New Hope for a New Year

So much has happened since the last post on Sept 5th, 2010.

At that time Targa was only days away and the energy and excitement of the upcoming race was all around us. Ray, Dale, Julie and Chad had an excellent two days of training on Bell Island with fellow Targa Competitors from around the world. The wonderful residents of Bell Island shut down part of their town so that we could race through it at high speeds. At the end of the day we were met by a mob of eager townspeople who braved the rain, looking to meet some drivers and get autographs and photos. The exhilaration of that moment was amazing, and just a taste of what the week would bring.....or so we thought.......

Less than 12 hours later our world was turned upside down when our son Jesse phoned to tell us his brother Walter passed away suddenly in a car crash. Everything after that was just a blur.

We decided to drive the Shelby and Mustang to the Remax Center for the many fans who would be expecting to see the cars. We had the unpleasant task of informing Targa officials and competitors that we would not be competing and why. We later learned that they had a moment of silence for Walter, as all the cars left the stadium to begin the first day of racing.
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Now here we are four months later, living in our new normal with a very big void in our lives and still in a state of disbelief. We have begun our plans to return to Targa Newfoundland 2011. The first day of racing will be on the anniversary of our son's death. Which we all know will be a very emotional day.

We have made some changes to our cars. The Shelby is getting a new custom built engine. A possible paint job is on the horizon for the Mustang. But the biggest noticeable change will be the disappearance of the famed puzzle pieces with names. After much discussion and thought we have decided to stop the puzzles. They are very costly. But, the greatest reason is because it is extremely time consuming to collect the names, answer emails and create the puzzle images to get ready for printing. Our family time was suffering because of the time spent on the computer handling the puzzle requests. And, now more than ever we realize how precious and important family is.

We will still carry on our message about autism awareness and make public appearances for our many fans.

See you all at Targa Newfoundland 2011!