creek

I guess I should start by saying that I was never a sports car guy, always a motorcycle nut (or donorcycle according to my RN aunt). I bought my first bike at 15 with money I earned mowing a grave yard and returning pop bottles for the 3 cent deposit. It was a 1967 Wards Riverside 125 and was my first true love and stayed with me until I joined the Army. With my new found financial success I bought a brand new Kawasaki KZ400 then a Yamaha XS1100 then Kawasaki Mach 1 triple (back to 2 stroke) which I destroyed road racing in Florida. That bike had everything but a frame. When I recovered I went through several uninspiring mounts over the years until I bought my favorite bike ever. A 2002 Kawasaki ZRX1200R "Eddie Lawson replica" The ultimate Billy Badass hoodlam ride.


Click on pictures for a larger view.

In October of 2007 I had a minor low speed accident that put me out of work for 3 months and I had an epiphany, no more bikes for old fat man.

I layed around recovering and jonesing for a bike ride all winter and decided to see if I could find a methadone instead. I had seen the autocross at Pennington field and always thought it looked cool but it was cars not bikes so no deal. I remembered all the little Barbie car convertibles and thought they might be a reasonable substitute for another crotch rocket. I should have known that the treatment would be as addictive as the disease. I sold the wrecked but straight bike on ebay and was lucky enough to get two drag racers trying to outbid each other. I added the money from the sale of a couple of guns and picked up a '94 Miata on ebay.



Ebay listing picture.

I joined the forum right after I bought the car and the good people here were kind enough to point and laugh and let me know it was an R pack. I called Mazda and they confirmed it. I didn't know there was such a thing as an R package and apparently neither did the seller. It had 103,200 miles on it, a new timing belt and a shot clutch. I paid $3600 and brought it home on a trailer. I needn't have worried though, it is still running strong.

Rogue installed a new clutch and the roll bar, I did the suspension and general cleanup, Gary did the brakes and I am still spending money like it was going out of style (it is you know). How much? You don't want to know, or at least I don't. I kept track for the first $10k or so and got discouraged (of keeping track, not spending).



So far so good.

I did a lot of autocross in 2008, a lot of recovery from surgical financial trauma in 2009 and I hope to get some track days in this year. I still have some suspension issues to work on and I'm sure I will think of something else after that. I'll let you know.

P.S. I took my 74 year old Dad for a short ride last year, he called a couple of weeks later and let me know he had bought a '92.
I then bought a junk '92 to turn in to a track car. So I have three to work on now. I've gotten Dad's together and mine apart, I guess that's progress.

Stripe Das Sape Racing
striped ass ape racing

My grandfather always said his car ran like a striped ass ape.