Merry Christmas...so where is my racing stuff??

It seems each year "Santa" always leaves a little something in my stocking.  One of my favourite magazines is called "F1 Racing" F1 Racing Magazine .

This magazine is stuffed full of insight into the world of Formula 1 racing, with tons of pictures, interviews, technical breakdowns, etc.  Where I am, this magazine seems to be really hard to track down and at about $10.00 per issue I don't buy that many throughout the year, but the ones I do I keep in my collection dating back a number of years....so "Santa" keep them coming!!

It's also really nice to have a spouse that appreciates one of your passions...she may not be near as passionate about it, but she understands that I love this sport and when she hears the names Mika, Gerhard, and Gillies she also knows they are race car drivers as well.  A number of years ago while checking out a local collectors store in Vancouver called Wilkinson's Automobilia I came across a 1/18 scale of Mauricio Gugelmin's reynard car with custom sponsor decals on it.  I had to tell my wife about it, and low and behold...a couple of months later it appeared under the tree...what I nice gift for this race fan!!

This car was released by Action Diecast back in early 2000 and depicted a number of cars in the CART Racing Series.  In most cases when a cigarette company sponsors something like this, the cars were released with generic decals, but some hardcore guys alter them back to look as close to the real car as possible.  The guys over at Chapparrels Diecast are artists at this type of stuff...but they take it so much further...they are awesome!!!  At the Vancouver race I often tried to hunt Mauricio down, but was never able to get him to autograph the car.

ART ATTACK!!!!!

As a very young kid, I always wanted cars on my walls and it didn't matter if it was the hotwheels wallpaper I had as a kid, the cut out racing pictures from magazines, or the racing posters that friends and family would give me as gifts...I just always wanted to go to bed seeing racing cars and then wake up seeing racing cars.

A few years ago I was a regular forum contributor on a website called crapwagon.com...it was also known as champcarfanatic.com.  A great group of people that were hardcore fans of Champcar racing and everything that it entailed, plus a rather large angst/hate towards Tony George and what he did to American openwheel racing.(long story with many points of view).  On these forums I have been lucky enough to meet many many people deeply involved in autoracing...drivers. team owners, support staff, and even management.  One of these individuals was a gentleman with a job that I would love to have, but would probably takes years to fully comprehend...Jim Swintal.

Above is Jim welcoming home Paul Tracy at the Champcar race in Mexico City back in 2003.

Jim has been involve in autoracing for many years, holding various positions with many many organizations  He is currently involved in Race Control for the  IZOD IndyCar Series and also Marshalls Communicator for IMSA.

A very interesting job in itself, but he also an incredible talent with his hobby as an artist.  If you have a racing fan in your family, you may want to check out his website Jim Swintal Website, amazing stuff!!

I have been able to acquire a number of his prints over the years and one of my favourites is shown below.  Justin Wilson in his pitstop titled "The Right Service. Right Away".

Along with this print, Jim also sent me a print commemorating Dyson Racing's 25 Years of involvement in ALMS and Grand-Am Racing...now how did he know my son's name is Dyson???

As the years have gone by I have checked out his website on a regular basis, as well as his blog On Course for the inside information..and even post the odd time on his facebook wall.  A good friend with an amazing job...and an amazing talent.