FINALLY!!!

[Fax]

Nah, not you Fran,
Just borrowing a line from the Bill Murry classic "Stripes"
"What we have here is a heavily armed recreational vehicle"!
Andy, I see the glass as half full too, just that sometimes its half full of sh*t
The Grump

[Fran]

Phew - thats a relief! 

[Jonnyspa27]

Sorry Johnny Spa to burst your bubble but disagree with you on Gidley, maybe a buddy of yours but I see him from a un-biased view and frankly have never seen him as anything other than a middle of the road journeyman driver, certainly not champion material. Best American open wheel driver of the past ten years?  Not hardly!  His short season spent with Ganassi was impressive enough but it wasn't enough to retain a seat with the team.  So he's ended up in the Grand-Am series, big f**cking deal, its a series which is frankly for most drivers is the last stop before Get-a-real-jobsville.  He may be a great guy, don't know and really don't care but don't go pimping him to be something he's not.  I see him as another Calvin Fish, won a few Atlantic races but is never going to be anything other than a journeyman racer.  There was a lot of hype around him at first but thats faded pretty quickly.
And yes I know Memo is a common name in Mexico, just having some fun with it.  Lighten up Francis.
Fax

Thanks Sgt. Hulka,
First of all I didn't say he was the best American open wheel driver of the last 10 years, I said he was ONE of the best American drivers in the last 10 years. The best American driver in paved AOWR in the last 10 years is either Jimmy Vasser or Michael Andretti. If you want to get into the dirt track scene its Steve Kinser, but thats a different deal altogether. Secondly  Anytime Memo sat in a CC he went fast, Ganassi saw this and that is why he signed him in '01 to replace Minassian. Not champion material? If you take the results from that '01 season I quoted you and put that into a full season, you've got Mr. Gidley in the thick of the championship hunt. The reason he wasn't able to find a ride for the next season in 2002 was because Chip would not commit one way or the other so Memo could find a ride for the next season or get comfortable at Ganassi. Had that been the case things would be much more different I can assure you. GARRA isn't a great series I agree, they do have car counts and get good drivers for their biggest race at the Rolex so what Memo did there is saying something I believe. Why would Pescarolo even look at him if he wasn't fast? Fax if you're going to flip someone crap do it w/out playing the ethnicity card, it takes away the ethos that your sig quote gives you.

[Fax]

First of all I really resent the implication that I'm playing the ethnicity card, nothing could be further from the truth.
I was merely having some fun with name (made fun of Scott Speed too and last time I saw him he was a cracker of European decent like me) could have made some Finding Memo joke if I wanted to.  Look, my opinion of Gidley's ability is purely my own, if you don't like it your more than welcome to disagree but if your going to accuse me of being a bigot you can go f**ck yourself asshole!  Like I said, I've simply never seen him as a top drawer driver.  The guy has bounced around more rides in the past five years than any ten drivers I can think of, perhaps there's a reason he hasn't been able to land a quality fulltime ride, there's obviously something going on there.  As far as being looked at by Pesca, there's no great distinction in that, he probably looks at a hell of a lot of drivers.  Aside from his regular drivers he's more than likely to select someone who can bring funding to the team.
Fax

[Robspot]

Nothing like a bit of friendly banter to get you in the mood for Le Mans eh! 

[chop456]

Calm down guys.  You're giving us Americans a bad name.

Well, more of a bad name, anyway. 

To answer Jonny's original question, there will be a group of 4 of us at LM.  We're all rookies, too.

And if Michael Andretti is so good, why did he only win one championship in 10+ years with top-flight teams? 

FWIW, I did see Memo wrestle one of John Della Penna's shitheaps to a respectable finish at Elkhart Lake one year, and was there for the big wreck also.  There are less talented guys with wealthier fathers in every series.

[Andy Zarse]

I can see a good ol' all american punch-up at Le Mans this year. Perhaps we could build a tag ring on the DfH scaffold and include it as part of the friday night entertainment?

[Fax]

I'm ready to stomp on this c**nts face right now!
Who the f**ck does this jerk-off think he his telling me I'm using a race or ethnicity card on this forum?  How long have we been bantering every day? This is the first time I can recall anyone accusing anyone of being ethnically or racially insensitive.  If the rest of Memo's supporters are like this clown no wonder the poor bastard can't get a decent drive.
Fax

[Andy Zarse]

Fight! Fight! Fight! 

Quick, run away, hide! Smokie's coming!! 

[Steve Pyro]

Fight! Fight! Fight! 

Quick, run away, hide! Smokie's coming!! 

The poor old sod's freezing his parts off in Aberdeen.

[Andy Zarse]

Steve, Smokie's's gonna be pissed right off when he gets back to find out he's missed out on this little lot. Accusations of racism, profanities galore, threats of physical violence, even something about a useless memo which I don't really understand. Years he's waited to break up a spat like this, years. And where is he? Aber-bloody-deen. Oh boy, is he gonna be pissed off....

[Steve Pyro]

Andy, I never bother with memos nowadays.   They're so last century.
In the modern high tech world of today, I generally email, instant message or text.

Memo Smemo I say!

[Andy Zarse]

Email Gidley? What dipsh-it thick goons would call their kid Email Gidley? Wanna start a fight over it? Come on then! Come and 'ave a go!

[Steve Pyro]

Hoy, as everyone knows, Emile is a perfectly acceptable French name.

[Andy Zarse]

Oops sorry, how foolish of me. I grovel in humiliation.