Uncorked at Laguna Seca (Revised)

There was huge machine gun strapped to the car on my left. I sat there thinking about what I was about to do and how I can potentially mess up. The CHP car started to move toward the track. I did my best to hold the flag straight up and down. I tried to fasten it to the side of the door with my leg, but the weight of the pole made this too hard. The officers assured me we wouldn’t go too fast, but I knew even 40 miles an hour around the track would be hard and most likely cause me pain.

The sound of unrestricted race cars, the smell of racing gas, riding around the track in a CHP car and the feeling of being surrounded by millions of dollars is how I spent last weekend.

At Lagua Seca raceway there was an event called Uncorked. It was a no noise restriction event put on by Club Auto Sport, an elite club for the wealthier car junkies. All the proceeds of the event went to the Monterey SPCA.

There were many racing events this weekend. The most exciting was a historic Nascar race where people who now own actual Nascars, signed by the original driver, raced. Another event that took place was called, “Ride of Your Life”, where people previously bid on EBay for the chance to ride as a passenger on the racetrack. The cars of choice were the Bugatti Veyron and Indy Car with Danny Sullivan multiple winner of the Indy 500.

I arrived at the track before most of the Club Auto Sport crew, so I was awe struck when at 6:00pm Friday night million dollar RVs around 60 feet long, towing 40 foot trailers started showing up. Once they started unloading, the gems inside the trailers started appearing, Ferraris, Porches, Lamborghinis, Nascars and Indy Cars.

This event was free to the public, and took place Saturday and Sunday. I was there as a guest of family friend Jim Doyle, former World Champion Kenny Robert’s manager.


Around lunchtime another family friend who is a CHP officer rode his R1 replica CHP bike around the track along with two other CHP officers. They went out for the national anthem holding flags. This task turned out to be more difficult then expected given the long length of the poles. One of the CHP officers asked me to ride as his passenger to hold the pole, because he could not. The flag was attached to a 10 foot long PVC pipe and was very difficult, even as a passenger, to hold, but it was definitely worth the muscle cramps experienced later.

After the parade lap with the CHP officers the main motorcycle race took place. The most surprising part of the race was the winner. Out of 40 participates most of which were 20-40 year old men, a 15 year old girl won. She was only around 5 feet tall, yet could control the bike better than most.

This event was amazing; it’s not every day that I have to get out of the way of a Nascar coming of the track. The only downside was the charity of choice. The Monterey SPCA refused to come to the event which angered many of the higher-ups. The unofficial total raised for them was over 100,000 dollars and they didn’t seem to care, but they will pick a new charity for next year.

I knew the corkscrew was coming up, my favorite part of the track. I was secretly hoping before we got there the CHP officer would slow down enough to form a gap between us and the other officers, then he could accelerate to catch up. Fast into the first turn, Left, then a quick right. It’s so steep that even at 40 mph it felt like a roller coaster. Then we rounded turn 10, I knew the lap was going to end soon, just one more turn and we would pull off. By this point the muscles in my arm were burning, but I knew I could hold on for a couple more seconds. The flag was lifting of the ground fighting with me to be set free, but as the pace car that was once leading us pulled of the track I knew I did it.

Uncorked at Laguna Seca

There was huge machine gun strapped to the car on my left. I sat there thinking about what I was about to do and how I can potentially mess up. The CHP car started to move toward the track. I did my best to hold the flag straight up and down. I tried to fasten it to the side of the door with my leg, but the weight of the pole made this too hard. The officers assured me we wouldn’t go to fast, but I knew even 40 miles an hour around the track would be hard and most likely cause me pain.

The sound of unrestricted race cars, the smell of racing gas, riding around the track in a CHP car and the feeling of being surrounded by millions of dollars is how I spent last weekend.

At Lagua Seca raceway there was an event called Uncorked. It was a no noise restriction event put on by Club Auto Sport, an elite club for the wealthier car junkies. All the proceeds of the event went to the Monterey SPCA.

There were many racing events this weekend. There was a historic Nascar race where people who now own actual Nascars, signed by the original driver, raced. Another event that took place was called, “Ride of Your Life”, where people previously bid on EBay for the chance to ride as a passenger on the racetrack. The cars of choice were the Bugatti Veyron and a Nascar with Danny Sullivan as the driver, multiple winner of the Indy 500.

I arrived at the track before most of the Club Auto Sport crew, so I was awe struck when at 6:00pm Friday night million dollar RVs around 60 feet long, towing 40 foot trailers started showing up. Once they started unloading, the gems inside the trailers started appearing, Ferraris, Porches, Lamborghinis, Nascars and Indy Cars.

This event was free to the public, and took place Saturday and Sunday. However, I didn’t just come to the event as a member of the public. I grew up going to this track, track days, motorcycle races and charity events. My connection is one of the most well connected men in professional Motorcycle racing at the highest level. He is a good family friend who used to manage Kenny Roberts, a World champion. This man happened to be in charge of the motorcycle portion of the event so I was there as his guest.




Around lunchtime another family friend who is a CHP officer rode his R1 replica CHP bike around the track along with two other CHP officers. They went out for the national anthem holding flags. I rode in the passenger seat of the CHP car and held the flag. The flag was attached to a 10 foot tall PVC pipe and was very difficult to hold going around a racetrack, but it was definitely worth the muscle cramps experienced later. Laguna Seca is such a fun track to be on. My favorite part is the corkscrew, where you twist around at the same time as dropping two stories. This is the part of the track where motorcycle riders usually get air.

This event was amazing; it’s not every day that I have to get out of the way of a nascar coming of the track. The only downside was the charity of choice. The Monterey SPCA refused to come to the event which angered many of the higher-ups. The unofficial total raised for them was over 100,000 dollars and they didn’t seem to care, but they will pick a new charity for next year.



As we rounded turn 10 I knew the lap was going to end soon, just one more turn and we would pull off. By this point the muscles in my arm were burning, but I knew I could hold on for a couple more seconds. The flag was lifting of the ground fighting with me to be set free, but as the pace car that was once leading us pulled of the track I knew I did it.

Dine on a Dime

Want something to do on a Saturday night, but you haven't gotten paid since last Friday and you are craving a gourmet meal?

Why not try something new. Stay in and still eat at the five star level for the same price as a pizza from round table. Try blackened tuna steaks with a mango salsa. One of the trendiest fruits right not is the mango. It's a super fruit which means it has great taste, it's nutrient rich and it has antioxidant qualities. So use this fruit in a tasty recipe that will make anyone look like a great chef.

Now in order to make this recipe for fewer than 20 dollars there are a few places you need to go to get the cheapest ingredients. The first stop will be the 99 Cent store. Here you will be able to find all of your seasonings.

Next go to your regular grocery store and pick up the rest of the ingredients. These are all the ingredients from the produce section. The mango is the main ingredient in this recipe so it's important you find one that is ripe. The mango needs to be soft. The softer it is the sweeter the taste.

Now for your meat of choice, this recipe is designed around Ahi tuna steaks. Buy yellow-fin tuna because it has a lower per pound price. You can find it for as cheap as 6.99 a pound or as much as 9.99 a pound, but don't let this scare you because each steak is only around a quarter of a pound. When you buy tuna one of the most important things to ask is if it's sushi grade or not. To get the sushi grade tuna you need to ask the person behind the fish counter for frozen tuna. What sushi grade means to this recipe is that you can eat it raw, so you don't have to cook the fish all the way through.

For those of you that don't feel like being that adventurous and trying tuna or maybe you want to lower the price even more you can substitute it with chicken. It is cheaper and still tasty.

When you get home start defrosting the fish or chicken. Once it's thawed chop up some garlic and put it in a freezer bag with some olive oil, lime and the meat then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. When the meat is marinating you can make the mango salsa. You chop all the remaining produce and mix together in a bowl. Everything should be in small pieces like a salsa. Put the salsa in the refrigerator and then make the dry rub. You simply mix all the dry ingredients together. When the meat is done marinating rinse it off. The marinade is meant to absorb into the meat not coat the outside.

Now would be a good time to start the rice. You want enough rice to have about a cup per person after it is cooked, not before.

Coat both sides of the meat in the rub and cook in a skillet with some oil. Don’t worry about burning the meat because the point is to blacken it. Once the fish is blackened it’s done, but the chicken will take longer. Remember the tuna should be sushi grade so don't worry about under cooking this. You can eat it raw.

After the meat is finished so are you. To plate this impressive meal put a cup of rice on the plate. Then plate the meat on top of the rice, after that scoop the salsa on top of the meat. The meat will be spicy and the salsa will be sweet. Have some people over to premiere this gourmet meal. You can still have a fun night without spending too much.

To find the full recipe go to http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blackened-Tuna-Steaks-with-Mango-Salsa/Detail.aspx

Campus Rally

To the students that were at the rally on campus Wednesday supporting the fight against budget cuts and fee increases good for you. Unfortunately I am only talking to about 100 students. To the rest of the students that go to Sac State, maybe you don’t care about this issue. Maybe your parents pay your tuition so the fees don’t affect you and furlough days, all that means is less class, but my guess is that many of you do care, and still just didn’t go. Even though the student turnout was pretty low many staff members and professors were there. In fact there were more staff members holding signs saying, “Save our education” than students. Maybe if it was students salaries and jobs being cut versus just classes and budget the resistance would have been stronger.

Other than the low turnout the rally was very motivating. Chants of, “They say cut back, we say fight back” could be heard around campus. The message was definitely received by everyone in attendance. We as students are paying 32 percent more and the teachers are getting 10 percent less. This means the amount of work being put into our education is lessening. It is ridiculous how much tuition has gone up over the years. In 7 years it has gone up over 182% and 250 teachers and staff members have been cut. One of the worst things that have happened this year because of the huge cutbacks is that some people at orientation could not get any of their classes. So some students have to pay 32% more to not further their education.

The most emotionally convincing part of the rally was when a student talked about why she is fighting back. Her reason was her little brother. He told her it doesn’t matter anyway because he was just going to end up in jail. As she talked about how much this issue means to her personally she started to tear up, as did other members of the audience.

This issue is personal to a lot of people, but others don’t care as deeply. At points of the rally it was almost impossible to hear over the chatting students in the back talking about activities that seemed to truly matter to them, like lunch.

The only downside to the rally was that after everyone finished talking about the issue at hand the rally turned into a liberal rant. Yes, fighting cutbacks and fighting for the teachers rights and against their pay cuts is generally more of a liberal thing to do, but this issue needs to push past party lines in order to get things accomplished. The speakers at the end of the rally didn’t help this idea. Speakers veered away from budget cuts and were talking about progressive politics, veterans for peace and the freedom party. It’s important for the students and teachers to come together on a non-political playing field and work together to have any kind of a real chance at taking back control.