in the Super Bowl around this time last year I'd have laughed at you. As a co-worker told me today, if you had told him that a month ago he'd have laughed at you... That said, congratulations to Kurt Warner for showing he still has the ability to not only play well but win. I also want to say how impressed I am with Larry Fitzgerald; this guy has great skills and also seems to have a good, level head on his shoulders.

Even though I live in an NFC area and am usually an NFC fan, this year I have to be for the AFC. I'm a long-time Steelers Fan and I'll be cheering for them this year instead of the NFC team.

The only match-up that would really cause me trouble would be a Saints-Steelers matchup; that however, doesn't seem to be realistic anytime soon...

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net