A CUNNING PLAN: PART ONE

As you have no doubt noticed, I started a bit of a trend with my second novel, MONTEZUMA'S FERRARI, by funding the project the same way much of my racing has been funded: with sponsorships and advertising. Worked like a champ, too. In fact, that "novel" idea won MONTEZUMA'S FERRARI the 2000 Benjamin Franklin "Book of the Year" award for innovation in publishing.

No shit.

Only now I want to add a little more class and style--not to mention an overall theme--to our advertising section. So this time it's gonna be limited to destinations (car & aircraft museums, art galleries, book stores, race tracks, etc.), events (use your imaginations) and clubs/associations that I believe will appeal to and moreover attract my audience. Working title for the section is:

B.S., Buddy and Big Ed's Bucket List!

Whaddaya think?

A CUNNING PLAN, PART TWO:

So I had this idea for doing a gallery of people's favorite cars. My original vision was that people would send in pix of their own road cars, race cars, restoration projects, etc. And we've got several on board already. Cost is 500 bucks, the pic will be in every copy ever printed and you can do a wee caption, too (what a surprise if you do it for somebody else for a Christmas present!!!!) We'll lay it out like an upscale classified section like those bucks-up exotica dealers do in the English magazines. Working title is "BIG ED'S DEFINITELY NOT FOR SALE USED CAR LOT."

Think about it. Your car might look really cool in there...

So Carol and I did the Friday and Saturday of the upmarket SRO/Fanatec weekend at Road America, and it featured some really good, pretty good and kinda okay drivers in all sorts of the very latest GT cars like they run at all those bigtime endurance races. And may I say:

1) These are unbelievably quick motor cars. Was signing books next to craggy old past-master racing and broadcasting hero David Hobbs, and he noted that the quickest ones were right in line with the lap records he and his ilk used to do in pur sang Formula 5000s.

2) The series are INCREDIBLY competitive! Clots and trains of cars duking it out for the lead were the norm rather than the exception. VERY entertaining! And the way the organizers have managed to balance the top cars from BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, Corvette, Mustang etc. so that they're all in and around the same performance window and yet are still individual and sound and look different as they scream around the track.

3) No crowding! There were a few spectators, but this racing is mostly for the benefit of the competitors (think Chump Car with Pentagon-grade budgets!) and the online audience.

Come Sunday Carol and I were invited to open up our book pushcart at the Coal Dock Concours in Port Washington, WI (just a half hour south of Road America. And what a wonderfully low-key and eclectic show! Fabulous cars from Old School to modern, lots of engaging odd stuff and a lovely venue right on Lake Michigan. Put it on your list for next year.