I am the stig

One of the gifts my awesome wife got me for Christmas was this bad ass sticker for my car. Why does nobody I know, know who the Stig is? People asking me who the Stig is got me thinking about American car culture. We SUCK, not as individuals, there is some pretty bad ass people like Eric Hsu, Alex Roy, and Brock Yates just to name a couple, but as a community. We do get some pretty cool movies, that do have some awesome chase scenes or movies that involve whats in at the time Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift for one. Which is purely for entertainment, where in Japan they have comic series like Initial D that have been going on for over 10 years. Initial D is both entertaining and educational, the books as well as the TV show have technical information, and driving tips.
Our version of street racing is just as bland as NASCAR. They have wangan, which a form of street racing that starts from a 60-70 mph roll and goes balls out until somewhere around 200mph. Which by the way also has its own comic and cartoon series called Wangan Midnight, like Initial D its about young and old people, cars, and racing. The closest thing we get to that here is Max Power a two page comic strip that ran in Import Tuner magazine for awhile. We have I-95 traffic and they have the Autobahn, and the Nurburgring, all public roads which one would I rather to take to work in the morning not I-95 that's for sure. They get TV shows like Top Gear which also has a magazine, and every time I find a show here that's nice and not fake or hokey, Dream Car Garage, and Sports Car Revolution they disappear on me, I guess not enough people watched those show. We do get the Speed channel, what a joke that is, might as well rename that NASCAR TV seems that's all they show any more. I remember when I could watch a whole day of racing F-1, WRC, and something SCCA. I don't even try to see whats on Speed any more, I can't even tell you what channel it is.
I'm moving to Japan or Europe.

A Little about me

I'm a car guy, not the fake kind of car guy like most people think. Since I was little the things I like have always been cars, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Micro Machines. When I got a little older it got worse I found models and started to build my own cars, following directions is ok but making them how you want them is way more fun. Somewhere around middle school I discovered car magazines, Going up in southern Arizona I was around a lot of Latin influence so Lowrider was my favorite magazine, later in life I would switched to the now defunct Sport Compact Car, and Superstreet from time to time, and more recently Modified and 0-60. I still remember the feature car that really changed this hobby into a obsession. It was titled hypnotized 2 it was 1959 Chevy impala convertible, the way the rear fins frame those tear drop tail lights and the amazing paint work on this car. I'd still have that magazine if my English teacher hadn't confiscated it. Then in High school my car guy status was set in stone when my friend bought a 1977 Pontiac Trans am. It was amazing to me I had never driven a muscle car before, the car was brown with that bad ass chicken on the hood whose wings surrounded the shaker scoop almost as a warning for the awesomeness that was to come. Somewhere in between all that I got my first car, it was a 1983 Dodge d-150 Ram pick up. It was a horrible looking thing, my dad bought it from the VDOT auction it was orange with black doors no power anything, with a 225 slant six. When we got it it had about 200,000 miles on it, I drove till about 433,000 miles before I blew up what was supposed to be an unstoppable engine. I've also owned a 1989 Pontiac 6000 safari station wagon, that was a beast, i only say it was beast because no matter what kind of abuse i threw at this poor car it just begged for more. Another car i had in the misadventures of my youth was a 89 Ford Bronco this was first four wheel drive and my first V8. I got my first speeding ticket in that truck 69 in a 55, I loved that truck, but it had a ton of problems way to many to get into, so I sold that for $400 to someone who claim to be known as Dr. bass it was going to be his next show car. He gave me the money and i said good luck. Then I bought my first from the dealership car, it was a 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse it was only a GS but it was nice leather 5 speed. in my opinion the second generation of that car is by far the best, I love the sweeping lines and power hump on the hood the whole car was just great. This is the car that started to learn what modification were and what they really did for you, and where I learned that I really love nitrous. I had my first of many stoplight races in this car, I figured out that drag racing is no fun, but that back roads can make you feel really good about life and yourself. I also met the beautiful girl who would be my wife in this car. Well I met her at work by some twist of fate she took a job at Pepboys, where I was working at the time. Taylor is her name and she is the best person I know always kind, she smart, she has the best sense of humor, and she truly is absolutely beautiful. That brings me to right now we have been happily married for over two years. We have a 99 Dodge neon that was her car and is now my project, I will over the course of this year turn it into a race car, and she has a 1990 Ford Bronco four wheel drive with a 351 and 33's. Everything I do is car related the magazines, and books I read are for the most part all car, all my favorite movies are about cars, even my job. I am a true car guy.

The First

This will only take a second. Just like all the other firsts in my adult life. It's my first attempt at a blog, it's January 1st 2010. It'll be better next time, that sounds familiar too.