I have always been the guy who tried to figure out how to make something go faster, sometimes I failed and sometimes I succeeded. I grew up idolizing Evel Knievel, for those of you who don't know who he was I will explain.
Evel Knievel was a stuntman that wore a red, white, and blue outfit with a cape. Evel Knievel started his career jumping his motorcycle over a 20 foot long box filled with rattlesnakes and two mountain lions. The motorcycle he used were nothing like the motorcycles used in stunts today. He was famous for using a XR-750 Harley Davidson. During the jump over the rattlesnakes his back tire hit the edge of the box but Evel Knievel still landed safely. Evel Knievel went on to jump famous landmarks all over the United States and most of his big jumps were televised. Evel Knievel crashed and broke many bones during his stunt shows. As a young kid growing up in the 1970's and 1980's Evel Knievel was a real life superhero. Toy stores sold his toys and at Halloween kids dressed as Evel Knievel.
I think Evel Knievel definitely started me on my path, but I also remember working on cars with my grandfather. My grandfather also helped me build my first soap box car and man it was fast and occasionally I crashed it. My grandfather also enjoyed watching stock car racing and Indy car racing. I remember many days sitting on his recliner with him and watching the races.
As I got into my teens, I wanted a motorcycle but my parents said, "No." However, they told me that if I saved my money and bought a motorcycle myself I could have one. I was 13 years old and my mothers cousin owned an automotive shop. I got a job there cleaning up and watching the guys who worked there. A few months into working there my moms cousin asked me if I wanted to do a brake replacement. I was excited and believed I had watched enough to know what I was doing. My mother's cousin supervised me to make sure I did the job correctly. That started me on a 19 year career as a mechanic. I figured in no time I would have enough to buy a motorcycle.
Well my brother told me that he knew of this guy he went to school with that had a 1980 YZ80 motorcycle. My brother said this guy and his dad tore the motorcycle apart because they blew the engine. My brother said the motorcycle was in boxes and nothing was together including the transmission.
Well my brother and I told our parent we wanted to buy the motorcycle. My parents said yes to us buying it, believing there was no way my brother and I could put this motorcycle back together. We bought the motorcycle for $50. My parent figured my brother and I would mess around with the parts and eventually give up. I was determined, I was going to build this motorcycle. About 2 months later, I had assembled the motorcycle and fired it up. I ran it up and down our street and I could see my parents were not happy about it but they always supported their boys. During my run up and down the street I realized I had first gear and then when I shifted it the gear was too high and it bogged down. I tore the motorcycle apart again since we didn't have a manual and no internet yet. I played with the gears in the transmission until I saw that it could shift from 1st gear to 2nd, then 3rd, 4th, and 5th. I put the motorcycle together again and my brother and I rode that motorcycle over all the mountains in our area. After about 6 months I started wanting the motorcycle to go faster and I made it much faster. Only problem was that I leaned the carburetor out so much, I burned the engine up since it was a two stroke running on mixed gasoline.
At this time I had saved enough money to buy another motorcycle. My dad said, well you been working hard trying to buy a motorcycle. My dad bought my brother and I two new motorcycles even though he really didn't want us riding them. My parents took us wherever we wanted to ride and like I said before they completely supported us. At this point my brother and I started racing motorcycles. Here is a picture of me on my KX250.
I loved riding and racing. I was completely hooked and spent every minute I could working on motorcycles, at the race track, or just out riding.
By the time I was 19 year old, I decided I wanted to move into car racing. I bought a Mazda RX-7 from a customer at the repair shop I worked at. I stripped the car down, built a roll cage, and put all new suspension under the car. When it was finished I went racing. Here is a picture of me driving that Mazda down the front straight away at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California.
I was hooked on racing it didn't matter what I was racing. But after a couple of years racing that Mazda I wanted something faster. I started donating time to a team that was running at the Altamont Raceway in Livermore, California. Before long then they told me they would help me build a new car to compete in NASCAR's late model class at Altamont Raceway. I was at a racetrack every chance I got whether it was helping someone with their car or racing myself. This is the car we built for me and it is seen here entering entering into turn 3 at Altamont Raceway.
I have visited and raced on race tracks all over the west coast of the United States. Met some great people that still remain good friends to this day.
I don't race anymore but I still love everything about racing no matter what kind of vehicle it is. If you have a love for motorsports like I do post it in the Motorsports Community.
Thanks for checking out my post.