1991 was the year that Michael Andretti 
won the PPG Indy Car Championship for 
Newman/Haas and it was also the year that 
we were commissioned to build our first 
1:10 scale Indy Car model. 

Towards the end of that race season, we 
were invited to the Newman/Haas motor 
home, at the Vancouver Molson Indy, by 
Ralph Hansen of Pegasus Promotions, to 
meet Carl Haas, and discuss the building 
of a 1:10 model of their Kmart Havoline Lola 
to present to Mr. Joseph Antonini, the 
president of Kmart, the major sponsor on 
their car.     We had no idea at that time, 
that motor racing would become such a 
major part of our family life.    In a matter 
of weeks after the completion of that model, 
we were meeting people we had only seen 
in movies, or on TV.

My wife and I, were invited to the annual
Newman/Haas Racing Christmas dinner, 
at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Haas in 
Illinois, along with the Andretti family, team 
members, and all their many friends and 
sponsors.

We were asked back to the house the next 
day, to discuss the making of more models 
of their Indy cars in the new year.

Before returning to Vancouver, I got the 
opportunity of a lifetime, being invited to 
visited the "Race Factory" to witness the birth 
of their 1992 Lola Cosworths.

(above shows my visit, but the car of course is 
not the 1992 Lola) .. picture by Ralph Hansen.