BEST OF JODY’S BOX: THE BEST WAY SPEND YOUR TIME WHILE WAITING FOR PRACTICE

Tom White (left), Jody Weisel (center) and Doug Dubach (right) discuss traffic management in the pits.

By Jody Weisel  

“Hey, do you know that guy over there? You know, the guy with the 2011 KX450,” I asked Jimmy Mac as we sat on the tailgate of my 14-year-old Toyota Tacoma.  

“What’s his name?” replied Jimmy Mac.  

“That’s what I asked you,” I said.  

“Isn’t that the guy who used to come to the races in the box van with the three KTM guys?” said Jimmy Mac.  

“I don’t have a clue who you are talking about, but the KX450 guy always parks right next to the guy with the YZ250 two-stroke with the white rear fender every week,” I said in an effort to clear up the mystery.  

“Oh, that’s not the guy with the white rear fender; he moved over across the pits next to the two brothers with the matching camo CRF250s about a month ago,” he said.  

“That’s what you say. Take a look, the KX450 guy is parked right next to a guy with a YZ250 with a white rear fender,” I said.  

“Oh, I see what you are saying, but that’s not a YZ250; that’s a TM 250,” replied Jimmy Mac.

“I thought all the TM guys parked next to the tree in the lower pits,” I said.  

“They do,” said Jimmy Mac, “but I think this TM 250 guy is friends with what’s his name, you know, the 2011 KX450 guy, and moved up here when the guy with the white rear fender started parking next to the CRF250 camo brothers.”  

“I know one of the CRF250 brothers, the younger one, not the one with the earring. I’ll go ask him who the KX450 guy is,” I said.  

The guys in the pits in this photo got here before the sun came up to secure their regular pit spot. They represent a small portion of the racers who will pour in later and try to squeeze into every nook and cranny of the pits . The tree where the TM guys park is visible in the lower right

“I don’t know who the KX450F guy is,” said the brother without the earring, “but the YZ250 guy with the white rear fender pulled in next to us a couple weeks ago. He parked so close that the guy with the Yamaha YZ450F, you know, number 113, who parked next to us for the last two years, backed his truck out and moved down by the tree in the lower pits. You know, where the…”  

“…TM guys park,” I said, finishing his sentence for him. “Why would he park with them? He has a Yamaha.”  

“They’re blue,” said the CRF250 brother without the earring.  

I thanked him and was walking back down the pit lane to where Jimmy Mac and I were parked when I noticed a giant motorhome lumbering up the hill. “Where does the guy in the Prevost VIP think he’s gonna find room to park that ocean liner? He’ll have to back down the hill,” I said.  

“I think that the weird guy with the Suzuki RM-Z450 has been saving him a spot,” said Jimmy Mac.

“How did the Suzuki RM-Z450 guy get up here? I thought he was a flat lander from down by the starting line,” I said.  

“He was, but he’s friends with that fast guy with the Husky FC450, and they came together for a couple races and now they come separately but park next to each other,” said Jimmy.  

“I thought the Husky guy broke his tib/fib last week,” I said.  

“Oh yeah,” said Jimmy Mac. “He broke it bad, so the Suzuki guy offered the Husky guy’s spot to the Prevost guy.”  

“That Prevost won’t fit in the same pit space as the Husky guy’s Sprinter. It’s going to stick out onto the pit road,” I said with authority. Sure enough, the Prevost came backing down the hill a few minutes later to find a place to park on the flat land so that his toilet would flush.  

“I see that Prevost guy came to his senses after spending 20 minutes trying to get into a space twice as small as his motorhome,” said Jimmy Mac.  

“Oh, Prevost man didn’t come to his senses,” I said. “The Cat guy couldn’t get the D7 by the back of the coach and he told the Prevost guy to go back down to the bottom before he pushed him down the hill.”  

“Good for Cat guy,” said Jimmy Mac.  

The races went off like clockwork, and when I got home Lovely Louella asked, “How was your day?”  

“It’s always a great day when I get to spend it with my friends,” I said.