Recent Press for Lobbyists For Speed

Charitable at Any Speed
Roll Call
By Jessica Brady
October 23, 2008
Click Here for the Article on RollCall.com

From left, Ian Weston and Jeffrey J. Kimball of Jeffrey J. Kimball and Associates, Win Huffman of Collaborative Fusion and Jeff Myers of Cephalon pose with their cars as they prepare for Saturday's first 'Lobbyists for Speed' charity race.

While a typical Washingtonian jogs in a 10K or shows up at a happy hour to contribute money to a good cause, such conventional activities were the wrong speed for lobbyist Jeff Kimbell.

“Running is one mile per hour. I prefer 130 miles per hour,” he said.

So Kimbell — who runs Jeffrey J. Kimbell and Associates — revved up a host of friends and colleagues for a drag racing event, where high-voltage egos and high-speed vehicles will race along a quarter-mile track.

“This should be a highly amusing event given how many egos will be severely injured that day,” Kimbell quipped, taunting the nearly 30 racers that he will go up against at the Capitol Raceway in Crofton, Md., this Saturday for the first “Lobbyists for Speed” charity event. (Rain date is Nov. 15.)

Drag racing is a hobby reserved for rebellious high schoolers and adrenaline junkies, and Saturday’s race seems to be no exception. Kimbell races a handful of times each year through the National Hot Rod Association. He recently bought a 1969 Plymouth Belvedere V8 highway patrol car that he’ll drive Saturday. Other cars in the lineup include a 1965 Backdraft Racing Cobra, a 1969 GTX and a 2008 Porsche 911 Carrera.

“When I was a kid in high school we raced our cars,” said Virginia native Rob Douglas, who will be driving a borrowed 1966 Dodge Coronet convertible.

Douglas, who owns a construction company in Virginia, still has his high school ride — a 1969 AMX 390 — parked at home.

The nearly 30 participants will be racing for their charity of choice. Although the event is described as “Lobbyists for Speed,” most lobbyists were not willing to go on record to talk about racing cars for charity.

One who was able to talk was Jeff Myers, vice president of government affairs for Cephalon, who helped Kimball organize the event. He described the genesis of the idea as “what happens when you have too much liquor and too much ego at the same place. A bunch of guys were talking about how fast their cars could go, and we decided to have a little race to see.”

Myers will be driving a 1979 Jaguar SJG, a car that he said he drives to work “a couple of times a week.” He joked that he’ll be raising money for PETA: “People Eating Tasty Animals.”

In all seriousness, drivers have to be at least 25 years old and pay a $300 entry fee. They are required to wear a helmet, close-toed shoes, pants and long-sleeved shirts.

Kimbell is going full speed with what he expects to be an annual event. He launched a nine-person board and enlisted his wife’s graphic design skills to create a sharp logo for programs and T-shirts.

Participating cars have to be “street legal” and can have modifications such as turbo or super chargers and exhaust and engine alterations. But cars don’t have to have modifications to compete, and a few sensible drivers will be racing their Honda Accords and Volkswagen Passats.

While Kimbell speeds down the lane in his cop car, his wife, Jessica, will take on the competition in her leased 2008 Audi TT coupe. She expects to cross the finish line in about 13 seconds, but the fun will last much longer.

“I liked the car, and I wanted to participate,” she said, noting that responses to this weekend’s event sped in as fast as her Audi. This was no cocktail party, she said. “People have been very open to the event because it’s different.”

Meyers agrees that the event’s unusual nature is the key to its success: “You’d be surprised at the number of gearhead lobbyists, Congressional staffers and those involved in politics.”

The Radar Rides
DC Magazine
By George Stone
October 2008 Issue

Chalk up another victory for DC’s most audacious autocrats. With the launch of the Lobbyists for Speed Drag Race Series, K Street’s spin masters are about to hit the skids—and they’re all revved up about it.

On October 25, a few of the city’s gas-guzzling GOPs and Dems will put pedal to the metal at the Capitol Raceway to raise money for the charity of their choice. Life is no drag for these speed demons, who will kick in $300 apiece for the chance to burn rubber to philanthropic glory. Spectators are welcome (tickets can be had for $10 each) and the estimated $10,000 pool will be distributed among the winners’ charities.

So are the competitors gear daddies…or just daddies with excess gear? Authentic motorheads or merely Beltway motormouths? Turns out it’s a bit of both. Some in this accelerated set will arrive at the raceway in cartoonishly masculine muscle cars that look like they exploded from a teenage boy’s imagination. A few dashing minimalists will forego four wheels for two and fire up their motorcycles. Others, however, will be lucky to nab the family grocery-getter from their wives for an afternoon.

Nick Lewis, a transportation-industry lobbyist who will be racing on behalf of the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, intends to vanquish his foes in his 1992 Honda Accord LX. “It’s a secret killer that chews up Mopars and spits them out. It’s maroon with light brown rust accents and a dent in the right door, left by a nanny.” How does Lewis hope to dust a supertorqued Porsche? “I’ll have the eye of the tiger,” he says. “I’m hoping for a quick and nimble shift and I’ll be blasting Gordon Lightfoot. ‘Carefree Highway’ tends to put the fear of god in my competitors.”

He’ll need it to crush biopharmaceutical lobbyist Jeff Myers, who will be speeding along in his old-school ’79 Jaguar XJ6, enhanced with a slight modification. “It’s got a Chevy crate 502 engine that I plan on plumbing for a 200-hp nitrous hit,” explains Myers, cryptically. “With the laughing gas, we should be getting around 700-hp at the crank. Even with the driveline losses, it’s still pretty stout.” Uh, whatever that means.

So how did the idea behind Lobbyists for Speed come about? Cocktails, of course. “A few of us were talking at a party about which of our cars was faster and cooler,” says Jeff Kimbell who raised the bar by suggesting a charity racing event. Kimbell admits that “Patrón shots have a powerful effect on people. But behind the stiff upper lip of Washington are some hilarious characters who are dedicated to charity.”

A life-science lobbyist, Kimbell will be driving his 1970 Dodge Super Bee on behalf of the City Tavern Club Foundation. “It’s got a 440 block, aluminum heads, a 410 gear, a powerful spirit and anger in her loins. I guarantee I won’t lose the burnout contest,” he says.

Healthcare lobbyist Darin Gardner, racing for Gonzaga High School’s Erik Kristensen Scholarship Fund, hopes to be a motor track spoiler. His rude ride is a black 2006 Corvette with a vicious 400-hp V8. “As I hail from the great state of Arkansas, the car was named by a northern friend of mine. We call it the ‘Redneck Rocket.’”

But isn’t an election-time drag race starring DC’s daredevil lobbyists an impolitic notion, even if its purpose is philanthropic? Myers doesn’t think so. “Remember when DC was fun? When both sides of the aisle got together to do things because they liked doing them?” And anyway, as Gardner says, “this has to be one of the least crazy events that happens in DC. I can assure you our little gathering is tame compared to some events in this city.”