As you can imagine, this set my personal racing program back a bit, as I had naught but moths in my wallet following a "damn the torpedoes (not to mention credit-card balances), full speed ahead" season of SCCA National racing the previous year. So I turned to writing about racing as a way to stay involved while I--how should I put it?--"re-evaluated my options..." But back to Daytona. The aforementioned Adrian Newey was racing the March/Chev (looked after by my great friend, accomplished racer, Savannah Race Engineering proprietor, engine-builder par excellence and occasional Amelia Island "Buddy Palumbo Award" sculptor Ted Wenz) as part of a self-admitted "mid-life crisis." Only he had a RR tire blow on the banking in one of the early practice sessions, and although he was able to gather it up (albeit with every orifice on his body likely choked down to f22), the wall and the flailing tire carcass had done no good at all for the RR suspension, and the March was done for the weekend. But Newey stayed around for a well-attended/not-to-be-missed Q&A session (moderated by mainline racing geek, genial master of ceremonies, diehard racer, longtime friend and Amelia Island Concours founder Bill Warner) alongside stock car legend & soon-to-be NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Ray Evernham (who really likes my books, by the way). Ray is best known as the Hendrick Motorsports crew chief/tech maven who wrenched, organized, figured and wizarded (is that a real word?) Jeff Gordon to three NASCAR championships. He was on hand at Daytona to co-drive Dave Roberts' Porsche Cayman, but he was not about to miss a chance to share some stage time with Adrian Newey. And it was a real treat to hear two of the top technical and, umm, "rules interpretation" minds from two polar-opposite ends of the sport swap stories and opinions. Also on hand at Daytona was my old, old friend, motorsports addict and impresario extraordinaire and master shooter Jack Webster. When I first started out with THE LAST OPEN ROAD (can it really be 23 years ago?) Jack believed in it, and I wound up signing copies out of his "Classic Impressions" booth at racetracks all over the country. To be honest, we never could have made it without him. And I still remember how he'd find time to sneak away during the weekend to shoot pictures. He's got a hell of an eye. And a hell of a passion for the sport, too. So now, finally, he's put it all together with a brand-new book of his motorsports photography. And it's wonderful. But rather than bore you with a lot of BS about "how marvelous my good friend's book is," let me just show you a couple images and let you judge for yourself

This is like ballet, right? Brazilian pro driver Augusto Farfus leaping off the pit wall to take over the Rayhal/Letterman BMW at Sebring. There's a whole section on manic pit activity and the waiting and worrying that happens in between the frenetic--but often beautifully choreographed--stops. Also some revealing portraits of F1 drivers like Stewart and Cevert from the old F1 days at Watkins Glen, lots of racing history, great action stuff (Jackie Oliver's Shadow trying a through-the-blessed-dirt double-pass around his teammate George Follmer and Brian Redman in the Porsche 917/30 at Mid Ohio and a whole bunch of fabulous "Racing in the Rain" photos like the one below:

There are a few words, too, plus a forward by Sebring and Le Mans winner Dindo Capello. Good stuff. Here's a pic of me & Jack with out respective first books at Daytona:

Jack's book contains over 400 images on 328 pages and you can see more of them and order signed or even personalized copies direct from him for holiday giving ($69.95 plus ten bucks shipping) by clicking on the link in yellow below. Heartily recommended! RACING PILOTS BOOK By the way, Jack hails from Dayton, Ohio, and served as team manager for the Dayton-based Fabcar/Porsche effort that came home 2nd in class and 12th overall at the Daytona 24 Hours in 1987. They let me drive it once at Mid-Ohio (for a story, of course) and it was neat to see the car and many of the original cast of characters back for the HSR Classic 24 (note Jack on the far right and original drivers John Higgins in the driving suit and Charlie Monk next to Jack).

They did pretty good, too. Higgins is an old friend (in fact, we're both old these days...see below)

but he's still a lot of fun and can still kind-of drive. Plus his sense of humor, well, just see the pic below of the Fabcar's dashboard:

Speaking of Holiday Gift Giving, we still got lots of great books, art prints, logo clothing and stocking-stuffers available at FINZIO'S STORE on the website at www.lastopenroad.com So click on it and buy something already! And remember that Carol and I will be out of town during the holidaze, so don't let it wait until the last freaking minute to order.