Its very hard to put things into perspective for some people in the United States of America, but its time we all stood up again the same way we stood in Unity after 9/11 and the horrible series of events that shaped the very Country we live in today. The nation still faces threats daily from foreign sources, but its the attack from within that scares the hell out of me.

The racing community is made up of people from every walk of life, and undoubtedly we have folks from within this community hurting, searching, and hoping that they will somehow be able to rebuild their lives. The terrible Tornado outbreak last week in the Southern United States and the Major Flooding in the Midwest have left Major Cities, Towns, and Rural communities completely devastated and not enough attention has been paid by the Major Media outlets in this country. Sure there has been coverage but this is a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina which had Twenty Four hour a day coverage for 2 months.

I know that there are other World events going on at the same time but to have 24 hours worth of Royal Wedding coverage while our brothers and sisters suffer in the way that they have is just disgusting. I would certainly understand if they broke into the coverage to tell us about the death of a man that is responsible for the deaths of Tens of thousands of Americans including the very BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN that are fighting for our freedoms everyday. Maybe since this is not a man made disaster (global warming folks disagree) there is not as much desire for them to cover the destruction of life and property that took place last week.

There are stories in the racing world everyday about racers helping racers mostly that go unnoticed but most prefer to keep it that way. I don’t know of one race fan that would turn his or her back if there was an immediate emergency that required help, I don’t know of one racer that doesn’t hurt when another racer loses his or her life doing something they love.

The Americans that live in the South and Midwest need our help, I know this is a tough time for many of us but we need to put that aside for a few moments and reach out with what we can spare. There are needs for any item you can possibly imagine, just look around and if you can see it they need it. The best way we can help is to donate to the Red Cross at this time. I will be exploring options for collecting goods in the next few days and if there is a need I will post that information.

Jody Shannon has set up a secure site at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/thedrc/americannationalredcross all you have to do is click on the link and donate, its that easy. We have selected the National Chapter of the American Red Cross due to the large scale of these disasters. All money donated will go directly to the America Red Cross, its safe, secure and the least we can do at this point.

Goodbye

Toby W. Hallett