One old race car to return to the track a bit sooner by purpleGT

3 minute(s) of a 12 minute read

Update time! Today, My late racing partner's son and his good friend arrived from St. Louis to pick up his dad's old race car. It's amazing (well, not really) how much Matt resembles his late father. Matt showed me a picture of his 4 year old son, who looks exactly like Matt did at that age. My youngest son arrived to help out and we loaded the race car and a bunch of parts. Then, we went in the house & had some dinner, before Matt and his friend, Alex, started out on their long drive back to St. Louis.  

I feel very good about sending the car home with Matt and I know it will be back on the track fairly soon. Matt is a steel fabricator by profession and Alex is chief mechanic at a vintage race car specialist shop. This car (pictured below) was the very first race car either of them ever turned a wrench on, back when they were 15 year olds, hanging out at the track with Matt's dad. Pretty heart-warming, for sure.

I've attached a picture of the car, from 1997, at Gateway Int'l Raceway, with my late racing partner at the wheel.

I've told Matt & Alex about the MGE motorsports forum, so I expect they will both be checking it out in the near future.

6-9-2013

To be perfectly honest, I'm giving serious thought to restoring my race car to it's original, "street" form. Although I certainly don't feel old, doing the math tells me it's probably a bit late in life to be getting back into driving race cars, again. Also, my own particular vision of Hell on earth is thrashing on a recalcitrant race car, on a hot weekend at the race track. But, I have two grown sons who say they'd be willing to do that part of it for me. So, I'm still wrestling with the decision to be made.

It sure would be a whole lot easier if I didn't have to be bothered with working for a living, but I'm still addicted to the income, at least for a couple more years.

6-10-2013

You're right in thinking that my heart is set on building a street-driven, early B. But, I suppose an early B restoration candidate could be found, to scratch that particular itch and allow me to simply put my old race car back on the track.

Re: broken barges & other metal flotsam. Well, it's true that I no longer solicit new accounts (all my work comes from long-time clients or from new referrals from long-time clients), but I still need to produce income for two or three more years, I think. And, yes, I still enjoy what I do for a living, but the winters are getting increasingly difficult. I can deal with the cold, but survival (literally) out there demands quick reflexes and physical agility. The reflexes are still there, but I have to confess I'm not quite as quick on my feet as I was 10 years ago. But, I guess I still do very well for my age. 
I'm working on some stuff that may let me walk away from the daily grind sooner than later.