— Grant Morrison (famed comic book writer)
Don’t worry, it’s just a glorified welder. Nothing dirty on that site except some hard work and grease.
Oh, and a lot of cool pictures of hot rods, racecars, choppers, and the blogger himself.
— Unknown
“Dragon Slayer Boss Hoss”
That’s the name of this custom chopper that a friend brought by our dealership today. He custom-built this bike with his father & brother. It has a Boss Hoss V8 engine with NOS, creating 1100HP. Ridiculous! The shift lever has a gator claw in the knob. To have this shift knob made they contacted THE guy who made the mosquito ball cane the old man has in Jurassic Park. This bike has won many awards, competitions, and has been shipped to Germany for showings, all deserved.
Yesterday, a car sitting on an I-95 apron in Connecticut decided to merge back onto the highway negligently in front of a tractor trailer travelling in the right lane. The 18-Wheeler served to avoid the car and proceeded to flip over and explode. Two people were killed. An additional four people were injured. Both sides of the highway, as well as surrounding backroads, experienced traffic for hours.
Coincidently, this incident has occurred around the same time i’ve been planning to start a blog series called “Driver Feedback”. So, keeping in mind the above incident, here’s my first piece of driving advice to all you drivers out there…
When merging onto a highway, it is of the utmost importance that you:
1) Match the speed of the traffic you are merging with,
and
2) Are fully aware of the traffic you are merging with.
This probably sounds like simple and obvious advice. And guess what: it is. Yet I still see people every day who don’t follow either of the above rules. Some people actually use their brakes and slow down! Ever wonder why highway entry ramps are so long? So that drivers have time and room to get their vehicle up to the same speed as the highway traffic. Furthermore, you need to have your eyes up and monitoring the cars moving around you. Make sure your side mirrors are properly adjusted so you can get a full view of the lane you are merging into.
Get your car up to highway speed, keep your focus alternating between the cars in front of you and the cars in the lane you are merging into, pick an open gap in the traffic, and go!
It’s really quite simple. Nobody needs to die. You just need to be smart and safe on the road.
Pictured above is the newest book I’ve purchased.
I did not purchase this book because its release was talked about in People Magazine. I did not purchase this book because I want to find out exactly what happened between Jesse James and Sandra Bullock. No, I purchased this book and look forward to reading it because I am a fan of Jesse James, the fabricator. You see, I knew about Jesse James way before it became public that he cheated on his marriage with actress Sandra Bullock. I was a fan of Jesse before his hit show “Monster Garage” became a hit. I remember watching a documentary on Discovery Channel called “Motorcycle Mania” that followed Jesse in his chopper shop. I was glued to the tv as a kid and watched in amazement at how he moulded sheets of metal to his liking and made true, functional art out of metal in the form of a chopper. He made me want to learn how to weld and to use my imagination to create my own works of art. I want to read this book because Jesse is good at what he does: fabrication. And I am a fan of that art. I really don’t care what he does or did in his personal life. No, I do not condone marital cheating. But, to be honest, nobody cared about his personal life until he married an A-list actress. Nobody realized that that was his third marriage. The paparazzi public wanted him to be what they wanted to see; a Hollywood couple dream -come-true. But that’s not the Jesse I knew or had watched when I was a kid. I knew him as a hardworking artist and blue-collar man who loved what he did, and who did things his way.
Give Jesse a follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FreeJesseJames - He’s always got something interesting to say.
— Ayrton Senna
This old gem of a picture is of my father, Chris Riley, sitting in his 1966 Lotus 41C racecar. He ended up having to sell it. A real shame because this racecar would be very cool to take out on the track today!
Ok, Im going to head into seemingly strange territory in this post, ie fashion, but bear with me because it IS racing related. I find racing equipment very comfortable to wear, at least not when its 90+ degrees and i’m sitting in full fireproof layers. And I especially find it very comfortable wearing my racing shoes all day around the paddock. So much so, that I wish I could wear them every day to work.
However, glancing at the picture below, Im sure you can easily tell my race shoes do not go with the whole “Shirt & Tie” look, especially at a higher-end car dealership in Fairfield County, CT. Besides, a racing shoe has next to no sole. Not as in “no soul”, because these golden Alpinestar wonders have enough soul to have been James Brown’s dance shoes. I mean that a racing shoe has a thin bottom so that a driver can actually feel the pedal under his foot. And while that feature is great for feeling car feedback through the pedal, it doesn’t give your legs and lower back much support when you’re on your feet all day.
So, the trick is to find a pair of shoes that look the business part and give your legs the support they need while also having that driving/racing shoe flair and feel. Usually Puma would be the company I turn to for such a shoe. However, no matter how hard you try, the Puma street-going racing shoe still looks like a sneaker. Even if it is all black and leather. Trust me, i’ve tried.
So I turned to my awesome friends at Zappos.com in search of such a work-friendly driving shoe. And while it did take an hour of scrolling through multiple brands’ pages of “oxford” style shoes, (and I mean PAGES), I came across two pairs of shoes that not only have the look and feel of a racing shoe, but which can also be worn with black dress pants, a Brooks Brother shirt, and tie. While i’m sure you can find other brands that also make such a type of shoe, I landed on a pair by Rockport and by Cole Haan.
Now if i’m on the showroom floor speaking with a customer and I get that last minute call to drive for Aston Martin in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, i’ll be able to go straight to the airport, to the track, to the race car without ever having to change my shoes. Or at least it will be more comfortable managing the pedals on my manual Volvo C30 on my drive home from work.
SENNA Movie
In case you haven’t heard about it or seen the trailer, here is the international trailer for the SENNA movie. I had the chance to catch this movie while I was in NYC several weekends ago and Im extremely glad I did. This film gave me a new-found respect and love for the 3-time F1 World Champion. It had most of the men in the theater visibly choked up, including myself. Whether you are a racing fan or not, this is one documentary film you shouldn’t miss!
Right now this film is being shown in very select locations, so keep your eyes open in case a showing pops up near you. Also, to help give this film the chance to be shown nationwide in mainstream theaters, show support for the film and “like” the SENNA Movie on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/sennamovie
My office view during a race weekend - Cockpit of the Riley Racing Mazda RX-8.
(Photo credit: Tom LoForese)
Staying true to my blog title, (My Mind is Racing), I went ahead and formed two more new blogs after creating this one. I had many more interests on my mind that I wanted to share other than just racing. What could I possibly like other than racing?! (I know, hard to believe.) But I am actually an avid fan of photography and film. So, I created a blog for all my original photos, named AJR Photos, and a blog for all of the videos I find online that I think are cool and interesting, named Flash Films. Here’s a quick synopsis of the two blogs to get you up to speed.
AJR Photos
In high school I took several photography classes and thoroughly enjoyed using my Minolta SLR camera & processing ACTUAL film in a darkroom. Over the years I continued taking pictures, but moved on from film to the digital realm of photography. When I got the iPhone3G & now the iPhone4, I found the camera’s qualities to be excellent for what it was, especially the iP4, and started snapping shots everywhere I traveled; locally, on the road for racing, cycling trips, etc. Occasionally I will bring my DSLR with me and snap shots with that. Several months ago I was looking through all of the photos I’ve accumulated and decided that I wanted to share them with everyone else. Thus, I created this blog. About 95% of the photos posted on this site are part of a photo series I call “Life Through My iPhone.” As the name explains, its all of the photos I have taken with my iPhone, edited with my iPhone, and uploaded via my iPhone. The edits are only minor and usually involve color enhancing, lightening or darkening, filtering, or adding minor camera-style effects all through an iPhone app (Yup, there’s obviously an app for that). I share most of my life with my iPhone and I want to share my world as my iPhone sees it.
Flash Films
I’ve been a longtime lover of films and videos of all types, and there’s a lot of great videos being uploaded online that aren’t just cheap viral videos. So, as I come across videos that I find interesting and cool, whether it’s a well-filmed short documentary, onboard racing footage, or an awesome music video, I’ll share them on this blog.
Here is some onboard footage the Riley Racing team recorded during the 2011 Grand-Am 200 Continental Tire Series race at Daytona International Speedway. I took footage of the opening laps of the race when I was in the car and edited them into this video. The team had 2 GoPro cameras mounted in the car. We will be experimenting with different angles and more cameras throughout the season and I plan on putting together more interesting videos in the future. Hope you enjoy!
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King Creepsalot at the Vatican.
(Taken with instagram)
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Warmest Christmas Wishes to all the Tabloids & Paparazzi. I have special little gifts for each, and every one of you!
