Yeah, I know it's been awhile. But I been BUSY, see. Although not always because I'm slaving away on the new book project like I'm supposed to be doing or exercising or biking outside so's I don't keel over dead one day or doing important, selfless, humanitarian stuff that will someday SAVE THE WORLD (like it deserves to be saved, right?), but rather because it seems, as I get older, that it takes me longer and longer and longer to accomplish less and less and less...

YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

Fact is, I went in for a routine physical two days ago and I was going through the usual let's-get-started interview with one of the fine and delightfully young, pretty and eager student types they have who are planning to become Physician's Assistants or Nurse Practitioners or whatever one day. "So how are you feeling?" she asked through a concerned but oh-so-friendly smile.

"Pretty good for an old piece of stew meat," I told her. "Oh, my joints and ankles and lower back ache a little sometimes and my feet get all tingly now and then and my digestive system has made me wary of damn near everything I love to eat..." brief pause and sigh, "...I guess it's all part of Age-Related EGTS..."

She started to write then down, but then paused with a quizzical look on her face and blinked a few times. "Age-Related EGTS?" she finally asked.

"Yeah," I told her: "Everything Goes To Shit..."

But y'gotta keep slogging, y'know. And there's even a lot of joy in it. Fulfillment, even. So here's a quick rundown:

1: THE BOOK: I was feeling a little Lost In The Wilderness for awhile, and although I was putting in the hours, I seemed to be shucking, jiving and gyrating (and playing entirely too many games of bridge and backgammon with an online bot) more than accomplishing anything. And then, about a month ago, all of a sudden something fell into place and I was writing and creating and correcting and getting there again. Making it happen, y'know? The content (including three whole new chapters that weren't in the Preview Edition of the new book) is finally rounding into its final form, I've added and polished some stuff that I really kinda like and (insert drum roll followed by a sigh of relief), I've also found, reconnected and made deals with several of the photographers I used to know so I can use their work. That is a BIG deal in the publishing biz, let me tell you. So that's all good. And, fingers crossed, we're still planning on a July debut/launch at Road America! They'll be doing a tribute to my pantheon hero Dan Gurney and his All American Racers that weekend and, as many of you know, Dan and wife Evie were great and greatly encouraging early supporters of THE LAST OPEN ROAD. There's a longish section about Dan's early career and his epic & incredible, ocean hop-scotching 1963 racing season. Flying commercial no doubt back in those days, and Dan was always a "tall drink of water" relative to your average airplane seat. In the new book, I retell the tale of how he truly instigated the Lotus/Ford Indy 500 effort back in the early sixties, and paid out of his own pocket to bring Lotus kingpin and engineering genius Colin Chapman to Indy in 1962 (where he was racing one of the interesting and ground-breaking but under-engineered and problematic, mid-engined, Buick aluminum V8-powered Mickey Thompson cars) and in the process introduced Colin to some of the top brass from Ford. And the rest, as they say, is history...

Pix below are: 1) Dan in the "a bridge too far" Mickey Thompson Indycar. 2) Dan leading Stirling Moss (and eventual winner Billy Krause) in a pair of Lotus 19s at Riverside. Note the "Safety First" roll bars on both of the 19s. Dan was almost always quickest and usually won when the car stayed under him in the Arciero Brothers Lotus 19. 3) Dan in the not-quite-there Porsche flat-8 F1 car that he was simultaneously campaigning in Europe and drove to Porsche's ONLY in-house Grand Prix victory...while he was racing as detailed in 1 and 2 above on the other side of the ocean plus stock cars, too. 4) Here's a real favorite from way back at the beginning: a very young Dan and fellow California racer-to-be Skip Scott broadsliding their Porsche 256 "bathtubs" through the dirt at "Riverslide." Evie Gurney sent me that shot, and I absolutely LOVE it!

All of the above is referenced, researched and related ad nauseum in the new book...so it's definitely NOT just about Loti (although that is the central theme that everything else attaches itself to like a fine, fuzzy bread mold or a salty crusting of barnacles). And that brings us to:

LIFE ON THE HOME FRONT: The lovely and long-on-patience Carol is still putting up with me. After 52 freaking years. It's frankly amazing. And she's turning out to be something of a deft hand with kiln-fired glazed ceramics, which she gets to fool with while dodging kids and difficult questions at the school where she assistant teaches in the art department two days a week. Plus our kids are coming in for two weeks in May, which is very uplifting indeed.

For both of us.

Maybe even all 4 of us...

Below is a pic of one of Carol's finished pieces, which hangs over the door to our kitchen and advises one and all to stuff their faces!

THE WORLD SITUATION: Don't ask. I keep thinking that if I wrote the stuff I see and read in the news as fiction, nobody would believe it. It's too far-fetched. Even for comic books.

MOTOR RACING: At my semi-advanced age, I wuz thinkin' that maybe I needed t'be done with car racing. Hang up the old helmet, so to speak. And this was amplified by the fact that I didn't see so good anymore. It had crept up upon me, little by little on silent little cat's feet, and I didn't really understand or believe how effing bad it had gotten until I got cataract surgery and--WOO-HOO!--all of a sudden I could see good again! Really! So I may not be quite ready to send my helmet and racing gear off to The Goodwill.

We shall see.
(and don't tell Carol, OK?)
Speaking of Carol, here's a pic of her (or maybe it's "our?") kitchen Christmas Cactus, which blooms whenever the hell it feels like it and currently apparently does.

NOW THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!

(that's why the background is bright red!)

As I have made abundantly clear, I'm getting down towards D-Day (Debut Day) on the new book, and because it's my first-ever "coffee table" book what with large format, gloss paper, lotsa beautiful, full-color (plus vintage B&W) photos and graphics, etc., it's going to be a VERY expensive proposition to produce. And, as we have done for every single book since we figured this dodge out on the second novel way back in 1999, we will have (and are currently soliciting) advertisers and sponsors for the new book. And for all of you who may have a product, service, business etc. that might appeal to my audience (mostly grizzled old gearheads, but some actually have money and resources and buy and own a lot of cars and motorcycles and memorabilia and such...and we have some younger folks, too) and the important thing to remember here is:

1) A display ad in one of my books goes out to that target market described above, gets seen and re-seen as the book is read, re-read, shown off, passed around to friends, etc. Even more unique (and unlike any other type of media advertising you can think of), a presence in my books--unlike magazines & periodicals--LASTS DAMN NEAR FOREVER! Really it does.

2) We are adding a "Gallery Section" for cool cars. Or unique cars. Or cars with a special sentimental value. And we have talented artistic types who can turn a snapshot of your car into something, well, memorable (see examples below). And, like the above, it lasts absolutely forever. Or longer than you or I are going to live, anyway...

A bargain at $500!

3) Be a sponsor! For 250 bucks, you get your name (or somebody else's name as a gift?) on the permanent sponsor page in the new book, plus a copy to wavce under everybody's nose when you want to show off and a VERY cool "Lotus Love Affair Sponsor/Sucker" embroidered tweed motoring cap with our wonderful logo. You NEED one of those...

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE JUICY DETAILS!

Questions? Comments? Wondering who to make the check out to? Please email thinkfast@mindspring.com or take a chance and try calling the TFI office at 708-383-7203. We may even answer..