9-11 and drag racing

[Bobby Bennett]

http://www.competitionplus.com/2006_09/911_and_dragracing.html

A day we'll never forget

[Jackee Allen]

Good article Bobby.

I'm sure every member here can remember exactly where and what they were doing when they heard the news.

It was a beautiful, clear day that Tuesday, and I was in my office and I can remember how blue the sky was.

I found out about the attacks through a phone call from a friend of mine who used to work here, who now lives in Alabama. She asked me if I heard the news. Since she is known for joking around, I laughingly said, WHAT news and chuckled. Her voice was quivering when she said, 'a plane hit the World Trade Center. I knew she wasn't kidding around.

The first thought in my head was that a small, private plane had hit. She didn't know any more then that a plane hit... before we were finished speaking, I could hear one phone after another ringing and people answering, and looks of disbelief and confusion come over the other associates faces. We have an 'open office' environment here, there are no private offices... just desks arrainged according to department. You can see all the way to the back of the building. People were taking calls, some stood up, and were pacing back and forth with the news. Nearly everyone had gotten 'the call'.

After the phone calls, I remember people congregating in groups all over the office. By this time the news channels were carrying the story. A lot of us went down to the cafeteria to watch it on TV. We saw the other plane hit, and we knew it wasn't a small private plane. I'm not sure if anyone understood at that time, that these were deliberate attacks.

As the day unfolded, we heard about the Pentagon and Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. Our P&O dept called us all downstairs to the cafeteria for a meeting. The manager gave us the news she'd been given. She could hardly speak. We were told we could all leave and go home to be with our families. I stayed until about 11:30 that night getting the news and communicating with friends from all over. I knew our world had changed.

I'd grown up in Ramsey, NJ, just about 25 miles from NYC. When you reach the top of the hill on RT 17 just past Lake St. in Ramsey, you can see the entire NYC skyline. You could see the twin towers. By this time, I'd seen all of the videos of the crashes, the towers burning, and then falling,over and over and over again. On the Friday after the attacks, I drove back to Ramsey and got on 17 and parked at the top of the hill. I wanted to see if they were really gone. They were.

Where were the rest of you when you got the news?

[Jackee Allen]

September Eleven
By Paul W. Smith

Suddenly and without warning
On a clear September morning,
America's face forever changed
And priorities painfully rearranged.

How can hate be so strong
Against so many who've done no wrong?
Towering infernos, it seemed surreal,
Then crashing down, concrete, glass and steel.

Thousands died and millions cry.
Heroes live and heroes die,
As smoke and ash would fill the sky.

Even now our hearts still grieve,
For captive sights which never leave.
The world it seems has always been
A place where evil seems to win.

But those who wait throughout the night
Must know that dawn will bring the light,
And we who trust in God above,
Must never cease to show His love.

Copyright 2002 -- Paul W. Smith

[DanLynch]

I was in my office working and listening to Stern... Our internet connection at work smokes, but that day it came to a halt as just about everyone was on the net reading about 9/11...