[TPR] Fw: STEVE WALDMAN POST TO SSCC BOARD

[Mad Dog Antenucci]

Guys
I sent this little 'rememberence' to AJ to post on SSCC Message Board.
I know it doesn't have all the flowery "he was wonderful' comments but it was more about our personal relationship and how he convinced me to convince myself that open road racing was and still is about the coolest thing around.




On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 8:32 AM, Mad Dog Antenucci <teampantera at yahoo.com> wrote:
 
Buddy I need your help here....I can't get past our clients firewall to post something on SSCC board in rememberance of Steve's passing.

I wanted to write something a little out of the ordinary but at the same time not write something disrespectful....as he was very good to us.,....

So if you can perhaps post this on Message Board as from our Fearless Leader I would appreciate it.
Say I am overseas....haha....

SEE BELOW
=================================

25 or so years ago I was in Vegas for a post race drunken brawl (aka banquet) when this nice European quiet guy in a suit came up to me at the Pantera Owners convention in Vegas. 

I thought maybe he was a waiter at first as he was so damn polite....so I asked him for another drink. And then when I realized I should not judge a book by its cover I immediately apologized when I realized he was someone important....and that is he was a racer. 

At the time I was kicking concrete for a living and sadly I still am and sadly I also thought I knew something about racing in circles at the time and this Steve-guy says he started a little open road race in Nevada on a real road and wanted to know if I would like to join his group of racers. 

He talked a little about his own Pantera but I was more interested in talking about how fast I thought I was. (haha) All the time I am like a kid listening to the story about how cattle on a hill can stand upright. The more he talked the deeper I bought into this thing he did.  He said he knew Junior Wilson, Charlie Puckett, and Pete Beckham, all of them early Pantera open road racers. 

So of course I am on the hook. And then when I got to Ely five or so years later with my own Pantera I already knew all about the SSCC events. Of course I knew I would be the fastest Pantera when I arrived and I knew I would win when I came to run at that first Nevada Open Road Challenge...and of course I was the fastest Pantera because Junior's Pantera crashed, and Steve's Pantera was broken, and Charlie and Pete had lame family or work excuses back in California....so yea I was the fastest driver in a Pantera on that day! Yea,. slow and steady wins the race every time. ;-)>

And at that first Awards Banquet when I walked up on that stage to receive my 1st place trophy Steve looked at me like my Godfather. He said, "Dennis I am proud of you".  Well yea of course you are proud of me Steve. But I quess now I know he  was proud of me but little did I know that for the next 17 years I would argue about everything that had to do with the SSCC events until he put Gail in charge of dealing with me. But those early years were me trying to convince Steve about  who should sit on the SSCC Board or who should be running the events (again me)...... Steve always listened politly to me and never yelled back at me. Like a paternal father-figure he would remind me he understood what I was saying and that we would talk later when he had more time....and not to worry about anything....As worrying was Steve's job not mine and of course he was right.

Yea, I believed him. And I know many of you will miss him. I had a love-hate relationship with Steve. And I am sad now as my friend who I loved to hate is no longer around to fight with.
He truely was a pioneer in our sport...and now I will shut up.

I never won an argument.

Dennis Antenucci
Team Pantera Racing
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