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Archive for November, 2005

Rubbin’s Racin’

by Bingle on Nov.29, 2005, under Richard Bingle Family

I went to the races twice this month, once at Miami-Homestead and once at Orlando Speedworld.

One of my former co-workers (Buck) and I drove down to Homestead to take in the final race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup series. For a while there it looked like my favorite driver, Jeff Gordon, might have a chance at the win the race (Tony Stewart clinched the championship), but it wasn’t to be and Greg Biffle eventually took the checkered flag inches ahead of Mark Martin. After the race it took us about 1.5 hours to get out of the parking lot at the track, which meant we didn’t get home till about 2 a.m., but it was fun nevertheless. We’ve already started talking about taking a small camper down next year if we go so that we don’t have to sit in traffic and drive 10 hours in one day.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, the family took in Crash-A-Rama at Orlando Speedworld. This years Crash-A-Rama featured a 51-car/100 lap Enduro race, a Pro Figure-8 race (only 5 cars), a backwards race, a blind-fold race (drivers wore paper bags over their helments and took directions from a passenger), a “flagpole” race, a boat-trailer race (winner had to be pulling at least part of their trailer at the end), a “roller derby” race, 4 demolition derbies (only stayed for 1), and the main event, a 20 bus Figure-8 School Bus race. The school bus race was somewhat anticlimactic after the trailer race and the blindfold race (only incident in the bus race was one bus rolling onto its side in the infield). The Enduro race was interesting as it didn’t have any yellow flags (although it did have one red flag). By the end of the race there was debris everywhere, including a couple of cars (drivers still inside) that had come to a rest against the outer wall. The trailer race was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Within seconds of the start there were boat pieces scattered everywhere, including an entire 20 foot long boat in the middle of the track between turns 1 and 2. The blind-fold race was actually somewhat scary as there ended up being a 4 car accident right in front of us The 4th car involved hit the others after the red was displayed and the rescue trucks (sirens on) were already pulling up to the wreck. While we had a lot of fun, it’s probably not something we’d do every year…

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The call of duty

by Bingle on Nov.03, 2005, under Richard Bingle

I played a pivotal role in society yesterday when I answered the call of my country (ok, county – it’s only 1 letter different). No, I didn’t enlist, I served on a jury. Well, kind of. While I was chosen out of the pool to actually serve on the jury, when it came time for the trial to start, the prosecution’s witness was a no show. With no witnesses to the alleged criime, the prosecution had no choice but to drop the charges.

One of the most interesting tidbits I picked up during the Voir Dire process was that this particular court did not have a court reporter/stenographer in the courtroom. They were actually in a different building and were listening in via about a dozen microphones hung about the room.

At least I got to sit in the jury box.

– Rich

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