Looking Out From the Garage

And I need some help...  Actually, I need LOTS of help. 

I have entered the Carolina Real Estate Blog Brawl.  It is being sponsored by my friends in Raliegh that sponsor rebarcamp - Raleigh.  I was able to go up for their camp last year, which was a great event.  And this year they bumped up the ante a bit with their Blog Brawl. 

So... what I need from you...  Votes.  I just need your votes.  It will only take a moment.  Jump on over to the Carolina RE Blog Brawl post and check off the boxes next to my name.  I am in Section 4, Group 1.  The voting for this round closes on Saturday, August 14th at 5:00pm. 

There are a lot of fine folks in the brawl.  Take a moment to check out some of the great posts...  If I make it past this round, it will be really tough.  I have a lot of friends in the contest...  

I'm curious what types of posts they will be looking for in future rounds... 

By the way, the blog I am competing with is built on WordPress, currently running 3.0.  The theme is from RocketTheme.  It is kind of tweaked... and likely getting ready to change...  It's just that time of the year. 

Here is the link again... just in case you missed it. 

Also, the two posts we are being judged on this week are hyper-local  and humorish.

I wrote a post a couple of years ago this week about my son and his ice skating lessons.  He was having issues bending his knees... which had been brought about partially by the type of skates he started with.  When he changed from rental figure skates to hockey skates, he was keeping the old (bad) habit he had relied upon.

Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

It wasn't working out for him.  He had to unlearn the bad habits and learn a new way to skate.  Eric Bolton of the Atlanta Thrashers gave him some tips each week, and loads of encouragement.  He also had lessons from a couple of the coaches at the Duluth Ice Forum, including Coach Krystal... one of his favorites.  He also really enjoyed skating with Coach Jenny.

Now, two years later, he has been playing hockey since July, 2008.  He even bends his knees.  He loves skating, and really likes playing hockey.  His movements aren't perfect (he is still not 6 years old...) but his skating habits are good and he gets better with time on the ice.

The original article ties the story back to real estate agents and marketing...  It is an interesting read.

from LaneBailey.com

Partially inspired by a comment from my friend Jason Crouch on another post, I thought I would talk about a little of my "car upbringing". 

Jason commented: "Lane - I've never been a car guy, mainly because I never had anyone to teach me about cars when I was growing up. Wanna be my dad?"

My dad wwasn't a car guy... I actually pushed him in the right direction though, and we restored a couple of Thunderbirds together (a '62 and a '66), but he didn't start out that way.  It took me until college to get him that far. 

But growing up, I had a few mentors that really fostered my love and enjoyment of cars. 

The first was Jack A. Jones.  He was a deacon at my church, and a retired welder... and a serious car guy.  Jack did all of the fleet maintenance for the church and the daycare my mother managed.  But he also did a lot of my 'pre-driving' maintenance.  I used to break the frame of my bike pretty regularly.  After a while, Jack had welded up all of my breaks and my bike was solid as a rock. 

When I got my first car ('73 Mustang), Jack helped me rebuild the carb and go through the brake system to make sure it was safe.  When it wouldn't start, Jack came over to help me troubleshoot.  He seldom did the work for me, but instead, he told me how and (more importantly) WHY the car's systems worked the way they did. 

And then I started getting the bug to modify it...  Jack was a stock kind of guy, so he hooked me up with his son, Jack L. Jones.  To all that knew (and still know) him, he was Vonn.  Jack was just about old enough to be my father... he had a kid about my age... but we related very well.  And his garages was a 1 car candy store.  He had engines and speed parts and magazines.  And like his father, he was always willing to help, and explained the hows and whys of hot rodding. 

He launched me into the world of invisible high performance Fords and Mercurys... like Shelbys, Marauders, Lightweight Galaxies and Thunderbolts.  He explained powertrains and how everything was connected. 

Vonn also had a pretty substantial rolodex.  He had a lot of 'car guy' friends, and was willing to set me up with whomever I needed.  Engine builders, racers, suspension designers...  He had gone to high school with them or dated their sisters when he was younger.  He was also a welder, and through his industrial contacts, he had more access to people that I ever would have thought possible. 

I have been truly blessed to have been befriended by Jack and Vonn.  They were able to channel my energies and likely kept me out of a lot of trouble. 

Maybe we should all be a little like the Jones guys...

Getting youngsters involved in the car hobby is a great way to keep them so broke they can't afford out of trouble.

While doing a little bit of research for my Video Sunday post on LaneBailey.com, I ran across this video...  I have to say...   it brought a tear to my eye. 

A lot of my friends on Active Rain know that my 5 year old plays ice hockey.  He loves it.  He isn't particularly good, but he's 5...  And there is such joy on his face while he is out on the ice playing.  And as I watch the Winter Olympics, I often think about the parents... and the sacrifices THEY made in order for their kids to become these incredible athletes. 

In order for Garrett to play ice hockey, in addition to the money (racing is more expensive...) there is the time.  The nearest rink to us is 30 minutes away.  It isn't such a big deal right now, but if he were playing league hockey, he would have two practices and one or two games each week. 

But what about the families of these Olympians?  Many of them practice EVERY DAY.  And many of tham have practiced every single day since they were kids.  The parents vacation time involved going to tournaments.  Their leisure weekends involved more tournaments and practices.  They became experts in equipment and managing travel.  Their kids had to learn time management in order to participate in school, but the parents had to enforce it and keep everything on track... 

Coach, Manager, Psychologist, Motivator...  Mom, Dad... And I bet that there are no prouder people in the world than the ones that look on... win or lose... while their kids "play."  And I can  only imagine the disappointment if their child falls or wrecks out of competition... 

Here's to the Moms & Dads of all of the Olympians. 

To Their Moms, They'll Always Be Kids (P&G Commercial)

In 1992, Geoff Bodine was a stock car racing good ol' boy (albeit, one from New York).  He was knee deep in being one of the best NASCAR drivers of all time.  In fact, he hold a Guiness Record for the most wins by a racer in one season... 55 Modified wins.

But something else happened in 1992...  Bodine was watching the Winter Olympics and saw something he didn't like.  The American Bobsledding teams were struggling.  Their equipment was all imported from Europe and they were having a hard time with it.

In bobsledding, the technology is VERY important.  suspension, aerodynamics, even material durability and fabrication all play vital parts.  And the international elite teams aren't sharing their best technology... it is a competitive advantage.

Bodine thought there was a place for American technology for American teams... and as a racer, he thought he might know some people that could help.  The first call went to Bob Cuneo of Chassis Dynamics.  They formed Bo-Dyn...

NASCAR is known around the world as the motorsport where drivers only turn left... but the Bo-Dyn has proven that they can make sleds that turn left AND right... VERY well.

The rumor is that next year, production will be moving to Concord, NC.  Once there, they hope to pull in more support from other NASCAR competitors.

But there is something else that is interesting about the Bo-Dyn story.  They GIVE these sleds away.  And they are THE sleds to have.  A Russian team came knocking, holding $100,000 to get one of the American state of the art sleds... they left without a sled.  But for the American teams, they are free. 

That is the other thing that Bodine was able to leverage for USA Bobsledding... sponsorship.  American companies providing technical and financial support for American competitors. 

The result is the "Night Train" with which American teams are competing at this years Winter Olympics.

Related articles by Zemanta

• With a Bobsledding Medal, The USA Has NASCAR to Thank (bleacherreport.com)
• How Car Racing Can Help You Win The Olympics [Winter Olympics] (jalopnik.com)
• Geoff Bodine's still pushing bobsled (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

About 10 years ago, on one of my trips to Michigan, I drove my Jeep up with the top and doors off... Memorial Weekend was certainly not cold... but between the rain and the temps in the low 50s, it wasn't warm, either. 

My Aunt was always a bit on the worrying side...  When I decided to hit the local "Cruise" one evening, she was sure that I was taking my life in my own hands.  After all, car people were a bunch of ruffians, right?  I didn't agree... and since I was well into my adulthood, I went anyway. 

The "ruffians" were grandfathers (some grandmothers, too), Dow Chemical executives (some even knew my grandfather, a Dow Alumnus), farmers, families... kids, dogs and other assorted "dangerous people."  I made a few friends... there were even a few people that had seen articles I had done for a couple of 4WD magazines. 

The danger was in ticking off my grandmother by coming home at 1am after chatting with cool, friendly people in a parking lot... 

We were all "car people"... 

A couple of years ago, a young Amry Reservist had his Jeep vandalized by anti-war "activists".  The trashed the rig, including spray painting "Soldiers are Murdurers" on the hood. 

4Wheelers are generally a pretty patriotic bunch.  There are lots of cops, fire-fighters and military folks in the ranks.  What happened to Viktor Whitlow just wasn't something that was going to be unanswered...  And Dan Dubose of Blue Torch Fab was one of the first to answer.  He volunteered his shop, and started lining up vendors to make theep better than it had been before.  He wasn't looking for a bunch of publicity from it... but soon, other vendors started hearing about the project and they were calling Dan to be in on it. 

FabStock 2008 was born.  Volunteers from all over the country gathered at BTF for a weekend of hardcore wrenching. 

They were all "Jeep people"...

This evening I ran across this video on Cars & Coffee.  Tyler Shipman had an incurable form of cancer... and at just 18 years old.  But he had an unfinished piece of business... a 1986 Pontiac Fiero.  But when the call went out that Tyler wanted to see his Fiero done before he died, it was answered by Fiero enthusiasts from all over the country.  The guy that put it together, did it from Iraq... 

In 24 hours, they built a Fiero...  Tyler got to drive it... 

Tyler passed away last night, but his Fiero will live on with his younger brother.

Ok, it's hard to call them Buschwackers now, since NASCAR has had Nationwide Insurance as a sponsor for its penultimate national series... but it used to be sponsored by Busch Beer.  And the term for Cup drivers (Winston Cup, Nextel Cup and now Sprint Cup) that that were moonlighting from the top series became Buschwackers... 

As I write this, during the Nationwide Series season opener at Daytona, the front 11 drivers are Sprint Cup regulars... and the next 3 drivers aren't strangers to Sprint Cup.  In effect, they are the class of the field... 

It would kind of be like having Major League Baseball players warm up by playing on AAA farm teams. 

I know WHY drivers do it.  There are some great reasons for drivers to seek the extra seat time.  Seat time is VERY valuable.  There is no better way to be a better racer than to spend time racing.  And honestly, these guys LOVE their sport.  Most professional drivers spend their own money to do it more.  As a former (and perhaps future) racer... on a completely different level (spelled l-o-w-b-u-c-k) I can say that it is the one of the coolest things I've ever done. 

I know WHY teams do it.  Teams can get great information about the track dynamics and car dynamics by spending more time racing.  Even though there are significant differences between Sprint Cup cars and Nationwide cars, there are a lot of similarities.  And the teams that run both series have data that allows them to translate what they learn from one car to another type of car. 

So... what is the problem?

The problem is that Sprint Cup racing is the top level of the most competitive series in the US.  And the Nationwide series is designed to groom drivers for Sprint Cup...  While Nationwide racers are FAR from rookies, I still don't see it as a great way to showcase newer drivers.  I've seen it in the stands... the fans aren't cheering for the "up and coming"... they are cheering for the same guy they will cheer for during the Sprint Cup race. 

I know WHY NASCAR hasn't put a stop to it though...  Money.  Established drivers bring in big sponsors.  Big sponsors raise the profile of the events.  More fans and more TV time flow in with the big name drivers. 

The NASCAR Camping World Truck series doesn't have the same participation from Sprint Cup drivers.  The data doesn't translate as well...  And that might explain why the trucks don't get the TV time and why the stands are not nearly as full as they are for the Nationwide races or the Sprint Cup races. 

Solution?

Switch the Nationwide series cars to fuel injection...  Or switch the Spring Cup cars to fuel injection...  This would kill a lot of the data that teams get in one series being applicable in the other.  The bodies of the Sprint Cup cars and the Nationwide series cars are currently almost identical.  What would be cool would be to change the Nationwide cars to the pony group...  This would KILL data aquisition as a reason for teams to field both levels...  And think of how much fun the fans would have with a Dodge Challenger v Chevy Camaro v Ford Mustang matchup on the track every week... 

I think that the change to "Muscle Cars" would be enough to pull in some fans.  Adding to the technology would bring in other fans.  It would add to the cost considerably for the Sprint Cup teams that field both types of cars, but it wouldn't add that much to the dedicated Nationwide series teams.  While they might not be able to piggy-back off of the Sprint Cup technology, I think in the great scheme of things it would be an obstacle they could overcome. 

All this just to try to keep the top level drivers from stepping down to the lower levels to beat up on the less experienced drivers...

Eddie Alterman at Car & Driver Magazine is the one that inspired the title...  In one of his columns he refered to the new Lexus LF-A as the WTF.  And I think there is good reason. 

This car has been in development with Toyota for 10 years.  The problem is that in the 10 years it has been in development, the targets have all moved.  A LOT.  Let's look at some specs...

• Nürburgring Nordschleife Lap in 7:24 (Toyota claimed)
  
• Top Speed is 202mph
• Curb Weight is 3263 pounds and power to weight is 5.9lb/hp
• 0-60 is 3.6 seconds
• Sticker Price will be between $350,000 and $375,000

Those seem to be impressive numbers, except for one thing... that price is out of line with the rest of the performance. There is also the matter of the styling, which has been compared to the Nissan GT-R... or a Supra that spent too much time in the plastic wing aisle at Pep Boys.  It isn't that it is terribly ugly, but it just isn't unique. 

Since we brought up the Nissan GT-R (I have trouble not refering to it as the skyline):

• Nissan claims a Nürburgring Nordschleife Lap of 7:26.7 (video confirmed)
  
• Top Speed is 193 (Nissan, but Motor Trend said 195)
• Curb Weight is about 3800lbs and power to weight is 7.9lb/hp
• 0-60 is 3.5 seconds (after March 2009)
• Sticker Price is between $80,000 and $90,000

Wow.  A slight performance increase and a MASSIVE price increase. 

Now, let's toss a third into the mix...  Let's try a car more tuned for performance and a little less towards touring.  The Corvette ZR-1:

• GM did a video confirmed Nürburgring Nordschleife Lap of 7:26.4
• Top Speed is 210mph
• Curb Weight is about 3352lbs and power to weight is 5.3lb/hp
• 0-60 is 3.3 seconds
• Sticker price is under $114,000

Now we have race... 

But the big question for me is why did it take 10 years to develop this car?  It would be one thing if is was amazing, but the only amazing thing about the car is the price.  The lap time at The 'Ring is respectable, certainly.  But it is barely beating cars that cost a fraction as much. 

Some industry insiders say that part of the reason is that Toyota hasn't ever really tried to break ground.  They take the ideas of others and tweak them...  Even with the LF-A, the car that is to be their image car, it looks like another makers design. 

I don't have a beef with Toyota.  they are the number 1 carmaker in the world, they obviously can do some things right (current acceleration issues notwithstanding).  But without a personality and a soul, why would someone spend $350,000 for a car that underperforms its peers while costing SEVERAL times as much.

GarageGuys don't always do things the way everyone else does...  We're a little twisted compared to the average... ok, compared to average. 

So, as I am getting myself in the mood for the season, with family coming in town next week, I thought it might be nice to share a little Christmas Music with my friends.  And of course I can't kick in the same music everyone else listens to...  How many times can you hear Deck the Halls before wanting to find someone named Hall to deck?  (the answer is 7...)

Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses - Lightorama 16 channels

Brian Setzer - Run Rudolph Run

Stray Cat Strut/You're A Mean, One Mr. Grinch - Live!

Twisted Metal 3 Soundtrack - Rob Zombie Christmas Theme

Sure, you could listen to "normal" Christmas Carols, but what fun would that be?  Imagine waking the kids up on Christmas morning with a little Rob Zombie Christmas mix.  Think that would shock a little cheer into them? 

Yes, my children have a good sense of humor.  And my wife is a Saint... 

;^ )

Merry Christmas

For many years about this time I have a conversation with my mother... and it revolves around "Coming Home for Christmas".  Up until the passing of my grandmother a few years ago, "Coming Home for Christmas" meant going up to Midland, MI... where I never lived.  After that, my mom would talk about me going up to her home in Hampton, VA.  I loved my grandmother, and enjoyed spending Christmas there... but it wasn't my home...  And since I turned 18 and moved to Minneapolis, MN (and later here to Atlanta, GA), my mother's house hasn't been MY home, either... 

Home for me is in Georgia.  I didn't leave home in a huff...  My mother and I get along quite well and talk on the phone once or twice a week.  We visit each other a couple times each year... in fact, I was able to spend a little time with her after Thanksgiving during a "road trip" with a friend up to the Washington, DC area.  I didn't leave home because I didn't like being there...  I left because it was time for me to make MY way in the world. 

That was more than 25 years ago...  And in that 25+ years, I have lived in Minnesota and here in Georgia.  I have a lovely wife and two beautiful little boys.  I have a house in Gwinnett County, and have built my life right here for most of the last 20 years. 

Home is more than a house...  Home is a community.  Home is family, even when the "family" is a group of friends.  Home is many things to many people.  Home is a place of love.  Home isn't just a building where you keep your stuff... that is a house. 

Obviously, I am a real estate agent.  I sell houses... so people will have a place to keep their stuff.  Sometimes it can even be an investment.  Most often, in addition to buying houses, people are buying homes.  Their kids may run through the doors after getting off the school bus... wanting a snack.  It could be the place they will open presents with their grandkids.  Perhaps one day in the past of the futre it was the scene of someone proposing to their soulmate.  Or maybe where they dropped their bags after the honeymoon. 

This year, my mother is coming home for the Holidays... to my home.  It isn't the first time, and I hope it won't be the last.  Along with my step-father, she'll be able to enjoy time with her grandkids... and her grand-dog.  Later, we'll all go over to my in-laws and enjoy family time there.  My mother and step-father have begun to think of this as "coming home"...  So much so that they are thinking of moving here to Gwinnett County.  Aside from family, they have friends here... roots, so to speak.

It is probably too late to buy a house for the holidays this year...

But there are a LOT of holidays next year.  And maybe next year you can be the one to ask if your family wants to "come home for the holidays".