News Archives - Guardian Angel Motorsports

15 Years Ago Today….

September 11, 2016 By Bruce Ledoux Leave a Comment

September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Ground Zero

– Our lives were permanently changed. Just like Pearl Harbor, Kennedy’s assassination and the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, we all remember exactly where we were at 8:04am on September 11, 2001.

This picture so perfectly embodies the struggle we as a people have endured since. The struggle has come at a mind-blowing expense both monetarily and to our neighbors that volunteer to go and fight the fight. These are the men & women that drop everything, work, family & economics to make your/mine/our day to day lives possible. They return suffering massive injuries both visible and not immediately visible. I think we fail to give them the support and open arms they are due. In fact, current statistics show that 22 veterans commit suicide each day, that’s one every 65 minutes.

It’s safe to say, we could do so much more for them in return.

We found a guy doing just that, he is the bomb.com. His name is Jeff Archambault and he runs an organization call Race Cars For A Cause. They give race car rides to vets. BUT – that description doesn’t do it justice. [Read more…]

I Had Found TWO Lucky Pennies….

May 9, 2016 By Bruce Ledoux Leave a Comment

…In my paddock travels Saturday.

If I’m honest, I’d say I was truly wondering if the myth of finding a heads up penny bringing good luck had been busted on Myth-Busters at about 4pm on Saturday. It felt like EVERY break had been against us.

It all started the afternoon prior, the cars weren’t ready causing us to miss all of the promoters test day. Practice was only 40 min and as a result, yours truly logged 7 laps in the car before the race. ABS faults led to the left rear locking up causing snap over-steer on high-speed corner entry. Oh by the way was starting to rain. Hardly ideal weather conditions for an on track orientation in the car.

The ABS woes weren’t solved by any of our race day remedies and the morning hardship practice was a miss too. This gave the drivers some time to meet & greet with SouthJerseyBigs & Robin’s Nest program participants.

Drivers Nick Mercier (left) and Bruce Ledoux (right) standing with SouthJerseyBigs.org mentors and their ‘littles’.

These poor kids made a big trip to see the cars and race only to have the rain start in on them right at the fan walk.

As we took to the track for the parade lap, the heavens opened and we didn’t have rain tires, only slicks. This was great news for our sister #12 car as they had intermediates and could handily defend their pole position start. It was an entirely different story for the #22 car. By the end of the first hour of racing, we were 36th of 37th overall.

Our spirits were as dampened as the racetrack was with all of the rain. It was set back after set back.

My first stint lasted just a tick over 2 hours and led to us completing 75 laps. We progressed to 4th place of 6 in the E1 class and were only 4 laps away from 3rd place. Things were looking up! As I climbed over pit wall I saw BIG hammers and crow bars coming at me and going towards the car. I couldn’t figure it out, we hadn’t dropped a wheel or touched more than a few bugs out on track. Why did we need the ‘jaws of life’ on the car?

A glance over my shoulder confirmed my horror. The trunk release had broken off in the fueler’s hand. Why was the fueler pulling on the trunk release you ask? Well – that’s easy….it’s were the filler cap for the fuel tank had been moved to. No opening trunk – no filling of the fuel tank.

We spent 14 laps trying to ‘break into’ our own trunk to fill the tank. In that single span, we had undone ALL of the work we accomplished in my two hours of driving. A crushing emotional blow.

The #12 car soldiered on famously in second place for their class. Nick & Eric were excellent wheelmen laying down consistently fast laps, without incident. Heck – they made it look easy.

The tides started shifting around 830pm after darkness had set in. It was then that the race took a decidedly different turn. The transition from twilight to darkness is critical for setting night pace. As a driver you’re able to gradually build in your new ‘dark’ landmarks and maintain pace. It’s an opportune time to take back laps lost to competitors as their new drivers struggle to re-orient in the darkness.

As I came around turn 5 – I saw some faint tail lights off in the distance. So far off in fact, that I estimated them to be someone in the parking lot at the member’s club house in between the tracks. Sadly – it wasn’t that at all. It was the #12 car. They had a suspension bolt fail and break causing the left front wheel to come loose on the car. It took over an hour for them to be towed back to the paddock, repaired and sent back out on track costing them their second place for good.

The Devil in the Dark brought more havoc on our competitors with the #22 car having the second and third place cars in their class withdraw for mechanical failures. With only 30 minutes left in the twelve hour battle, the car assumed second place in the top class.

The real victory however, comes from a testimonial shared with us by Donna Bennett at SouthJerseyBigs.org;

“…Best Little Experience of the Day: One Little Brother was afraid to go to the top of the towel but he eventually made it to the top, then within an hour he was climbing up and down the stairs in the rain…”

It’s with great pleasure that we share the $6,250 you helped us raise with each car. One for Southjerseybigs.org and the second $6,250 for Robinsnestinc.org. A win BOTH on and off track. I’d say we kicked the Devil’s @$$ this time.

My Son had a School Project Named “Flat Stanley”

April 22, 2016 By Bruce Ledoux 1 Comment

The idea was that he’d make a little caricature on a piece of paper that we’d mail around to friends and they’d take pictures of it and send them back. He’d get to see far away places while staying in touch with family & friends.

I personally cannot make sense of losing Ian. We grew our businesses together, in conjunction with one another. We were peers but not & it didn’t matter. We shared a common passion and had found ways to make respective livings from it. We walked miles in the same shoes and could pick up right where we had left off with one another – even if it was 12 months later.

Some how, some way – this one REALLY stings. I find it all so incredibly sad. I know ‘men’, 47 year olds and especially race car drivers are not supposed to admit it…..but…..I honestly can’t stop crying. It sneaks up at the oddest times. It makes me wonder if I didn’t live up to my end of the deal by expressing my appreciation for the color he brought to my life. The idea of him becoming a distant memory seems so …. well ….wrong.

That’s when it hit me.

While we all work to make some sense of it, I thought we could make the “Flat Stanley” idea a tribute to Ian. Please get these stickers and accept the mission that comes with them. The mission is to fly them on your race car and take pictures at all of your fun events. Let’s post them on his FB wall. It will be our way of keeping he, his spirit and his gift to all of us (enabling the passion) alive.

I only wish he was here to see, maybe things would have been different.

Bruce Ledoux
#82 360 Challenge
Challenge Club Racing Series

P.S. – Want a set? Please send self addressed, stamped envelope to Guardian Angel Motorsports, c/o Bruce Ledoux, 6 Angelica Lane, Southborough, MA 01772

We’re Three Days Away from Waging War Against Child Abuse

April 21, 2016 By Bruce Ledoux Leave a Comment

….and super EXCITED! The cars are together in trekking north from Sarasota, FL as I type. Every single nut & bolt has been touched. Alignments checked and re-checked. The driver’s have their bags packed and are nervously counting down the hours to departure.

But the best news of all is the fundraising progress.

Our WAR on child abuse has already collected a bounty. We’re HALFWAY TO THE GOAL! Thru your wonderful support, we’re going to be able to profoundly impact children who would otherwise know nothing other than neglect & abuse in their homes. These funds will allow 5 Cumberland County kids to receive mentors via South Jersey Bigs, an amazing organization that simply had no more funding left for these children in need.

Just a little more elbow grease and we’ll be able to get to our target of 12 sponsored children! Every dollar counts and we can’t do it without you.

Remember:

$10 given by 6 people gets one family access to the critical health care services they need to dramatically minimize the child’s risk of abuse or neglect.
$100 will take a full $.25/lap off our $50/lap goal. If 12 people do this, we’ll fund a ‘big’ for a ‘little’ for an entire year.
$.50/lap over the estimated 430 lap race will put FOUR new families into Robins Nest, Inc healthy families program.

Do you know anyone that might be inspired by the effort and would consider donating?