Southern Fuel Coupes 2001 Champ

The Definition of a Champion

By Bob Gettys

The definitions given in the dictionary for the word champion give you some idea about the word, but don't come close to the individual who has earned the right to be called 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 gonna 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 was real interested in getting to know everyone involved with this group of racers. As usual, there were a lot of racing lies being told about different people in the group. To be honest, I was not real sure about this fellow. 

One of the statements made during the banquet was that he was just lucky that year; things would be different in 2001. After the banquet, he and I talked whenever someone else was not butting in, but we never ever really connected. We talked several times during the off-season about the website and how he would like his member page to be done. That was the extent of what I knew about him. In the 2000 season, I found that this individual was a very intense racer that really knew what he was doing. Time and time again, he was in the final 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 who would be the champ. Could he do it again? Just the mention of his name brought concern to anyone 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 in the first race. That was a short-lived hope for all of us. Jim Dickey proved why he had been the champ for the past two years and why he went on to 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 seemed everyone had lost the main goals that this group is about -- fellowship, fun, racing, compensation by winnings, and a points fund that was starting to grow into a sizable purse. All the members knew 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 that 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 he had earned -- back into the payout program. This was a very unselfish act on his part that pulled the group together. Since then, the quality of the SFC program has increased to almost perfect index runs for more cars. At the last SFC race of the season, Jim worked with Don & Sharon Roddy, tuning their new funny car to an almost perfect index run. Jim Dickey, I take my hat off to you. You have gone the extra mile and have proven to me and I hope many more people what a true champion is made of. If we all devote 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.

Bob Gettys
rgettys@greenwood.net