Everyone has a hobby, and I confess I'm a gear head from way back who likes to go fast.  So here are a couple of my toys.

This is my 1968 Camaro which I purchased in 1973.  It was driven on the street for three years.  But by 1976 it was so fast that I was collecting  tickets every time I was on the street.  The city cops in my hometown knew the car on sight and they would notify the other patrol officers by radio when they saw me out.  Sort of like John Milner in American Graffiti.  By 1976 I let the tags expire and drove the car exclusively at the local drag strips.  I continued drag racing for the next twenty years but I eventually just got bored with going straight.  At about the same time we bought a new house and the new neighbors were into kart racing so with their help and support I began my kart racing career.

When these photos were taken the Camaro was setup for drag racing.  After getting bored with drags I started racing karts.  Currently the Camaro is in my garage and is being converted back to a street driver.  As I got into the street project I have decided on a complete restoration.  So a simple project has suddenly turned into a major one. I will probably create a restoration project page once it gets rolling.

I hope to have the Camaro back on the street by 2006, but don't tell my hometown cops.

Stand by for some major updates on the Camaro.  Coming soon!

As I mentioned previously, I became interested in Kart Racing a few years back.  Kart 86 is me at the wheel and kart 27 is my friend,  I built and maintain both karts.  86 is what is known as a sprint kart which is raced on road courses.  It is designed to handle both left and right turns, and can reach speeds of in excess of 100mph. when run on long tracks such as Summit Point WV.   Kart 27 is what is referred to as a speedway or LTO (Left Turn Only) kart and as the name suggests is designed to turn left only.  It can hit speeds of nearly 70mph on 3/8 mile oval. track.  Both are powered by Briggs&Stratton Race engines burning methanol.

This is another picture of kart 27.  I'm the crew chief on the left of this picture with my friend and driver Brian Duensing.  This photo was taken after we had just won the Stock Heavy class championship at the 1/4 mile asphalt oval of Joliet Speedway in Joliet, IL  You can see from this photo how the steering and seat are offset to the left side of the kart.  This kart is called an LTO (Left Turn Only) design and is used exclusively on oval tracks.  By locating the driver to the left side of the chassis the weight bias is heavily to the left which allows the kart to corner left faster.  This kart would turn typical lap times of 14 seconds.  If you do the math that translates to about 65mph.  That doesn't sound fast until you realize that this 1/4 mile track is simply a paved running track which surrounds a football field.  Try to imagine driving 65mph around a football field and you can begin to appreciate what is involved.