Another hurry up and wait morning at Ed Bozarth Chevrolet. JJ is producing and directing a Fireball Run documentary for next year, so every morning, regardless of where we are, we parrot a familiar theme. The Legendary Ron Seggi, otherwise known as the Johnny Carson of radio, holding his surgically attached stick mike in his right hand, dapper in his red blazer and shiny shoes, thanks the local mayor and chamber of commerce for hosting the event. We take a group picture after which Ron repeats familiar formalities and concludes with, “FIREBALLER’S GO TO Y0UR CARS.”
Our Cliff Notes tour of America began with a 30 second visit to the Harry Truman Presidential Library, followed by a similar visit to take a picture of 200 year old hair at the hair museum. Nasty business that! In Marshall, MO we had a lunch in a charming little town square built to honor Jim the Wonder Dog. Jim was famous for predicting things, kind of like the World Cup squid and the tic-tac-toe playing chicken.
For some of us the competition has become secondary, and this afternoon a group of us decided forego time for culture. Our final challenge of the day was to locate and tour the studio of a world famous American sculptor. We were greeted by Don Wiegand, whose work is on display all over the world and who lives and works in a magical studio near St. Louis. He lovingly restored and converted a 19th century slaughterhouse into a home/studio that he makes available to the public. I am going to try to make time to return to Mr. Wiegand’s home with my KlaasKids team when we converge upon St. Louis in two weeks time.
My friend Don Levin met me at our finish line at St. Louis Motor Sports this afternoon. He only stayed around for about half an hour, but it was good to see a familiar face. During my brief speech I talked about domestic sex trafficking and could tell that my audience was flabbergasted by the statistics that I provided. I hope that they are getting something out of this and that I am not bringing them all down after a day of fierce competition.
Afterwards I went to a nice Italian restaurant with Valentino and some other Lamborghini enthusiasts. One man in our party explained why he buys and drives insanely expensive and fiercely competitive cars. “Having a fine car on the road is like having a beautiful woman in your bed. You don’t look at a beautiful woman and pat her down with towels. Instead, you put her through her paces, take her deep and satisfy your lust. Similarly, on the highway you should put a great car through its paces. Drive it fast, gear it often, and savor you good fortune.” Oh, and the food was good too.
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