Hey guys, So Fla got hit pretty good on Monday by the Bixch Wilma. most of area is without power. and will be for weeks. I'm on generator right now.and it could be a problem getting fuel...

Anyone know if the DE at moroso will be a go ?

everyone ok?

 

All is well here in Tampa. We were just brushed by the outermost bands of the storm.
The rest of the Gold Coast crew is ok, but with varying degrees of damage.

Dan's been driving a chainsaw (instead of a 911) for the last two days. He lost a LOT of trees, but little damage to his home. The good news is that his neighbor has a generator and they're enjoying cold beers at night.

Kyle's garage took a little damage, but his shop fared better than most in that industrial park. His employees will get back to work as soon as they can get power.

Mike & Diana are digging out too. Lots of missing vegetation and minor damage to their house.

Are we still on for Moroso? .....we're making that call now.
I spoke to Donna at the track. They do not have power, but the facility is "usable".

• No power for the fuel pumps
• No concessions - pack a lunch!
• No power for the classroom session
• No power to charge the radios after the first day
• No flushing toilets - we'll need port-a-johns
• Staying in a hotel? ....bet they don't have power either.
• RV's will need to run on their internal generators as they won't be able to plug in

Kyle, Dan and myself are still talking it over.

Fuel is probably the most pressing issue right now. If folks can barely find enough fuel to power their generators they're aren't likely to hitch up their rigs and haul their gear down to the track.

The Gold Coast Region webserver is hosted in Davie. The facility has no juice and the telecomm network is still screwed. We don't have a way to get the word out. ....doesn't really matter - since most of our drivers still don't have power yet anyway and aren't like to surg the web and check their email.

STAY TUNED - WE HOPE TO HAVE A DECISION THIS AFTERNOON

BTW - where are you that you've got power and internet connectivity - while everyone else in Broward county is in the middle ages?

 

Thanks to Rennlist, this is the first place I checked to see if everyone was ok. Terry, glad to see that you guys are fine. Dan, you and I are in the same area but luckily we restored power immediately after the storm. I guess it is a reverse of fortune after not having power last year for 13 days with all that 90+ degree heat.

Our place managed to survive the storm ok but we may have some structural and foundation problems. If we were not here, our house would definitely have sustained MAJOR damage. Turns out that my wife and her mother held one door from caving in while I used all of my muscle to hold another door from buckling. Although I don't think we sustained as much damage as last year (unless our foundation has been compromised?), this storm was FAR FAR worse that either storm last year. Amazing to think that in 1 year's time, our house has had 3 direct hits!!!

I too have been driving my chainsaw instead of any of our cars. We had to remove 3 large trees around our house and chop them up with the chainsaw. Needless to say, I am glad I filled up our racing jugs with gas. We started with 13 extra gallons of gas and we are down to 5 extra gallons. Unfortunately, there are no gas stations open here so we have to stay put for a while.

This brings us to my opinion about this weekend's DE event. As a fellow BOD member with Gold Coast Region, right now I would definitely have to say CANCEL! Trust me, I would love to "escape" everything with 2 days of high speed driving, especially gvien that the weather is SO NICE now and Moroso is in my back yard! Also, we are racing at Moroso that following weekend and we definitely NEED the testing time. There is a serious shortage of gas throughout all of south Florida and I would think it would be pretty irresposible to go ahead with it. It is bad enough that Moroso does not have power but many of us don't have power either and the demands of staying at home and fixing things in our personal and professional lives outweighs having fun at the track right now.

FWIW, this is my opinion and I also speak for my wife and two friends who are also signed up for this event as well. I am glad to see that everyone is ok even if everyone's property is not 100%. That stuff can be replaced. Friends can't.

 

MrBill's Electric Company is up and running on 93 octane right now... yes we had to tap into the race fuel now. and are having some brownouts due to lack of fuel supply. but I hear rumors its avail in Pt SaintLucy? have recon team deployed, but no news as of yet.

Glad to hear you're OK Rich, sounds like a harry few hours... west broward wasn't too bad, lots of trees down, and shingles missing, but few roofs or windows broken.

I'd just as soon as skip this weekend. getting fuel will be a big problem.

if anyone know where to get gas please post! I'd rather drive 2 hrs than wait in line...

Anyone need help post here...

I've got my chainsaw apex / threshold cutting down pat!
cya! MrBill

 

It's official now - the event has been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
Moroso has allowed us to reschedule our date without financial penalty. ....now off to man the phone and call 100+ drivers. sigh......

 

Completely understand

Don't worry about calling J Sabatini, R Teisher, or C Engle

I will contact myself and the other 2

At least we have Sebring in another 2 weeks

 

Thank you Terry for the info. No need to call Brian Jacobs or Jeff Lindstrom either. I get them.

 

Thanks guys - appreciate the assist!

 

[QUOTE=C4 Guy]Thanks guys - appreciate the assist![/QUOTE]

Terry,

Good call. Many thanks to you and Dan and Kyle for your followup on this. Looking forward to our next event.

 

fwiw: I got my power back last night. university and commercial. west broward.

 

I'm feeling a lot better now that I've reached most of our drivers. Last night I was "dialing for dollars" like a boiler room broker! I was able to reach most of the drivers and speak with them in person, or at least leave a voicemail message. There's a few who were unreachable - I'll try to phone them today.

I hated to pull the plug on the event. I was ready - complete with fresh Hoosiers and good brakes. ....and the beautiful weather! I had been to Kinko's already and had all of the registration packets & armbands made up ready to go.

The good news is that Moroso has offered to let us reschedule the event without a financial penalty. As few of you Gold Coast track rats know, we lost a deposit to them earlier this year when we had to reschedule an event. I was concerned the track operators would make a grab for the dollars we already have on the table.

Stay safe, take care of yourself, take care of your neighbors and things will be back to normal in no time! We're Floridians - hurricanes are part of the price of living in paradise!

 

Good to hear everyone is basically ok. We also lost a tree, shed, some roof tiles and landscaping was overall a mess. Drowe chainsaw a lot also, chopped our trees and some neighbours too.
My big BBQ has been smoking in the morning, during the day and also evening and had ton of ice which kept beer cold so things have been ok!
Now we already have power back (got it last evening) so things are getting normal.

My work commute runs on rice, beans and beer (bicycle) so shortage of gas is not a problem.

Hopefully when the re-scheduled even is on, I can show up too (wasn't able to come to originally scheduled event)!

 

Wow finally got power back here.
BIG thanks to Terry for getting in touch with the majority of drivers. I had no power, no phone no internet nothing! Scarry time came when we ran out of cold beer!
My wife and I have been camping! Oh yeah except for that 3 straight days of running a chain saw!
Anyway I wanted to bump this thread say hi and thanks again to Terry.

 

Dan, good to hear that you and Betsy are okay. I know you guys got most (if not all) of the eye-wall from the southeastern side of the storm. We were worried for you guys and as soon as Terry told us you were fine, we were happy! I have a beer for you tonight

 

Yeah we got our butts kicked here. It will be a long time before things are back to normal, but we are having fun chain saw parties!
I'm sure like you and a bunch of other folks the landscaping has changed a bunch. No real damage to the house though.
We went out during the eye, saw some blue sky, not much though then ran like hell back inside as the back side came, when the wind came from the west was WAY worse!
Been here through about 10 "hurricanes" never saw anything like that!
Anyway we'll let you all know when the rescheduled event will be. If not in November it will have to be down the road a bit, the schedule is so tight.
Stay safe everyone.........watch those chainsaws!!