Nelson Ledges Chaplain’s Notes

 DECEMBER 2007

 The SHOW

You all need to send some sympathy my way since I had to leave 30 degrees and snow to fly to Orlando for the Performance Racing Industry trade show in Orlando. It’s tough but some chaplains have to do it. Before you feel too sorry for me, I did find out that the inside of a convention center looks pretty much the same in Cleveland as it does in Orlando.

Dan Andersen of Andersen Racing was kind enough to donate a space for Motorsports Ministries to have a booth. We were showing our brand new Motorsports Ministries DVD, distributing our new brochures and several bags full of candy. As a matter of fact, I ate a candy lunch one day as most booths offered candy and the food in the convention was very expensive. We also offered chairs to sit and relax which were a very valuable commodity at this huge show. Our booth was right across from Ford Racing so I had to spend several hours looking at five beautiful racing Mustangs. I can feel another round of sympathy murmuring through the crowd. One of the Mustangs was from the new Miller Mustang Series that will run at the Grand Prix of Cleveland in June.

It is a good thing I do not race any more or I would have left Orlando with a shopping list that would kill a credit card in no time. As it is, there are some street parts for my Mustang that looked good. Everything you can imagine for racing and some you couldn’t were on display. I was impressed by the amazing racing simulators now for sale. It certainly would help to be able to train this way at home.

But in the midst of all this spectacular racing stuff, I came away with that strong feeling that it is racing people who are the real treasure. Scott Lane, Tom Sloe, Mike and Dan Puskar, the Kryders, Gary Martz, Matt Miller, Rob Piekarczyk were a few of the Nelson crew it was great to touch base with.  I had a special time meeting and sharing with Motorsports Ministries Board members, Dan Andersen, Jerry Howard, Dick Bradley and his wife Candace. It was also great to fellowship with our chaplains, Jim Johnson, the Scotts, and my conference roommate, our own Pastor Steve Geitgey. Thanks to Chaplain Richard Anderson who heads Motorsports Ministires and pro Chaplain Dan Lacy for some excellent seminars and ongoing leadership of the Ministry.  Meeting Andrew Lane and Dave Whitaker who are spearheading a group called Christians in Motorsport in the United Kingdom was a pleasure. I hope to see Andrew when I visit my son Matthew in England next summer as he lives 30 miles from Bristol in Swindon.

It is my hope at this Christmas and New Year time that you get to spend extra moments with those special people in your life. And if you are as pumped about racing as I was at the show, HURRAY UP NEXT SEASON!

God Bless,

Chaplain Gray

chapnlrc@aol.com