Become part of the Legend: Join the ACO (USA)!

• What’s your motorsports past? How many LeMans have you been to, etc? 
• Quick recap on the 100th – thoughts?
• The “Automobile Club” de L’ouest — it should be obvious from the name that it’s a club, but many people just associate it with the 24hrs race itself. Let’s shatter that glass and talk about the club, its members, and what it’s all about?
• People join all sorts of car clubs: PCA, SCCA, etc. Why the ACO? How did you become a member?
• What are the benefits of joining the ACO? Why join? Key differentiators from other clubs. What does it cost? Any Perks (general discounts, lounge access at the races, etc)?
• ACO USA Events – what’s coming up?
• ACO USA needs help – volunteers? Describe opportunities that members can be involved in. 
• “The Legends” – more detail on them and their involvement in the club.

and much, much more!

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Grand Touring Motor Sports Podcast Break Fix, where we’re always fixing to break into something motorsports related.

Our guest will be taking you on a thrilling journey through the world of motorsports and the rich history of the Automobile Club of Lo West, also known as the a c o established in 1906. The A c O is the prestigious organization based in Lamar, France, and is best known for organizing the legendary 24 hours of lemon’s endurance race.

And just back from celebrating the hundredth anniversary of this great race, David Lowe, ambassador for the A C O U S A, joins us to delve into the origins of this iconic race and the incredible stories that have unfolded on the Circuit d Losar, and why you should become a member of one of the oldest Motorsports clubs.

So with that, let’s welcome David Lowe to break fix. Well, thank you Eric. It’s certainly an honor and a privilege to be on the show. Before we jump into the details of the a c o, [00:01:00] like all good break fix stories, everybody has a superhero origin. So let’s talk about David Lowe, the Petrolhead and how and what led up to your involvement with the A C O.

I look back, and it started about the time I was 11 years old with a classic comic book about Laal. I’ve looked for the copy. I can’t find it anymore, but I certainly remember the two panels. The villain in the race was flying down the mosan straightaway, smoking a cigarette, and he flicks it out the window.

Guy, it’s a vivid memory in my head. For me, when I raced my Aurora slot car set, I was always at Limon driving an X ke. But my buddy across the street on his slot car, he was at the Indianapolis 500. A big difference in our racing styles, right from the very beginning. Fast forward a couple years and I’m in the hardwood industry, and one Christmas we get a call from a French company that wants to come over and buy some cherry veneer logs.

I got the short straw for the Christmas holiday. They arrived, and I took the company playing up to Titusville, Pennsylvania. [00:02:00] I. It was about three or four inches of snow. I’m brushing the snow off the veneer logs and they purchase a container of cherry veneer logs, and I’m the hero that week with the most sales in the company.

The only sales in the company. Anyway, the interesting thing was I used to talk to them. You know, I, I understand he’s a race car driver and he drives at lamont. Always fascinated. I got the chance to come visit him and go to the shop and see the cars, and then one day I get a call. He says, look, I’m getting ready to race this season.

I’d like to invite you over for the 24 hours. I said, I’d love to, but you know, my boss is not gonna let me come unless you invite him. He called my boss and invited him. So we came over. It was 1994. It was my first limo. I was a guest of Warner Racing. It was pretty cool to be there in the pit, the hospitality right over the pits.

It was all the excitement and thrills of being there. In fact, Derek Bell pitted right beside us in that Gulf Livery, so it was really, really cool event. Unfortunately, they retired in the middle of the night, but it was still a cool event. It was my first limo. Then we kind of went through a little bit of a dry [00:03:00] spell.

I switched companies. Ended up working in South America. It was Christmas time. I’ve been working on a project and I needed to move some product. Thought I’d taken advantage of the Christmas holiday and head over to the far east and look up a couple of customers. I knew they’d take an order. New Year’s Eve, I landed in Bangkok.

Airports, probably less than 20 miles from downtown, but it’s a four hour trip. So I went back to the counter, I said, tell me where can I fly tonight? And she looked and she said, we’ve got a flight going to Puket. It’s gonna leave here in 30 minutes. We can get you on that flight. And I said, come on. Landed in ette.

Checked into the hotel. Freshened up a little bit and thought I’d go for a walk on the beach. Couldn’t really see anything, but there were a lot of little outdoor bars, and at one of the bars, there’s this, a young lady, blonde, black dress sitting at the bar, and this seat beside her was open. Well, with some hesitation, I walked out and said, excuse me, is this seat available?

And she said yes. And so I sat down, but I said, where are you from? She said, well, I’m from France. I went, and you speak English? Yes, we speak English in [00:04:00] France. I went, well, great. Well great. So where do you live in France? And she said, well, I live in a little town outside of Paris. Okay. Does your little town have a name?

She says, I live in Lamont. And I said, do you know Yvan? And her face dropped the Y. Were very good friends of her parents. So she had traveled halfway around the world to meet an American. She didn’t know that, knew her parents. It was a long distance relationship. I ended up marrying in Lamo at the cathedral, and my son was born beside the Ong straightaway.

Yes, I’m kind of getting to be a little bit of a lamo man. She had a friend, a very good friend from childhood who was the official photographer for the A C o. And so with Nicholas, I would get to come to the races and I would assist him in the media center as he was processing the photographs and helping him as we started to get them out on the web.

And this was years ago. Over the years I’ve worked with Nicholas providing technical assistance from time to time, and then Nicholas was appointed the director of the club. I’ve [00:05:00] been working with him and I said, guys, we’ve gotta do something. Every year I would say something, we really need to do something in American market.

And it was kinda like a little bit of pushback and I. So last year, right after Lemmon Classic, I sat down. I said, here are the eight things that we need to do for the US market to make it a successful membership program. Five days before the race. I was able to check off the last box, and we’ll dive a little bit more into that as we go along.

But let’s expand a little bit upon your past. As you said, you’re a LeMans man. You’re a LeMans. Family. I mean, to think back over the last 30 years, going back to 94 and that chance encounter with a French customer that wanted veneer over Christmas, that’s pretty amazing how it evolved into all this inside of that 30 year span.

Have you yourself gotten more involved in motorsport? Have you picked up some sports cars? Have you turned some laps? Have you been around Lamont itself? Years ago I had a formula. Ford Van Deman chassis 1600 head of sponsor. I didn’t have enough money to really go racing. LA Mall has been my race for all my life.

I think I’ve been to MidOhio once. I’ve been [00:06:00] to v i r. Sebring is out in the middle of nowhere. You gotta book your room early, but I found some good places to eat, but it’s a long drive. But I haven’t been to all the tracks around the country. So you can put all that together. And for those out there that do race, It’s a little different sport.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have three Porsches and for those that enjoy going fast, I’ll have to be honest. Once you get to a certain speed, you take off. And I became a pilot, which goes a whole lot faster than it’s three dimensional. So you’ve experienced other clubs as well, member of P C A. Involved in SS C C A, things like that.

So you’ve carried with you to the a c o, some of those personal experiences, part of those check boxes that you talked about, how to make the a c o better. And we’ll get into that again as we go along here. But since we both were together at the hundredth anniversary of Lamonts, I wanna get your, take your recap, your thoughts on the centennial.

I have to be honest, it was very special the 23rd of May. Prior to the race, I was fortunate enough to be inducted as an administrator for the a [00:07:00] c o. With that, I had the opportunity to see the race from a different vantage point than I had in the past, and so for me it was a very, very memorable experience.

Being able to watch the start from the Sportif mode as well as being at the finish line was really the first time that I’ve had that opportunity. Knowing the outcome now, who were you rooting for in the beginning? Were expectations met? Did you have a favorite horse in the race? I did. Ben Keating is one of our members of our club and a big contributor.

You know, we were certainly excited for Ben. We’re fortunate. He’s on an episode of Evening with the Legends, so I don’t wanna take all the thunder out of his thing, but to come from two laps down and finish first was absolutely incredible. And I think the other was to see something other than Toyota winning anything that Toyota, it was exciting to see Ferrari come back.

Put it all together. Glick House did a really strong finish. There was a lot, a lot of good, exciting racing. I think that sentiment was shared with a lot of folks, and [00:08:00] it’s not because Toyota’s the villain in the equation. I think a lot of us in Motorsport might be growing tired of these dynasties, whether it’s in Formula One or in Rally or any of the disciplines to include Lamont.

I mean, you had a stretch. With Audi, what of 11 wins? 19 overall with Porsche, but they had a concentration of them before Toyota took over between Audi and it’s just these long stretches of the same people winning over and over again. And so it feels like competition is at a minimum. I was working with the museum prior to the race and they brought in all of the winning cars.

I believe there was 82 winning cars. Maybe it’s 81 winning cars. They were able to get all of the winning cars at LA Mall over the a hundred years back, except one. But Tom Christensen’s cars were coming in. They were taking ’em off the truck. Tom. Tom. Tom, okay. Okay. But you didn’t, you don’t realize the legends that have just.

Really dominated there as drivers. It’s impressive. Over a hundred years there’s been so many different winners, whether it’s [00:09:00] Bugatti or Bentley or Simica or you know, some of the other brands that you’re just like, there’s been so many winners and there’s been dominant players as well, but I agree with you.

That moment when they pulled all the cars out of the museum, all the ones that could run under their own power and took them out on track for that half an hour for those parade laps, and they were going at a good clip. That was the moment at LAMA for me, where it set it apart from everything else, it was seeing these cars that I’ve only seen in books, magazines, in old movies and things like that out on track together.

It was just absolutely amazing. And with some of their remaining drivers too, with these legends that you’re talking about, that was special. For the listeners that may miss the 24, the classic is one of my favorite Lamont classics every two years. That takes me back to my childhood. I get a chance to go out in the pace car or take a lap during the classic.

It’s a little, a little easier to do things like that, but to hear those roar, golly, Pete, don’t miss an opportunity to go to the classic. Is there a favorite Lamas car of all time for you? Growing up was the G T [00:10:00] 40. So if I take you away from the v i p booths and the start finish and the a c O lounges and stuff, where’s David Lowe’s favorite place to watch?

What’s your number one corner? I really like Indianapolis. I really like you to stand there. It’s a little dangerous. Those rocks are a whole lot bigger than they look on tv. When they fly, you’ve gotta be, uh, on your toes. The other part is eight o’clock on, uh, Sunday morning. I’m usually working in the a c o headquarters, and there’s a back door that goes out on a balcony.

So I usually come out and get a cup of coffee and a croon and go out on the main straightaway and watch the cars and you’ve got a great view of the pits activity. You see ’em coming up through the Porsche curves. That’s really kind of my favorite time is eight o’clock on Sunday morning. Nobody’s around.

It’s kind of quiet in the way of activity, and I can have 15 minutes of just enjoyable time. So let’s switch gears a little bit in the introduction. You know, I spelled out what a c o stands for, right? Automobile Club of the West. If you translate it from the French, the emphasis on automobile club, it should be obvious from the name [00:11:00] that it’s a club, but many people just associate the A C O with the 24 hours, the race itself.

So let’s shatter the glass a little bit and talk about the club its members, membership, and what it’s really all about. The A c o originally started out as what we would consider aaa. It’s the French equivalent of what we have that’s been grandfathered for the old members, but you can’t join it now new.

So they’ve kind of phasing that over. But now the a c o, the club is, as they say, a club. The French package, if you would, the European package, provide you access to tickets early at a discount and some perks around the, the Lamar area, access to the, the museum, and a chance to go into the track every now and then.

If you’ve lived in Lamar or lived in France, you absolutely are gonna be a member of the A C o, and that’s the majority of the members of the A C O are French people join all sorts of car clubs, whether it’s P C A or Ss C C A or others like we mentioned. Why the A C O and how do you become [00:12:00] a member? So what the A C O U S A Members Club is, is a community of fans who are passionate and committed to the race and are ambassadors for the event, as well as endurance racing in general.

What is our mission? The mission of the A C O U S A Members Club is to create a vibrant community of devoted fans who share a deep passion for the 24 hours of lamont and are committed to sharing the thrills and excitement of this legendary race, particularly with those that may not be able to attend in person.

That’s what we’re about. The A C O had traditionally been a way for a US person going to the race to purchase their tickets early and get a little discount on the ticket. If you weren’t going to the race, there was no value. When I looked at the American market, I. The fans of the 24, not everybody can afford to go to Lamar.

When I took over as the ambassador, I made almost 400 phone calls, a lot to pass members to say, Hey, why did you leave to existing [00:13:00] members? You know, why are you staying with us to try to get a pulse on it? One of the interesting revelations was the fact that Americans that can’t afford to go to Lamont, go to the petite Lamont as if it’s Lamont.

That was really an eyeopener. And you know, I took that back to lamont and said, Hey guys, you know Petite Lamont, yes, it’s an EMSA race, but we have to be there because our fans are there. When I set out last July, I had a blank canvas and I’m gonna create a membership that addresses the real need of the entire US market.

So we have created this incredible community of volunteers. In just less than a year that I’ve done some amazing things. And as I said, the last checkbox was to ensure that as a member of the A C O in the US you would be able to watch the 24 live stream. And that was the final checkbox of the membership package.

And we’ve got that five days before the race. So as a member of the A C o, not able to attend the race live. You could plug in for the live [00:14:00] stream of the race. What’s great about this is even though the formalized A C O U S A, let’s say, is about a year old, maybe a little bit older, it sounds like because of your passions, your interest and being involved in this for so long, it’s had some fits and starts along the way, and you’ve been petitioning for this for quite a while and it’s great to see it become realized.

So you mentioned your eight big bullet points, and that last one was the live streaming available to the US members, but what else was on that list? What other things did you do behind the scenes to really bring the A C O U S A to where it is today, and you’re not alone in this journey. I met some of the board members that you’re involved with, some of these volunteers that are part of the head of the A C O U S A.

What are they doing and how are they helping you to continue to expand the program? So you talk about what my focus is. My focus is to give the members things that they can’t buy. Just like you saw in Lamont, people would talk, Hey, you know, I’d ask a question. Do you know who the first American woman, you know?

No. No. Who? Well, it’s Margie Smith ey. Oh really? Yeah. Would you like to meet her? Oh, Margie, come [00:15:00] over here and say hi. And it was, you know, people don’t expect that. And that’s the type thing. And so we’ve had Jim Busby, doc Bundy, and now we’re coming up on Ben Keating with a huge ground. Actually. We’ll be at almost capacity.

You know, when you look at the membership of any club, the A C O included in this case, granted, it’s again one of the oldest running clubs in the world, and why not be part of something like that? Getting in really here on the ground floor as part of the US people are looking for exclusivity. You gotta get a low membership number.

That’s pretty awesome. That’s something to talk about. I got in in the beginning, but there’s intangible. Things like these experiences, like the opportunity to ask a question to Ben Keating or Jim Busby or, or any of the legends really, or to meet them face to face like I had the privilege of doing at the hundredth.

But then there’s the tangible things like you mentioned livestream access, but there’s also other key differentiators from other car clubs or other motor sports clubs as well. And those are the carryovers American members still benefit from all of the perks. [00:16:00] That the Europeans get as well? That’s correct.

So you still get the advanced ticket option, uh, booking. You get all that. Plus one of the popular, which comes in our package is your name on the fan wall. You know, your plaque on the fan wall. That’s really kind of cool. And the legends like that just as much as the fans do. So it, it’s kind of funny that, um, the legend gimme a picture of my, my name on the walls, even though, you know they have the Club de Palant.

We have the fan wall. The other interesting thing that we have is the U S A members only Facebook group, and that’s kind of cool because you’ve got to be a member to have access and the legends do post on there. Things that they wouldn’t open normally post on a public Facebook page, and they’ll engage a whole lot easier in the realm of a private Facebook group.

That’s something really cool. As I said, we just started out and through the gracious of, of one of our members actually, we’re gonna have an event in San Diego. It’s called Blown Away in San Diego, sunset Sale on the Schooner America, which is actually the yacht that won the [00:17:00] original America’s Cup race for which the race was named, followed by dinner at the San Diego Yacht Club.

On the face, it’s like, well, a boat ride and dinner, but no, each table at the dinner will be hosted by a legend. We’ve got a pretty good lineup, and it’s actually growing because Steve Earl called me the other day and said, David, I’m coming. Out of the blue. He had talked to Dick Barber. Dick had told him about the event and Steve just called me up.

I’m coming. Yes sir. We’ll make room for you. So we have incredible group of legends that show up. Part of our agreement with the legends is we don’t use their name in our advertising. We don’t say, Hey, join, uh, the A C O U S A and talk to Ben, what have you. That’s not what we’re about. Although Ben knows that we do that, but that’s not our intent.

But we do have an incredible lineup. Rick, Jim Busby, doc Bundy, Margie, Steve, Earl, and Jim, Rick, and Doc have not been together in the same place in over 30 years. So this is like a legendary [00:18:00] event. And you’re gonna be on the boat, be in a cocktail hour. Each legend hosts a table. So you’re gonna sit down and have dinner with a legend.

So those are the type things that bringing the 24. To the fans in America. It’s an awesome opportunity for folks and, and obviously it’s gonna be an awesome experience if you’re able to go outside of all of these perks and these wonderful things that we’ve been mentioning to include discounts on merchandise and all those things you can shop on the Lamont store.

It begs the question for all this exclusivity and awesomeness, how much does it cost? It’s only 98 euro. Depending on what the exchange rate, it’s like $105 a year. It’s incredible value. You get back a whole lot more than $105, even if you don’t go to the race. And that’s the whole focus is to give you the value and not have to go to the race to realize it.

I hear it all the time from people because it is a struggle every year to get the race on television. Well, I got MotorTrend. Well, I don’t, and it’s on Peacock, or it’s on this, it’s on some other thing. But with this, you’ve bought in and now you have access to the race. If you’re a diehard fan, like [00:19:00] many of us are of the 24, I personally try to stay up just like I did when I’m there in person as much as I can to not miss a moment of the action.

Having that access is super important, so for me, it’s worth its weight in gold to say. This year, next year and beyond, I can tune in and watch the race with no interruptions. I mean, I think a lot of people are gonna benefit from that and really enjoy that. There was one other thing that really stood out at LA Mall.

Obviously the hundredth was a big to-do. It’s just like a week long circus with everything that happens at the event. You know, when you think about LA Mall, you can’t take it all in in one time. And like I said, I’ve been going for quite a few years. LA as an event is like a diamond each time I go. I see a different facet that I didn’t see before or didn’t notice before.

So each time you go and you can go many times, but each time you’ll see something you didn’t see the last trip. But there are specific designated areas at the track, the A C O lounges that was also worth it. If you’re going over there, if you can afford to go, if you’re gonna be there. There’s a c o lounges all over the [00:20:00] main one up by Dunlop, a c o 18, by the Porsche boxes, you know, and throughout the rest of the track.

It was well worth of discounts on food. Stuff like that was amazing. It made me wonder, and you brought up Petite Lama earlier, it has a similar feel, but on a smaller scale, with the ongoing growing relationship between W E C and imsa, are we gonna see more bleed over from the a C O at IMSA events? Is there going to be something at Road Atlanta that we should be looking forward to?

Anything that you can give us a little spoiler on what maybe some of your future plans are? John Dunan and I have spent quite a bit of time together here, particularly at LA Mall during the 24. I had a chance to spend quite a few hours with him discussing how m sss a could develop a fan club integrate, how would that look, ACO slash M SSA relationship.

So it’s certainly something that we’re looking at because we promote all endurance racing, so we’re not exclusive. We have one race. However, we do have the WEC races, so that’s something that people really haven’t grasped yet. So [00:21:00] a c O does run the WEC series of which Leal is one race in that series. If you followed the WEC championship series, I think there’s a lot of significant opportunities for us to work together.

I use the example, we used it in the wood industry. Everybody’s competing for market share. Your percent of the market is never gonna change. If you have 15% of the market, it’s not gonna change to 20 overnight. It probably never will. It won’t. So what you’ve gotta do is make the pie bigger. So if we grow the fan base in the us, Everybody benefits because their share of that pie will continue to grow.

Firstly, I’d like to see a couple of WEC races in the us, maybe one on the east coast, one on the west coast. Now I’m not involved with that, but if we had a membership base that would dictate that, absolutely. WEX would certainly have to consider that. Would it be a stretch to say that maybe in the future with our A C O membership, not only would we get to see Lamar.

On a live stream, but maybe some of the other races in the series that [00:22:00] we don’t have access to. So on the A C O webpage, you do have access to the films of all the WEX series not live, but after the fact. So I think one of the requests that we have for the 2024 action plan is not only the live feed for the 24, but also the live feed for the WEC races.

So that would continue to expand the package for the US members now. They don’t get the live stream anyplace else as part of their membership only in the us. And so now you take that a hundred dollars and you divide it over the course of, let’s say, 12 races in the series, that a hundred bucks suddenly became really, really cheap.

If you’re looking at a monthly race that you could watch, even in replay form, that’s better access than we have today here in the states. I think that’s good value for money considering everything else you can pile on top of that membership cost. You know, you mentioned some upcoming A C O events.

Anything else you have in the works, anything else you can share? Just in preparation for the 2024 plan? We’ve identified 16 nodes in the [00:23:00] us. That will be our focus in the coming year. A node was defined as an area with 10 or more members within a 40 mile radius. So we’ve got 16 of those across the country.

My idea is that once the race film for 2023 comes out, that I’ll travel around to each one of these nodes. We’ll have a a watch party. We’ll sit down and watch the entire race film with chicken tenders and nachos. I found that the members don’t like wings. They love chicken tenders, but they don’t like the wings, so chicken tenders, nachos.

I know a lot of things come out in the newsletter, which is actually a fantastic read. At this point, you’ve put out more than a dozen newsletters, so anything else upcoming that you’d like to share with maybe potential members that are going, I need to sign up now. There’s no time like the present. We’re on a real drive right now.

Our next big event will be at the Petite LA Mall. We’ll have a booth there as we get a little closer where we also planning to have a meetup, so we’ll have some sort of social function. We will go to Codi next year, so WEC will be in codis. Texas is a big market for us. I’m excited [00:24:00] about that. California is growing very, very quickly.

As I said, Margie’s out there just doing an incredible job networking for us out there as well as Rick, and we’ve got an incredible set of of volunteers in Florida and in the DC area. I’m glad you brought up volunteers, and we’ve mentioned it several times already. You always need help. You’re always looking for more people.

Why don’t you describe for our audience, What some of the opportunities that a C O members could be involved in, how they can help talents that you’re looking for, the types of things that you just need help with. There’s only so many hours in a day and people to go around, so what’s on your list of things you need to get accomplished?

We’ve got an incredible range of volunteers. We’ve got a whole set of lawyers now working on our next steps as a club. Of course, there are legal aspects to this, so they’re definitely. Pro bono work helping us get set up in the areas that we need to do. We’ve got graphic artists, IT folks, salespeople are the type that they pick up the phone, they’re, they’re not afraid to cold call people.

We have folks that do the [00:25:00] setup for our events, organize the meetups, catering. One volunteer that does this incredible job with swag, getting it ordered, getting it picked out, getting all the everything, get it shipped out. It’s just incredible. Can’t say enough. Thanks. William Reuben Sanchez has done just an absolute incredible job with, with our Facebook account, getting the media, getting the, uh, posting.

So that’s a humongous task. So, you know, people that are social media savvy, there are a couple of people out there that like to support that. By all means. ’cause I don’t have the time. Well, it sounds like ask and you shall receive some sort of task. So we’ll give people your contact information at the tail end of the episode here.

But if you’re looking to become a member or are already a member and want to give back to the A C o, sounds like David has some open opportunities for you to contribute and be a bigger part of this growing organization. I mean, obviously we’re gonna do our best to try to help you guys out as well. We wanna be involved.

There’s a bunch of us here at G T M that are members of the A C O now. We saw [00:26:00] this opportunity to get in on the ground floor, be a part of something, of legend. This is just a great way to give back to the racing community and there’s a lot of different ways to do that. I’m glad that you have this opportunity open and and available for people.

And like I said, we’ve got 16 nodes and over the next couple months I’ll be looking to identify individuals within those 16 areas that want to take a more active role because I just physically can’t travel to each one of these every time. So we’ll be looking for people in those areas that wanna step up.

As you saw when you met in Lamont, it was pretty cool give back to a large group of volunteers. I was able to get credentialed for the race, which is kind of a really cool thing if you’ve never been credentialed, particularly for the 24. That’s a really cool perk. So they put in the hours for it, but I was able to recognize ’em with that.

As we kind of move into our final segment here, I wanna talk more about the legends, more detail on them, how they’re involved in the club, even outside of like, Just the speaking engagements that they’re doing in some of these events. Who else is out there? Who else is a figurehead for the A C O U S A?

[00:27:00] Harley Clarkston is my counterpart for K Club DE in the us and Harley and I are working very, very close to merge the legends. With the fans and get them involved. The legends really, really, they’re over the moon about the activity that we’re having an opportunity for them to get involved in something active and a chance to meet the fans, to talk, to share.

And you understand These guys have stories to tell and they want to tell. For those that are member, Brian Redmond gave us an incredible memoir that was a donation to the club. It was actually given to Ruben by Brian, and he asked Ruben to share it with the club, and we waited until after the race because that was the most appropriate time to do that.

And I don’t wanna give it away, but if you have not read it, I believe Brian is 82 years old, a very, very accomplished person, and for him to have written what he did. It’s incredible. A man that has everything has five regrets and we don’t wanna spoil them. You gotta read more. [00:28:00] I don’t wanna spoil them. I, I’m just saying, those are the type things that we’re getting from the legends.

They have a lot to give back. We don’t have the wherewithal to pay, uh, appearance fees. We’re a nonprofit working on a shoestring budget. The legends understand they wanna contribute and they do. You talked about competition earlier, and make the pie bigger so that your slice of the pie gets bigger. Being in business as you have been for many years, you know you gotta be forward thinking about this and the club is growing at a very rapid rate and it’s gonna continue to expand.

So we talked about some short-term goals, but what about some of your longer term? What’s the five and 10 year outlook for the A C O U S A? I don’t want to give all the secrets away, but as we talk about in our mission statement, we wanna share the thrills and excitement, particularly with those that may not be able to attend in person.

I want everybody to have a chance to go. And then for those that are thinking about to go, we do have an incredible prep program, zoom meetings, guidebooks for people that are interested in or considering going to Lamont. It’s usually about a 12 month planning process [00:29:00] for the first time. Getting your budget right, you know, figuring out.

Where are you gonna stay and what you wanna do? So we have a, a whole series of zoom meetings with, with a team that will walk you through the steps. As we planned out my trip for the hundredth, it took us about two years and we were by ourselves trying to figure out all the ins and outs, reading blog posts and experiences of other people and just trying to discern, you know, what it was gonna be like when you got there.

Expectations, you know, what you do’s and don’ts, all those kinds of things. Going to Lamont is not like going to your local NASCAR race or even an IMSA race for the weekend and petite’s a big deal and some of the other races are too. But Lamont was a week long of sleepless nights and a lot of things that we couldn’t anticipate and you just had to adjust for the minute you landed at de Gall, and it all kind of went downhill from there.

But I don’t regret a minute of it. And it was worth every moment of painstaking planning that it took to get me there. So if you’re looking into making your travel arrangements to the hundred first Lamar and beyond, definitely take up the a c o and [00:30:00] their wealth of knowledge on how to arrange this sort of trip.

You definitely want to take advantage of what the members club has to offer. Got a lot to offer. Like you talked about the, uh, a c o Tribune 1718. That’s my go-to Tribune purchase access to La Chappelle, which is incredible, uh, hospitality facility located there. Uh, just beyond the Dunlop Bridge, which an incredible, uh, viewing of Tetra Rouge, you know, cars coming through the Dunlop.

It’s a great place to view, as well as the, the Hospitality 10 area. Honestly, the big screen TVs give you the best. You, they’re just these huge screens and you, you hear the sound right there and you see ’em right down on the big screen. So it’s a, it’s a wonderful place plan to go for a week. If you only go for the day of the race, you’re gonna miss a lot.

You need to kind of watch the race come alive, the pits get built out and you wanna get a paddock pass. Might cost you a few extra dollars. You wanna do that with the club. So you’ve got access to La Chappelle and the members areas there at T 17. So, But in the meantime, [00:31:00] throughout the year as we build up, you’ve got these events that we’re putting together around the country.

Got the Zoom meetings each month evening with a legend, which absolutely are incredible. We’re open to suggestions. A lot of the ideas we get come from volunteers that actually set it up for us. We have a lot of past presidents from other car clubs that our members that provide good sound wisdom and uh, guidance for us as we grow our wings, if you will.

Well, David, we reached that part of the episode where I get to ask any shout outs, promotions, or anything else you’d like to share that we haven’t covered thus far. I tell the story was on a meeting one night at nine o’clock. One of the staff wanted to do a follow-up call as he was asking me that I got a text message from Margie at Mar Smith.

Has she said she wanted to talk to me. I said, listen, I’m gonna need 15 minutes. I need to return this call. I hadn’t spoken with her before. She said she wanted to talk to me, so I’ve gotta take this call. That was at nine o’clock. At 11 o’clock. I said, Margie, I’m gonna have to hang up now because I’ve gotta get up at five o’clock in the morning.

Make a long story short, [00:32:00] Margie’s lost her husband and. Late March. This was in early April when I was talking with her and she was really in the doldrums, but in the course of that two hours, she went from a low to this high in the sky, and in the course of the conversation she said, well, you know, Paul would’ve really wanted me to go to the 24 this year.

And I’m going, Marette don’t know how that we can do that. We’re sold out for the race. There are no tickets. And I felt really bad. I said, well, I can’t really promise you anything, Margie. So the next morning I called the committee member and I said, yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t get back with you last night. It was Margie and she really wants to go to the race and I don’t know how we could pull that off.

There are no tickets. And then there was a silence on the line and he said, I’ll give her one of mine. That’s incredible community. That’s just an example of the way the members step up and take care of one another. Absolutely takes you away. And I’m glad you brought Margie up and we hope to have her on a subsequent episode of Break Fix here in the Near Future.

And for those that are tuning in and wondering, Who is she? Exactly. She’s one of the Lamont’s legends and she’s the [00:33:00] first woman from the United States to run at Lama. She actually predates Lynn St. James by about four years, and she did it in a Porsche 9 35. So quite the achievement to be the first woman, especially American woman to run at Lama.

So I got to meet her. She was an absolute delight to talk to, and again, I hope to have her on the show here in the near future. Oh, absolutely. And for those listening, just wanted to point out that. Jim Busby was the driver that transitioned Margie to the 9 35 and she hasn’t met him in almost 40 years.

Yeah. Talk about an amazing reunion. When Jim did his evening with the legend, Margie was in the audience and I got her in the room early so she could talk to him, but she hadn’t spoken with him for 40 years and to, to see that was priceless. Just a shout out to Reuben Sanchez, who is our media director, he hooked me up with Rick New.

Early on when we started and Rick was, uh, gracious enough to be our first evening with a legend, it’s an event that we have once a month. Right now we focus just on the 24 hours, so the presentation is just about the [00:34:00] 24, and then you have a chance to ask them a question live right there on the Zoom, and it’s really kind of funny to watch as a moderator.

We’ll get to the end that says, anybody have a question? It’s like tearing the headlight. What are you gonna ask? A legend that’s gonna be nearly as engaging as what they’ve just been telling you for, for the last 45 minutes. But people are getting a little more brave now, and they’ll start asking questions, but early on they wouldn’t ask a question just because the, the legends and their stories are just so captivating that it’s an intimidating to ask a question.

Hopefully we’ve got members watching your episode tonight. A real shout out to all the volunteers and the legends that have gotten us this far in such a short period of time, and the gracious hospitality of people like yourself and other folks that have lent and contributed to our success along the way.

So many thanks. From the awe-inspiring speed demons that have graced the track to the courageous drivers who have pushed the limits of endurance. The 24 hours of LeMans is an automotive spectacle like no other For over a century, the 24 hours of [00:35:00] LeMans has urged manufacturers to innovate for the benefit of future motorists and its celebration of the relentless pursuit of speed and excellence in the world of motorsports.

To learn more about the Aco s a, you can reach out to David via email at d dot low l o w e, at aco lamonds.org. And if you’d like to become a member of the a c look no further than www.laman.org, click on English in the upper right corner, and then click on the a c o members tab for club offers. As a member, you can follow all the action.

On the Facebook group, A C O U S A Members Club. And with that, David, I cannot thank you enough for coming on Break Fix, sharing your personal story, your journey through LeMans, all the way to the head of the A C O U S A and helping promote one of the longest running, but fastest growing new motorsport and vehicle enthusiast clubs in the world.

So thank you for everything you’re doing, and we look forward [00:36:00] to your continued progress and being part of the next a hundred years of lamonts. We certainly appreciate the opportunity to promote on your show. It was very gracious of you to have us. Thank you so much, Eric. It’s been an honor and a pleasure.

Thank you.

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We’d love to hear from you. Hey everybody, crew Chief Eric here. We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted to remind you that G T M remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal is to continue to bring you quality episodes like this one at no charge. As a loyal listener, please consider subscribing to [00:37:00] our Patreon for bonus and behind the scenes content, extra goodies and G T M swag.

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