RIP BuggBoyZ Racer

Well, the race weekend didn't go exactly as planned. There's an old saying: cold tires + cold track + cold driver = bad news. On the second lap of the first practice session, I made a classic mistake - pushing too hard too early - and ended up hitting a concrete wall with the driver's side of the car. The impact was hard enough to destroy both front and rear suspensions, bend the drive axle, and 'kink' the chassis. As of right now, I believe the car is history.

I spent the day in the ER of the local Gainesville, GA hospital getting neck x-rays and a CT scan. (The track medical staff just wanted to be sure I was ok before releasing me.) Everything came back clear, so nothing to worry about. A little bit of Advil and I was able to get everything loaded on the trailer and made the drive home Saturday evening.

It was a little bit scarey for a while, but God is good and protects his children - even the foolish ones, thankfully.

Racing School Report

We went over to Roebling Road near Savannah, GA last weekend to support the SEDiv road racing school. Daddy and I worked on a corner all weekend waving flags and talking on the radio while watching our buddies earn their licenses - the same school I drove in last year. This year friend/mechanic/co-worker, Brett Whisenant, drove my car in the school. After pulling in to the driveway at 2:15am Monday morning, I took a little nap and drove to Nashville to catch a plane to Baltimore for business until this evening (Wednesday). I'm taking tomorrow off to work on the car a little and see if I can get it ready to go to Road Atlanta for my first race of the season. Here's a short summary of last weekend:

What a great weekend! All of the Huntsville/TVR guys (and our ALSCCA buddy, JohnW8) did a fantastic job! I watched the weekend from the T9 worker station and only had one car smack the pit wall - and he ended up doing a little sledge hammer body work and returning to the event.

There were 2 puckering moments, though. One, when David J broke something on the front suspension and took an exciting (expensive) ride into the tires a T1. The worker net at first reported he had rolled, but then corrected the report to say the hard impact stood the car on its nose and then back down on the wheels. David was ok. And I think we can put the car back together.

The other "moment" was when a GT car oiled the track from T6a all the way to T2! A group of 4 cars ended up in the grass across from our station - 2 of them making metal-to-metal contact. You guessed it... the BuggBoyZ Honda got punched by a T1 Vette - right in front of me. It bent a wheel and a trailing arm, dented the rear quarter a little, tweaked the chassis a little, and tore the bumper cover. It must have been the steering wheel's fault, because I could see Brett having a heated 'discussion' with it as he limped it onto pit road and behind the wall. It took us 15-20 minutes to get the oil taken care of under the Black Flag, and when I went back to the station, I saw Craig Farr pumping his arms up in the air in victory and pointing. I looked over to the pit lane and Brett was re-entering the grid to finish the session!

Brett and Tom Turner and several others had replaced the trailing arm and pulled enough stuff out of the way to get it aligned and back! Incredible!! I plan to take a close look at everything this week and try my best to make Road ATL by Friday afternoon! It's going to be close!

A Video Production by Kaylyn Bugg

Kaylyn's 3rd grade ACE class (Academic and Creative Enrichment) produced "clay-mation" movies for their projects this term. Kaylyn's group's movie, The Love Ducks, was awarded "Best Clay Stop-Motion Picture" during the presentation night. The teacher pointed out that it takes around 200 still pictures to make a 1-minute "film". The kids had a great time and the parents loved it, too!!



And now, whithout further ado.... [lights dim, curtain glides open]

The Love Ducks.

A Great Day for the BuggZ

Our wonderful little girl, Kaylyn, prayed the sweetest prayer a Daddy could ever hear last week when she asked Jesus to come live in her heart. She made her public profession of faith Sunday morning - while I was trying to sing with the praise band! (the band did a fine job without my voice for the last half of the song...) We are looking for dates to schedule her baptism. It is an awesome thought that my 3 children are also my brothers and sister in Christ. humbling.

A Challenge

In getting ready for a Sunday School lesson this week, I spent a lot of time in Hebrews chapter 12. I love this passage (probably because it has such wonderful parallels to racing). The BuggBoyZ translation of the first few verses goes something like this: “All the fans are in the stands watching, and they want YOU to win! Get your car (and yourself) down to race-weight so you won’t be at a disadvantage. (Sell the DSR and get a Honda, if that’s what it takes!) Remember this basic fact that you were taught at your very first driving school: ‘keep your eyes up and looking ahead because you’re going to go where your eyes are pointed – into the wall or down the straight, it’s up to you.” The author of Hebrews reminds us to keep our eyes on Jesus, focus on the goal, and keep pushing ourselves to the end. I’ve too many times – in life and in a race – pushed hard until deciding to ease up and “save the car” thereby settling for less than my best. SHAME on ME! If it’s worth starting, it’s worth finishing and giving it our best effort. How many times have we told our kids “All I want from you is your best. That will always be good enough.”? I’ve been challenged this week. Am I giving my best effort to my day at work? What about with my kids? What about my marriage? It might be time to re-think and re-set some priorities.

BuggBoyZ Sports

It took a little while, but I finally figured out how to get William's football video edited and posted. William's interception late in the game against Austin HS saved the Hazel Green win. This was a Junior Varsity game, but he also played enough Varsity to earn his letter - in his first season (ever) of playing football! We are all very proud of him!!

And, Steven has made the Meridianville Middle School baseball team! He will begin working out with the team this week, as they return to school from the Christmas break. Check back for pictures and videos as the season begins.

Kaylyn is cheering for the Upward Basketball program at Hazel Green Methodist Church again this year. Her season begins this weekend, so I should have some good action posted for her soon, too.

95 Miata M Edition

The garage is full again. I bought the 1995 Miata M Edition shown below. According to the official MX-5 M Edition Field Guide (you probably didn't even know there was such a thing) there were only 3500 of these cars made world wide. And they sold for around $24k! (Man, did I get a bargain!!) Basically the M is the luxury model - leather seats, a/c, power windows, cruise control, limited slip diff, etc. But the coolest thing is that the 95 M was the only year/model to come with this paint color and these wheels. The "Merlot Mica" paint is faded a little bit on the hood and bumper cover but the rest of the car looks great. And the 15" BBS wheels are really nice. I drove it today in the pouring rain and the top didn't leak! If the sun ever comes out again, I'll take some more pictures.