They're going to put me in the movies.

[Ron Ortiz]

My buddy Steve tells me about something going on at Bradenton Motorsports Park (BMP), and I recieve this message flyer from BMP on my e-mail.

The producers of Pinks will be at Bradenton Motorsports Park to shoot
episodes of a new show called Pass Time, to air on Speed.

Thursday December 13 and Friday December 14 from 2pm to 11pm.

Almost anything is allowed...street legal cars, trucks and motorcycles
to full blown race cars!

General admission is $10. If you want a chance for you and your car to
be on TV then join the test & tune for an additional $10. Pass Time
production staff will select participants from the staging lanes each day.
Over the course of both days 140 cars & drivers will be selected.
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So, off we go on Thursday with his El Camino on the trailer to see what is going on. We get there at 3:00 and they start to run at about 4:00. Steve's number is 92, he gets in line, sits and waits.................then decides to come back to the pits for some refreshments as the line is hardly moving. I wander up to the starting line to see whats happening.

A driver goes through the waterbox and approaches the starting line slowly and then is stopped by this cute little blonde and a couple of guys holding a camera. You get out and go to the host who is standing there with 3 contestants. He asks you to tell about your car and then the contestants ask you questions. While this is going on the camera guys are going all over your car real slowly. The contestants enter their prediction of what your ET will be and you return to your car. This all takes up about 5-7 minutes, plenty of exposure. The driver now backs up and then does his burnout, stages the car, and a pro tree is activated with 0.00 lights, and your off. After the ET is posted the closest contestant wins cash. Then the next driver pulls up.

So now I'm getting the idea that this might take a while for Steve to run, back to the pits for a drink. I tell him that only one car is going down the track about every 10 minutes, he shows alot of emotion.

Finally it is getting closer for Steve to run, it is 12:00 AM. He is still in the back of the lanes with about 20 or so other cars. They pull him out and direct him to the front of the lanes, then they put a camera inside of his car and a small light that isn't on yet, aimed at his face. He pulls up to the starting line area and starts to tell about his car. "it's never been on the track before" the host responds with "it's a virgin". They talk some and then it's his turn to run. He is in the waterbox and the light for the camera comes on, blinding him instantly as he does the burnout, starts to stage the car and realizes that the tree is kind of close, he now knows that he is staging with the back tires, starts to back up as the starter is telling him to back up also. Stages, tree comes on, off he goes, a 13.22 at 106. We load up and get home at 2:00 AM. Overall it was a great time and I was really looking forward to doing this also tomorrow.

There were all kinds of different vehicles there, race cars, street cars, dragsters, a snowmobile that ran mid 10's, an A/Fuel dragster, motorcycles, diesel trucks in the 11's, and a jet funny car. But not a single stocker or super stocker, or comp car.

Friday comes and I'm going to go out there and show off my car. We get there at 2:00 to be early and I get number 23. Alright! I go through in my head what I am going to say, it goes something like this, " This is a legal NHRA / IHRA stocker. It is classified by weight to HP." Then all the particulars of class racing, the information about the engine, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to really promote class racing.

It is about 5:30 PM and they give me a piece of paper that reads "Episode #4 / 8", it goes on the windshield. I walk around awhile, talk to people from the production, the camera guy who does Pinks, and so on. It is now about 7:00, time for episode #4, I drive the wagon up to the front of the lanes, It has been waxed and cleaned to shine in the spot lights. As I am looking out at the nose of my car seeing all that shine from the metal flake I realize that there is a camera attached to the inside of my car aimed at me, no light though yet, they'll probably put it in later as I am driver #8. I am so excited.

Then it started to rain, we got home at 9:00 PM. Shooting for the show was over.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA Darn it