Home

Home may have a different meaning for different people. It could be your room in your parent's house, a dorm room while going to college, or your first home after getting married. For most people our first place is a rented apartment, or sometimes a small rented house, and many times it's not what we would consider an ideal "home".
I have been pretty lucky in that respect, after several rental apartments, homes, etc., for the first few years we were married, I built the first house we owned with my own hands. We had been married for seven years, and I was a new general contractor. After building several houses, I built one for myself, and it was the first home we actually owned. That was 40+ years ago.
We have now owned four different homes, two of which I built myself. We like to look at new houses, sometimes with the idea that we might actually be considering moving. We would like to have a little more room, and I still have hopes of having another three car garage. ("just in case you haven't guessed, I'm a garage guy")  In the last few days, we have had some family from out-of-town here, so we went looking at new houses with them a couple of different days. I couldn't help but notice when you walk through, and look around a new house, you always visualize how you would make use of the space, and make it your new home. I can almost see a Mustang in those three car garages. We could make it home, just let me prove it.

This is the last home I built myself.  It was in Northern Utah, and had a three car garage.

Night Out

Years ago, I used to really look forward to Friday and Saturday nights, out cruising the streets in my favorite performance car, seeing, and being seen, by other performance cars out cruising main. There was always the possibility of a street race or two. There was an excitement in the air, any life-long car guy felt it, as well as any new driver out cruising for the first time. When we hit the main drag in our muscle car, we could count on seeing the streets full of other hot cars. It seemed like every performance car in town was out and about. That's the way it used to be. Not any more. That part of the car enthusiast lifestyle is a long lost thing of the past.
Part of the reason for the change has slowly happened over the last 20 to 30 years. Young guys are no longer interested in performance cars. At least, not the way it used to be, especially compared to the way it was when I was young, and first started driving.
I can remember when I first noticed that things were different. About 15 years ago, I was out on the streets on a Friday night, after a long time of not going out, and it finally hit me. I could drive from one end of town to the other, and not see one other performance car on the streets. I remember thinking on my way home. "Well, it's finally happened. I'm the Last Street Racer".
Check out my book, just follow this link: Grab Some Gears

A night on the street, back in the summer of 2012.

Black and White

There was a time when everything was "black and white", not just our photographs, but the world around us, and the way people lived their lives. Maybe it's just the way we remember things from 60+ years ago, but I can't remember the world being as crazy as it is today.
There were serious issues back then, as history proves there has always been, but maybe the way people handled it was way more civil than it is today. I find it harder every day to watch the news on TV, or read about it on social media. I wonder if that isn't part of the problem. We are so "connected" to the world around us, and it seems almost all of the news we see is bad.
I come across this old photo from 1956 the other day, which is what started me thinking about the way things used to be. Of course, I was only six years old at the time, but the times were much simpler back then. The photo is of me, along with my cousins and my brother, on Christmas morning. I'm showing off my new cowboy six-shooters, the bad guys would be running for their lives. I just wish the holidays in 2018 could be as trouble free as they were in 1956.

Christmas 1956.

Changing Seasons

This time of the year, things start to change at a faster and faster pace. Halloween has just come and gone, then the time change a few days later, and throw in the political craziness of mid-term elections, what a wild couple weeks we've just had. Don't look now, but, Thanksgiving is coming up quickly, and that means that Christmas is just around the corner.
All of these things happen at the same time of the year as the weather starts to change. We start to notice that our mornings are a little colder, even in our part of the country. At least, here in the southwest, the afternoons are very nice, and we can still get a few things done.
Some people really enjoy this time of the year, but for me, it's my least favorite. I'm glad when the holidays have come and gone, and we can start over with a fresh year.

Sundown comes pretty early now, I'm looking forward to spring already.

Counting Cars

As I was thinking about some of the cars I used to own, I realized that I wasn't even sure how many cars I have had since I was a teenager.  I have lost count in recent years. I had to pull out a copy of my book and review the list that's at the last couple of pages. Adding a few for the ones I have owned since the book was printed, over last few years, the total is now somewhere over 75.
That's a lot of cars to remember, but there are always those that are special in my memories, for one reason or other. You always here people say, "I wish I still had that car, I should have never sold it". I never have been that guy, though many of my cars would have made excellent life-long treasures. Thinking of some of them still puts an ache in my heart, they were special for many reasons. I never have the money, or storage facility, to have more than two or three at once. And there's always something new on the way that catches my eye. I may have slowed down in recent years, but that's still the case.
I could write a book on what was special about many of those cars, and many are mentioned in the book I did write. Many of them play a big part in my racing stories.
Anyone interested can check out my book, or even read some sample pages by following this link;  Grab Some Gears

One of the special cars I have owned;   2007 Shelby GT500  Mustang.

A Walk in the Park

Today, I got back to something I've missed for the last couple of weeks. I took a walk in the park. Snow Canyon State Park  that is, something I do as often as possible. The weather, family events,  and other activities, have kept me away for more than two weeks.
It's a simple thing, "a walk in the park" and as the old saying goes, something easy to do, but for me it's very important. I usually do a two mile walk, the first mile is up hill, and a pretty good work out.  Then, the second mile back is all down hill to where I park my car. All together, it's about 40 minutes of good exercise.
People can get their exercise in many ways, but for me, this is the most enjoyable. Snow Canyon is a very pretty place, and, only about a 10 minute drive from my house. The time of day for my walk varies, depending on the season, and the general weather conditions. It's all about health and fitness, but this location is like icing on the cake.

The beautiful  Snow Canyon State Park  in Southern Utah.

40 Years of Street Racing

"Grab Some Gears - 40 Years of Street Racing" is the title of my book. I finished writing it in 2006, after several years of thought and jotting down notes. It was first suggested to me by a young street racer, after a late night racing session, when we were all standing around talking. Noticing that I was older than most of them, this young racer asked me; "how long have you been doing this"?  I responded; "since I was about 14 years old".  He made the remark; "Wow, a lot must have changed in all that time, you should write a book". That planted the seed that about 10 years later, and after some more years of street racing,  became my book.
For a life-long car guy, the book is a history of many of my racing experiences, street racing and on the drag strip, and the changes that I've seen over the years. It also contains about 40 color photos of some of the cars I have owned in that time.
I'm considering an update to the book, to add some new things that have happened in the last 10-15 years, and add some photos of the cars I've owned since 2006.
Anyone interested can check out my book, and read sample pages at; Grab Some Gears