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01 RT/10 Saphire
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jbisanz
Registered: February 2006
Location: Bartonville, IL
Posts: 4,516
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To the memory of Paul Mumford:
Paul Mumford Lives ��in the hearts and minds of thousands of car enthusiasts ���. PMUM; as he became known to his automotive friends, began as his E-Mail address. The frequent readers of www.ViperClub.org forums regularly looked for his signature. They knew that there would be entertaining and controversial banter wherever they found the PMUM moniker. It was great entertainment to read his smack talk; the humor; the wit; the verbal tennis he would exchange with people like Ken Adelberg.
Midyear in 2002 I became ineligible to compete in Viper Days. (None of it my fault of coarse.) Paul calls and in a couple minutes we had an agreement. He would drive, Rick Maxell, Nancy Shanno and I would crew. Two races later, you know the story, he won Nashville VOI and the 02 Finals.
PMUM first came into the Viper Nation view in 1999 when at the Viper Days events his street car eclipsed the times of many of the race Vipers. By 2000 he was suspicioned to be one of the biggest cheaters around. They would exclaim: �Nobody could possibly be that much faster than the rest of us, it has to be the car.�
Paul was never found to be cheating; but the voice of his competitors never quit trying. This year in Speed World Challenge; after the second event, two of his competitors complained to SCCA. They were confident that his car was wearing traction and or stability control. They reviewed the video of the Laguna Seca WCGT race and determined that nobody can drive that smooth without help.
Wednesday evening October 1st 2003, the night before his fatal accident Paul spent an hour on the phone. He shared the concerns of his competitors; he wondered why he needed to spend money to defend against these allegations. We discussed sponsorship and the means to fund the 2004 season. He was confident that he could bring Dodge and himself a Season Championship in the Speed TV World Challenge GT series.
Words that help depict Paul�s character to me:
Tenacious, affable, friendly, driven, gifted, loving, fearless, confident yet humble, aloof, loves a gunfight, need to win, honest, caring.
From Erik Messley: �You know; Paul even loaned me his truck to use as long as I needed it, I hated to tell him he had given it up forever.�
When interviewed in August at Road America after starting 22nd and finishing 3rd, Paul was asked by the announcer if it made him uncomfortable going through the �kink� at over 120 mph. Paul responded by saying, �Well not really, you see I used to run here with the Superbikes. To go through the kink on two wheels at 165 mph, that made you pucker.�
Paul had called one day to ask how the broken wrist was coming; which was a result of an accident in that same R.A. race. He said; �yeah I broke that bone before.� going on to name the bone and explain the healing process which in his case took 9 months.� He said �that was the main reason I got out of racing Superbikes, I was beginning to run out of bones to break.�
We lost a gifted man. We will not be in his presence when he reaches full potential, one can only guess what he would have accomplished. God has Blessed you Paul. A friend..... Bob Woodhouse
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jbisanz
Registered: February 2006
Location: Bartonville, IL
Posts: 4,516
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Just realized my avatar picture has pmum's blue acr sitting in my garage at home. I'll tell you one quick story. A few years back we were planning on running the VD race at Road America. The Mopar Nationals was a week before in Columbus,OH. PMUM let me haul the rig to Cols. I was born and raised there and had been to the nat's a bunch of times. I got there the second day of the event but instead of parking me way out in the sticks, they actually gave me a killer spot right up front by the pro cars and midway. I drag raced his coupe the next day and pmum flew in that night. We had dinner that night at Chi-Chi's (don't eat there) with my friend Herb McCandless(Mr.4-speed). Well, if you've ever been there on Brice Rd. during that weekend, you know how crazy it gets with a few thousand Mopars in town. Our hotel parking lot was turned into the burn out contest hq because 5-0 was everywhere on Brice Rd. PMUM had never been around that kind of stuff before, he had the greatest time watching these guys lay the rubber, one after another, non-stop. The next day at the track we met the guys next to us, some Canadiens running a blown/injected Hemi Duster. The thing ran like 8.50's but was an absolute handfull to drive. He thought they were crazy. Gave him a whole new appreciation for drag racing. We left Sunday morning and headed for R/A but he let me make a stop at Indy so I could see some of my old drag bike buddies at the IDBA race at IRP. He'd never been to a drag bike race either. When we got to R/A, he went out and set fast time in the first session. He then let me take the car out for quite a few laps. He always use to give me crap for not holding it wide open long enough. I'll never forget him and I racing the scooters around the pits there too. We'd race up the big hill, of course he gave me a beat down. He was the most generous guy I've ever met. HE made it possible for me to see my family and friends back home. He let me have fun at his expense. He wouldn't let me pay for anything, but that's how he was. I hope I never forget those times in my old age. He always made sure his friends were having a good time. dj
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jbisanz
Registered: February 2006
Location: Bartonville, IL
Posts: 4,516
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I remember meeting (through Dave) Paul just after he bought his first GTS at Neighborhood Service (where Dave worked for so many years). He went out and set the lap record at Willow Springs on his first weekend out in the bone stock car (and was adding racing rubber to it for the next weekend). Those bikers always show up the car guys with more aggressive braking and lines through the turns... which always made me jealous.
As we were chatting in the waiting room he pulled out a video tape of his wipe out on a GP bike on turn 8/9 at WS. He was going something obscene speed (over 160 mph) when a guy cut him off. After sliding in the dirt at over 150 mph, got up to kick his bike in frustration and realized that he had broken his ankle and wrist. He said that was the end to his bike racing career and when he decided cars were safer.
All I could think was this guy is going to kick some a$$ in the Viper world because he raced all of the great tracks in GP bikes. Little did I know that this was the begining of something big.
Rest in Peace Paul.
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