With the Las Vegas Bug In now almost 45 days into the history books, I was jumping at the possibility of running my second race of the year, and the second race of my life! On November 12th 2006, the west coast’s VW drag racing sanctioning body, the Professional Racing Association (PRA), was holding its’ final event of the year at California Motor Speedway, in Fontana, CA. The track is new, since the facility moved the location of the track to the other side of their complex. (This was also the reason for the cancellation of Bug In 33 earlier this year.) How could I deny myself the NEED FOR SPEED? The rush you get as the lights on the tree start to drop and your pulse rate quickens! The thrill of slamming gears and flying down the ¼ mile! Ohhh Man did I want to run!

         However, it was not meant to be. I couldn’t muster the time needed to repair a couple of annoying oil leaks, and it wasn’t in my budget to rent a trailer to get the car down to Fontana and back.

         Nonetheless, I was going to make the best of it! With the precision of a military colonel, I mapped out the entire Riverside, and Fontana area noting any VW shops and a friend of mine’s home, for a pre-event barbeque.

         Armed with 3 cameras (film, digital, and video), a stack of GP flyers and stickers, I packed up my gear and headed to Southern California at 8:00 on Saturday morning.

         Everything was going great! I had a full tank of fuel, commercial free satellite radio, cruise control at 75 MPH, and the open road. It was time for "Guy Time!" I could put away, my squeaky clean "school teacher hat" and wear whatever the @#%* hat I wanted to! I’m going down there, visiting some shops, buy some parts, hit the hotel, and then go drink some beer with guys! What could be better? …RACING AT THE TRACK! Life is good!

         Then the local Southern California traffic and congestion took control.  I was able to cruise down the 15 for 3 hours without any problem at all.  Due to some construction or repairs to the 15, all traffic was routed onto the 215 (my route) which caused me to be delayed in stop and go traffic for nearly an hour and a half! Now I’m starting to get worried because many of the shops I planned to visit were closing at 2 PM!

         Finally I got out of the traffic, and I made it to Pacific Customs in Riverside 20 minutes before they closed. It was a very clean shop and was very well organized. I was hoping to see more VW street sedan parts, but they catered to the sand rail crowd. But I was very impressed with their Subaru 500 horsepower sand rail on display in the middle of the showroom.  It was also on the cover of Sand Sports Magazine! I purchased some parts, and quickly headed out to the next shop.