Re: Racing Mazdas (no firearms)

["Scott Wood" <s1wood@ibm.net>]

The person you are probably thinking of is Ken Bennett, from 2Bennett
Audimotive.  There is a good article/profile in the summer 1998 Quattro
Club publication.

Scott Wood
1990 CQ
Charlotte, NC

----------
> From: Osman Parvez <oparvez1@nycap.rr.com>
> To: Quattro <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
> Subject: Racing Mazdas (no firearms)
> Date: Wednesday, September 30, 1998 9:34 PM
> 
> Ok Steven you asked for it... 
> 
> [Story Time...complete with moral]
> 
> I went to pick up a friend the other day. Pulled up behind a Mazda Rx7
> Twin Turbo.
> I wait and wait.....
> My friend is late.....
> 
> I get out to stretch a bit and walk by the Mazda....and notice the HUGE
> Tank sitting in the Trunk with hoses running inside...then I notice the
> auxilliary guage mounted on the A-pillar, the racing harness, the pseudo
> DOT approved Slicks, and the silver button mounted on his stickshift
> (with big hoses running from to and from it).
> 
> I ask the guy if he's running nox. Turns out that he was handicapped and
> had built his own clutch actuator with various components hooked up to a
> AIR tank! He had gotten into a Motorcycle accident a few years before
> and was paralized from the waist down. BUT he hadn't given up on racing
> in the SCCA.
> 
> We spent the next 20 minutes (my friend was VERY late..) chatting about
> racing, his custom design work, and his Mazda. I recommended that in a
> few years he move to a Steering Wheel tiptronic A4 (mandatory Audi
> Content). He said he would look into it.
> 
> I also mentioned that I had bumped into a Quattro Club member at
> Limerock a few years ago who was Handicapped. The guy had built
> something very similiar for his 4000q. All I remember about the fellow
> was that he was from CA and owned his own shop specializing in Audis.
> This was someone from 2 Bennet was it? I wish I could have put the Mazda
> guy and the 4000q guy in touch to compare notes, but I hadn't a clue
> what the 4000q guy's name was. Just on the chance that I will see Mr.
> Mazda again, anybody know who the guy from CA is?
> 
> OK so anyway...back to the Mazda.. (oh wait you were just kidding about
> Racing Mazdas right?)
> Seriously, I guess my point is, considering both the guy from Limerock
> and this fellow I met the other day, that one really does set his own
> limits as to what he or she can do. These guys didn't let their handicap
> stop them from enjoying racing.
> 
> Also, that auto-enthusiasm crosses many boundaries. I saw this poster
> the other day talking about people with disabilities having more access
> but not fitting in. This didn't apply the other day. We probably would
> have spent the next few hours talking cars, engineering, racing, etc. 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Osman Parvez
> Albany NY
> 89 200q 175K (down but not out)
> 85 Mr2 77K
> 91 Golf (temp)