The Pit Board
Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.
Napoleon Hill
It is surely a great calamity for a human being to have no obsessions.
Robert Bly
What was your ignition source? What event in your life planted the automotive seed? There are many reasons we all come here. For some it is an escape. For others it is the competition. There are friendships and rivalries. It is a game, a social outlet and for some it can be a source of absolute frustration or pure heaven. The reasons we all come here are as varied as our personalities and backgrounds. The single common denominator is everyone's obsession with cars. Although there are varying degrees of that obsession, we all have it. It is why we continue to purchase every incarnation of Gran Turismo and line up on the grid every week.
The vast majority of our members have had a love affair with cars as long as they can remember. It does not matter if you are a teenager or approaching retirement. Our love of anything and everything with four wheels and an internal combustion engine is the glue that bonds this League together. For most of us we were not aware that the seed was being planted but looking back we can clearly see a moment that created our life long infatuation with the automobile
For me it is clear what put this obsession into motion.
Speed Racer. The original late 1960's anime. I didn't discover the series until 1971. Once I did, it changed my whole life. It has been years since I have watched an episode but it still has influence on me to this day. Back in the early 1970's, there were but a few channels to start with and even fewer kid friendly shows. The discovery of Speed Racer was also the beginning of an epic feud with my older sister. At that time she was enamored with I Dream Of Jeannie. They were on at the same time. We have laughed about it on several occasions over the years but at the time it was war. Eventually the series quit airing but my love of cars and racing just got stronger. Plastic models, Matchbox/Hotwheels, slot cars and the like were all that I collected and played with. Ironically, by the time I was about 9, I had a fairly large poster of "Jeannie" on my wall.
Even after 40 years, I still have a little Speed Racer on the brain. When I am watching Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson squeals "Speeeeeeeeed", depending on how he says it, I picture one of the characters from Speed Racer. Sometimes it is Trixie and sometimes it is Pops. Most of the time I see Spritle. I have even taken it a few steps farther. If Jeremy is Spritle, then Richard is clearly Chim-Chim!! The jury is still out as to where James fits in. There are times Sparky could be plausible but in some instances he is a really ugly P.M.S.ing Trixie. The Stig? Speed or Racer X.....?
They say you can't un-ring a bell and I am sorry for painting that picture. It just goes to show that even though I do not have a stable of super cars nor do I have anything to do with the auto industry, my passion for cars and racing will influence my life as long as I can hold a thought in my head.
I have mentioned it before but the creation of The Pit Board has been to garner attention and to highlight one of the elements that makes our League unique. The S.N.A.I.L. Results spreadsheet is prolific in it's depth of data collection. It has many uses and it is starting to get the attention it deserves. The document is deep in several respects but one of it's most important functions is to assist in the decision making process for monthly promotion, relegation and division leveling. In fact, it is the single most important element when it comes down to who goes where each and every month.
Many hands help keep the data flowing but the most important individuals are the division data specialists. The information entered every week after League night are the foundation for the entire document. Without these entries, the spreadsheet would die and the task of setting up our divisions every month would become next to impossible.
There are several key players on Team S.N.A.I.L. but this week I want to focus on the Data Specialist. The League is in dire need of primary and back up data guys. It is too much work to have one individual recording data for multiple divisions. The League is asking for any help that you are willing to give.
I am the D.S. for division 4 and I really enjoy it. I always seem to have one issue or another on Sunday night that lands me in a less desirable final position. As I enter data for the night, I get to watch the replays and as I enter the lap times I see that my laps are in line with what the rest of the division are running. It helps me understand that it is not my speed that is killing my results. It is consistency. It really helps keep me motivated to try harder every week.
Look deep within yourselves and think about how much fun this League is. We need more hands to help with data entry. What the League is looking for is a few folks that are dedicated and reliable. Even with a full grid, it only takes about an hour to enter all of the required data. If this, or any other Team S.N.A.I.L. positions pique your interest and you would like to give a little back, send a P.M. to zer05ive or kcheeb and they can give you all of the details.
Race Clean, Race Hard, Race S.N.A.I.L.
