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Shootout at the Mazda Grand Prix2008-08-05 08:17:01
Author Sam Moses, whose memoir Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots was recently named one of the five best books ever written about motorsports by the Wall Street Journal Book Review, scored a victory for nonfiction on Sunday, July 27 in the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland, behind the wheel of his Mazda MX-5 racing car. In the Playboy MX-5 Cup professional race packed with up-and-coming hotshoes, the veteran journalist was matched by MAZDASPEED Motorsports against bestselling novelist Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain. In the end, it was no contest.
Moses was crashed into the wall at more than 100 mph in practice, but his Team MER crew pounded out the sheetmetal and straightened the wheels in time for the next session. They chased the handling all the way to the start of the race, with the frame still tweaked.
Stein spun on the second lap, and was never in contention. Moses also spun in the Festival Chicane, and when he cut a smoking donut to get back in the race, the grandstands erupted in cheers. “It was the coolest thing in the race,” said one 11-year-old fan. He ran off the track again, chasing 17-year-old Kerstin Smutly, who’s been racing for 10 years—watch out Danica Patrick. When he pulled out of his own dust onto the backstraight, a freight-train of the four leaders passed him, and he stayed with them for nearly two laps. “Fun! Fun! Fun!” he radioed to his crew chief, Ronnie Swyers.
Moses, a former Sports Illustrated writer who lives in nearby White Salmon, Wash., benefited from the experience of Team MER out of Fort Worth, Texas, the Playboy MX-5 Cup champions in 2006 and 2007. His MX-5, called “Silver Bullet,” is owned by Marc Miller, and was previously raced by the actor and Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey. It carries “Autism Speaks” on the hood, along with the Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots book jacket, bearing a checkered flag. Stein’s MX-5 also carried his book jacket, with the eminently lovable Enzo the dog who narrates the book, only Enzo clearly wants to go the other way down the track.
Moses races again this weekend, in a Mazda RX-7 at Pacific Raceways near Seattle.
The next Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup race will be at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on August 9-10. The Portland race will be nationally televised on Direct TV and Dish Network beginning August 18.
Signed copies of Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots, as well as T-shirts with the title (“Because you either know one or are one”) are available at www.sammoses.com.
Sam Moses Previous Blogs: Playboy MX-5 Cup Photo Gallery 2008-07-31 19:05:32 (L) Eric Foss, Team MER driving coach, started 10th, finished 3rd, and leads the series. (R) The three MER shoes, signing autographs and looking cool in shades: Rob Huffmaster, Eric Foss and Ryan Schimsk. ... Read More Fact 1, Fiction 0 2008-07-28 18:45:17 I’ll be doing a couple more blogs from the Mazda Grand Prix of Portland, including a photo gallery as soon as I get the pics, but I should get this blog out of the way first. The Dueling Authors thing, with Garth Stein. I won.... Read More Pre-race thoughts, Playboy MX-5 Cup 2008-07-27 06:57:28 I’m writing this at 6 a.m. on the Sunday morning of the race, I think in order to clear my mind. In the grand scheme of things, whatever happens today will be insignificant. People will be entertained for a... Read More Day One: The Crash 2008-07-24 09:20:49 Thursday, July 24. Mazda Grand Prix of Portland. Playboy MX-5 Cup. MAZDASPEED Motorsports ride, with Team MER out of Fort Worth, Texas, the MX-5 Cup... Read More Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots: The Underdog 2008-07-17 04:21:34 If you haven't read the previous blog, here's the setup: Garth Stein, author of the bestselling "The Art of Racing in the Rain," is shooting off his fertile imagination, saying he'll blow me into the weeds at the upcoming race on... Read More Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots Big Story! 2008-07-15 13:57:08 FACT VS FICTION ON THE RACE TRACK - It will be Novelist vs Motorsports Writer at the Portland Mazda MX-5 Cup Race - July 14, 2008 (Irvine, Calif.) – The... Read More Running 190 2007-10-20 13:32:43 I first drove the RTG Motorsports BMW MCoupe for 20 minutes one hot day last summer, at Pacific Raceways. It was about the sweetest racecar I’ve ever driven—there have been a few faster and some sexier, but none so sweet. It felt born... Read More First and Last Time as an Idiot 2007-10-10 12:50:41 University of Nebraska Press Blog October 1, 2007 Once, when I was doing a book signing for the original “Fast Guys, Rich Guys and Idiots” some 20 years ago, a young woman asked me if the book was about her... Read More Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots Take Off 2007-09-10 12:01:19 Getting a head start on the September 7 paperback publication of his classic racing memoir, Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots, Sam Moses raced to 5th overall in a field of 40 powerful sports cars at the SCCA regional event at... Read More University of Nebraska Press Releases Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots 2007-09-07 11:54:42 Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots A Racing Odyssey on the Border of Obsession By Sam Moses With a new introduction by the author Sam Moses, a motorsports writer for Sports Illustrated, was assigned to... Read More Back to Blog list |
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