Hi,

My name is Joe Freeland from Pauls Valley OK. I'm 48, married, with 3 small kids (girls). I've been working SCCA and vintage races at Hallett and Texas Motor Speedway for a few years. I'd always wanted to know if I had the guts to race myself. After reading Dave's book "Go Ahead, Take Out Your Checkbook..." or something like that, I sold an MGA I had and bought a new MINI Cooper S (which I love).

So far, I've done 3 track days at Hallett (which I have also loved). I plan on taking the school at Hallett this month, one day in my MINI and the second day in a rental race car. I'm probably going to use one of their Spec Racer Fords, just because it's handy. My plan is (if all of this goes like I hope) to take the SCCA school at Hallett in September.

I'm not ready to purchase a car, but when I do, I think I'll be looking for a fwd IT car, maybe even before the SCCA school, since I don't know what I'll be doing between April and September other than track days in my MINI.

I haven't seen a lot of discussion about Hallett here. If there's anyone that races Hallett, I'd like to meet you. I'll be working grid or hot pits for the races this month (12th-13th). I also plan on working at Eagles Canyon, which is quite a bit closer to where I live than Hallett.

Anyway, thought I'd introduce myself. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Joe