THE CONNECTION

General Membership MeetingDate: Monday, 8 October 2007

Time: 1:30 P.M.

Place: Washington Mutual Conference RoomCorner of State & Gobbi Streets

Planned speaker for the meeting is Mary June Rose

Of course, there will be refreshments, friends, and the usualexcellent conversation!

AS ALWAYS, PARK IN THE REAR LOT, OFF OAK STREET.

September-October 2007 Granville Pool, Editor

ASSOCIATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY RETIRED EMPLOYEES

Post Office Box 903 1 Ukiah, CA 95482

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Hello everyone, fall is in the air and none too soon after our hot August. Our next meeting is October 8, 2007. It

is time for our election of officers and board members. Please do your best to attend. The nominating committee

has been phoning as many AMCRE members as possible, seeking candidates and encouraging increased

attendence at the meetings. Your active participation for just a few hours a year will make us stronger—a force to

be reckoned with—when major life-altering issues come up, such as Medicare and health insurance. W ithout an

active membership, we could lose representation, leverage, and negotiating power.

The Nominating Committee’s reommendations for 2008, appear in this newsletter.

SPECIAL THANKS go to Gordon and Irene for their dedicated effort in reviewing and revising AMCRE’s Bylaws.

Many, many thanks!!!!

MUCH APPRECIATION TO the Nominating Committee members for all their phone calls and efforts to insure that

we will have adequate representation in 2008! Last but certainly not least, a BIG THANK YOU to those willing to

serve!

Looking forward to seeing you on October 8th, 2008, ready to contribute your voice and your vote!

Linda

SEPTEMBER 19, 2007

TO : ASSOCIATION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY RETIRED EMPLOYEES

RE: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AMCRE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORSFOR YEAR BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2008

FROM: Nominations Committee - Shirley Christensen, Lee Wachs, Linda Parnak

The following Officers and Directors for 2007, have agreed to serve the year of 2008, in their currentcapacities as follows:

VICE PRESIDENT: Ken Rauch

SECRETARY: Shirley Christensen

TREASURER: Vernlyn Farnsworth

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: Linda Parnak (okay, not quite her current capacity)

3 YR. DIRECTORS: Al BazzaniGranville Pool

2 YR. DIRECTORS: Nicholas Lapkass Norman Hallam

Additional nominees from the committee:

PRESIDENT: Dawn Long

1YR. DIRECTORS: Kathleen Dolan Lynne Johnson

Before the vote , nominations may be made from the floor if the nominee first agrees to serve!

Inasmuch as there is only one candidate for each office (and provided that there are no additionalnominations from the floor), the president may ask for a motion to accept the recommendations of thenomination committee for the slate of officers for year 2008.

Installation of officers and directors will be held at the social meeting in December.

NEW "KID" ON THE BLOCK!

TROYLIN OCHOA is now Claims Payer for Delta Health Systems (Robin, former Claims Payer person has "flown

away") Troylin will be available to assist you with any questions regarding claims and Health Care coverage. You

may call her or write to her at:

1-800 291-0726 Extension 4101

Delta Health Systems

P.O. Box 1147

Stockton, CA 95201

WE WERE THERE FOR YOU!

On August 9, 2007 Granville Pool, Gordon Campbell, and I attended a meeting of the COUNTY OF MENDOCINO

RETIREMENT HEALTH BENEFITS COMMITTEE (I am a non voting member of the Committee – can't vote but do

express my opinions in discussions). After lengthy discussions of possible changes, Bob Mirata motioned that we

do not change the Retirement Health Plan at this time and can look into it again in the future, if needed. Steve

Duman seconded and the motion passed.

The Retirement System is in excellent financial condition; our Funding Ratio is one of the higher of the other '37 Act

Counties, there is substantial Reserve in the Retiree Health Insurance fund! HOW FORTUNATE W E ARE!

MORE EXCITING INFORMATION:

THE RETIREMENT DEPARTMENT HAS MOVED (lock, stock, and barrel) TO ITS NEW LY PURCHASED

BUILDING in Kings Court, off Orchard Avenue. SueThornhill has said that there is room for AMCRE to hold

meetings there as well as convenient and ample parking spaces. W e can also have kitchen privileges! There will

be no charge to AMCRE for this accommodation. The BOR has discussed this and has expressed its approval.

W e should receive a formal invitation soon!

IN THE MEANTIME – MARK YOUR CALENDAR AND

PLAN TO ATTEND THE NEXT REGULAR MEETING

to be held on Monday, October 8th at 1:30 p.m. in

W ashington Mutual Bank Conference Room

Corner of State & Gobbi Streets, Ukiah

WOULD BE GREAT TO SEE YOU THERE!

Irene Lange, Health Insurance CH.

Membership Report

AMCRE Membership as of September 9, 2007 is 607

Total Retirees, as of September 24, 2007 is approximately 915

Welcome New Members: Myron Sawicki Retired 1-13-06 From DA’s Office

Linda Perry-Faux Retired 7-1-07 From Mental Health

Tom Fuller Retired 7-2-07 From Mental Health

Alice Miller Retired 7-15-07 From Social Services

Our Condolences to the family and friends of Helen Freda, who passed away 6-07-07

Program Director Ken Rauch reports:

I talked to Mary June Rose, owner of the Ukiah Traveleers, and also an AMCRE member, and she confirmed shewill be our guest speaker at our October 8 general meeting to talk about upcoming trips with her travel program andanswer any travel questions.

Mary June agreed to print up a $50 Traveleers gift certificate, that we can have for a drawing, along with our usual$10 cash drawings. The person who wins it will have a credit on any of the trips she coordinates. The giftcertificate has no cash value and would expire in 6 months. Maybe this extra prize might motivate some betterattendance at our general meeting. [We can only hope–Ed.]

N.B. You can also address insurance questions

to Lisa Sarkela, Benefits Specialist,

Mendocino County Human Resources

Department, at (707) 463–6553.

Minutes of the AMCRE Luncheon August 11, 2007 at Ukiah Garden Cafe

Members and guests started arriving at 11:00 a.m. for our Summer Luncheon. Vernlyn, Linda and I had our members

and guests sign in, complete their name cards, and receive their entrée cards and raffle tickets.

Lunch was served at 12:00 and I think everyone was delighted with their choice of entrée. The service and seating

arrangement was great for our crowd. The dessert was varieties of cheesecake (Courtesy of AMCRE).

All present introduced themselves and the offices from which they had retired.

Jim Hecht, husband of retiree Zena Marks , discussed special medical expenses that Medicare will not cover. He wanted

to know who regulates the County Health Plan and the appeal procedure. Jim said Assembly woman Patty Berg is going

to try to get some answers on who is the regulatory body.

Granville said notes on the Health Benefits Committee, History of Health Plan, and State of the Health and Retirement

Plans will be posted on his Web Site.

Our President Linda gave a plea to the membership to take a more active role in our organization. There was no one at

the luncheon that could volunteer that didn't already have a position. We do realize that members are all busy with their

lives.

The four winners of the $25.00 drawings were: Melanie Pool, Jan Kespohl, Marcella Brosig, and Mark Davis. The

dinners were won by: Dawn Long, Vi Richardson, and Marilyn Heath.

We were entertained by Will Siegel, Steve Baird, and George Husaruk, The "Rags to Rhythm Review." Their music

was great but quite a few attendees left early because the music didn't start until we were almost through with lunch.

We have kind of decided we will start the entertainment earlier at our next luncheon.

We had a great time visiting, particularly with some of our members we had not seen in a long time.

Respectfully submitted,

Shirley Christensen

AMCRE OFFICERS

President Linda Parnak

Vice President Ken Rauch

Secretary Shirley Christensen

Treasurer Vernlyn Farnsworth

DIRECTORS

Norm Hallam Dawn Long

Nik Lapkass Al Bazzani

Denny Knudsen Granville Pool

Other Elected Representatives & Board Appointments

Retiree Liaison to Retirement Board Dennis Huey

Alternate Liaison to Retirement Board Tim Knudsen

CRCEA Delegate (+ Newsletter + Website) Granville Pool

Membership Kathleen Dolan

Insurance Irene Lange

Hospitality Ken Rauch

RETIREE HEALTH BENEFITS COMMITTEE MEETING OF 9 AUGUST 2007

On 9 August 2007, I attended my first Mendocino County Retiree Health Benefits Committee meeting. This isan ad hoc committee and, as Linda Clouser (HR Director) explained, was created by the County ExecutiveOfficer and answers to him. That is to say, it makes recommendations to the CEO, for further recommendationto the Board of Supervisors (which has the final say about our benefits). While the committee will, of course,also report to the Retirement Board, to keep it informed, it does not answer to that board.

Attending: Present at the meeting were the three voting committee members, namely chair Dennis Huey,Steve Duman, and Bob Mirata. Non-voting member Irene Lange of AMCRE fame was of course present. Alsoat the table were Acting Retirement Adminstrator Tim Knudsen, Retirement Coördinator Sue Thornhill,Supervisor Kendall Smith, Benefits Specialist Lisa Sarkela (of HR), and Human Resources Director LindaClouser, as well as Mercer actuarial consultants Borda Darm and Kim Brown. Gordon Campbell and I(Granville Pool) were present as additional observers for AMCRE.

Minutes: We received copies of the minutes from the committee’s 13 June 2007 meeting. Oddly, whileDennis Huey was absent from that meeting, at that meeting he was made the new chair for the committee! Atthat meeting, Mercer reps had presented several scenarios of changes in the health plan for retirees, that I willnot detail here (for reasons that should be evident below).

Financials: Next, the “Financials” spreadsheet was presented, reviewed, and discussed. Some of thatdiscussion washed over me; I’m no bean counter. However, the essence of it was eventually fairly clear. Fromthe standpoint strictly of cash flow (premiums in and claim expenses out), the fiscal year 2006-07 ended withroughly a $1 million deficit. Once the budgeted $510 per enrollee is added in, along with reimbursements frompharmacies and from Medicare Part D, this changes to a surplus of about $600,000, give or take. Soundspretty good, right? I thought so.

By-Laws: Lisa handed out copies of the committee’s by-laws. Linda Clouser wants to add a provision to theby-laws that makes a commitment to communicate with the retirees. By this, she means those retirees anddependents enrolled in the health insurance plan, not just AMCRE members.

Communication: To that end, HR will post the by-laws, agendas, minutes, etc. on HR’s website. A newsletteris also planned. Discussion included using AMCRE’s The Connection as the vehicle for this communication,with Retirement (or County, not clear which) paying the extra costs. However, the final decision was a separatenewsletter from HR, to be produced quarterly. Just prior to open enrollment in the plan, each fall, an issue is tobe sent to all eligible retirees; otherwise, it will be sent only to those currently enrolled in the health plan.

GASB45: Requests for Proposals were sent out to several firms for the needed study to plan for compliancewith GASB45, the new set of accounting rules from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). These new Federal rules address how state and local governments must account for and report their costs andobligations related to post-employment healthcare and other non-pension benefits. Collectively, these benefitsare commonly referred to as other post-employment benefits, or OPEB, and constitute unfunded liabilities. Mercer (our current actuarial firm) and one other responded (didn’t catch the name of that firm). I was out ofthe room when most of that discussion took place.

Open enrollment and its relevance to potential plan changes: The opportunity for open enrollment inthe plan is coming up. Notices will be sent out in September and the enrollment period will be 1-26 October2007. The calendar of this matter was very significant because it meant that any changes in the health benefitsplan must be decided by the committee at this meeting! That is because open enrollment will be for the nextcalendar year and any change in the retiree health plan that would be effective at the beginning of 2008 mustbe acted upon by the last Board of Supervisors meeting in August. That, in turn, is because any change in theplan that the BOS makes must carry with it a 90-day notice to all retirees.

Presentation and consideration of potential plan changes: Mercer rep Darm presented several scenariosfor plan changes that were under consideration. These included the one you’ve probably heard about thatwould put the pre-Medicare bunch of us in with the active employees (in Plan 2) and pay what they pay. Thefigures seemed pretty clear in providing no great savings to the system. Supervisor Smith pointed that out andthose present seemed to agree that any cost savings would not be worth the extra hassle and confusion. Otherschemes would have retirees paying more and dependents paying less, etc. No one scenario got any seriousdiscussion, except for the one I just mentioned, which was shot down.

Irene Lange speaks out: Irene had worked hard, before this meeting, to prepare some very relevantcomments. While her reading may well have exceeded the stipulated three-minute limit for guests to speak, noone complained and all listened intently. To summarize: Irene gave a brief history of how we got where we arewith retiree health benefits, including a portion of a 1998 BOS resolution. She pointed out that retiree healthbenefits are not funded by tax revenues but by employee and County contributions to the plan and earningsfrom investing these funds. She pointed out that there is currently $8 Million in the Health Insurance ReserveFund. Our retirement fund is over 90% funded; we are in sound financial condition. There is no urgency tomake any changes in our health plan or its financing. In summary:

· The health plan for retirees was a unilateral commitment to us by the Board of Supervisors (notsomething negotiated)

· Periodically, the BOS offered incentives for early retirement (“golden handshake”); the health coverageis also an incentive to early retirement and that has often been of benefit to the County

· While it’s true that those on Medicare do have to pay the Part B premium (nearly $100), those retireesalso have additional income from Social Security

· There is no shortfall; funds are available to keep our current plan without charging retirees

· There is no current need for changes in the plan

Motion to make no change: Apparently Irene’s speech had the desired effect. Bob Mirata made the motionto make no changes in the plan at this time. In discussion, Tim Knudsen said that if we have another stockmarket crash, we would have to have commitment from the BOS to cover premiums or insurance would goaway! On the other hand, many new retirees will not be eligible for the health plan (those hired after 1998). Sue Thornhill said that those employees are already starting to come through her office, looking at retirement. As time goes by, not only will there be more non-eligible retirees, but those of us not yet on Medicare willgradually migrate into the Medicare group. Both of these factors will be reducing the number of covered pre-Medicare retirees (currently slightly more then half the retirees) in the pool. Indeed the number of retireesaltogether in the plan will gradually decrease.

At the same time (as Irene pointed out), as employee salaries increase, so will contributions to the retirementsystem. I heard recently that employees have started paying higher contributions for health insurance (I’m notsure if that’s relevant but perhaps it is). After much discussion, the motion passed unanimously. For the timebeing, there will be no change in our plan and no new charges for retirees. How long will that last? I think Ireneand I both went away with the impression that no further change would be considered until about this time nextyear (i.e. in time for the next open enrollment). However, Irene called Dennis Huey later and he told her that itmight be considered again at any time. We think it’s unlikely to come up sooner that six months. In any case,we’ll keep ourselves informed and keep you informed, too!

Insurance reserve: Dennis wants to discuss at a future meeting the idea of an insurance reserve. Tim said that wealready have a three-year reserve for the health benefits plan. If we ever have more than a three-year reserve (hasn’thappened yet), we would increase the contingency fund from 1% to 1½%. Beyond that, we would help the Countypay down unfunded liabilities. Health insurance is paid by the County (the County, including the Retirement Fund,is self-insured for health benefits—Delta is just the plan administrator). Retiree coverage is paid by the County andreimbursed by the Retirement Fund (necessary mechanism to avoid IRS issues). The committee will need to re-evaluate insurance funding issues after completion of the GASB45 study report.

Foundation for Medical Care crisis: As you may have heard (on front page of UDJ a day or two before thismeeting), the Foundation for Medical Care (association of local providers) appeared to have a communicationsbreakdown with the County and is now in negotiations regarding allowable fees. The item in the UDJ made it soundas if County employees (and, by association, retirees) had no health insurance and would be turned away at localproviders. Linda Clouser assured us that that was incorrect. The County and the Foundation are (at the time of thiswriting) scheduled to meet for negotiations on 28 August 2007. While Dr. Hartley (not present at this meeting)raised this issue at the last regular Retirement Board meeting and predicted a crisis because the County was not up-to-date on its fees, someone at this meeting pointed out that the County already pays more for plan services thatCalPERS does. [As you may have since read in the newspaper, this discussion is ongoing.]

I found all of this pretty interesting, except of course for the bits I couldn’t quite understand!

Does this Aero package make my butt look fat?

The ravings of a first timer at Bonneville By Ted Liberatore

As I hastened out the door to my truck, I tried to remember ifI had forgotten anything. My bag was loaded with all my race gear, Ihad my plane tickets, my rental information; yep, I was ready to go. On my way to the airport, I had a chance to ponder the events thatled me to this impending adventure. About three months ago, I gota call from my brother Tom out in California. He told me that hewas planning on going to Bonneville speed weeks this year to makeanother attempt at breaking the world land speed record in the750cc modified-pushrod motorcycle class, and wanted to know if Iwas interested in going. Now, before I get into this too deeply, letme give you a brief background on my brother and myself. Tom is not a stranger to the Bonneville Salt Flats; he hadbeen a spectator and a crew member on other teams for a numberof years before building his own Bonneville assault racer some yearsago. He owns one world land speed record in the stock 750 classand two AMA (American Motorcycle Association) records, one instock production and one in modified production. Tom was a oneman show when he campaigned his motorcycle in the stock class,looking for people to drive his chase truck at events and to help loadthe bike after runs. This is a bit unusual but, you have to knowTom, when he wants to do something, he does it. Myself, I was busypracticing my road racing skills on road courses throughout the East coast riding a 748 Ducati motorcycleuntil I was forced to retire due to my early exit from the clutches of Corporate America. Tom had expressedan interest in modifying his 1973 750cc Moto Guzzi Lemans so he could compete for the world land speedrecord in modified production that presently stands at 137.218 MPH and was set in 2003 by a HarleyDavidson XR750 (this bike has since been ruled illegal, but the record still stands). I decided that since I was

not racing myself, that I would help Tom achieve his goal. The two of us formed Pepperoni Bros. Racing,which was Tom’s idea and he will tell you that the name just popped into his head one day. However,people who know him will tell you it came from his love of pepperoni. You can believe that because I amhis pepperoni dealer and only Margerita pepperoni will do and that can only be obtained on the east coastso, guess who gets to supply it?

The modifications to the 750 Moto Guzzi would take another book to describe but what I can tell youis that my brother Tom and Mike Rich of Mike Rich Motorsports in Pennsylvania designed and built a veryexotic and powerful motor for this record assault. I helped with the financial part a little but the real magic tothe bike was the extreme precision that was put into the motor and that was all Mike and Tom.

We had planned to try an assault on the record last year at the world finals in October. I had had mybags packed and was ready to go when they had to cancel the meet due to poor salt conditions. Now it isAugust 2006 and we are ready to try again. This time, we have added an aerodynamic front fender andrear tail section to help make the bike as slippery as possible. We have also added my name to the riderslist. If Tom cannot get the bike to the record this time, it may need a smaller rider and that rider would beme. Now, we can forward to real time.

I arrived at the airport the day after the news of the terrorist plot to blow up flights using liquids wasreported. As I suspected, the airport resembled a border crossing at the Ukraine. After being poked andprodded for about 30 min. I was through security and walking towards the gate. After I boarded my flight, Istarted to think about the major thrashing it took to make it to this point.

When we were going to go for the record last year, I was also going to pilot the bike and I hadpacked my AMA road racing suit and was ready to go but little did I know that if the meet had not beencanceled, I would not have been allowed to run. It was actually a blessing that the rains came and wash out

the event. A couple weeks before I was to leave for Bonneville, my 2006 SCTA membership packet arrivedwhich included my membership pin which gets me into the event and my 2006 rulebook. I sat down andread the rules for my class and was stunned when I read the rules pertaining to the riders outfit. The rulesstated that any leather riding suit cannot have cloth panels. I called Tom in California and he confirmed this. He told me that it was a safety issue due to the risk of fire. My Dainese road racing suit has panels that arefire retardant and more armor in it than Sir Lancelot could use and if the AMA says it’s good enough for a200 MPH get off, why wouldn’t it be good for a straight line shot down the salt flats? Well, I wasn’t going totravel 2000 miles to argue my point and lose, I had one other option. I could use my street leather jacket andleather pants if I installed a 350 degree zipper so that the pants and jacket can become one. I contacted Lois

Smay of Webster, NY .www.embroiderybylois.com. She does all the leather alterations for Harv’s HarleyDavidson and she is very good. She was able to install the zipper and even mounted it to spandex so itwould move with you.

My flight got into Salt Lake City at midnight and after picking up the rental car, I still had a two hourdrive to Wendover UT. I’m driving down route 80 in the middle of the night and, not having been therebefore, I could not see the terrain that was blanketed by the darkness. Now, everybody that has ever drivenin New York state knows that several things can run out into your path at any given time, deer, possum,raccoons, squirrels, you name it, if it lives in NYS it’s roadkill. As I drove thru the night, I wondered whattype of being would wander out into my path along this deserted stretch of highway. What was that? Lookat the ears on that thing! It must be a Jackalope.

Tom picked me up at the hotel on Saturday morning and we made the short drive to the Salt flatsfrom Wendover. Tom had already gotten our pit box on Friday when he arrived so we just had to load thebike and head for registration and tech inspection. The SCTA runs a very good event, everyone isknowledgeable and everyone has their job to do. However, it did seem like we would have to stand in oneline, then another, then back to the first line, then into another line, then back to the second line again. Wedid manage to get most of the paperwork done but had to return with signed this and that at a later time.

Now it was onto tech inspection, here the bike would get scrutinized, to make sure that it complieswith all the necessary safety and competition requirements to run on the salt. We also had to present all ourriding gear to the tech inspector for review. The Bike passed without incident and Tom got thru with hisequipment. My Helmet, boots and gloves passed with no problem but, the inspector had a problem with myleathers. He looked at the zipper on the jacket that attached to the pants and said, “I have a problem withthis. I don’t know if I like the idea of spandex on the zipper,” he said, “If you fall, it might tear and pullapart.” I told him that the zipper was well up inside the jacket and it fit tight enough to keep the jacket fromriding up. He called over the head tech inspector and showed him the leathers. “Boy, I don’t like that” hesaid. My enthusiasm started to plummet, after all I had gone thru to get here, I was going to be sidelined bya technicality. I tried to be diplomatic about it saying “according to the rule book, the leathers had to bejoined with a 350 degree zipper, it did not specify how the zipper was suppose to be attached and with whatspecifically.” The head inspector had been down this road before, so he sympathized with me. “Look, weare only concerned about your safety,” he said, “We just want to make sure that if anything happens to you,you’re protected.” I understood what he was saying but I had faith in Lois’s work. I appealed one last time.“How about this: What if I put the leathers on and you can see how tight they are and try to pull themapart?” The tech inspectors were agreeable to that so I put on the leathers and zipped them to the jacket. The first inspector was quite surprised at how tightly the jacket joined the pants and said, “Gee, they’re notas bad as I thought,” the head inspector said, “This is the real test.” With that he put both hands under theback of the jacket and yanked straight up as hard as he could, almost lifting me off the ground. The zipperdidn’t budge, but I did receive a very memorable “leather wedgie.” The head inspector passed my leathersand now I was cleared for competition. The SCTA is all about safety (as perverted as it gets sometimes) andI would find out later just how much this meet was based on it.

With Tech inspection and all the paperwork we had to fill out, it burnt up most of the day so, wemoved the bike into pre-stage later in the afternoon to await our first run. This would be the beginning ofsome very long waits in line on a daily basis due to some 500 competitors entered in this years speed weeks.The wait gave me a chance to survey the salt flats for the first time. When you arrive early in the morning,the sun is very low and casts long shadows from all the vehicles that are lined up which makes it very

comfortable if you are there at 7:00 in the morning. Without all the cars, support vehicles, outhouses, andvendor tents, the salt flats are completely barren. When it gets to be 10:00AM, the sun reflects off the purewhite salt with such intensity that sun screen, really good sunglasses, and the biggest hat you can find aremandatory articles if you wish to survive one day. I bought myself this funky French Foreign Legion hat thatmade me look like a dufus (not that I needed any help) but, by the end of the week, I was glad I had it. Thesalt itself is very smooth and damp to the touch, and it gets kicked up on anything that drives by. If you getany on your vehicle, and it dries in the sun, it becomes rock hard and has to be washed off with a specialsolvent. I noticed most of the really fast runs were mid day when the salt was the driest.

We waited in line for about 3.5 hrs before they closed the staging lanes for the day. You are allowedto leave your vehicle in line over night so that you don’t lose your place and that is what we decided to do.We were kind of hoping that we didn’t have to run the first day because after all the registration lines, andtech inspections, riders meeting, crew meetings, and opening ceremonies—all in the hot sun—we were justplan beat. We were ready to go back to the hotel. We stayed in Wendover at the Nugget Hotel and casino which was one of about six casinos in Wendover.During the week, this is just a sleepy little western town where not much goes on until the weekend. That’swhen a bunch of drunken cowboys (or speed freaks, in this case) converge on the town and it becomes asmall city. There were people all over the place, and there was a Rat Rod show just about every night at outhotel. One of the most interesting things I noticed about the people that are here for speed weeks, is thatthere aren’t any squids (young adolescents that think they can go fast). It’s mostly made up of mature adultswith degrees in engineering, aerodynamics, computerized fuel systems, and people with just plan lots ofmoney!

The next morning, we got into the staging lanes a little after 7:00AM and it looked as though wewould be making our first run soon. For the first time, I started getting pumped about what was going on.You are allowed to warm up your engine in the staging lanes but a driver or a rider had to be on board whilethe vehicle was running but it could not be put into gear until it was at the starting line. We warmed up thebike and it sounded great, you could tell that Mike and Tom had poured their heart and soul in that motorjust by the sound of it. Other competitors were warming their cars up also and the sound was sometimesdeafening. The sound of a full blown big block all aluminum motor just feet away was ground shaking! Thenoise was nothing but pure horsepower up close and personal, the smell of exotic fuels filled the air. This iswhat I came out here for—Sound, Salt, & Speed—all in one place. This would be the first run for the bikesince the new aero package was installed and we were quite optimistic that it would have a very positiveeffect on the bikes performance. I was a little concerned however about how the bike would handle with thefront wheel almost half covered. A sudden cross wind may catch the rider by surprise and push the bikelaterally. We would find out soon enough. I was to drive the chase truck on this run, and would leave for thechase road that paralleled the course as soon as Tom launched from the start line. The chase truck mustremain on the chase road at 55 mph until it catches up with the rider after he has pulled completely off thecourse and is waiting on the return road. The truck must have a working CB radio so that the tower cancommunicate with the chase truck in case of an emergency. The course itself is a five-mile straight shot. Youare accelerating up to Mile Two and then you are officially timed thru Mile Three. You are also able to getyour speeds as they are called out thru the one-mile, two-and-a-quarter-mile, and three mile sections of thecourse. You also get a print out of these times from the timing shack on the return road. I rolled the bike to the starting line and Tom got into his leathers; it would all be over in less than fiveminutes. Tom fired up the bike, attached his deadman switch to his glove and got last minute instructionsfrom the starter. I sat in the truck waiting to leave, adrenalin had me revved up as tight as the bike, “Had weremembered everything? How will it handle? Is there something we forgot? Would it run 139 out of thebox? I just prayed that Tom would have a safe run and I would find him waiting on the return road when Ipulled up. The starter gave Tom the signal to leave, he dropped it into gear and took off.

To be continued...

Editor’s Note: Although Ted is not an AMCRE member, Tom is and this is about him. As it’s a long story that doesn’t lend itself well to editingdown, I’ll feed it to you in installments. Editorial submissions for The Connection are most welcome. Please send them to Granville Pool<connectioneditor@comcast.net> or mail to the AMCRE P.O. Box address on the cover. You can call Granville with your questions or commentsat (707) 485-7220. For news of items affecting AMCRE members, see our website at http://www.amcre.org.