Day 3 Fireball Run

Of all the days of our cross country rally, this one, I was the most concerned.

Drag racing and road course racing are two entirely different things and about the only thing they have in common is high speed.

At any rate, a couple of the veteran CannonBallers suggested that I carefully study the layout of the track, which had been described as a bit tricky.

Fortunately MSR Houston has a comprehensive web site which include track diagrams and in-car videos to enable us newbies to the track at least some familiarity of it before we even arrive.

Roy was set to run in the second half of the race, while I was set to go in the morning.

Prior to the race, all of the drivers spent a considerable amount of time going over the vehicle.

I topped some fluids off, check the suspension, and the integrity of the tires that were mounted on my vehicle. If there was an embedded nail or screw, now was the time to find that out.

My goal of today was not to attempt to "win" the time runs (especially when one consider the competitor cars included one supercar, the Aston Martin Vanquish, Ray and Leon's super hopped-up Shelby Mustang making 600bhp at the rear wheels and 750 at the crank!)

Since the road course was new to me, I didn't want to put the car into the wall at turn 17 so I decided not to really push things or do anything stupid (imagine that?).

As it was during one of my hot-laps the car didn't feel to be operating at top-performance. I began feeling a shudder during the back straightaway, so my goal was just to finish the race with a least a respectable point total and live to fight another day.

When I pulled off from my lap times, the car's shuddering increased to a level that had me very concerned. Fortunately Leon's co-driver, Ray from Full Throttle Kustomz came over and gave his expert assistance. The engine had thrown a code, which he attempted to read with his measurement diagnostic tools.

Ray believe the shuddering to stem from an overheated transmission with a real possibility of blowing the seals. So we powered the vehicle down to let the fluid flow back down into the transmission, cool down, and thicken-up.

I was glad that I didn't push the car on the track, because the last thing I wanted was to be faced with the prospect of towing this vehicle 2200 miles back home.

Roy went out and had his track event and handled the car in fine fashion...demonstrating his expert driving training from this law enforcement days.

A the end of this very long day, we made are way back to Driver Source outside of Houston where our teams gathered for a fine meal and a look at some of the finest and sexiest automobiles to ever bless this earth.

When I got back to our hotel in Houston, I was expecting to go out country dancing with a new friend I have made, a movie stunt man (driver of the silver Viper), but when I hit the bed, I literally passed out and was done for the evening.

Today was the most exhausting and taxing day of our trip so far.

Tomorrow we head to Dallas and then to Oklahoma City in a large convoy!

Now that should be a pretty sight!

Veil Guy (aka Bandit)

Days 1 & 2 of the Fireball Run

If you folks have been keeping up with Radar Roy's blog, you'll understand why I have been posting much in terms of day to day experiences with this event.

As the primary driver of are "racing" team, my top priority is getting Roy and I to our destinations ticket free and out of harms way.

It also means that I am tending to be the more drained of the two of us at the end of each day's passage. In other words, as Roy has been putting an extensive amount of time into preparing his blogging experiences either I have been sleeping or hanging out at the bar with my new friends that I have been making along the way of this incredible event.

I would be remiss, if I did not tip my hat to Roy for turning out to be a fine navigator. His computer acumen coupled with his judicious use of his Garmin GPS and sharp mind have been absolutely invaluable to our racing team. It's been like having a high tech library and encyclopedia in our race care.

As I prepare for what ay turn out to be the most dangerous segment of our nine day cross country rally--the race track high speed event--I would like to briefly reflect upon the previous last two days--from the driver's perspective.

1st Day: Orlando, FL to Baton Rouge, LA.

Total mileage for this leg of the event was 757 miles.

For a time our team had been out in the front of the entire number of FireBallers for quite some time. The Aston Martin Vanquish and the BMW 335i did not manage to keep up with our pace that we had established for some time.

Fortunately for our case, I did not use the cell phone during this portion of the event and remained singularly focused on the task of driving safety and swiftly...I spotted an approaching unmarked Florida High Patrol vehicle approaching us from the opposite side of travel on I-10 East and managed to safely "react" well before he lit us up with instant-one Ka band (34.7Ghz).

For the sake of the integrity of the Fireball Run and the other teams the particulars of the actual events leading to our traffic stop will remain in the annals of FBR folklore. The only ones I really car about knowing what events occurred were the actual ones involved (you know who you are).

I will say only this, reports of our "demise" were greatly exaggerated!

Nothing much to report from Alabama and Mississippi in so far as the race is concerned, however my thoughts and prayers go to the town's people of Biloxi who took the brunt of Hurricane Katrina several years back...It's expected to take them 10 years to be able to mostly recover from that most unfortunate event.

We finished our day with an incredible LA state trooper escort from the LA state line into the town of Baton Rouge, LA.

All in all an incredible day...and one I will never forget! Congratulations to all surviving teams!

2nd Day: Baton Rouge, LA to Houston, TX.

Today was more about navigation than flat-out speed as Roy and I were tasked with four difficult missions which he has detailed in his blog.

Please take Roy's recount of events with a big grain of salt. It seems that many stories told by we Fireballers have a way of getting, how should we say, a bit "inflated."

Roy's recount of my experiences with the Cobra XRS R9G and/or my comments, don't quite line up with my own recollection of today's events. BTW, as the driver of my own vehicle, I set which equipment is on my windshield, period...although Roy's postings make for some good reading entertainment: you'll get a good handle overall on how the day's event proceeded from his perspective and editorial creativity.

One of the purposes of our event is raise awareness for missing children. In our particularly case after being graciously received by the fine folks of Beaumont Texas by the Mayor and acting Chief of Firehouse we had some down time, time which we used for doing good.

As Roy was in a nearby wal-mart making some purchases, I spent time handing out brochures of our assigned child Edward Ramirez. I managed to hand out about 200 fliers to interested citizens. Thank you all for caring enough to try to make a positive difference and contributing to the efforts for finding our missing young boy.

We finally ended up in the city of Houston where I ate at Mortons with the Blinder Dude and a host of other fascinating Fireballers engaged in some pretty heady conversations.

I am appreciating the new friends I am making along our journeys.

I am now going to get prepared for my first competition track event of the Fireball Run.

To be candid, I have been a fearless driver up until now, but the unsettling prospects of turn six at this road course and the concrete retaining wall that stands there has me more than a bit concerned.

I did not come here to either total my personal vehicle and/or make my wife husbandless nor our "kids" fatherless.

At the end of the third day, I trust reason carries the day.

All the best to everyone.

Veil Guy (aka Bandit).

Day of Cross Country Event: FBR

In less than three hours Roy and I start on this historic transcontinental event.

The events of yesterday are best described by Radar Roy (aka Smokey).

Bandit (aka Veil Guy)

Bandit Fairs Better Today

The "Bandit" faired much better heading to Orlando on the final leg of his journey to the race with Radar Roy on Saturday.

Score as of 09-27-07: Smokey 1, Bandit 11

Bandit (aka Veil Guy)

That's one for the smokey.

The "Bandit" didn't fair too well heading to Orlando to start his with race Roy on saturday.

Got nailed in PA.

Score as of 09-26-07: Smokey 1, Bandit 4

Bandit (aka Veil Guy)

Smokey and the Bandit Ride Again!

I am pleased to announce that Radar Roy and the Veil Guy will be racing team members in the upcoming Fireball Run trans-continental rally!

Team Name: Smokey and the Bandit Ride Again!
Team Motto: Live Fast or Die!
Team Vehicle: Veil Guy's BMW/Dinan 540is
Mission: “The Race to Recover America’s Missing”™
Sponsored Charity: Cops Who Care
Event Sponsor: Fire Ball Run

Fred Rides Again

To learn more about this exciting event please visit:

http://www.fireballrun.com/

Roy and I will be using the latest arsenal of defenses including radar detectors from Beltronics, Escort, Valentine Research, Whistler and laser countermeasures Veil and Blinder along with additional tools such as Cheetah's red light camera and speed camera detector.

We will be posting videos and stories of our race experiences as they unfold.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the folks at Radarbusters.com and Veil Corporation for their support of this event.

To Do List:

• Determine Ride
• Charity Selection
  
• Badge Vehicle
• Driver Registration (for Track Events)
• Obtain Necessary Racing Equipment
• Videography

Veil Guy