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Old 04-26-2006, 11:27 AM
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Friends give ex-racer a gift that roars (long)

GREENSBORO -- Mike Landreth gave up autocross racing and hill-climbing contests years ago. Young guys had gotten too good or, perhaps, his reflexes had simply slowed too much.

No matter. A home recliner, he jokes, sealed the decision.

In 1995, in the middle of his honeymoon, the Greensboro man crested his last hill, Mount Washington in New Hampshire, and bid farewell to the sport he helped revitalize in the Triad two decades earlier.

Until this January. A mass on his stomach had doctors fearing the worst, and Landreth, 59, listed what he wanted to experience one last time should the cancer prevail.

On his list: Autocross, a competition where drivers race the clock while navigating traffic cones and testing their skills in large parking lots.

Family and friends went to work. Only Landreth wouldn't know it until Sunday.

"We're just giving back to someone who's given us a lot," said Terry Wagner, a co-owner of Triad Auto Specialty who helped coordinate efforts.

He added: "We got a chance to show him what we think of him this side of heaven."

Wagner had an unexpected encounter with the man who bought a red 1985 Honda CRX from Landreth more than a decade ago. It was the same car Landreth used to set hill-climbing records in his vehicle class at locales such as Chimney Rock and Grandfather Mountain.

The current owner visited Wagner's shop to have another car serviced. When he learned of the cancer, he offered to donate the CRX for restoration.

It had been sitting in a barn for some time. The interior was in bad shape, mud from flood waters years back still visible on the floor boards. Brakes and hydraulics were shot. Ditto for the alternator, timing valve and water pump.

Wagner and friends tore out the interior and, in doing so, found several original decals Landreth sported on the car.

The final touch was a bucket seat the men purchased from California. It wasn't part of the original car, but they had little choice, given the condition of the original seat.

Now it was a matter of getting the gift to their friend.

Landreth had no plans to attend an autocross event Sunday in the parking lot of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. He wasn't competing, and with his cancer, he didn't know whether he would be up for a day in the sun.

Family and close buddies finally persuaded the Lorillard Tobacco Co. engineer by pointing out the young patients from Brenner Children's Hospital would be there, and how one of them might enjoy a ride in his yellow 2001 Honda S2000. Landreth conceded.

Before the contest got started, an announcer told the crowd that Landreth was present. As he listed Landreth's accolades, a roar thundered across the asphalt.

Everyone turned. First, they saw the car. Then, they looked at Landreth, who stood with wife Wendy by his side.

"That's my car!" Landreth exclaimed as they approached the Honda. "That's my car!"

Wagner climbed out of the restored vehicle. He smiled at his friend as people applauded.

Landreth climbed inside and drove the Honda around to the staging area for competition. He donned a helmet and pulled the start line. The first man to be timed, he clocked 43.8 seconds.

"I can't believe these guys did this to me," he said as he stepped from the car. "It's unbelievable... it's unbelievable! I want to cry like a baby!"

Tears welled in his eyes.

"I have so many good friends it's hard to describe," Landreth said minutes later. "'Thank you' seems so inadequate."

And of his first race in over a decade?

"I can do better," he laughed. "There's always more time on the course -- you just gotta find it."
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