Abbreviation Listing - To ensure all who read the enews know what the abbreviations used in the enews mean, a list is provided at the end of the enews. Reminds me of the T-shirt with the meaning of the flags in which the definition of the blue flag is "There's a race going on and you're not in it."

You really have to want to order something because for many companies, ordering is a major pain. Leave me give you several very recent examples. Holley now owns Simpson and this week they have changed their ordering process. It has taken me two days to get set up as a Holley Business to Business dealer. Then using their mandatory website, I can't order any HANS devices or accessories. Why? Who knows. Even now I'm waiting on an email response to my question on how to make this happen. It has only been 3 days since I started this process. Stop the press. Just got an email from Holley telling me the reason I couldn't order the HANS items is because they changed the part numbers and since you can only order by part number and I had the wrong part number, I couldn't make the order. Can you believe that? (Oh they are going to provide the new part numbers soon, how nice.)

Or another company who after making an order two weeks ago, have yet to receive any indication the order has shipped and multiple tries to contact the company has resulted in no response! How can we have product to sell when we make an order and have no idea when it will ship or even if the order is in process.

Then I made several orders that require a new debit card. Many haven't gotten back with me to get the card. How can we make orders when they won't ship until paid?

I'm betting this rant will make you want to be in the racing bidness, or any bidness for that matter. If so just give me a call and I'll help you take over Armadillo Racing. In the mean time, my pledge to you is that we will do our best to make good on our promises to get you the products you order from us when you need them. Even now we have products to deliver this weekend that have been ordered and are on the way. If there is a screw up and the products don't arrive we will always do our best to get you something that will work for you, such as loaning you something or substituting something else that will work.

Trust me that this is the most frustrating part of the race service bidness. We are on a time line for you to ensure you have what you need to go racing. Also know that we do bidness with suppliers we trust and rely upon. I have a list of suppliers who can be trusted and those who can't be trusted and these are shared when you make an order. If you wonder why we stock certain products over others, it is often because of suppliers we can trust to deliver.

Over the years we've added more and more items of the same part number because historically some suppliers are so slow to deliver we want 2 or 3 backup parts to ensure that we have want we need for you each race weekend. In the current state of the country's supply chain and delivery, we now order expecting to get delivery in two weeks when we used to expect delivery in 1 week. I can relate to each of you who are trying to get parts, tires, and such for your car in a timely manner. It is a new and very frustrating world. Why jest today, after sending a text yesterday asking if my must have item has shipped 2nd day air, I received a text saying, "Oh sorry I was out of the country and staff members were sick, do you still want the item sent 2nd day?" My response, "Yes that is why it was ordered 2nd day vice 3 day because I didn't trust you to ship on Tuesday like you said you would and sure enough you failed me." Of course that isn't what I wrote, it was what I was thinking. I just wrote that yes we need the product by this weekend, please send today 2nd day shipping.

Even after writing this rant, I'm frustrated with the lack of service from so many suppliers. Sorry to share the inner workings of our bidness with you as the only thing you should care about it that you ordered from us and we got you the product. My frustration should not affect you at all. These issues are just another example of how I spend my time behind the scenes at Armadillo Racing. Oh and another thing, now many suppliers have changed their product mix. After stocking Simpson high top shoes for years in sizes 5 through 14, and taking an order for a size 5 shoe for a lady racer, learned that they no longer make sizes below size 6. Then following up with multiple suppliers found that most don't make below size 6 as well. Of course I found some, these from Zamp and they were ordered, shipped, and received and are really nice shoes. Or colors? Seems like Racequip doesn't want to make seat belts in any color other than black, or Crow who now only makes arm restraints in black. Mmmm... sound like Henry Ford who made the Model T only in black.

Thanks for enduring this week's rant and being aware that what you want may not even be made anymore or at least not in the color or size you want/need. Because we have been in bidness for a long, long time, I do have alternated sources for things and yet even that doesn't always help finding what you need. If we can't get it for you, we will notify you right away and talk about options. OK now let's just get on with it.

Rose Cup has for many years been the premier club race weekend in the PNW. Over the years run by the Cascade Sports Car Club, then Oregon Region Region SCCA ran Rose Cup for many years and the event grew to be huge with close to 500 cars! Now with the Friends of PIR heading up the event, the Rose Cup weekend is growing to be a big event again. Kudos to all involved starting with Gary Bockman (RIP) and now Darrell LeBlanc as President of FOPIR. This year's event had about 150 entries including over 40 for the Rose Cup Race.

Don't know how many spectators were there as PIR is a big facility with people spread out all around the track. Here is a pic of a beautiful older Corvette with a large number of cars parked in the back as an indication of the spectator crowd.

Corvette on display at Rose Cup with many cars parked in the background as an indication of the number of spectators

We didn't have too many spectators by our store which really doesn't mean much as we are off in an area usually only frequented by racers (especially since we are right next to ANT tires.

There was a very nice program made for the event with some great stories. Of interest to me was the list of Rose Cup winners. Here are a few notes from the winners page - Monte Shelton won the race 7 times. His son Neil won once. The first winner was Jerry Grant in 1961. NW Regional Executive Scotty B. White won in 2016. Famous winners were Milt Minter, 1970, (Milt was the first racer to win a Trans-am race in a Pontiac Trans-am, Elkhart Lake 1972), George Follmer, 1977, John Paul, 1979 (before he went to prison for running drugs and shooting a DEA agent), Bob Tullius, 1981, Doc Bundy, 1982, and Willy T. Ribbs in 1983. Whew, a real who's who of road racers.

This year there was a nice purse of $10,000 which must have helped draw a large field. Former Spec Racer Ford driver, Tom Burt won the pole in an Audi R8 prepared by AR Services in Portland. This award has been named after Gary Bockman and thus is very special.

Gary Bockman pole award sitting on the splitter of Tom Burt's Audi R8

It was quite a race too. Tom Burt hung in there and won the race too. You know it is nice to have a large field of beautifully prepared cars. Makes watching the race and cruising the paddock very fun. Second place finisher was Peter Baljet in his 2016 Bentley GT3.

Peter Baljet's Bentley

Then there were a bevvy of stock cars including these -

Several of the many stock cars at Rose Cup

Of course actually and finally getting some good weather made a difference too. Beautiful warm (not hot) sunny days made for a great weekend to be out at the races. Following Saturday's racing, the volunteers gathered for a bit of relaxation and dinner. This picture helps give you an idea of just how many volunteers it takes to put on a well run, safe sports car race weekend.

A few of the volunteers

In the foreground (wearing red) is long time friend and volunteer, Tim Stanley who after offering up well made Margaritas to Ana, Valentina and I at the LuckyDog race, shall now be known as Mr. Tequila.

As we used to say in the Bremerton Sports Car Club, "A good time was had by all."

Often it is said that you are only as good as your last race, so now it is on to this weekend's IRDC Conference Race at Pacific Raceways. This event will include a big 20th anniversary race for the BMW 325i racing cars known by the designation PRO3. A quick look at Motorsportsreg shows nearly 50 entries! This has got to be a record. For sure you'll want to come out and watch this very special race.

There is a test and tune on Friday along with a driver's school. As always, I'm excited to be given the privilege to share my knowledge of flags and safety gear with the students. All are welcome to come and endure my 4 hour symposium (which I'll probably have to squeeze into 1 hour). This will be done about noonish on Friday. No heckling please. There will be a quiz following.

Weather should be great and there is no cost to come spectate, so come on out to Pacific Raceways. Be sure to stop by our trailer/showroom as we'll be serving the event all three days.

Now if we are at Pacific Raceways this weekend, it means we won't be at the SVRA/Trans-Am race at PIR. This makes me sad that the SVRA race was moved up one week from previous years and now conflicts with the IRDC race. I understand that there are about 24 Trans-Am cars so it should be a good race. If you are in the Portland area you should go out the vintage race weekend. Don't know how many vintage cars are entered and still this event draws some very nice cars, so come check it out. Ooooh, you could volunteer to flag, that would be fun. I'm sure with the IRDC race up North, the CSCC will need some volunteers. Just sign yourself up on motorsportsreg.com.

The Rose Cup race weekend shows just how great racing can be when clubs gather together to put on a sports car race. Held together by FOPIR, both Oregon Region SCCA and the CSCC from Conference, all work together to make a really good event. This is exactly what we need to make sports car racing in the NW succeed.

Thus the PR Invitational was created to bring all the clubs together for a big successful event. SOVREN, NW Region SCCA, and LuckyDog along with support from IRDC and CSCC are striving to have a fall season ending event in which everyone races together for fun, just like Rose Cup. Are you entered yet? Just go to Motorsportsgreg.com to get yourself signed up. Only $375 before August 31 and you get a test and tune on Friday with racing Saturday and Sunday.

As the organizing team meets every few weeks, they keep working to make the event very special. For example, looks like we may align the classes similar to Rose Cup as these seems to work very well. More on that when it happens. A program is in the works as well as a potential Octoberfast (this is the correct spelling Phil) event with craft beer and live music. This is encourage spectators to come out. Part of the purpose of the event is to get new young car people to come out and see what road racing is all about. Flyers with details are available from Armadillo Racing trackside or this link - PR Invitational

So here we are almost half way through the 2022 season and racers continue to show up at the track with seatbelts that are out of date. This past weekend, we sold several sets of belts that had to be replaced or the car would fail tech. Looky here, it isn't that hard. As soon as you are finished reading this week's most exciting and funny enews, go out to your car and look at the date on your belts. If they are FIA belts they are good for 5 years and have an expiration date on them. If they are SFI belts generally they are good for 2 years and have an expiration date. Don't get tech slapped, check your belts. If out of date, contact us and we'll help you replace the belts with new ones.

Welp it happened again, some slacker of an enews writer failed to proof check his work and last week called former F1 world champion Keke Rosberg's son "Kimi" instead of Nico. Now it isn't like the writer didn't know it was Nico, he just overlooked this when he was writing and proof reading. Despite all the miniscule errors found each week by Phil "The Spell Checker" Edwards, the writer and editor missed this error.

Oh not to worry, as many of you loyal readers were quick to point out the error. As a result, the writer has been replaced by Ralph the Wonder Llama who did some of the credits for Monty Python's Holy Grail. There, that should satisfy this most particular crowd. Oh, the editor regrets the error.

Don't let this happen to you, check your belts before you get to the track

Welcome to all our new readers who just signed up at the Rose Cup races. Hope you enjoyed your first issue of the enews. It was noted by former Armadillo Pauli P. Plevich that the term used by the editor for the enews seeming to be "a little flat" last week is a line from the classic Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album (which I listed to every year whist opening gifts on Christmas morning). The line is when David Seville is critiquing the performance of each chipmunk and says "Ah Alvin you were a little flat." Hear the whole song by going to this link Alvin you were a little flat

Maybe the enews was a little flat last week and yet we had an amazing open rate of 57%! Thanks to each of you for opening and I hope reading the enews. Be sure to check in next week when we hear Lulu say, "An armadillo was run over by a semi and was squashed flat as a tortilla."

Wait time for a long over due trivia contest. What movie was the line, "Squashed flat as a tortilla" used in? This is so obscure that I'll give a hint, the movie starred Jack Nicholson with the line uttered by Sally Struthers. Just email me your answer and if you cheat using the internet, that is OK as long as you admit it. Winner will receive a cool racing gift. Former Armadillo Pauli is excluded from this contest as he and I use this line often and he knows where it came from.

Armadillo Racing services the NW Racing community from our 28 ft. trailer/showroom.  Information on products, a calendar of events and much more can be found on our website at www.armadilloracing.com. We hope you'll come visit. If you would like to email me directly you can just reply to this enews or write me at Andy@armadilloracing.com. We hope you'll come visit.