EchoBooming in Birmingham

It’s time for the big show over at WorkPlay this weekend.

The Soulful Pop /Singer-Songwriter sounds of Louisanna native Marc Broussard will share the stage with Birmingham’s own Michael Warren (AAA /Singer-Songwriter). The show in the soundstage way in the back of WorkPlay to accomadate more than the normal 500 or so patrons. This show will sell out if it hasn’t already (but knowing Birmingham, it will probably sell out about an hour before the show).

Also of great importance to myself this weekend is a little thing called AutoX (Auto Cross). Me, in my grocery getter, driving as fast as I can through a course of cones set up in the BRC’s parking lot. Time is added for every cone you knock over and time is subtracted for every Sweepstakes patron you take out (the new time subtraction rule was sponsored by the SBC).

Our course is conciderably smaller than it was before the casino Sweepstakes came to town, but it’s still just as fun. Come watch several dozen people train their daily driver cars to massacre cones!

Ignore

The District 54 race is rearing its ugly hair again (as if anyone doubted that an election won by 51 votes wouldn’t be contested).

http://alablawg.wordpress.com/2006/07/28/district-54-again/" target="_blank" target="_blank">AlabLAWg managed to pipe up with some excelent points including this little gem about the WAR ON DUMB article that I http://3choboomer.net/2006/07/25/thar-be-monsters-here/" target="_blank" target="_blank">blogged about last week:

The mayor’s atlas is not only wrong, but anyone who accepts it cares not for Birmingham, and has plenty of their own prejudices.

First, that Kincaid and Hendricks could be so wrong about the make-up of the area means they have no interest at all in the area. That is a shame, because these are the wealthiest neighborhoods in B’ham. And that these well-to-do people choose to live in B’ham in spite of the high crime, bad schools, and inept leadership, means that they really love the city. Yet the mayor, and Hendricks ignore them. The resource is not just untapped, it is rejected. That is bad for B’ham.

Amen Brother, Amen…

Shore

Fairlyn had quite the grainy time at the beach. I’m sure she injested nearly as much sand as I got in my shoes all week. Hopefully sand is good ruffage.

Her first reactions to things like the surf and salt water are priceless memories that I will never forget.

More pics after the jump…

Subaru Whore

I whored myself out to the COBB/GOTO:Racing Subaru Legacy GT team this weekend at the Barber Motorsports Park. They are a very well organized team and I really didn’t do too much to help them other than watch them work. I could have been a bad luck charm as they had a few electrical gremlins on the pace lap and started the race in the pits. They finally got back out on to the track a few laps down, and quickly moved through the field (even passing in the grass after being pushed off the track by a BMW). They were not able to get back on the lead lap before they retired due to some mechanical issues (I was asked not to go into any details about the mechanical issues by the team owner, and if that changes, I’ll post up the details).

However all was not lost for Subaru’s racing efforts Saturday. The ICY/Pheonix Subaru Legacy GT (which is sponsored by Subaru themselves) finished the race in 2nd place and they would have won the race outright had the Grand Am officials not called off the race due to the threat of severe weather. (All we got was rain, and the AWD Legacy would have cleaned house against the other rear and front wheel drive competitors). I also heard a little rumor that because of politics, the ICY team was not forced to monitor the turbo boost on their car (All of the other turbo and supercharged cars are forced to monitor their boost including the other Subaru Legacy). Since racing is all about cheating within the rules, I’m sure they were running much more boost than they were supposed to, and subsequently making much more power than the rest of the field. But I ain’t one to gossip, so you didn’t hear that from me…
Subaru Wagon Photo Credit: Jeffery Keeton
(more…)

So I spent May 25-29th driving around the moutians of Western NC (and a little bit of Eastern TN). NASIOC held it’s 6th annual “Dragon Meet” at Fontana Village, NC. My “driving vacation” centered around a little place known by several names:

• Deal’s Gap, NC
• US 129
• Tail of the Dragon
• The Dragon

Your best bet for more information is http://tailofthedragon.com.
The best way to describe the road is this:

318 turns, 11 miles

I spent my 6 days up there on various daytrips including a loop that included a quick stop off in the tourist trap that is Gatlinburg, TN for lunch and then down to Cherokee, NC and then back over to Fontana Village. One trip over to Franklin and Highlands, NC, an entire day spent on gravel (in someone else’s car), and nearly an entire day spent driving “the dragon” itself (while avoiding a few bike wrecks).

Highlights:
The trip up, loaded down with 8 shocks, 4 springs, 4 top spring mounts, 4 wheels, 4 tires, one oil cooler, and all of my luggage. (overlooking Ocoee Dam #3).

Slow moving traffic on the Foothills Parkway.

Dork gear as my passenger.

On top of a mountian labeled as “Holy Butt” on my GPS program.

A riverbank made up of junked cars south of Cherokee, NC (click the pic to see the full size image).

Cruising on NC28 (aka “the hellbender“).

Parked checking out the waterfall northwest of Highlands, NC.

Fontana Dam. Largest dam east of the Mississippi (close to where we stayed).

Photos taken by others after the jump (more…)

Sometimes I’m thankful for the things I miss out on…

That wasn’t the case with the Pinback show Friday night. (Can you tell I’m still upset about that?)
But it was the case for the Divisional RallyX in Chatanooga this past weekend:
(Big thanks to Scott Evans for the pictures.)

However, the weekend was not a total bust.

Two of our very own BDSM members placed 1st and 2nd in the Modified 4WD class:
Shea Serian 1st Place M4 (bhamwrxman) (Blue WRX)
Scott Evans 2nd Place M4 (shagnrs) (Red WRX #70)

More pictures after the jump:
(more…)

Mental note:

Getting into a car with “TC” may not be the smartest thing I’ve ever done…

So my buddy Jabroni and I are looking for a beater car to Rally-X, and as anyone who has ever driven down 7th Ave. S. near the lakeview district can attest, TC (bar owner, UAB supporter, many times over UAB grad, and many times over political candidate) has a isht ton of VW Beetles sitting in front of his bar in the Lakeview District.

I ran into TC last night at the “cease fire” meeting for District 3 and I asked him about buying one of his beaters for Rally-X.

So this afternoon, Jab and I stopped by TC’s bar in Lakeview to inspect a few VeeDubs. After explaining what we were looking for, TC decided to take us for a ride in one of his “Baja” style Beetles. The first one had a flat, but a quick trip around the block resulted in a freshly inflated tire with “I dunno, put about 10 more psi in it” lbs of air.

What happened next is something that I was absolutely not expecting. TC went down to 6th Ave, eyed an empty lot, switched off his lights, and proceeded to do donuts in the empty lot.

I’m
Not
Joking

After making his escape (back around the corner, one block away). We all loaded up in the other Baja Beetle (I was thinking surely one agricultural excursion in the middle of Lakeview was enough) and TC headed back for the lot.
Luckily for TC, he never had to switch off the lights on this one since it didn’t have any freaking lights!

Anyway, word to the wise… Don’t get in a car with TC, especially if it’s a Baja Beetle.