# Pete McKay Benefit Race - Just brotha'



## Yoshi Nagura (Feb 9, 2008)

*Pete McKay Benefit Race - Just brotha's getting together to help one of our own.*

With mild temperatures some of the members of CSRA got together and put up a short road course to try out our new ALMS cars. While the location was at my house in Fresno I want to thank Martin Simonian’s help in getting in contact with everyone. This was a benefit race for Pete McKay who is having a difficult time recovering from what was originally supposed to be a minor ankle surgery. Peter was in attendance but allowed other drivers to wheel his Sauber-Mercedes Team.










The track was a 4’ X 8’ layout, all flat corners but most were wide sweeping and quite fast on Friday night practice. Racing began at 10AM Saturday and lasted until about noon. Our entry list counted 8 cars, 2 Toyota’s, 2 Jaguar’s, 3 Sauber’s and my single Panoz. We ran 25 lap qualifiers in each lane; the field was set by who turned his 25 qualifying laps the fastest. Peter’s #62 Sauber was first, in the hands of Jimmy “The Real Deal” McNeil, I qualified second, and so it went. Here’s the qualifying layout:

1. #62 Sauber-Mercedes 1:59.34 McNeil
2. #22 Panoz LMP-1 2:02.63 Nagura
3. #63 Sauber-Mercedes 2:04.88 Lisch
4. #60 Castrol Jaguar 2:05.21 Simonian
5. #14 Red Bull Toyota 2:10.31 Sills
6. #61 Sauber-Mercedes 2:16.08 Yslas
7. #60T Castrol Jaguar 2:20.00 Yamaguchi
8. #50 Tenoras Toyota 2:21.03 Perkins (withdrawn)

We ran progressive mains, setting the fastest car in the A, 2nd in the B, etc. The second slot would be the car that transferred from the previous main. Beginning with the F main, which saw the #61 Sauber and #60T Jaguar, racer were 30 laps in each lane. Teo "The Hammer" Yamaguchi advanced to the E main where he again won, beating the painted but un-decaled Red Bull Jaguar by a large margin. 
We took a 5 minute car cool off then ran the D main, where again Yamaguchi advanced by beating Simonian by one lap plus distance. The C main was run and Brian Lisch very quickly put Teo behind and at the switch it just didn’t get any better. In the B main I faced what I hoped would only be the first of Team AMG’s potent Saubers. I ran good and held my own before the switch, but in the second segment the Sauber just pulled away. In the A Main there would be two cars fronted by the man we were running the benefit for in the first place. 
Let me say that identical cars can be taken so many ways. The only real differences between the two were the numbers on the bodies. The cars were close on the track too, at the switch the difference was just a matter of half a lap. The lead swapped back and forth a couple of times Lisch missed braking into the hairpin on two consecutive laps, and the race was handed to McNeil.

With the 7 drivers and maybe another 10 or so spectators we managed to collect close to $200 to benefit Peter’s post operative care. His apartment manager has refused to fix a non-working refrigerator, and Thursday, the day after his major ankle surgery, maintenance men had to take apart his shower looking for a leak. They were supposed to return the next day and complete the job, now they’re saying it’ll be the middle of next week. Same with the ‘fridge, 10 days after he told the manager it was broken. Since then he’s lost much of the food he stored up prior to his surgery because it is room temperature inside. The money will be used to stock him up temporarily with stuff he needs and an ice chest to keep it cool. All I can say is that Karma is a MF Ms. Apartment Manager….just wait and see our move out party once he gets better.


----------



## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Wow guys! Now that is totally awesome that you guys pulled together and put this on for Pete! I miss Pete hanging out with the 1/32 slot car side, but have trolled the HO side every time he has posted. One thing is true - regardless of what car Pete has in hand, he remains consistent and true to his integrity!

It sucks to hear that people like this Apartment Manager are treating him like this - aren't there laws that state the Apartment Manager has "X" amount of time to respond and completely repair things like the fridge and shower?!?! GEEZ! If not, I'd definitely be looking into that too - that Apartment Manager could be in violation of the contract that Pete signed.

I know that's neither here nor there right now as it does not fix or help Pete out in the immediate and near term, but I'm so glad to see things like this come together. Personally, if I was in a better place financially I'd pony up some funds as well to add to what you guys came up with - that's just how much I think of Pete!

Congratulations on an awesome race and a worthy charitable event guys! 

Pete, I hope you get better soon bro!

PD2:thumbsup:


----------



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

This is a case of the repair being worse than the initial damage. The repair was to have a complete ankle rebuild that would hurt but I would be back to work in a week. This hurts worse than any other injury I've had that I can remember, and I'm looking at 3 weeks to a month off work. At least my school is letting me email my homework in.


----------



## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> This is a case of the repair being worse than the initial damage. The repair was to have a complete ankle rebuild that would hurt but I would be back to work in a week. This hurts worse than any other injury I've had that I can remember, and I'm looking at 3 weeks to a month off work. At least my school is letting me email my homework in.


Thank God Pete! Hopefully you are getting paid time off from work too. Just take it easy and get that think at 100% or it will be worse when they repair any damage because you started using that ankle too early.

Good to see ya post! Now get some rest!

PD2:thumbsup:


----------



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Sort of an update on this sine it mentioned my ankle....

Sunday night I was admitted into the hospital for a fever and severe headaches, all symptoms I took to be part of a flu bug I was catching just after surgery. Nope. I'd had a minor stroke. I didn't get the weakness or numbness like you get typically but when some friends came by they called 911 and had be shipped off ASAP. My BP was outragous because I was still trying to do things like I was before my ankle surgery...like racing. Now I have to spend 20 hours reclining while the blood vessles heal. No more racing for 6-8 weeks, no tuning, nothing. I'll have an hour a day for e-mail so I'll try to keep up with the boards. I hope to get a home nurse sometime today...hope she likes slot cars. 

In any event the fridge is fixed so it will be restocked with jello and fruit and the rest of the stuff I lost. Once the flu bug is gone I'll feel better and get to show off some new projects I just got parts for.


----------



## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> Sort of an update on this sine it mentioned my ankle....
> 
> Sunday night I was admitted into the hospital for a fever and severe headaches, all symptoms I took to be part of a flu bug I was catching just after surgery. Nope. I'd had a minor stroke. I didn't get the weakness or numbness like you get typically but when some friends came by they called 911 and had be shipped off ASAP. My BP was outragous because I was still trying to do things like I was before my ankle surgery...like racing. Now I have to spend 20 hours reclining while the blood vessles heal. No more racing for 6-8 weeks, no tuning, nothing. I'll have an hour a day for e-mail so I'll try to keep up with the boards. I hope to get a home nurse sometime today...hope she likes slot cars.
> 
> In any event the fridge is fixed so it will be restocked with jello and fruit and the rest of the stuff I lost. Once the flu bug is gone I'll feel better and get to show off some new projects I just got parts for.


DUDE! Man, don't play around with that stuff bro! That was not good at all. I'm sorry to hear about that, but definitely give yourself all the necessary time needed to heal and repair yourself before pushing it. I know it sucks to be down and not able to do the things you like to do, but don't push it and loose all ability to do any of those things man. Take care of yourself and stick around a lot longer.

PD2:thumbsup:


----------



## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

I've been feeling a bit better, sticking to my 18 hours of having this thing up. I had a doctors appointment this morning and they're going to start taking some of the staples out on Friday. BP was a lot better. I think eating better is also helping. But I've run my time out for today...


----------



## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

Pete McKay said:


> I've been feeling a bit better, sticking to my 18 hours of having this thing up. I had a doctors appointment this morning and they're going to start taking some of the staples out on Friday. BP was a lot better. I think eating better is also helping. But I've run my time out for today...


There ya go! Keep sticking to the plan Pete and you will be out of this a lot quicker than you think. Glad you to hear you are doing better bro! 

PD2:thumbsup:


----------

