Well Team Elf is safely ensconced in the bosom of its family, Mother in-law Jerie with Crew Chief Jeff preparing Gravy with the same aplomb that he shows when he tends to the Ministerial at the track, and we all just wanted to send out best to all of you this fine Thanksgiving Day. Der Elf has stirred from his reverie but remain uncharacteristically quiet since the recovery of the original car last week. He is spending the holiday at his Lodge, Veterans of Foreign Fantasies, where there are stories being swapped no doubt over curly toed shoes and tankards of strong ale.

UPDATE on the coming season: TEAM ELF has discovered that there is a Double Regional Race at California Speedway ("Fontana") in February and plans are afoot to head south with a San Francisco Region contingent of Formula Vee drivers to attack the high banking. Well...at least INSULT the high banking anyway. Update will follow as they become available.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2002 ALL! Think all of you of our troops serving far afield on this day and give thanks for the job they are doing.

A single picture is often said to be worth a thousand words. There is, however, no way to describe the depth of personal emotion that a photo can Express (so I won't try). At 1:45 this morning the original Team Elf Car rolled into Petaluma, it was unloaded just a short while ago by Norman Boles and myself. Less than 4 hours sleep since departure time means the whole story of the epic road trip will have to wait but for now let's just say she is home.

Since we got back Der Elf has gone particularly quiet and is just sitting staring at the car in the courtyard.

Not much can be said and even LESS TIME to say it in. Supplies are ready and the tow vehicle is on it's way. I have changed the water and paper in Der Elf's kutch under the stairs and have told him to "mind the store", he grumbled and went back to watching "Tom Horn". No matter, the great ROAD TRIP has begun and when next you hear from me, barring any unforeseen problems, we will have the original ELF Formula Vee back in family possession for the first time in forty years. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I haven't seen the car since I was a year older than Nicholas but so profound is its impact that I wouldn't be writing this if Dad hadn't started building it 45 years ago.

Other things perking, there are "Eddys" in the space time continuum. The wind of change are blowing and I am filling sails, course due South.

Boy, I gotta tell you that all that stuff you hear in "Santa's workshop" books when you are a kid, pertaining to elves I mean, was a load of hooey. I guess there COULD be laughing, jolly little guys and gals who whack out toys 24 hours a day for less wages then Kathy Lee pays for a garment bag but my experience is something else! You have to excuse me but Der Elf is starting to get on my nerves with this whole "Christmas Downer" thing. I mean I will be elbows deep in "Blue" tomorrow and Larry Bacon has told me I will be "hating life" (and cursing Henry Ford's ghost) by the end of the day. So where is my cheerful friend in the striped shirt? Still sulking with Doritos and his own impromptu Steve McQueen film festival (not that I have any problem with that of course). At last count he was on his third flat of lunch size chips and his third time through "The Great Escape".

You can also forget about all this Tolkien, pristine "shiny armor...ooo I love to clean" stuff as well, the shop is strewn with peanut shells and red bull cans. Who's going to clean that up is what I want to know! I'm too busy getting ready to head off to San Bernardino county for the first time in 20 years to deal with a surly mythical assistant! I say MYTHICAL only so the guys in the white "Tuck and roll" panel delivery don't come and get me, anybody who has been around Der Elf after he eats Bratwurst will believe he exists!

I have tried to be understanding about all this. The weather is closing in and the occasional cloudy day made me think that he might have SAD (Seasonal Adjusted Disorder) so I got "full spectrum" bulbs for the shop, only to find them in the dumpster after a week, he said they were screwing up his tan lines.

Things remain "a bustle" around Team ELF as the final preparations for the trip to recover the original "Elf" are winding up. In Southern California current owner, Mr. William Burton, has done what he can to make it as easy as possible for the "ELF Recoverery Flying Squad". Up North the crew is preparing to rip the dash out of "Blue" (Team Elf's reliable F150 Tow Car) to fix a leaky heater core. These efforts will be aided by the skilled hand of Larry "The human alignment gauge" Bacon. If all goes well the team will blitz run down on next Wednesday evening, do the necessary trailer repairs on Thursday and head North either Thursday or Friday.

On the lighter side, all preparations had to be halted for a time when Der Elf, still in his holiday funk, had to be bailed out after attacking a Salvation Army Santa in front of a local supermarket. To Der Elf's chagrin he was awarded community service for his deeds working at "Santa's Village" at Coddington Mall this Xmas. When last seen Der Elf was sulking with a bottle of brown liquor and a DVD of "Bullett".

The workshops here at Team Elf are far from idle these days as preparations are already under way for next season. Le Pilote is grumbling about the rabbit food he is having to eat in an attempt to lower his own "minimum weight". His musings about the cost of Titanium fasteners versus the intrinsic joys of Pizza falls on deaf ears as this is the time of year that DER ELF himself develops an attitude problem. Seems that eveyone thinks that because he has pointy ears and shoes that he should be scrambling around Santa's workshop about now, the elvish equivalent of "Profiling". If you get him on the phone just ask to speak to Marty and excuse him if he growls.

The shop is full of other people's cars (waiting for custom paint or fiberglass) and helmets (waiting for a some pearlescent magic!) right now so little time can be spent in the pursuit of the elusive "unfair advantage" just now, but things will clear up as the work gets done. The first big challange is to start spreading the word to the local business community that sponsorship opportunities are coming available for the coming year.

Well the year 2002 racing season has wound up with team Elf dropping from 14th to 16th in the year end points standing. Though we didn't finish as high in the standing Martin went faster overall in all categories on all the tracks we competed at. We go out of the season with a sorted car and driver. The only thing that could make it better would be if it wasn't 6 months until the next San Francisco region race! There has been muttering of "taking our show on the road" this winter, specifically to the great South West where the sun shines longer on the Sugaro and the racing season starts a lot earlier. Only time (and sponsorship) will tell!

The next big project starts a week from Thursday when Martin and Norm Boles point the nose of the truck south with the intention of returning the ORIGINAL ELF home to team headquarters. The intention here is for restoration of the car to begin with the goal of running the car in one of the vintage events scheduled to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Formula Vee. Watch the Driver's journal for news of the road trip.