Monday, August 31, 2009

Carnight 2009! A Hot August Night. Fire, Smoke and Nitro filled the air.

Last Thursday it was "Hot! Hot! Hot!" as the temperature moved into triple digits and wild fires burned throughout the Southland mountains and valleys. But it was also hot for another reason: Carnight 2009! Once a year Dalcorp/AREA 51, The Finish Line and WR Trans open their shops and invite people to come in and check out all that's happening in this little corner of the gear head world. For the second year in a row, Bob Hansen of Hansen Chassis brought out his vintage T/F dragster, the 1966 record holding Wynn's Spoiler, and thrilled the crowd with not one, but two start ups! Fumes and flames shot into the night air and created quite a sight. The evening was the perfect time for people to share some food, drink and their love for the internal combustion engine. Thanks to Fred Trout, Erica Nocita and especially Tim Pittman for helping make the evening run so smoothly. You guys are the best!
It looked like Mopar Madness in Dalcorp's main
room. A lot of horsepower sittin' there.

When's the last time you saw one of these? This
one belongs to Fred Trout. Awesome!

"Lil' Kass" Heublein spending some quality time
with Dalcorp Driver Wyatt Radke and his special
"seat cover" Teresa.

Jeff Hunt, owner of The Finish Line, provided some
great food and drink for many of his clients and friends.

The Good Neighbor Pharmacy/BG Oil Chevelle
got a lot of attention throughout the night. Check
out the GNP logo after it was tuned up a bit by
John McNall, owner of McNall Advertising of
Monrovia. Nice job, John.

Raffle tickets were sold during the afternoon and
evening to help offset the cost of the nitro and to also
give two lucky people a chance to sit in Hansen's T/F
car during the fire ups. Here Mark Wilkerson slides
into the seat for the start up around 7:00pm. Mark was
the first of two lucky winners.

Bob makes a few adjustments as Mark gets his
nitro fix!

Not a lot of room in there, huh Mark? That's Debbie
Nocita in the backround looking on.

Cool cars, cool people and a hot August night...
Does it get any better?

Variety is the name of the game at Carnight. Just
take a look at the three bikes in this picture.

....best time of the day.

Long time friend of Dalcorp, Doug Stokes (l) enjoys
the night with Powersports journalist and photographer
Ken Freund of The Write Stuff. Doug has been
responsible for providing many of the opportunities
that Dalcorp Racing has been a part of and is a
promoter of motorsports in general. He's also the
guy you want to talk to at Gale Banks Engineering.
Thanks Doug for all of your help over the years!
You are and always will be the man!

Another long time friend, Chris Shevlin
(second from the left), wife Becky, daughter Sarah
and friends spent the evening enjoying the action. Chris
is with Chicago Title Insurance and has been on board as
an associate sponsor of Dalcorp Racing since the late 90's.
Oh yeah, and the guy on the right? That's AJ Nocita,
another one of Dalcorp Racing's pilots. AJ was celebrating
his 21st birthday. Congratulations AJ!

Would you believe that Mark Wilkerson also won
the second drawing for the seat in the nitro car
fire up! He was quite the gentlemen,
however, giving the seat to "Colorado" Lauren Paff.
I think she was excited to be in the seat.....ya' think!

Lauren gave out a yell when the motor lit. It was
good to be CO-Lauren.

Bob getting ready to whack the throttle...

No caption necessary.

Lauren never put the rag over her face...she
handled the nitro like a pro. CO-Lauren, you are
"Bad A**!"

I think she liked it!

Hansen and Paff....Not a bad name for a nitro car!

Mernie (l) sold ice cream all night for Tim
"Captain Ice Cream" Gavern who had another engagement
and couldn't attend. Thanks Mernie for all of your
help.

Hansen, Bobby Lee and CO-Lauren talking over
her adventure. I don't know who had more
fun, Bob Hansen or CO-Lauren?

Kimberly Nocita, William Brown, CO-Lauren and
Kelly Brown share a moment at the end of the
night. And yes, that is THE Kelly Brown,
the fashion and costume designer. Thanks for
stopping in and joining the party!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

"ARE YOU READY TO SKYDIVE?" Part 2

From the sound of some of the feedback we received from part 1 of "ARE YOU READY TO SKYDIVE?" we might have some new jumpers the next time we go out as a group! We will keep everyone informed as to when that will be and we'll let you know once we set the next date...stay tuned!
There was another story within a story last Saturday concerning Margaret Davis and Colleen Heublein. It was very important that once we set the date for the jump that we did it early in the morning because of a scheduling issue for the mother/daughter duo. Mahgy and Colleen had a few things on the calendar that weekend. Colleen drove up from San Diego Saturday morning; Mahgy down from Azusa. After making their jumps and a quick lunch, Colleen left to head back to Valley Center to pack for an overnight stay in San Diego. Meeting up with Mahgy at the park and ride by North County Fair at 2:00pm it was down to The Sheraton in San Diego to check in at the Expo before it closed at 5pm. Check in? For what? The two were running the America's City Finest Half Marathon on Sunday morning! After check in it was over to the Bristol hotel in the Gaslamp district at around five and then off to dinner. On Sunday morning the wake up gun went off at 4:15am and then it was into a cab at 5:15am and off to Balboa Park. The only problem was that the traffic was so bad that after a mile or so they jumped out of the cab and went the last mile or so, uphill, on foot to get to the bus loading area at the park. They got to the start about 40 minutes before the starting gun went off at 7:00am. Colleen's been putting Mahgy's age on the back of her legs, 87, to answer some of the questions before they're asked. She enjoys the reactions of many of the runners who, when they see her age, are awestruck! And they should be! They both had a great race recording a finishing time of 2:46:51 and a 10k split of 1:12:36. Their time would have been a little better had it not been for a mid race pit stop to fix Mahgy's shoe. So after the finish of the race and the awards ceremony (she won her division with a time that was fast enough to have won in the 70's bracket), it was back to the hotel.... Colleen suggested that they walk the 2 1/2 miles back to the hotel....so they did! A quick shower and back in the car by 12:30pm and headed home. So, what did you do last weekend? Congratulations Mahgy and Colleen! You inspire us all!!!

Hope you enjoy the pictures below featuring the group 2 jumpers. Even though the first lady of Dalcorp, Debbie Nocita, jumped with group 1, the pictures below were just too cool not include them. The only question left to ask is...."ARE YOU READY TO SKYDIVE?"



The "D" in Dalcorp ready to rock!

Watch that first step...it's a doozey!!!!!

Picking up some major speed.

No movies on this flight but what a view!

It's that time again.....pull time.

It's all good.....

"Let's do that again!"

Suiting up....

Mike getting some instructions for the jump or
calling a football penalty....you be the judge.

From USC to Perris....

"It's all good!"

Mernie is ready...let the jumping begin!!



"Righteous! Righteous!"

"Hey, we're just gonna' jump out of an airplane, right?"

10 minute call.....
Crazy Nick with Claudia...you're gonna' have
quite a ride!!!

Claudia with some final thoughts....I mean, not
final....just some thoughts!

Mike looked more relaxed than his instructor.

Sis and dad came out to watch and give moral
support.

...I think Chris is ready to go.

There's always a lot of smiling going on in the
holding area....

Another full flight thanks to the Dalcorp gang.

Claudia ready to touch down.

Mikey's next...

Mike, where's your instructor?

Chris landing in the middle of all the action.

....remember that Top Gun theme music? So
does Mike.

Marisa, are you having a good time or what?

.....no caption necessary.

Marisa was smiling from the time she put
her suit on! I think she likes skydiving....

Mernie landing in the middle of the party.

"That...was...AWESOME!"

College buds that jump together, stay together.

And they walked away....2



Dane got to see his daddy "go flying."

In the video room, Kristy helping to calm Mernie
down. What a rush!!

Just like dropping in on a big wave, right Mike?

Dane and Carlo discussing the day.

It was quite a day.....and as Dane would say,
"All done."