I as well can not say my love of this hobby/life came from 1 certain thing. My father was a big portion of it. He was a mechanic by trade and worked out of an old milking barn converted into a shop on the side. He always had several old cars and trucks in our yard. As kids, my brothers and I would always be pretending to race, drive across the country or what ever in these broken down derelict vehicles in the yard behind the shop. I can't remember for sure when I actually started helping Dad in the shop. I know I was mowing the yard on a rider and cleaning the shop/parts at 8 years old. Dad had a 68 Buick GS400 convertible that he used as a truck. We never had any new cars or trucks. He would always buy or get paid with a broken vehicle, he would fix it and sell it or keep it until something nicer came along. My mom's oldest brother had a 63 Corvette that my Dad worked on a lot and we even stored it at our place when Uncle Jon was in the Navy. Uncle Jon used to take me with him and let me set on his lap and drive that car. He says I was only 4. My parents used to take me to boy scouts and baseball practice/games in that car so that set the seed for my love for Corvettes. Every time Uncle Jon came home on leave he would banter Dad about how that Buick was just a pos and Dad would get out the Buick and they would go line them up. That cammed up 327 Vette never did beat that old blue GS. My Uncle is still butt hurt about it.

Then there was my Dad's Uncle Jerry. He had a love for hot rods. He drove his everywhere even if it was not super shiny or the interior was ratty. He didn't have a lot of mechanical capabilities but he did what he could and called my Dad for the rest. I got the pleasure of polishing chrome and doing small jobs when Dad and Uncle Jerry were working on he car. I still have images in my head of a 40 Ford with no front clip, a 40 Ford with no hood, and his car in general.

My mom's youngest brother was a gear head as well and he had a Buick Regal with a nasty 355 in it. He used to let me drive that thing home when we would wash Lanter delivery trucks. I wasn't even 14 yet. He is where I got my racing bug from the most I bet. All in all, it was a combination of family and family friends all being into muscle cars and hot rods. I'm not sure what my life would be like if Dad wasn't a mechanic.