My DGRR 2012

[Sephitrask]

Originally Posted by reese.leblanc

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)

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!