jeff healy
July 12th, 2011, 01:57 PM
Just wanted to stop in and throw out an extra thank you to everyone for making all of this possible!!!!!
Edit: Sorry this got kind of long by the time I was done :)
Last summer I was on a motorcycle trip from Montana to Key West and back and needed a rear tire around Denver (well actually way before Denver but wanted to finish the day :) ) I called Mark and Tammy since back in the day I talked to them quite a bit ordering tires. It had been years since we had talked and without hesitation they were having me over for dinner, putting me up for the night and changing my tire for me ( oh and calling Boulder Motorsports to get the tools we needed.) Of course we talked about racing the entire time and they mentioned that I should come race with the MRA in 2011. It had been at least 4 years since I had even touched my race bike but for some reason it just sounded like a great idea! I rounded out the last 800 miles of my trip with this thought in my head the whole way and by the time I got home it was decided that I would join the MRA and see if everyone was as great as they had said.
Fast forward about 8 months and thousands of dollars later... I found myself on my maiden voyage to Denver. Trailer loaded with everything I figured I would need for an entire season of racing at tracks I had never been to with people I had never met before!! Maybe once or twice I had the thought "what the HELL am I doing!!" :) Once again Mark and Tammy had made the calls to get me a place for my trailer to spend the season and made me felt like a son of theirs the entire time I was there! OK so time to go to the classroom part of the new riders school! I get there and see a ton of people of which I know no one but that's ok! We go on break and I have the opportunity to meet my first MRA board member! So as Brownie and I sit and smoke a cigarette or 2 :) together I begin to realize that I am going to have more fun this summer than I have ever had!! We go back in and Rob Christman comes over and says hey I haven't seen you in a decade how have you been!? ( He and the Vanmar crew had drove over to MT to do a racing school years ago and he still remembers me!?!?) Instantly, the family effect begins and I am totally comfortable with my decision to come down here! Rob says I can ride with him the next day for the school so I'm jacked since I have been watching him in AMA superbike since the day he came up and smashed the lap record at our local track with one day practice :) The next day at HPR went great and was exactly what I needed to learn the first of the new tracks! All the way home all I could think about was getting back for round 1!!
To save everyone an hour of reading we will fast forward to round 4 this last weekend. Another new track and I cant wait! At this point I am hooked on this sh!t like a fat kid on cake!! Friday goes great and I get a couple practice sessions and start to feel somewhat comfortable with PMP. Sat comes around and apparently I had a little too much fun hanging out waiting for the drags to get over so we could move the trailer to its correct spot! Apparently I forgot to fasten the 2 top connectors for my lowers before practice and managed to shed most all my bodywork down the front straight :) Here comes my first introduction to how great all the corner workers in the MRA are!! I go over to talk to the two corner workers at the start finish (Erika & Bob I believe) and by the time i get over there they are already having it delivered to where I am pitted!! Once again some of the nicest and most helpful people I have ever met!! We get things zip tied and duct taped together and I am able to complete my weekend of races and even get a couple 6th place finishes so I can see my name in RRW due to all the hard work of Wyeth behind the scenes! Once again the entire way home I think about how great everyone in the MRA is and I figured that since we are now officially half way through the season it was time to let you all know what an amazing experience this has all been! I think the last thing that made me think of all this was watching Brownie load up all of his gear and bikes on Sunday night after skipping every one of his races for the weekend in order to make sure that super street class went off perfect and that johnny b was OK after his crash etc. etc. etc. and he was still happy about the weekend!! You guys all work soo hard to make sure everyone is happy and things go smoothly and it really shows!! So from everyone in the race day office to the corner workers to the rider reps to all the racers in the MRA, Thank you all for everything you do!! I can't wait to see my family away from home for round 5!!!!!!!!!
Edit: Sorry this got kind of long by the time I was done :)
Last summer I was on a motorcycle trip from Montana to Key West and back and needed a rear tire around Denver (well actually way before Denver but wanted to finish the day :) ) I called Mark and Tammy since back in the day I talked to them quite a bit ordering tires. It had been years since we had talked and without hesitation they were having me over for dinner, putting me up for the night and changing my tire for me ( oh and calling Boulder Motorsports to get the tools we needed.) Of course we talked about racing the entire time and they mentioned that I should come race with the MRA in 2011. It had been at least 4 years since I had even touched my race bike but for some reason it just sounded like a great idea! I rounded out the last 800 miles of my trip with this thought in my head the whole way and by the time I got home it was decided that I would join the MRA and see if everyone was as great as they had said.
Fast forward about 8 months and thousands of dollars later... I found myself on my maiden voyage to Denver. Trailer loaded with everything I figured I would need for an entire season of racing at tracks I had never been to with people I had never met before!! Maybe once or twice I had the thought "what the HELL am I doing!!" :) Once again Mark and Tammy had made the calls to get me a place for my trailer to spend the season and made me felt like a son of theirs the entire time I was there! OK so time to go to the classroom part of the new riders school! I get there and see a ton of people of which I know no one but that's ok! We go on break and I have the opportunity to meet my first MRA board member! So as Brownie and I sit and smoke a cigarette or 2 :) together I begin to realize that I am going to have more fun this summer than I have ever had!! We go back in and Rob Christman comes over and says hey I haven't seen you in a decade how have you been!? ( He and the Vanmar crew had drove over to MT to do a racing school years ago and he still remembers me!?!?) Instantly, the family effect begins and I am totally comfortable with my decision to come down here! Rob says I can ride with him the next day for the school so I'm jacked since I have been watching him in AMA superbike since the day he came up and smashed the lap record at our local track with one day practice :) The next day at HPR went great and was exactly what I needed to learn the first of the new tracks! All the way home all I could think about was getting back for round 1!!
To save everyone an hour of reading we will fast forward to round 4 this last weekend. Another new track and I cant wait! At this point I am hooked on this sh!t like a fat kid on cake!! Friday goes great and I get a couple practice sessions and start to feel somewhat comfortable with PMP. Sat comes around and apparently I had a little too much fun hanging out waiting for the drags to get over so we could move the trailer to its correct spot! Apparently I forgot to fasten the 2 top connectors for my lowers before practice and managed to shed most all my bodywork down the front straight :) Here comes my first introduction to how great all the corner workers in the MRA are!! I go over to talk to the two corner workers at the start finish (Erika & Bob I believe) and by the time i get over there they are already having it delivered to where I am pitted!! Once again some of the nicest and most helpful people I have ever met!! We get things zip tied and duct taped together and I am able to complete my weekend of races and even get a couple 6th place finishes so I can see my name in RRW due to all the hard work of Wyeth behind the scenes! Once again the entire way home I think about how great everyone in the MRA is and I figured that since we are now officially half way through the season it was time to let you all know what an amazing experience this has all been! I think the last thing that made me think of all this was watching Brownie load up all of his gear and bikes on Sunday night after skipping every one of his races for the weekend in order to make sure that super street class went off perfect and that johnny b was OK after his crash etc. etc. etc. and he was still happy about the weekend!! You guys all work soo hard to make sure everyone is happy and things go smoothly and it really shows!! So from everyone in the race day office to the corner workers to the rider reps to all the racers in the MRA, Thank you all for everything you do!! I can't wait to see my family away from home for round 5!!!!!!!!!