Thursday, March 14, 2013

Gentleman's Guide to Racing Rides Again...

The Gentleman's Guide to Racing is an ongoing web series created by Michael "Skiny" Power.  He's already done Baja and driven around Vietnam on some crummy old Russian "motorcycles".  A mix of Hunter S. Thompson and Steve McQueen, Power is interested in the adventurous aspect of motorized travel, not in the "winning" or corporate end.  What he enjoys is the dirt, the grime, the challenge and the potential for soul crushing failure at nearly any point in time.

I think a great quote from Mr. Skiny sums up his ethos beautifully and its one I would gladly count myself as aspiring to:

This isn’t about Blue blood, trust funds, accents or which private school you attended. This is about being a man. Our motto is, “It’s the burden of all true gentlemen to lead an exciting life.”

This makes him someone I enjoy following along with.  The fact that he sounds as if he will branch out into other forms of travel (blue water sailing?) makes his efforts even more interesting.  Evidently he has also trained up here in the Northeast at O'Neil's Rally Center in NH like so many others getting into the dirtier side of motorsport and I'm trying to find out what impressions he may have left there during his stay.

This weekend he will be competing at the Mint 400 and following in the footsteps of the aforementioned Thompson who took part in this event many years ago.  Power will be piloting a top of the line vehicle however and doing it with his own style.  As opposed to the LSD that Thompson would likely have consumed Power appears to be more likely to do it with quality scotch in hand and a pretty lady on his arm.

Gentleman's Guide to Racing interview...

Gentleman's Guide to Racing website...

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