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Tomaso poses briefly with the Team Willy' No. 77 F1
Showcar at Austin Fan Fest. (The Tomaso Collection)
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Ah, can another year have already slipped by once
again? As your humble No Fenders scribe
Tomaso has just made his annual pilgrimage to COTA for the yearly Formula 1 race which Claudio's
so willing to take me to each year! As here's the belated 2013 story while I whittle
away at this year's story whilst still basking in thy Afterglow of this year's
just concluded event!
Tues,
10/28
Once again, another early morning departure,
albeit not quite as bad as my ZERO FREAKIN' DARK 30! Departures for
Indianapolis, but! Still pretty damn early for Mwah when leaving home at 6:20AM
for my 9AM Departure.
Then 3hrs flight to Dallas-Fort Worth, (DFW) followed
by 3hr LAYOVER! Then 1hr flight to Austin; 1+ hour LATE due to Flight Crew NOT
being at Gate On-time, as they kept
announcing over the PA: Our Aero plane's here, but Flight Crew's stuck in
different concourse; Huh? That's a new excuse to Mwah!
Very nice Off-duty Flight Attendant named
Stacey, who was waiting to go home to Austin, offered to assist me over to the
somewhat (DFW) concealed Check-in counter for "Pre-board" and then
assisted me to our awaiting Aeroplane; SWEET!
Nelie collected me at baggage claim around
7:15PM Austin time - which is two hours ahead of Seattle time CARPETZ; Hya! Whilst
Claudio' drove off from us briefly - as the Coppers' were telling him to Get
along 'lil Doggie! Before he stopped further down the curbside check-in and
away our chariot carried us...
As Y'all can read
my previous scribbling 'bout the trials of being a visually impaired traveler
in;
Wed,
10/29
Nelie, Claudio & I went to Downtown
Austin, where they'd closed off four blocks of Congress Avenue, i.e.; 7th to
11th Avenue's for the Infiniti Red Bull Racing F1 "Demo" between
12noon-2PM. And for those unawares, Congress Ave. is the main four-lane
thoroughfare through Downtown Austin that leads directly to the Capitol.
HOLY MISSING ARMCO BATMAN!
UN-FREAKIN' BELIEVEABLE!!! Only a
"double" waist-high street barricade preventing us from being hit by
the 2011-spec V-8 powered normally aspirated F1 Double Championship winning
(Driver's + Constructor's) Car, which
was traveling supposedly at speeds up to 140mph and only some mere 15-feet away
from us! As I know I heard multiple gear changes being made; Aye Karumba!
Current (2014) Red Bull Racing Formula 1
drivers Daniel Ricky' Ricciardo and TWINKIEBOY! Seb' Vettel made two runs
apiece in the F1 chassis, whilst in-between, they took turns torturing the SHIT
outta the new Infiniti (E50?) Eau Rouge "Supercar," especially by
doing numerous rubber pealing, smoke laden tyre squealing "Doughnuts"
at end of the street before turning around, as we joyfully stayed for the
entire two hours event...
Thurs,
10/30
Claudio & I went to an AWESOME movie
titled: Who Killed the Messenger? Which was about the unknown to Mwah
investigative journalist Gary Webb, who un-cracks the u$ Government's illicit
involvement in selling crack cocaine in east-LA in order to fund 'Ol 'Ronnie's
war against the Sandinistas via Regan's illegal funding of the Contra's.
Very powerful, informative and enjoyable
movie, with a sad ending, to which
apparently even today, various mainstream media factions are still
trying to disprove Webb's expose for
which he won Journalist Of the Year in 1996! As I highly recommend the movie to
all...
Although not
surprisingly, the movie only played in theatres briefly, as obviously you'll
need to find I-T on DVD or wherever now...
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| The Mad Hatters Tomaso & Claudio seated during Buxton's Big-time Bash charity for Meals on Wheels in Downtown Austin last year. (The Tomaso Collection) |
A
folded triangular sign standing on our table reads: The Austin Grand Prix
proudly presents Buxton's Big Time Bash...
Thurs evening the three of us went Downtown to "Peacock-lite's NBCSN's
Pitlane reporter, thy 'Wee Willie Buxom's (Will Buxton) Buxton's B-I-G' Time
Bash, a charity fund raiser for Austin's Meals-on-Wheels.
We stayed for 'bout 1.5+ hours, and I got my
picture taken + "Talked Smart!" Very briefly, obviously, to America's
lone hopeful and (then) current Marussia F1 Test/Reserve Driver Alexander
Rossi, along with (then) current Caterham F1 racing driver Marcus Ericsson from
Sweden; Ya Sure Yuh Betcha! Before it was time to head home and prepare for our
first day's outing trackside...
(Photos Courtesy of Austin Hostess Nelie)