Hey everybody,
Thanks for reading the article. Obviously it's a pretty wacky comparison, but our rationale for doing it is pretty well-documented within the article itself.
A couple of brief clarifications regarding Douglas Wind's comments:
1) I wasn't "almost" thrown from the Mercedes during the open-door donuts, I WAS thrown from the Benz! I had this idea that we would do some fun donuts in an empty area. (Was it roped off? I guess I magically jumped a 4300-pound diesel Mercedes over the rope!) Luckily I still had a hand on the A-pillar so I could pull myself back into the moving car and knock off a couple more of said donuts. Naturally, I closed the door for those, because you don't have to tell me twice.
2) Bash the Neon? I
race a Neon! You see, Douglas does what they call "time trial" in NASA. It's a lot of fun, but it isn't racing. Some day Doug will be ready to race for real, and then I'll be delighted to help him as a fellow Neon owner. Until then, I'll have to continue to think of him as a smack-talking wannabe.
3) For the record, my co-driver was the guy who wanted to sue Dale. I'm happy to report that I had the chance to chat with Dale at the Atlanta Pro Tour last month and any drama between us is long since settled. Why Doug ever got involved in this whole thing is beyond me. As previously noted, he's kind of a wannabe who has only seen actual checkered flags on television. If I have any issues with Dale, I'll talk to Dale directly, not to his internet leghumper.
Again, thanks to everybody for reading. We'll be discussing our Caliber comments with Chrysler personnel in the near future. I'm a big fan of Mopar products - not only did we love the SRT-10 when we drove it back in March, I spend a lot of my time every week working on a Neon. Here she is:
Doug, if you ever want to see what it's like to actually race, as opposed to sit on your ass and babble - I invite you to build your own Neon and race it. Thanks!
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