The year was 1973 and I was a young man experiencing the bright lights of the drive-in movie theater for the first time. The atmosphere was electric and neon. People all over our county drove in showing off their cars as we watched the movie American Graffiti. I sat there in my dad’s 1973 ford truck enjoying every moment of that film. Watching Harrison Ford and Ron Howard screech their tires and rev their supped-up hot rods made me instantly hooked into the car world.

Once I turned 16, I got my first car. A 4-speed 1978 silver corvette with a 140-mph read on the dash. Man, this thing was fast! I remember looking down at my gauges and seeing speeds well over 100 MPH. This car made me feel invincible, but little did I know my love and need for speed would soon come to end.