My DGRR 2012
 

Well, the weekend sucked for the first part, but we managed to get a run at the Gap in spite of it all and we just got home.

I don't even know how to express my thanks to everyone who helped out when my car (the "yard ornament" as some unnamed person dubbed it) broke down on the first night at DGRR. I'm not going to type out a long retelling of the events because, frankly, I'd rather not think about them again. LOL

I do want to say thank you to a few people in no particular order.

Everyone from Speed For Sale: You guys ROCK! You all gave about 258.8% trying to diagnose my car to get it back on the road. Joe is an amazingly knowledgeable rotary tech, and the rest of the gang offered a plethora of advice during the process. The amount of time you spent helping me PRO BONO is unbelievable to say the least. You took me all the way in to Bryson to the parts store, spent many hours trying everything under the sun to make the beast live again, and at the end of all of that, you offered yourselves as a resource for me in the future. You made things even better by being generous enough to put a gift certificate worth $500 of service at your Atlanta shop up for grabs in the raffle.

This brings me to my next bit of gratitude. Thank you, Jesse Frame for being kind enough to defer that gift certificate to me to help get my car back on the road. That was selfless to say the least! From what I was told by Jesse, a number of attendees had agreed to give me that gift certificate for the same reason. Thanks to all of you!

Other people that provided help (that I can remember... there were a lot of you!) include Steve Osley, David Jerome, James and Cindy Duncan, Tim, Tray "Hobbit" Houston, Dale Clark's locksmith friend (I'm SOOO bad with names) who opened my car after I managed to lock my keys in it after everything else that was going on, and many many more!

Finally, thanks for putting this event on once again, Phil! It's been 6 years since my last event and, in spite of my run of bad luck this year, I will be back for the next one!

Cliff's notes: First DGRR in 6 years. Car broke down on the first night, keeping me from driving at all until Sunday morning with no sleep. I did manage to get a gift certificate to use at Speed For Sale in Atlanta as well as placing 2nd in the second gen division of the car show. Not bad for my first show!

I'm glad you guys made it home OK. We just got in the door as well and I was debating whether to hit your cell to check on you. Cindy and I truly enjoyed meeting you and Nicole as well as the rest of the South Carolina crew and I absolutely look forward to seeing you guys again next year.

Thanks, James! Great meeting the both of you as well!

I'm glad everything worked out and you were able to get home, congrats on the trophy. Good to see you and Nicole again, too!

Reese glad you got back home and at least one run on the dragon!

Glad you made it home. See you next year.

I'm glad you were able to get the computer and get at least one run in! We were all glad to help, it just became frustrating as we tried to fight that dying Haltech.

Car really is a great looking FC, and the 2nd place trophy was well deserved, and apparently all she needed to run right in the end! (ignoring those hours of troubleshooting and attempting to get the car to a running state to be able to get home)

Glad to see you & your car make it to the Dragon.

hopefully I'll see you next time too.

Well deserved? :icon_bs: Evidently you never looked at the paint closely or looked at the ragged interior. Were there only 2 second gen cars in the show? Sure I feel very sorry for the guy having issues, but, second place?

Judging by your join date & singular post, I'm going to assume you have another account screen name & that you made this profile exclusively for acting like an asshole.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

No not being an asshole, the truth is the truth. Get him to post photos of the paint close up and interior shots. Then you be the judge dumbass!

I was a judge.

It doesn't matter whether he got the trophy or not. He got his car back on the road and got to drive the Dragon, that's all that matters.

We saw your car on the way out at that motorcycle stop right before the Dragon and I was glad to see it was up and running again. :)

Well if you were a judge then you proved you really are a dumbass! Like I said, I really feel sorry for him due to the issues he had, but the car is still a WIP not a show car.

Nope, I proved that my opinion matters, and yours doesn't.

Reese & his FC are worthy of recognition, I'm sorry you feel differently.

You proved nothing, only that you need a seeing eye dog! If you were in fact a judge, may I recommend you see an optometrist. Yes they are worthy of some recognition, however, as I stated earlier, the car is a WIP, not a show car at this stage.

Jesse and the others coming to my defense,

It's ok. First off, I know that my car is a work in progress. I've never promoted it as anything but that. My interior wasn't completed because of an issue that I'm still dealing with concerning the person I hired to do the work. I was reluctant to even enter, but considering my car was stuck in the parking spot due to coil problems, I figured "What the hell..."

Second, let's assume that my taking second was nothing more than sympathy on the part of the ENTIRE judging staff due to the issues they saw me having. I would think that most people would see that and say, "That's pretty awesome. A small gesture that means so much to a guy when he is having a ridiculously bad return to the Gap after a six year hiatus". Why does it mean so much that you felt the need to be so negative? If you felt that your car deserved a place that I bumped you out of, I'll gladly send you the trophy. You just need to address my final point.

My final point is this: How small does a "man" have to be to hide behind a bogus screen name? If you have an issue with everything your alter ego has complained about in this thread, step up and say who you are. That has two results. First, I know who to send this "unearned by me" trophy to. Secondly (and this is the part that you're worried about), everyone else will know what kind of person you really are when you aren't hiding behind the internet.

My entire weekend was shot due to making it as far as the village and then being broken down all day Friday, Saturday and into the early part of Sunday. The real rotary community showed itself when people like Jesse and the others decided that DGRR was about more than saying they won something. It was about helping a fellow rotorhead out on a REALLY bad couple of days by giving up the prize they would have won and passed it along to someone that could really use it. Receiving that phone call from my fiancee' as I was on my way back to South Carolina Saturday night almost brought ME to tears from the sheer enormity of that gesture. Getting a second call saying I was awarded second place in my division floored me. My feelings of getting the hell out of the rotary game due to that last straw; that "one more thing wrong" left me. I realized WHY I stay. I stay due to the smell of pre-mix. I stay because of the red-line shifts. Mostly, though, I stay because of the majority of the people involved. Whether you care or not, YOU are the minority that doesn't matter because you don't represent what most of us are all about. Thanks for reminding me that there are a few bad apples in every group. You're just not significant enough to spoil the whole bunch.

Because of the events that transpired while I was travelling to SC and back to Bryson, I felt much better about getting my girl running again, and as soon as I got back I did just that. That enabled me to return to the Gap and to introduce my fiancee' to the many curves that bring us back time and again. Now she's hooked, and now she definitely wants a sports car of her own so she can slay the monster herself. Thanks to people like Jesse, Joe, Jared, Jeremy and many many more who represented what our community is about, that sports car WILL be an RX-7.

So my offer still stands. Put yourself out in the limelight that you seem to crave so much and receive your reward AND your lumps.

Reese LeBlanc
Winner and holder of the second place trophy for the second gen division of the DGRR 2012 car show. (Like it or not)

Hater's gonna hate...

The car show is for fun. There isn't any cash prizes with it... and the judges have their reasons for picking the cars they did...

oh well, what can you do? oh, that's right, make another SN and post negatively about it because it didn't turn out in your favor...

hahahaha...

anyway, always next year reese... and you just saved some gas... and tires... and didn't have to drive in the rain!

.

Well said Reese. I've been that guy at a car event before and it sucks having
mechanical issues and feeling like your the only one. It feels great when the
others step up and help out, even for small things.

As for mazman, he's the owner of a second gen that was at the dragon and is
pissed because he didn't win something :nopity:

Tell you what, I entered my SA even tho I knew there were other SAs much
better than mine. I knew I'd never win but entering it was fun. Its interesting
to see what others look at and how they value different aspects of a car.

i <3 your F... I mean, SA, Tim!!!

Tray, I hate to say this publicly, but I love the sound of your V8. There I said it.

it's ok, Tim, I had another closet v8 lover come out this weekend to me too...

and Reese, glad to hear you're not losing the faith and plan to stay in the game... sometimes our cars just want to be attention whores and just want to spend time with us...

we've all been there... and every rx7/rotary is always a work in progress!!!

me too. its weird, it has a really nice almost straight-6 sound to it

but... if reese still had this car and had won with it... i might have bitch slapped the judges =P but this is an old pic and doesn't have the RE style vented hood!!!

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/p...7/DSC_0093.jpg

Now that car should win something if it were in a show. I can't argue that.

Hey Reese, glad to hear that everything sorted out in the end! Let us know when you want to redeem that $500 raffle gift certificate. Remember though, it only applies to rotaries! :)

Also, sorry to say guys, but Tray's RX7 with the LT-1 (NOT an LS1, by the way...) just rocks. The only motor of that era which made similar torque from idle to 3000rpm was the Viper's V-10...LS1 isn't close. Stroke it out to a 383 and the numbers are even better. Perfect 93 octane street car; I want one!

Phil: Great event! We will definitely be back each year. I will give you a shout when we host our next road course track day.

Wayne: Got the PDF you sent me for rebuilding the first gen carb and will host/post shortly. Thanks for that. Also, remember that kilted yak's eve is coming up soon, so get your coleslaw and disposable diapers ready.

Tom Green/Prometheus: I've got a can of pineapple and anchovies on the way via overnight shipping. heh :)

David Jerome: good seeing you brother...wish we could hang more often like the old days.

For anyone who hasn't attended the DGRR: you need to join!

lulz

Jeremy,

Don't worry! It's burning a hole in my pocket! LOL. If it was valid for parts it would be a no-brainer. Since it's for labor/service I'm weighing what to have done and when I can get out to ATL!

Nice show putting him in his place Reese! Glad you got the car going!

Why is it that every year someone gets butt hurt over the car show? Thats why I don't even bother entering. I for one drive 8 hours to meet fellow rotary owners and drive the greatest road on the east coast, not spend 4 hours waxing my car (I did wash it friday night but it had gone to hell again by saturday morning). Its fine if thats your thing, but dont spoil everyones trip by getting butt hurt because your idea of what makes a winning car is different from others. TRY to enjoy the weekend!

Good job Reese.

I didn't even put my RX-8 in the show. Everything done to it is hidden underneath so what's the point.

But your car was unique, and better than the vert with the fender tumors ;)

reese knows very well about my opinion of his old 'gecko' vert =P

Both of you can bite me. LOL

you charged me extra to do that last time... :o15: