Just loved Craig's statement.......
so I may as well join in here.......
for a long story.
Hi, My name is John Atchison and I'm a Roadsterholic
I'm 48, live in Idaho Falls, Idaho
and have been on the datsun-roadsters list for several ?? many ?? years,
can't remember. I have even met our revered TEAM.NET list admin/server
guru/Triumph racer,
Mark Bradakis at some Intermountain Vintage and NHA hillclimbs in Utah.
I'm a nuclear engineer out of Penn State.
Work for a small consulting company, Xron Associates
and run around the country doing safety analyses for power plants
and DOE facilities.
Datsun fanatic since my 73 240Z, which I owned for about 10 years.
TSD rallied with it in New England Region SCCA rally events.
All those bangs and bumps became rust later,
so after I moved to Idaho, the 240Z was rebuilt, flared, painted, and sold.
Another local Datsun roadster racer dragged me off to buy a 69 2000
and I have played with roadsters ever since.
Currently have the 69 2000, a 67.5 1600 project car,
two other roadsters for parts.
Have had a bunch of roadster parts cars pass through my hands over the years.
Began auto-x racing the 2000 and slowly built it up and modified it
to move from stock classes to street prepared class.
Was very active in local sports car club and SCCA auto-x.
Organized and ran lots of local and divisional auto-x races in the Datsun 2000.
Back in time before tow rigs.....
I used to load 50 pylons, a couple brooms, timing equipment,
tool box, cooler, folding chairs and whatever else I needed to put on an
autox race
into the Datsun roadster and drive to the event.
Was a member of the SCCA Street Prepared Advisory Group for 5 years,
as street prepared rules developed, I tried to represent the "local" level
racer
interests, as opposed to the "national" level, "cost is no object" racer
view point.
Also was the local SCCA Solo II Safety Steward and later a regional
Safety Steward Instructor. Finally grew tired and frustrated of all the whiners
at SCCA Solo events and walked away from all the nonsense.
Now I'll go auto-x race if my son wants to go race.
Same friend who got me interested in roadsters,
dragged me off to a hillclimb race with Northwest Hillclimb Assoc
and I was invigorated all over again.
I try to race 2 or more hillclimbs a season now.
Organized and started the Teton Hillclimb race
on the access road to the Grand Targhee ski area in Wyoming.
This hillclimb ran for 4 or 5 years until the pavement got too bad.
This year the Teton Hillcimb was revived, after all new pavement
was put down last year. Looks like the event has a future again.
The 2000 spun a rod bearing at a hillclimb a couple years ago
and is undergoing a SLOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW rebuild.
In the meantime, I built a new house, sent the son off to college,
the wife decided to become an x-wife, regained the son who quit college,
changed jobs, regained the x-wife as a significant other,
built a bigger garage, acquired Toyota MR2s to race until I find time
to reassemble the Datsun 2000 again.
Then another friend dragged me off to try race karts........
WOW... what are friends for.......
invigorated all over again..........!!!!!
Became co-owner of a kart race team,
Half Fast Racing, with Yamaha 100kt powered karts.
0-60 about 6.5 seconds, tooooooooooo much fun.
Wheel to wheel racing is REALLY relaxing.
I've raced the kart 3 summers now
and have acquired half interest in a 125 shifter kart
that I am now climbing the learning curve on.
Most race fun I've had for the least amount of money.
Raced as part of a 6 man team in a 12 hour kart enduro
race in Florida, last year. Another adventure....!
To help pay for racing fun,
I started a company this summer, Half Fast Racing,
to distribute and sell the Motive Power line of brake bleeders.
Between me, the S.O., and my son, the current garages
are full of toys, as we all like cars to play with:
Toyota MR2, MR2 parts car, 2 MR2 turbo cars,
Mitsu 3000GT twin turbo AWD, Subaru Impressa 2.5 AWD, 77 280Z,
69 2000, 67.5 1600, couple roadster parts cars,
Toyota Van AWD (the ski car), 4Runner
Throw in a race kart, half dozen bicycles, a recumbent bike,
a quiver full of cross country and telemark skis
and all I need is more hours in the day
to get back to my beloved dual purpose Datsun roadster
so it's race ready and street ready again.
Quite an interesting collection of Datsun fools
on the datsun-roadster list.....................................?
Great cars, great company.
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