Everyone who has a car is looking for an inexpensive yet effective way to get it repaired or tweaked. Lets face it. Labor has become more expensive (my employer’s has gone up 31$ in 4 years!). On top of this, parts are more expensive, shipping is more expensive, and just plain doing anything besides breathing costs more. Now more than ever people are looking for ways to save. They have the choice of doing things cheap or not doing things at all. That’s where I usually come in.

I have time after work or on the weekends that I usually am available to do certain work on cars. I have an “agent” of sorts (ha ha) who usually brings me work, or sometimes I bring it in myself. Two minds are better than one for offering services. As a fellow car enthusiast, I know that modifying or even just maintaining cars can be steep now days. I like to be able to offer my work and expertise at a heavily discounted rate. I like being able to work on a variety of cars. I like being able to help people. Yes. Its that plain and simple. You’d think then that I get treated like a prince or that its all gravy. Well you’re wrong. Here’s my list of gripes.

People who have disgusting cars… Could you make it any more unpleasurable of an experience? I have to dig through your garbage to get to certain bolts or screws. A good example is when I have to remove rear seats to do rear suspension work. I find child seats on top of grimy cereal and gummy bears. These child seats are of course strapped in so tight that not even the mightiest of men could remove them. Then I have other items like soiled panties, cereal bowls, condoms, hair gels, and yes, even tampons. If I’m going to save you lots of money at least have the courtesy to clean your shit out. Also, please kindly remove child seats if you even think I’ll be working back there. You wouldn’t like working with that. Would you?

Head games… Now I’m a single guy and I’m always looking for a good date. I appreciate flirting and good company (even while at work). If you are a good looking girl with a great personality, please don’t get me all worked up and excited about a date for free work only to ditch me. Its wrong, so very very wrong.

Nit-picking… I like to make sure my work is good and I usually pay attention to details the best I can. I get a little mad though when somebody starts criticising certain things. Most cases, the parts are aftermarket and/or certain pieces are missing. Sometimes the cars are old and bushings or fittings come apart while work is being done. Shit happens on occasion. Then there’s the people who bicker about a car being 2mm lower on one side than the other, or alignments being a hair off after a drop. (I don’t have an alignment rack where I work, I do my best to get it dead-on, but its up to you to have it 100% aligned). You usually save at least $200 when I drop your car and my work is just as good as anyone else’s.

Inquiries… Please do not hit me up every hour with a new inquiry for work. Don’t blow up my voicemail or inbox with ridiculous question after question. Get it all together, and ask me once or twice.

Lastly, How you show up. IF you show up… Don’t tell me you’re going to be there and then not show up at all. If you don’t want to come, then at least contact me or my “agent”. I won’t be mad. Also, please do NOT bring your entourage. One person, One car. 

Thats pretty much it. I’m really a forgiving person, but sometimes the annoyances just become frustrating. Most mechanics or techs I talk to say they only do side-work on their mom’s car for many of these reasons. I don’t want it to be like that, I like working on various cars. I don’t ever want to feel differently.

Time for some long overdue thank you’s to people who have helped me out so far this season!

First and foremost, I can not say thanks enough to my father for helping me out with the series. Without him, I wouldn’t even be competing right now. Thanks as well to my sister for her help and her encouragement.

Huge thanks to people who helped donate to my fund (random order):

Bill Schofield (who’s also my helmet painter/vinyl guy!)

John Alden Patton

Jeff Rudis

Josh Taylor

Ross Snyder

Fred Kim

Michael Young

John Dodds

I’d like to also give a HUGE thanks to my new sponsor, Induktion Motorsports! They are a top VW/Audi/Porsche/BMW tuning and aftermarket supply shop a few minutes from my house. I am so excited to work with Ed Fuhrman and Induktion.

Thanks to Francois Duret and Allsports GP for his support. Go check out the DC Metro’s best and only indoor karting center!

Thanks again to Bill Schofield and williamdesignworks for doing my vinyl work (past & present), for doing an amazing job right now painting my helmet (will post pics in the future) and for being an awesome guy. Bill’s working on his website right now and while working full time at his job and as a dad, still manages time to paint helmets on the side.

I am still in the works with more personal sponsors, but I’d also like to give huge thanks to Volkswagen and all their series sponsors for putting this program together.

VW has changed the rules that allow us to obtain 4 personal sponsors…if you have any interest in a partnership to help me race this season as well as making new business deals/connections, please email John@rightfootdown.com for more details and a sponsorship proposal.

Lewis was looking good. Coming off a truly brilliant drive in Monaco and going to a McLaren friendly Canadian GP. Hamilton stamped his superiority on the field through Practice and Qualifying, then he rocketed away in what looked to be a patented wire-to-wire F1 parade on race day. In his dust, Kubica and Kimi trying desperately to keep pace. Then came the safety car period that as usual, created a mess of the field. As standard during safety car periods, the pit lanes are a controlled area, it’s of note that even I know this. As the Ferrari and BMW crews got Kimi and Kubica out P1 and P2, ole’ Hammy came ripping out his stall in P3. Like a superficial blond in Benz CLK550 Cabriolet blabbing away on a cellphone, Lewis decided to plow into the back of Raikkonen’s helpless Ferrari, oblivious to the big red light at the end of pitlane (it was real big). Kimi’s reaction post-accident was classic, as he calmly pointed out the red light to Lewis as if he was asking if he knew what that meant. But hey it’s happened before, Rubens ran a red light plain as day in Australia just this year. Though, if two cars were parked at the end of the pit lane, would Rubens have tried to plow through them too?

Ok, the real winners of the Canadian GP…

BMW fans couldn’t have been more excited, as the carnage left Heidfeld and Kubica in control of the race. On differing fuel strategies, Heidfeld on a one stopper and Kubica on a traditional two stopper, the BMW boys were racing themselves. Heidfeld on his alternate one stopper was obviously heavy laden with fuel for most of the race, relegating him to a slower steady pace. On the other hand, Kubica ran like hell having to make one additional stop, he put in a awesome string of laps at the end of his second stint. Kubica was rewarded for his hard work, as he sufficiently gapped Heidfeld for his last stop and emerged just in front of his teammate. From there, they held station as they drove to the checkers 1-2. A monumental moment for the BMW program. I once said BMW might get a sneaky win if they get lucky, well Hamilton’s boneheaded play was just enough for those stars to align perfectly. Congrats BMW-Sauber.

Behind the BMW party were a few things worthy of mention. David Coulthard drove the RBR to a surprising podium with a steady veteran drive, finishing ahead of faster cars. Timo Glock also took advantage of the attrition to bring his TF108 in P4, his best finish on record. Honorable mention also goes to Rubens Barichello and Sebatian Vettel bringing their moving chicanes home in points in P7 and P8.

What is now a short trip to North America, thanks to Bernie and Co, the F1 circus heads back to the other side of the pond landing in Magny-Cour France. To rub salt in Lewis’ wounds, Magny-Cour was dominated by the Ferrari Red Army in 2007, and he’s likely given some extra motivation to the Iceman. We’ll see how the kid reacts, as McLaren is now looking way up to catch Ferrari and BMW in the manufacturer points race. Meanwhile, I think France might be exactly what Kimi needs to get back on track. I’m also curious as to how BMW-Sauber reacts, I’d love to see them take the fight to Ferrari and McLaren again.

While I do not comment much about road trips its usually because there is nothing worth talking about or anything worth talking about is accompanied by every four letter word I can think of. My latest trip was very different, in a good way, and that surprised me. Highways tend to come in every shape an size, but there are only two forms of them. The first form is the “open road,” being a highway with little traffic where you can set the cruise and just go. The open road is exactly what I want when I’m towing my race car, where all I have to do is set the cruise and drive with no hassles. The other form is the proverbial “traffic jam,” No I’m not talking about I-495 around DC during rush hour. I’m talking about people in every lane of traffic side by side driving the same speed. We’ve all seen this phenomena and I’m sure we’ve all been irritated as these people see no problem in blocking the faster moving cars, causing a traffic jam at 55.

This past weekend I prepared for exactly that on the PA turnpike. I was traveling from DC to Pittsburgh and I expected the worst from the PA turnpike. Like years before I was expecting a four hour drive to easily turn into a horrible 6 hour drive, because I knew I was going to sit behind people doing the speed limit. As I entered the turnpike and blazed though the toll booths I was greeted by an unexpected sign “Passing on the Left. Slower traffic keep right.” Now I’ve seen these signs before and they do nothing, but as I traversed further onto the Turnpike I learned that people actually listened to those signs!

There I was doing 80 and passing people on the left only! There were only a few times I had to turn the cruise off and pause to let a someone overtake a slower car. The overtaker would then get back into the right lane as soon as they could and I was on my merry way again. Now I’m normally on the faster end of highway travelers, averaging 10-15 over the posted limit. Because of this I’m normally the one thats caught in “traffic” and having to cross over a few lanes to pass people. This was different, it was heaven, nirvana, pure bliss I tell you! The only highway I could equate this type of driving to is the autobahn. Same laws, same observant people, and just like in Germany, it was a very efficient style of driving. It was the most pleasant highway driving I’ve done in years and it was completely unexpected. There were only two instances where I passed someone on the right, and before you ask, yes they were out of state plates. Otherwise it was a very organized process.

Thus I’d have to think of the PA Turnpike as the American Autobahn. Smooth sailing from one side to the other with no fussing at all. While common courtesy may have been replaced by laws, it works and that’s all that matters.