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OOOOPS!!!! It's been brought to my attention by a gloating yet undeniably knowlegable friend who regularly corrects or disagrees with me that I made a rather gross Ferrari faux pas in my last e-blast missive. Seems I inserted an unnecessary and, in some quarters, somewhat unpopular, extra word when naming the marvelous organization (do I know how to suck up or what?) putting on the Ferrari 50th Anniversary National Meet in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. To put it right, the hosting group is the FERRARI CLUB OF AMERICA and, more specifically, my own home boys from the CENTRAL STATES REGION. So sorry for the screwup, as I know in some circles my error would be akin to identifying a native New Zealander as an Australian. I did exactly that once describing a Kiwi driver over the track PA system at Mid Ohio, and I can't really recommend it. Naturally I hate apologizing, but it's important to me to stay on good terms with all the Ferrari folks out there, and particularly considering my somewhat checkered association with the marque. On the one hand, my very first "ride mooch" story (in AutoWeek) was about a 250SWB Berlinetta that my late friend and benefactor Joe Marchetti kindly turned me loose in at Road Atlanta. I still don't understand why he did it, but it led to a co-drive in his 250LM at Road America (first ride-mooch piece for Vintage Motorsport), a couple tries behind the wheel and a feature story on the one-off and intrigue-laden Ferrari Breadvan (fascinating stuff, and the "Breadvan's" incredible and unlikely history will be retold in the new Steamroller book) and serving as an instructor at the Ferrari National Meet track day at Grattan, Michigan. Thanks, Joe.
Now the other shoe drops. Seems certain pencil-neck paragraph troopers connected to Ferrari (lawyers, I mean) took exception to the unbelievably clever "prancing chili peppers" logo that my great, late friend and graphic genius Art Eastman came up with for my Montezuma's Ferrari book.
The bastids sent me a cease-and-desist letter (shown below) and, after a lot of back-and-forth, wagged fingers, shaken heads, windmill-tilting and running around faster and faster in ever-decreasing circles, I ultimately responded by copyrighting the damn thing. So there. Someday the whole, hideous-but-hilarious episode will be related in the next Potside anthology.
Anyhow, sorry for the screwup, Ferrari Friends, and look forward to seeing y'all up at Road America. Feel free to demonstrate your favorite graphic Italian hand gestures in my direction. Until then, CIAO.... |
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UPCOMING "BS" SIGHTINGS & BOOK EVENTS: NOTE: NEW STUFF ADDED! CORRECTIONS MADE!
7/11 (Thursday) 6-9pm: Book Signing at the Cruise Night on Burlington Rd. in Riverside, IL. A relaxed, eclectic and community-supported, once-a-month local summer event that really impressed me when I dropped by a few weeks ago. Everything from MGTCs to Model As to Ferraris to Fifties Cruisers to Hot Rods & Detroit Musclecars. Good food, great people, lotsa fun. Free, too! Would like to get a few "Last Open Road" types out to show off their cars & shill for me by spreading the "Gospel according to Buddy." 7/12-7/13 (Fri-Sat): Millers at Milwaukee, State Fair Park, Milwaukee. If you haven't been, you need to go. Proper old front-engined Indycars filling pit lane & out on track having fun. Offies bark, Millers wail, alcohol fumes fill the air, lotsa wizened old USAC geezers with fabulous stories to share & you might even get a ride around the track in an old racecar...a great time! 7/14, 11am-4pm: Book booth at the excellent Legends & Legacies Barrington Concours at the Makray Memorial Golf Club in Barrington, IL. Fabulous cars, including a couple rare, flamboyant & magnificent French Voisons from the Mullin collection courtesy of my friend David Cooper at Cooper Technica. 7/19-7/21: The HAWK vintage extravaganza at Road America. Signing books at the Vintage Motorsport magazine booth, mouthing off again on the PA (the statute of limitations has apparently expired), judging at the racecar concours Friday evening and maybe even a little driving (I hope) on the Thursday test day. And why the heck do they have the HAWK and the similarly unmissable Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix on the same blessed weekend????? Whoever's in charge, let's FIX that! 7/28: 9am-12 noon: Book signing with Round Table Books (572-B Lincoln Avenue, Winnetka, IL.) during the highly informal Coffee & Classics street show promoted (more or less) by Fuelfed. This is essentially a flash-mob assemblage of nifty old sports cars and classics and their owners (most of whom are old classics in their own right). I've never been, but I grew up in Winnetka and it comes highly recommended. 8/2-8/4, Road America: Book signing with my longtime friend Bob Woodman of Bob Woodman Tires along with "guest instructing" for Team Stradale at the three-day, track-day portion of the 50th-anniversary Ferrari Owners' Club National Meet in Elkhart Lake. This is going to be the biggest and best Ferrari Owners meeting EVER, and I'm really thrilled that I'm going to be part of it. Good news is that I'll meet a lot of new people who've never heard of my books (and can certainly afford to buy them!) and I also may get to drive some REALLY neat cars. Downside (hey, I've coached at Ferrari meets before) will be sitting in the passenger seat trying to get somebody who's already scaring the crap out of me to go faster! Is this any kind of occupation for a nice Jewish boy? 8/15-8/18: In California for Monterey Historics/Pebble Beach. I'll be hawking books in the Vintage Motorsports booth (except when Bob Bondurant is there...that's one too many schmoozers in a small space) and maybe dropping in on the PA booth. Should be a biggie (Corvette's 60th, Porsche 911's 50th). See you there? |
If you've never read the utterly hilarious He'll be hearing from our lawyers shortly.
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Don't Forget our piggy banks! |
Catch the latest poop & pictures, the Jay Leno interview, Finzio's Store and the lurid & occasionally embarrassing "ride with Burt" in-car racing videos on the website at: |
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