From: J Thurman <lthur@lightspeed.net>

Jim Thurman (a.k.a. "Caracara"), 39, single, currently living in Bakersfield, California (in the San Joaquin Valley, 106 miles North of Los Angeles). Have also lived in other parts of California: San Diego, San Bernardino area, Los Angeles area and San Francisco Bay area.

Like Buzard, my first races were when our dad took us out to the Orange Show Fairgrounds in San Bernardino, California. A guy he worked with was racing Stock Cars on the then 1/4 mile dirt oval and he gave my dad some free passes. I was only 4, but quickly hooked!. It wasn't long before I was following all forms of motorsports. I got heavily into reading about racing history, something I am very interested in. To give you an idea, I was buying old copies of "Speed Age" (a 1950's era U.S. racing magazine) when I was old enough to spend my own money. An 11 year old kid spending quarters on 18 year old racing magazines. I maintain a separate Racing History list within our group and send along race re-caps, historical items and even a few .jpgs.

When the family moved to San Diego, I had was in a cast and was on crutches due to a broken foot. I kept bugging my mom about when the races would start and she called the local track (Cajon Speedway) and told them about her antsy 7 year old. This got passed along and the drivers of the El Cajon Stock Car Racing Association voted me a press pass for the races that season. I still have that pass.

After seeing weekly short track races, my first major event was the 1966 NASCAR Grand Narional race at Riverside Intl. Raceway. Went on to see several races at Riverside (NASCAR GN, Can-Am, F5000), as well as a few races at Ontario Motor Speedway. Never made it to Long Beach. I also follow regional short track oval racing and have seen races at 28 different tracks (all but one in California).

I hazily recall some F1 items from as far back as the mid-60's, remembering more from '68 or '69.

No personal racing experience of the four wheeled variety...at least not so far, but have always wanted to. I did compete in Cycling (Bicycle Racing) in my late teens/early 20's. I really enjoyed the competition and camaraderie, but costs and minor health problems brought my Cycling days to a premature end. Had a lot of great experiences though, including a brief chat with a very young and scrawny Greg LeMond at his second ever race.

My other interests are rock/pop music and most other sports. Guess that's about it, hope this wasn't too long.

"Caracara"