For many people, cars are just transport. But for us enthusiasts, they’re an important hobby, nay—a way of life! We spend our money and time on car shows, race tickets, and maintaining our fleets. Amidst all this, we often meet some great people along the way! So I ask, who have you met bet because of cars?
I’ve made a lot of friends over the years, but this was formerly predicated on meeting lots of people in the first place. Post-university, and post-working from home, I stopped meeting a lot of people in my day-to-day life. More and more these days, I’m finding new friends by diving into my passions. Cars are a major part of that.
I’ve made a ton of good friends in the car scene. For me, a lot of that centered around the purchase of my Mazda MX-5. I was 25 and realized I’d never had a project car. Thus, I dropped $3000 for a white shitbox that needed a fuckton of parts. As I hunted for bits and pieces, that Mazda introduced me to a ton of locals in the scene with similar interests.
Years later, the MX-5 is gone, but the friendships remain. I still chat with Andrew and Ross on the regular about Formula 1 and their own track builds. I might not buy parts from Ray anymore, but I’m psyched to be going to his wedding tomorrow! Oh, and I won Rookie of the Year from the MX-5 Club, and I still have the trophy. That’s pretty rad.
Track days also helped me make new connections. I met my pal Tien at a skidpad day because I needed to borrow his air compressor. Years later, we still banter about whacky schemes of questionable legality and our project cars. Meanwhile, at a sprint event, my hunt for a turbo wagon introduced me to Jim, who raced a Volvo 242 GT and collected many more besides.
I’ve found it easy to make friends in certain parts of the car scene. At the track, you’re generally sitting around for hours between sessions in close proximity with a ton of other car fans. You’ve already got similar interests and it’s easy to strike up a conversation just by pointing at a bit of their car, or some broken bit on yours. Sharing tools and hot tips is often a great way to connect, too.
These are the ways that cars introduced me to new people; I’m sure you’ve all got your own stories to share, too. So let me know—what wonderful humans did you meet through the wonderful world of cars?
Image credits: Lewin Day
I have a friend who met his wife when he tried(and failed) to sell her a 1971 Celica.
Some mysterious figure called “Mack Hardigraw” showed up to the track one day.
Torch, DT, Sammy Tan, I’m sure other drivers and riders, SWG, a guy & crew I was friends with at/through the Petit Le Mans for a couple years, a cool-ass 70-something at Costco the other day that told me how the last bike he was riding was a 600-cc crotch rocket but now he’s working on stuffing a Coyote into a… Cobra, IIRC (should have gotten his info!), a proud papa and his son that was just getting into riding in a Home Depot parking lot, a whole cadre of former co-workers that we went to the NCMA Porsche exhibit with and talked cars endlessly (including one I let drive the Z4 after he heartbreakingly sold his S2000 because he couldn’t get it in the new house’s driveway), the squad at the NC Autopian meetup…
I am godfather to twin girls because of cars. I kept meeting their father and we took several road trips together and found we had a lot in common, cars, BSA motorbikes and steam engines among others. He still works as an AA recovery driver.
I met Jay Leno several years ago at the Concours d’Elegance at Meadow Brook Hall. Me and some of my RROC members had our cars on display and Jay was just strolling by, checking them out when I approached him and asked how he was enjoying the show. He said: “Very nice show and the weather has been great!” I asked him about his 1989 Bentley Turbo R and he told he that he “Loved it and it very sturdy and that it had a special place in his heart because, if I recall correctly,It was the first NEW car he ever bought.
Anyway he was a nice guy and yes he was wearing denim from head to toe!
Well, everyone here, of course, though there are still some people I have yet to meet in person. And the awesome members of the Columbia Gorge MG Club, whom I’ll miss when we move east. And lots of folks who I met in other circumstances over the years, but we bonded over cars.
None, but I am doing my first track day in June.
I originally got into cars as a kid as an attempt to get my dad to love me. It didn’t work, but it does give me an excuse to text him sometimes.
Track day track day!! Let us know how it goes. I’ve never done one, I always felt like I could never trust whichever car was running at the time.
Oh gosh, I know that feeling lately. 🙁 I highly recommend getting one into shape and going for it, though.
I’m doing a thing where I take my own car and drive around with an instructor. You’re not allowed to drive on your own until they deem you worthy (which may possibly never happen for me). I’ve never done it either. Excited and terrified!
It’s not until June so I have 2 months to continue to ramp up anxiety over it! Yay!
You’ll have a blast and never want to stop – and then you’ll realize it’s the automotive version of having an addiction and saying “yeah, let’s try another drug!”
Yessssss! I love track days. I desperately need to get back into them.
If motorcycles count, then…a ton of pro racers.
Motorcycle racing the U.S. is largely this amazing throwback to the supposed “good old days” in that it’s still shockingly accessible.
And you’d be amazed at how the riders are often fairly excited to meet you; they’re thrilled someone is into what they’re doing, and cares how they do it. Catch ’em at the right time, they’ll happily answer questions and (I always find this fascinating) not dumb down anything – they’ll talk to you just like they’d talk to a competitor.
I’m definitely putting MotoGP on my calendar this year. My attendance at VIR is criminally poor for how close it is.
I’m really hoping the Liberty media takeover won’t screw anything up.
Where do I even start? My favorite mechanics of all time I met because I bought my 1968 Olds, starting with Ricky Bugg, who I spent a lot of free weekends with at his shop while he built my 425 V8, listening to him tell ridiculous stories that only a southwestern Virginia native would tell… Then when I move to Virginia Beach, Ray Hauser (RIP, miss you!), the crotchety Oldsmobile expert in town who had a heart of gold and a pile of Oldsmobile parts that was unbelievable.
Definitely ended up with a lot of instant friends thanks to cruise-ins and my eclectic car taste. I could show up with my Olds and hang out with the muscle car people or show up in my Triumph and hang out with fans of adorable British cars.
I once had a cop pull up next to my Olds and immediately let me know I wasn’t in trouble, he just wanted to see the car because he always wanted one like it. We ended up becoming friends.
In 2014 I started Reels & Wheels podcast, and in hosting that podcast I’ve gotten to meet and get to know so many interesting people through a mutual love of cars – car people like Doug DeMuro or Mr. Regular, minor celebs like Reggie Bannister, and, most importantly, Autopians – Jason has joined us for two episodes and David for one… and I finally got to meet David in person in LA last year.
Ah! A podcast to try!
My wife. Well, not met per se but an early bonding moment in the transition from acquaintance to more was when she asked to borrow my decrepit Camry to take a carload of friends to the beach for the weekend and lent me her decrepit 911 in return. We both gave each other the briefing of old car “features”, and like recognized like. You know, stuff like “The radio doesn’t have a knob but will change stations if you corner hard enough” or “Don’t open the glove box. Just please don’t” or “There’s an extra can of oil and a bottle of insecticide in the trunk. You’ll know when to use them” or “If you roll the window down and it doesn’t roll back up, try it with the other door open and the dome light on while reciting the summoning incantation.”
Because of motorcycles – absolutely, yes.
Roadtrip with a whole group of motorcyclists that you’ve never met before? Yes.
Abandon said roadtrip due to some of them being assholes and driving unsafely? Also, yes.
Back in college, when I studied Industrial Design, I met a guy named Ed Bigda, and we became friends.
When he developed his masters thesis, I helped work on it.
https://georgia-guardian.tripod.com/scadexo.html
When it was finished, we took it to the Amelia Island Concours show. We were all standing around, and I spotted a familiar face walking by.
I grabbed Ed and said “Is that Brock Yates? I think that’s Brock Yates!” I said “Do you want me to get him and see if he’ll look at the Exo?” Ed replied “Well, YEAH!!”
So I ran up to him and, kinda out of breath asked “Mr. Yates, would you like to come look at a concept car we built in a college class?”
Graciously, he came over and spent 10-15 minutes looking it over and complimenting our work.
Then he walked away.
Ed and I then grabbed each other by the forearms and were jumping up and down while whisper screaming “THAT WAS BROCK YATES!!! BROCK! FREAKING! YATES!!!”
Our professor, Dr Ermoli, who had no idea who he was, looked at us and said in his thick Venezuelan accent “You two are acteeng like leetle gurlz.”
So, yeah, I met Ed Bigda and Brock “The Assassin” Yates because of cars.
Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Benny Parsons, Richard Petty, Emerson Fittipaldi, Arie Luyendyk, Al Unser, Little Al Unser, Rusty Wallace, Jack Baldwin, Juan Fangio II, Harry Gant, Geoff Brabham, Bill Elliott, Jake Signore, (IROC President), Joe Nemechek, (and his Mom), Bobby Hamilton, Dale Jarrett, Dr. Jerry Punch, Joe Gibbs, Bobby Hillin Jr., Neil Bonnett, David Bonnett, Ted Musgrave, Bobby Hamilton, Sterling Marlin, Dave Marcus, Morgan Shepard, and a few more. But am getting typing cramp so that’s enough for now.
Time to rest now, brain is tired.
Oh yeah, and a bunch of cops, but not all at once…
Hahahaha, yes, one cop at a time. Usually if they start grouping up, you’ve got a bigger problem.
I not only got to meet Valentino Balboni in the 90s at a Lamborghini event at Pocono Raceway, but I also got to go on a lap with him around the track in a Diablo and then by pure luck sit next to him at the dinner later. I barely remember what we talked about but I remember him sharing his Italian cigarettes with me as I also smoked back then.
Pretty much everyone in my life that I’m not related to, honestly, cars are a major part of my life from my day job to my most enjoyed hobby, some of the best friends I have were people I met over the years from online forums, and from working in the auto parts world for twelve years. Cars in an indirect way have shaped my whole life, it’s curious to think how different things would have been if it wasn’t for this hobby/profession. What exactly do non-car people do for fun anyway? My brain can’t fathom the possibilities.
It’s a fucking rogues gallery of scum and villainy make no mistake:
Jason Torchinsky
David Tracy
Matt Hardigree
Beau Boeckmann
Alex Goy
Richard Porter
Jack Baruth
It’s like the line up of The Usual Suspects. But somehow worse.
Scum and villainy only? Where’s the degeneracy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw7lUMC-m3Q
https://youtu.be/dRd_vZT6zPY?si=I7w2Jl-cgTV_H1Kv
How have I not known this video has existed? That was amazing.
I was not having a great day. Thanks to this video, it has improved by roughly 35 percent.
Thank you.
If it helps, focus on how much good you’ve done by allowing them to meet you.
I’m a little ray of fucking sunshine me.
I keep noticing your bio shouts out J Mays, to which I’m always like, “NEW BEETLE! AAAAAH IT’S THE NEW BEETLE GUYYYY!”
Oh yeah. He was my tutor for a year at the RCA. Very nice guy.
Lots of people, given that I work in the automotive industry.
But I think my best story is that I actually met Alanis King (great friend of this site of course) once. It’s a bit too long for here and I don’t think she wants it shared publicly but she was just the nicest and most awesomest person.
TEASE!
I have dear friends in England to this day as a result of collecting scooters in Denver in the early 90’s. I had a “Wanted” ad up at “Car Books”, a store devoted to just that. My friend was visiting on house exchange..saw the ad and contacted me.
Any interest that is shared with others will help you meet people.
I met many of the people I am close to because of a shared interest in cars.
A trip to look at a car they wanted to buy was what precipitated a relationship with my partner (who is not a car person) after only knowing each other tangentially before that.
Of course, there is also the dark side of cars introducing you to people.
I stepped away from cars for a long time because I got sick of the type of person who often gravitates to some of the types of vehicles I like.
Even know I do not enjoy my army truck as much as I wish I could because how I look combined with that truck makes A LOT of strangers make some very annoying assumptions about my beliefs,
Well now I’m interested what you look like and what assumptions that generates.
I also get sick of the type of people who like some of the vehicles I like. I’m interested in older diesel pickups, and the older diesel pickup scene is primarily populated by 19 year olds who put 24″ rims on everything and enjoy smoking out the populace.
I am a large, bearded white guy who wears a lot of workwear. When I drive the big CUCV diesel pickup, a weird number of white dudes in tactical gear want to talk to me about EMPs.
Several people have had some interactions go very sideways with me after they make some assumptions about where I fall on the subject of ‘wokeness.’
Yeah I can imagine that happening. To be fair, those were some very founded assumptions.
I have a 2000 LS400 in clean pristine condition that gets a lot of attention from teenage boys. As an older guy, it makes me feel like the father of a teenage daughter because I know what they’d like to do to my precious girl, and I don’t approve. “You’ll never slam this beauty, you dirty little boy!”
I met Jason and David at a car function. Is that good or bad? 🙂
yes
I mean, from being in person (and not counting working in the automotive sector), it’s really only been the people I met in college, as we were all in the specialty OE curriculums. I don’t really talk with them anymore, but they’re great people. Got invited to at least one wedding!
Pretty much ever person I know at this point. My entire wedding party minus my brother was people I met through cars. I actually met my wife indirectly as a result of cars. I started a local Miata group that has grown to ~150 people and I know people all across the country, and even globe, because of Miatas as well.
I doubt she’d admit it but I don’t think my wife would have agreed to that first date without knowing I had my GT500.
Not a financial thing, but a cool car thing. We had both put cars as an interest in our profiles which is part of why we matched in the first place.
I’ve become friends with a successful mechanic because of cars. He had a bunch of old Porsches in the shop being worked on, and a V8-swapped 914 caught my attention and led me into the shop. A conversation started from there and the mechanic offered me a beer. A friendship built up over a 10 year period as a result.
Although I no longer live in the same city, we still keep in contact.