A little background on Stillehavet Racing

The story, the members

A wee little Norwegian/German lad, Gregg, had always wanted to indulge in a race team of his own. His pubescent adolescence brought naturally Team Tequila with visions of painting the Road Race Kart Jose Cuervo colors and living the life of luxury once the sponsorship deal was signed.

As I matured the following year, something more substantial and lasting appealed to my inner being. A name with respect. Living good in Manhattan Beach, the Pacific Ocean had its draw both powerful and commanding. Now only what to follow it up with-Racing or Motorsports. As I spent the better part of a year dwelling on this, someone with a larger budget than I came out with Pacific Racing. I was crushed. This was the best name that could ever be conceived and my lackadaisical efforts resulted in me missing out. My dreams now turned to perhaps someday being a part of Pacific Racing.

Another year passed and the Christmas Season had arrived. I found myself in a bookstore at the Del Amo Mall in Torrance, Ca., browsing for the ultimate gift for someone, unaware I would be the recipient. I was at a time in my life where all my friends were trying to learn either their native language or something unusual. If I remember right, there was even a fad going on at the time to promote this. Not wanting to miss out on showing my individuality I reached for a McKay’s Modern Norwegian-English/English-Norwegian Dictionary. Why settle for phrases that you will never use when the whole language is here in one book. Funny thing occurred as I reached for the book. I wondered if there was a Norwegian word for Pacific. Common sense told me Pacific was a proper noun and would be the same sound in any language. On the other hand, I was unaware that pacific was an underused word meaning soothing. My fingers said the hell with it and flipped to page 223.

Pacific [pa’sifik] fredelig, fredsstiftende, mcklende, beroligende.

the Pacific Stillehavet.

I felt nothing, I felt everything. I had to have this book; there it was black & white. My roots, my heritage, they didn’t fail me. My life as a seventeen-year-old again had meaning. Pacific Racing was back but in a too cool sense. The double meaning is quite incredible. Most everyone just believes we are the race team that still have it.

I am currently in Oil. I just recently served, er, completed my 21st anniversary with Chevron Products, Inc. I am a Reliability Specialist, which means that fine Chevron Premium 97 octane you are running in your Legends Car has been made a wee bit better because of my efforts. I grew up on racing as noted above. I Road Raced Karts for about 7 years off & on. Liked the camaraderie, despised the dealer help. Dealer help - see oxymoron. The lack of support is why we faded from Karting. I’m just enjoying a racing life with my wife/Timing & Scoring Trudy, and appreciating her skills from the business we co-own, OfficeWorks.

We had a bad experience before even getting into Legends Cars due to a dealer that would not attend to business. Specifically, he could not find the time to return our calls. We wanted to buy a car; he apparently had a different way of earning a living. About the time we were getting ready to focus our attention elsewhere, Darrel Krentz appeared. This is not to say Darrel was the Mecca, we still encountered problems associated with Charlotte. We ordered a new car, and the promises began to grow thin as to when our car would be delivered. As it was, we missed all but one Road Race in the 1999 season. This was not a problem of our dealer Darrel, however, the seeds of doubt were sown. Trust is so fragile. (This is sounding way to cliquish, let's move on.)

Once delivery took place there has been no looking back. We have fully received every bit of help and then some from original 600 Racing West dealer Darrel and now new owner, Fred Meis, and shop mechanic, Sonny Wahl.