ASTRONAUTS RICK STURCKOW AND JERRY ROSS GO FOR A RIDE IN THE MACPHERSON 4WD TROPHY TRUCK - CIRCA 1998

So my good friend Rick Sturckow from Cal Poly (and one of the prime team members from the previously shown 1981 Riverside World Championship Class 7 win in our Cal Poly Toyota with Roger Mears at the wheel) went on to be a Marine Corps F-18 pilot - flew many missions in Afghanistan - Top Gun - became a test pilot -flew over 60 different types of aircraft - and eventually ... if you are one of the best at all of that ... you become an astronaut! Colonel Fredrick W. Sturckow flew 2 shuttle missions as a pilot and 2 as the Commander helping to build the International Space Station. After NASA he went on to be a flight test pilot for Virgin Galactic ... I could go on! So one day we realized he would be flying in some specialists to Edwards Air Force Base for the day and had some time to kill ... and we happened to be testing with Team MacPherson that week out in nearby Barstow. So he and fellow astronaut Jerry Ross (then already with 7 space shuttle flights to his name) grabbed a car after they landed and headed out to the test area for a ride with Jeff Lewis in the MacPherson Trophy Truck ... still in their NASA jumpsuits! As much as they enjoyed the rides ... the MacPherson crew enjoyed their stories of how rocket launch G's kick you in the butt while heading into space! It was some awesome bench racing!

Bryan Kudela, Rick Sturckow, Jeff Lewis, and Jerry Ross.

THE FIRST LANTERNMARK (LIGHT RACING) CAD WORKSTATION - CIRCA 1994

The first CAD software we used was Ashlar Vellum (3D wireframe) installed on an Apple Power Macintosh 8600/200. This early audio/visual capable computer could record voice over live video of what you had on-screen, and we would record design reviews while rolling around the 3D model on the computer. LR-24 was our first truck (3 Baldwin Trophy Trucks) designed on the computer rather than the drawing board. The image on both screens in the photo is from the LR-26 (Team MacPherson Big Mac Trophy Truck) CAD model. In those days, If memory serves me correctly, that Mac computer set-up was around $4500, that high quality laser printer (in the corner) was $5000 and the Mutoh Pen & Pencil capable plotter (left) for our full size prints was like $7000! Some things have actually gotten less expensive!