Southern Fuel Coupes 2001 Champ !
Definition of Champion Continued!
The definitions that are given in the dictionary for the word champion gives you some idea about the word, but it does not come close to the individual that has earned the right to be call the SFC Champ. All of the Southern Fuel Coupes race teams know who I am talking about but before I let the cat out of the bag, I am gona ramble around about this unique individual for a few minutes.
The first time I was introduced to this fellow was in December of 1999 at the SFC banquet. I had just taken the responsibility of building a new SFC website and I was real interested in getting to know everyone that was involved with this group of racers. As usual there was a lot of racing lies being told about different people in the group and to be honest, I was not real sure about this fellow. One of the statements that was made during the banquet was that he was just lucky this year, things would be different next year. After the banquet he and I talked when someone else was not butting end but we never ever really connected. We talked several times during the off season about the website and how he would like his members page to be done. That was the extent of what I knew about him.
In the 2000 season, I found out that this individual was a very intense racer that really new what he was doing. Time and time again he was in the finals with consistent close to perfect index runs. To make a long season short, he was the 2000 SFC Champ!
 
When the 2001 season rolled around there was a lot of anticipation about the who would be the champ. Could he do it again? Just the mention of his name brought concern to anyone that was paired up against him.
The first race of the season brought new hope to a lot of racers because of the efforts they had made plus the bad luck He had at the first race. That was a short lived hope for all of us.
Jim Dickey proved why he was the champ for the last two years and went on the be the 2001 SFC Champ. He is not just lucky, He is Good!
Here are some more reasons that Jim is a true Champ. During the 2001 season, SFC had some growing pains among other problems. It seamed that everyone had lost the main goal that this group is about. Fellowship, fun, racing and being compensated by winnings and a points fund that was starting to grow into a sizable purse.
All of the members new there was a problem and everyone was trying to come up with a solution that would be good for everyone. The one thing everyone agreed on was the quality of the show had to improve. It was the general feeling that the payouts should be increased but only if the cars met a performance level. The problem was where would the money come from to increase the payouts.
 
To make a long story short, Jim agreed to give what was a sure thing, the 2001 points championship purse that he had earned for the 3rd year back into the payout program. This was a very unselfish act on his part that proved to pull the group together. Since then the quality of the SFC program has increase to almost perfect index runs on more cars.
At the last SFC race of the season, Jim worked with Don & Sharon Roddy tuning their new funny car to a almost perfect index run.
Jim Dickey, I take my hat off to you. You have gone the extra mile and proven to me and I hope a lot more people what a true champion is made of. If we all devoted our talents to other people as you have demonstrated in the past three years, Southern Fuel Coupes will be standing proud for a long long time.

This information is the opinion of Bob Gettys, Southern Fuel Coupes webmaster. Any comments negative or otherwise should be directed to me.

rgettys@greenwood.net