Not sure if I'm going to be able to come up with something that includes "odd" or a derivative of the word in every post, but I'll give it shot. The reason why I started including each is vague now, but since I've started it; I guess I'll do it until it's dead....
No racing this weekend for me. I talked to our Car Chief yesterday and I understand that the car needs some servicing. The team is based out of LA and the crew is somewhat spread out - so I guess this would probably be a great time to tell you about the crew.
There are five other crew members, including the Crew Chief, that make up the team. Our Car Chief is David, but goes by the nickname, Huggy Bear, or Huggy, for short. I don't think I've ever called him by his given name and I can't recall anyone using anything other than Huggy when referring to him. Hugg lives in Indianapolis and was a professional crew member for a number of NHRA fuel funny car teams. He has an incredible work ethic and absolutely loves drag racing. He knows how to operate a race car better than most people I know and I appreciate the time he's spent teaching me the various jobs I perform on the car. He's a funny dude and continually points out that no matter what we do, someone is watching us, so be aware of what you do - especially at the track.
Carl is our clutch guy and lives down in the Los Angeles area. He jumps out of airplanes for fun and responds with, "Out-fucking-standing", when he agrees with something you said or a job performed well. He taught me how to pack parachutes and doesn't settle for incomplete or half-ass performance on tasks related to the car. He also drives the tow-car (which would drive me bananas) and is hell on the horn when we have a tight turn around coming. Funniest moment so far - before going to the staging lanes, he asked me if he had anything on his face. I responded with, "Well of course you do! You're the clutch guy - you're supposed to look like you just climbed out of a West Virginia coal mine!" Carl busts his butt to give our driver the best car he can for the upcoming lap.
On the right bank cylinders is Shaun. Shaun is from the SF Bay Area and has been on the team for a number of years. He's capable of working very quickly, under pretty intense pressure and producing exceptional results. He takes a lot of pride in our crew's ability to service the car quickly and efficiently and likes to push everyone to do better each time. He also knows where to find everything for the car in the hauler. He recognizes and appreciates hard work and loves to win.
Richard is on the left bank cylinders and lives in the Los Angeles area too. He's been a good friend of the owner/driver of the car since they were kids and is very calm and steady. I don't think I've ever seen Richard upset - I have seen everyone else upset at one point or another, but not Richard. He takes everything in stride, but is one of the fastest workers when it comes to servicing the car between rounds. I enjoy working with him and appreciate his steady demeanor.
The responsibility for the car set up on each run falls to Ronnie, our Crew Chief. It's a bit of a misnomer to call Ronnie the Crew Chief and Huggy, the Car Chief because Ronnie sets the car and Huggy oversees the crew. Ronnie examines the data from past runs and sets the car's timing according to his best estimate of what it can do in the given situation. Ronnie now lives in the Los Angeles area and has worked as a professional tuner for many years. He's been with this car for a number of years as well and is very talented. It's his job to translate the air temperature, humidity, and track surface into a fast, clean lap. Tied for first place in the series is a good place to be sitting going into the last race and much of that is due to Ronnie's race translation.
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