[Richard Robbins]

Very nice indeed.

Nobody pronounces Arquimedez Pozo better than Kerber.

Can I get an Ntema Ndungidi?

I might be willing to pay to listen to the dulcet tones of Rick Gammons read the list of the greatest names. Joe Table anyone?

[Richard Robbins]

I’m a sentimental guy. Rediscovering these old email threads and photos has been a glorious walk down memory lane. Time to update things here and there.

The picture that started this particular thread was taken at a competitive car design event that my older son Joseph participated in. My younger son, Michael, is now in the very same program. Michael tells me that working with carbon fiber is a bitch. I might be returning to that competition this summer.

Joseph was the first child born into the USML (May 1992). For those that remember, my team, the Mighty Red-Hots, was first called Joseph’s Mighty Red-Hots in his honor.

Joseph went on to become quite the car guy. He’s now a mechanical engineer at Tesla hard at work on Mark Blocker’s next car. Oh, and he’s about to get married in less than two weeks. While it was not planned this way, his wedding date will correspond with the 100th running of the Indy 500. Very appropriate! I know Rick will like that last part.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Richard Robbins.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Richard Robbins.

[Richard Robbins]

As I moved the old announce list stuff to the new forum system I ran across this old thread Mark. I’m still bummed about the football results. I’ve sent Michael to Cal on his own four year mission to recapture that thing. Year one, no bueno. He’s got three more attempts.

The Big Game

[Richard Robbins]

I assumed you were talking about Rougned Odor.

A related story here.

[Richard Robbins]

Outrageous.

[Richard Robbins]

Doug’s world is about imagery and the illusion of the reality that you are/have lived. Kudos Rick. Great to see you in Indy.

— Rich

[Richard Robbins]

Sadly, yes.

[Richard Robbins]

Yeah but Cal hasn’t won at all since the Robbins Clan joined the fray.

Joseph sent me a note “So much for rushing the field as an undergrad.”

I replied “There’s always grad school”

[Richard Robbins]

Yes. That is exactly the kind of axe I was looking for. Can’t you learn to share? Nice picture by the way.

[Richard Robbins]

I suspect the school is going to lose its accreditation.

There are rumors that Professor Brad Lee has been accepting bribes in return for grades.

[Richard Robbins]

The problem was that when the car heated up the brakes would grab. If they ran fast and tapped the brakes they would stick. That was a bit of a problem on the auto-cross and endurance runs. The drivers ended up avoiding the brakes entirely but never really got the car up to speed for fear that they’d need the brakes at some point and didn’t want to trash the vehicle. I was surprised to show up at the paddock and see Joseph tearing apart the brake assembly to redo something or other. I had no idea he knew how to do that.

He’s at a four day post-competition seminar now put on by Optimum G Vehicles Dynamics. The lead guy there is Claude Roulle. I’ve never heard of him but everyone at the competition spoke his name with great deference. They spent all day yesterday going over tires. Joseph said his head was about to explode by day’s end. Today is aero and suspension. Tomorrow is weight transfer and data acquisition. Not sure how they put everything together on day four.

Claude was highly critical of every car he saw. He really dug in. His highest compliment on the Cal car was for the steering system (Joseph’s design) which got a faint “Well, I suppose your steering is OK.” I’m told that counts as a big win.

One poor team miscalculated how much down force they’d get from their rear wing and it snapped the supports during a run. The Cal car runs without fancy aero wings and the like. I’m told that carbon fiber can be tricky to work with and it gets expensive.

Great fun. It’s too bad that the teams don’t get to drive other team’s cars. I’d love to see if other drivers could get more out of the Cal car. Nobody wants to let the competition trash their cars.

Joseph loves being able to apply what he is learning in class in a real world example.

Hey — how my team move back up in the standings?

— KR

[Richard Robbins]

Don’t we have a recently adopted but not yet codified rule prohibiting an owner from drafting any player that is older than that owner is?

[Richard Robbins]

Mr. Secretary,

Should the minutes reflect the Ryan Braun discussion? What about the discussion concerning Kerber that was abruptly ended when Kerber decided to grace us with his presence?

— KR

[Richard Robbins]

Did you ever win without a co-pilot Brad?  Is it possible that some sort of performance enhancing drug was involved?  C’mon Brad, fess up, it’s just not natural.

 Looking at the log again, I realized this morning that except for your wild run, we have never seen any team go back to back.  Not even the vaunted Berliners.

Here’s the log:

Year       Winner
2010      Berliners
2009      Bombers
2008      AYM
2007      Berliners
2006      Nukes
2005      Daddies
2004      Nukes
2003      Berliners
2002      Riptorns
2001      Nukes
2000      Riptorns
1999      Riptorns
1998      Riptorns
1997      Riptorns
1996      Berliners
1995      Red-Hots
1994      Klein Nine
1993      Bombers
1992      Berliners
1991      Klein Nine
1990      Berliners
1989      Bombers

[Richard Robbins]

A couple of follow-up points, Professor.

#1 – The Braden loss hurts, but ARod will be fine and the Gutierrez problems were already factored into the projection.

#2 – The Calamari just lost Nathan as a closer today, so I wouldn’t be too bullish on their chances. And as far as Jim having the best players, I beg to differ. The Klein Nine offense smokes the Calamari offense as does the Red Hots offense. And the Klein Nine have 1 1/2 – 2 closers to the Calamari’s none – 1/2.

#3 – The Shandler software does, in fact, show the Berliners having the best team, but this year’s projections like every other year’s projections only uses that information as a component of the overall analysis.

#4 – Though I doubt you will take heed, you might want to re-read the first sentence of my analysis of the Klein Nine. It would appear that you are unable to move on from last year’s disappointment. That is sure to lead to another year of disappointment.

That is all.

The King

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