Nelson Ledges Chaplain’s Notes

 MARCH 2008

 EASTER SNOW

 This year Easter is the earliest it will come until long after I am driving on that Great Grand Prix Course in Heaven. And a part of that has been the great joy of replacing the White Christmas we missed in Cleveland with a White Easter. Something around six inches of the white stuff fell Friday evening into Saturday morning, making my wife very glad she had driven to Baltimore to visit family on Thursday. I miss her a lot but there are some things to be said for baching it (as in bachelor) for a while.

My weekend has been filled with three services at my Church, a wonderful meal at TGI Fridays with my pastor Brent Paulson and his wife Teresa, the F1 qualifying and race from Malaysia, the Speed World Challenge race from Sebring, and assorted Futbol (soccer)

matches. I really should have been born in England although I can’t understand that Cricket thing. Actually, as I have mentioned before, last year on Easter morning I was watching F1 at the airport in Bristol, England. There was then and still is (I read the London papers online most days) a huge interest in Lewis Hamilton in the UK. It is incredible how far he has come in a year. I was just reading Road & Track’s F1 driver rankings for 2007 in which he was ranked third behind Raikkonen and Alonso.  After his second place finish in the Driver’s Championship last year and his win at the opening in Australia this year, Hamilton certainly is the real deal and a prime challenger for the 2008 Championship.

Last weekend brought memories of 1969 when I made my first and only visit to Sebring. That year the Porsche Spyders were the fastest cars but they broke and the Ford GT won. This year the Peugeot and Audis were fastest but the Porsche won. There is some symmetry in that. The Porsches were run by Roger Penske who hasn’t done bad for a Cleveland boy.

Back here in Cleveland, I had hoped to get my 1994 Mustang GT out this weekend. It seems as itchy as I am to hit the road again. But I promised my dear departed racing partner Bill Stables, from whom I bought the car, I wouldn’t “run in that Ohio salt” or the beet juice they are using now to clear the roads. That Easter present will have to wait. Hopefully you made it to your church’s Easter services and heard the Good News that will bring you back Sunday after Sunday, except when you are at the track.. Then we’ll see you at Chapel!       

God Bless,

Chaplain Gray   

chapnlrc@aol.com