Edition 50, October 16th - 2009

La Crosse Results / Year End Thank You

Pat and I love La Crosse for its natural beauty, things to do, and so much of a big city wrapped up in a small town atmosphere. We always look forward to going to the race season finals. So even with record cold temperatures, we headed for our special spot, with new enthusiasm. This soon faded Saturday, when the team reported that a car that needed some adjustment turned into loose and ill handling on Saturday. Qualified 33 of 50 cars and got wrecked in a heat race that put us in the hauler. The Mid Am entry was very good, and in fact moved from starting 17 th spot to 3 rd. before getting caught up in someone else’s malady before retiring for the night. We would go home knowing we should have done better, but finished 8 th in the Big 8 series as a first year competitor. It is very hard to go from a series champion to “could have done better” in a new series.

But on to the people that made this team great:

Don Collins: Car Chief
Ex-racer, mechanic, and all around good guy. This guy has raced against all the best and he certainly did one hell of a job taking care of the car, tuning, and being one of the best supporters of the race team that I have ever witnessed. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations about “when it was racing”.

Justin Kane: Crew Member
Quiet and shy member who has whatever it takes attitude. Justin was hard to find sometimes as he was under the car changing shocks, springs, adjusting stagger, or whatever was necessary. Justin was there when we needed him.

Cody and Jordan DeVoy Crew Members:
These two very young men came on in mid-season to help us when we needed it most. No job was too menial for these race enthusiasts. We talked, laughed, shook our heads in disgust, and worked though the troubles together. We hope we continue to be part of a winning team.

Ryan Farrell Helper when necessary:
Ryan was there with us when his personal race schedule did not interfere to help where he could. I like our Days of Thunder banter, which broke the tension when needed.

Adam Berge the Man behind the Scenes
Ex-car owner and personal friend of James Swan. Adam has always been there to help where he could and often was working alone to set-up the late model sportsman vehicle for James. Adam has always been a friend and he makes certain I know all the details of car set ups and racing. I think Adam and I will always talk on the phone on a weekly basis, he is like a brother I never had.

Hankscraft Crew:
Mark Blume, Adam Favia and all the staff at Hankscraft that have supported this race team though thick and thin. Rarely a Monday would appear without a question from our fellow employees asking “how did James do last weekend?’ We thank everyone for all your concern.

James Swan; Driver Extraordinaire
What can you say about a man who is probably one of the best race car talents that I have ever met? We appreciate all your efforts, we hope that you continue to prosper in racing, and that we are affiliates and friends for years to come. Thanks; James.

Our Fans
To the great people that we have met and we refer to as friends over the past few years, “Thank You” for including us as a part of your racing circle. The list of these people is too long to list here. We will never forget you, and hope your never forget us!

So we move on, yet to be determined. But we will never look back with anything but gratitude for the experiences we have shared.

RACING TO THE CHECKERS

Jim