Hi David,
My question from years of amateur racing and never graduating to checks or cash as prize money: why do trophy's come loose and fall apart on their own sitting on a shelf? The bolts seems to come loose and the poor things fall apart after about 4-5 years of light dusting by my wife (she says she does not move them). We have been racing and collecting the fake gold plating little plastic guys on CZ’s since the early ‘80s and those trophies starting falling apart soon after you were born. So the ones I'm winning now in the plus 40 class will be nuts and bolts before the yzf 250 is fuel injected unless your wisdom helps out my man cave.
Thank you
Fabien Lamoure.
Grenville, Quebec
Fabien,
I used to always ask my dad why he kept every trophy I ever won even after I had been out of the house and racing professionally for years. His explanation for keeping them was that he spends hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years so I could win them and dammit if he was going to just throw them away. So he lined them up in our garage behind our house and they sat there for decades, the bolts loosening and the levels of the taller ones leaning to one side or the other. The really big ones from Loretta’s and Ponca City were almost a hazard when you got near them; one good bump would send them to the floor in shambles. I don’t have an explanation for why they loosen up over the years or even when they don’t get moved or touched but my recommendation is that you give them away to a local track to reuse or donate them somewhere while they are still upright and relatively tight. Otherwise they’ll take up all your storage space until they are falling apart like a Russian satellite just to get thrown in the trash anyway.
PING
Hey ping,
First off I must say you’re the smartest person on the planet, well maybe second behind Julia Child.
My question to you, mighty one, is: what is a good diet for the week before race weekend and day before and race day. Someone told to load up on carbs, like healthy pasta type meals. Thanks in advance for your ever so insightful wisdom.
C
C,
The old-school tradition of “carbo loading” the night before a big event is, well, old-school. Nutrition, like any part of training, is all about consistency. You need to be eating well regularly, not just the week before or the night before a big race. If you are eating Big Macs and hot dogs all week and then you switch to fruit, vegetables and fish the night before the race and on race day you are likely to upset your stomach. The subject of healthy diet is summed up in one paragraph. Maybe you should research a couple Julie Child’s books? Or was that all just gooey, French food she served up? Regardless, do your research and decide what works for you. The Paleo diet is very popular and arguably the best way to fuel your body but it isn’t easy to follow. I’m more of a balanced diet kind of guy. I’ll eat veggies, nuts, fruits and lean meats all week long but if you tell me I can’t have ice cream on Saturday night I’m going to scratch your eyes out. My advice is to find a good resource such as Robb Beams (www.coachrobb.com) and create a meal plan that suits you.
PING
Hello Ping,
I know your plate is full with working and family obligations (good for you) but what's the real reason that you’re not up there in the booth at Supercross anymore? My family, friends and myself enjoyed your commentary very much when you helped a few years back. It would be great to see you with KW or RC; sure would be a blast.
Thank you and good luck out there with the Fire Dept.
?,
I appreciate you saying that and I’m glad you guys enjoyed it. I had so much fun doing color commentary that summer and I was bummed that I didn’t get another shot at it. There are probably a couple reasons why I never went further with it: First, I never pursued it. I saw good guys like David Bailey and Denny Stephenson get moved out for no real reason and it seemed like a volatile position, especially considering all the work that would have to be done to secure the job. Also, the powers that be want to have former champions up in the booth. You can blame Shea Bentley if you want to but the fact that I don’t have a title on my resume probably hurts me. When you introduce your broadcast team it sounds much better to say you have a former champion in the booth instead of a former race winner and vice-champion. The title “vice-champion” is about as prestigious as being your home school valedictorian. I think Jeff does a fine job and hopefully KW gets an opportunity to do more shows and see if he has a knack for it. If Kevin gets comfortable Jeff might have to watch his back.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Email him at ping@racerxonline.com.