So I was working in Omaha this week and the data cable/telephone system vendor at the hotel was Division 5 Super Comp Racer (#5760) Jim Gottsch. I overheard him talking about getting ready for his next race (2 weeks in Great Bend, Kansas) and then we talked racing the rest of the week. He runs a big block Chrysler wedge combination, 588 cu in. He is a real cool guy, so if you need any Cat5 cable ran in the Omaha/Iowa/Rapid City/Kansas area, support a fellow racer!

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I am suspicious of everyone's agenda, especially my own.

Very cool. It's always fun running into racers away from the track, especially the guys with the long cars.

I've had a few drag racing small world experiences. Used to get to have lunch with Frank, Tony, and Carmen Pisano when I ran to the west coast and back in the early 90s. Got to watch Dick Lahaie's grandson while Jeff was going for his super comp license at 131 when I lived in Grand Rapids.

Met Jim Barillaro at a Dairy Queen in the middle of nowhere on I-40 in TN. We're watching pre-inauguration ceremonies on TV and start chatting out of the blue. We get around to asking what each other did. He says "I build and restore something called funny cars." He was in the process of moving his stuff to a shop that was less than 10 miles from where I grew up.

My current loads of cabinets often have stops where I'll end a day less than two miles from friends' houses who are building nostalgia funny cars and one who's building an IHRA nitro funny car.

A year or so ago, I was having lunch for the first time with one of those friends in CT. I was telling him about how, a week earlier, I'd unhooked from my trailer and was bobtailing to an ice cream place. I passed where I was going because the entrance was too small and turned around in a parking lot to go back. It turns out that where I turned around was the parking lot for his real estate office! What are the odds of THAT???

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I'm an optimist. My glass is 1/4 full, not 3/4 empty!

Jim is certainly a great guy and racer. He's helped us out on some Mopar parts in a pinch.

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My imaginary friends think I have serious mental problems.

One summer I worked in telemarketing (will never do that again) selling fishing lures and golf clubs and one of the names that came up on the computer screen was Brad Tuttle. I don't know if it's the same one that drove the Nitro Bandit but it was a California number so who knows it could have been, he wasn't home.

One day when I first became a courier, I had a delivery for a residence on Nome Street in Aurora, Colorado. The name on the package looked really familure to me, so I walked up to the door and there was Brian Raymer, Former Top Alcohol Dragster Driver in D-5! We talked for a while and I even had coffee with him. He signed the signature record, and when I got back, I made a copy of it, and put his signature in my Truck.... It's still in that truck btw!

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Timmah! 5636 S/C
"What do Termites eat for Breakfast? OAK-MEAL!"
http://www.myspace.com/timcharlet

That actually sounds just a lil bit creepy.

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My imaginary friends think I have serious mental problems.

At least he didn't do it for the same reason(s) you usually have to worry about your personal information today. When he starts SELLING it?

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I'm an optimist. My glass is 1/4 full, not 3/4 empty!

Uh...that would never happen....So, please don't question that I would.

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Timmah! 5636 S/C
"What do Termites eat for Breakfast? OAK-MEAL!"
http://www.myspace.com/timcharlet

Aw, don't worry about it Tim, I was just givin' ya grief.

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My imaginary friends think I have serious mental problems.

Gee whiz. Did you notice a smiley?

Just let me know if your lawyer needs to talk to my lawyer.

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I'm an optimist. My glass is 1/4 full, not 3/4 empty!

Uh..nope..didn't notice the smiley... No worries Ron... i don't need to send the lawyers out yet..we've jacked Chris' Thread enough... Sorry Chris!

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Timmah! 5636 S/C
"What do Termites eat for Breakfast? OAK-MEAL!"
http://www.myspace.com/timcharlet

So, Chris' lawyer may need to speak with our lawyers? I think our lawyers would still have to work independently or, they might be accused of conflict of interest since they'd also be working on our cases against each other.

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I'm an optimist. My glass is 1/4 full, not 3/4 empty!

Funny...when I was at DIA one day, I met one of the Attorney's who works for NHRA....He sounded just as confused as this thread....!!

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Timmah! 5636 S/C
"What do Termites eat for Breakfast? OAK-MEAL!"
http://www.myspace.com/timcharlet

Dont stop now. This is classic sunday reading