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| June's Southwest Report by June Lowitz |
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September 3, 2005...
As I sit in my air conditioned apartment watching SPEED TV and
the BUSCH qualifying, I can't help but sit back and realize how
lucky I am to have what I have. After watching the
destruction that Hurricane Katrina did to Louisiana, Alabama,
Mississippi and Florida, I'm so thankful that my biggest
complaints are the heat from living here in the desert southwest
and possibly sunburn. I look around at my room at all of
my souvenirs and pictures and I just can't imagine how it must
be for those people who have lost everything. My
roommate's sister lives in Shreveport, Louisiana and she has
been emailing my roommate to let her know she's ok and what's
been going on.
I know this is a lot to ask of everyone, but I'm going to put
this challenge out to EVERYONE. Please, take just $5 from
your wallet and donate it to the American Red Cross or Salvation
Army or one of the numerous charities that are taking donations
for the hurricane victims. If you can afford more please
donate it. If you think about it $5 is just one lunch a
week that you would eat out at a fast food restaurant. If
all of the racing fans pull together and can donate just $5 per
person can you imagine how much money the Red Cross would have
to help these people out. Try to imagine yourself with
NOTHING. Just the clothes on your back. No pictures,
no books, no computer, no home. This is the time where we
can all come together and help out each other.
As I write this, I'm feeling so lucky to be where I am today and
to have what I have today. Tonight I have a choice as to
where I can go and what I can do. I choose to go to
Manzanita Speedway to watch my favorite type of cars race.
I can't wait to see if Jeremy will win it again or if there will
be someone new in the winners circle tonight. There's so
many great drivers and teams in ASCA it's really hard to choose
a favorite. There's drivers who have made some major
improvement over the past year like Bernie Smith. Bernie's
one of those owner/drivers who has really come a long way.
There's guys like Nathan High who won his first main this year
and Jay Ervine. Jeff Henry's finally got the monkey off of
his back and has been very competitive this year. You have
your favorites like Bob Ream, Jr., Josh Pelkey and Marty Miller
who are there week in and week out. I can't forget to
mention the "Radio Flyer" Bruce St. James, who is
doing better and better each week that he races and Channel 3's
morning news man Scott Pasmore.
I've had the opportunity to go to California and watch sprint
car racing at Ventura and at Perris Auto Speedway. One
thing I have to say that the ASCA has that the other two
associations that I watched don't have is the family type
atmosphere. When I walk into the pits after an ASCA race,
you see everyone (most of the time) with smiles on their faces,
drivers talking to other drivers and being friendly about it.
I just didn't feel the family type atmosphere at these other
tracks. I've even heard people at these other tracks
remark about how friendly ASCA and the ASCA racers are.
ASCA reminds me of racing back in the 70's when I grew up.
You would help out a team in need, even if you were competing
against them in the next race. I really have to say thanks
to ASCA for making not only me feel so welcome but for making
other racers and fans feel welcome too.
I have to take the time to apologize to everyone for not keeping
up on my writing. I've had a pretty busy summer with going
to California a couple of times, going to Tucson and with the
changes that have been made at work. I just haven't had
the time or the mind set to write anything worth reading.
I'm sorry for that and I promise to get better.
I want to take the time to say a special hello to LCPL Jim
Gardner, Jr. who is now in Iraq in the Marine Corps.
Please make sure to include all of the men and women serving in
the Armed Forces in your prayers as they are in a place where
it's not so friendly and nice. And it's hotter than it is
here. Jim called me one morning and he told me it was 120
degrees at 830am. I will never complain about the heat
again!!!!
I have to say hi to my newly adopted family the Lloyds.
Pops Larry Sr and Momma Pat head the family racing team with
Larry Jr driving. You might have seen the pretty #87 car
race here with ASCA. Traveling over from California is a
big expense and with gas prices being what they are, Larry is
taking a couple of weeks off and regroup. This is a family
owned and sponsored effort and the family would welcome any
sponsor help that would be offered. Please email me and I
can put you in touch with the family for more information if you
would like to sponsor this young, up and coming driver.
There are two people that should be commended for their help
this year with ASCA and sponsorship. Bill Shaver and Grady
Watkins. Bill has been putting up $50 for the winner of
the trophy dash and for the past few ASCA races I've been to,
Grady has been matching Bill's $50. Bill is also putting
up $500 to the driver who leads the trophy dash points at the
end of the year. It's people like Bill and Grady that keep
racing going. This is what I've been talking about.
You don't even have to give $50. Just give $20 or $25 to
your favorite driver or car owner would be appreciated, I'm
sure. With the price of gasoline, that will help get the
cars to the track, or it could go for fuel, pit passes, tear
offs or whatever the team needs.
It's time for me to get ready to go racing. I'm hoping for
a great event since the racing will be on the half mile and
there is qualifying. I'll see you at Manzy either tonight
or next week. Feel free to email any comments to me at ASCAJune@aol.com.
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