226 - So Many Stories... (Carson Christel)
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Car
Chevy Cavalier
The Chevy Cavalier is a small car made by Chevrolet. It was popular because it was cheap to buy and maintain, making it a good option for many drivers.
Car
Infiniti G35
The Infiniti G35 is a type of car that combines luxury and sportiness. It's known for being fun to drive and has a strong engine, which makes it appealing to many drivers.
Car
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small sports car that is very fun to drive. It's known for being light and easy to handle, making it a favorite for people who enjoy driving on race tracks.
Part
motor mount
A motor mount is a part that holds the engine in place in a car. If it breaks, the engine can move around too much, which can cause problems while driving.
Part
oil pan
The oil pan is a container at the bottom of the engine that holds oil. This oil helps keep the engine running smoothly and cool.
Car
Volkswagen GTI
The Volkswagen GTI is a fun and sporty car that is also practical for daily use. The Mk4 version is one of the older models that many car fans appreciate for its performance.
Car
Chevrolet Spin
The Chevrolet Spin is a family-friendly car that has a lot of room inside for people and their stuff. It's a good choice for those who need extra space for everyday activities.
Car
Honda Accord
The 1994 Honda Accord LX is a reliable and comfortable car that's good for everyday driving. It's known for being practical and has plenty of room inside.
Concept
Mk5
'Mk5' is a way to say it's the fifth version of the Volkswagen Golf car. Each version usually has improvements in how it drives and looks.
Term
VW Vortex
VW Vortex is a website where people who love Volkswagen cars can talk to each other, share tips, and learn more about their cars.
Car
Audi Tt
The Audi TT RS is a sporty car made by Audi that is designed for high performance. It's known for being fast and fun to drive.
Car
Volkswagen Tiguan
The Volkswagen Tiguan is a small SUV made by Volkswagen. It's designed to be practical and comfortable for families.
Car
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car that many people use for everyday driving. It's popular because it's easy to handle, has a lot of space inside, and can be fun to drive.
Car
Audi TTS
The Audi TTS is a stylish sports car that is fun to drive and has a lot of cool features. It's a more powerful version of the regular Audi TT, making it even more exciting.
Term
bolt pattern
The bolt pattern is how the holes for the bolts are arranged on a wheel. It needs to match the car for the wheel to fit properly.
Term
turbochargers
A turbocharger is a part that helps an engine get more power by pushing in extra air. This lets the engine burn more fuel and go faster without needing a bigger engine.
Car
Jeep CJ-5
The Jeep CJ-5 is an older model of Jeep that is great for off-roading. It has a simple design and is known for being tough and reliable.
Car
Jeep Wrangler
The Jeep Wrangler is a tough car made for driving on rough roads and trails. People love it because you can take the roof off and enjoy the outdoors while driving.
Part
six by nine speakers
Six by nine speakers are a type of car speaker that is 6 inches wide and 9 inches tall. They are often used to improve the sound quality in cars, especially in the back seats.
Part
four inch speakers
Four inch speakers are small speakers that are often placed in the front of the car, like in the dashboard. They help produce sound but usually don't have as much bass as larger speakers.
Car
Dodge Shadow
The Dodge Shadow is a small car that Dodge made in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was popular for its sporty look and was available with different engines.
Car
Chrysler PT Cruiser
The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a small car that looks a bit different from most cars. Some people liked it for its unique style, even if it wasn't the fastest car.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster and stronger the car can be.
Car
Chevrolet Beretta
The Chevrolet Beretta is a sporty two-door car that was popular in the late 80s and 90s. It was designed to look cool and attract younger drivers.
Car
Civic
The Honda Civic is a small car that many people like because it is reliable and saves on gas. It's been around for a long time and is known for being a good value.
Car
Mitsubishi Mirage
The Mitsubishi Mirage is a small, affordable car that is known for being easy on gas. It's one of the cheapest new cars you can buy.
Term
hood latches
Hood latches are the parts that keep the car's hood closed while you're driving. If they're not secured properly, the hood can pop open, which is very unsafe.
Car
Pontiac Firebird
The Pontiac Firebird is an old sports car that many people loved for its speed and cool looks. It's a classic that reminds people of a fun time in car history.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a sporty car that looks cool and goes really fast. Many people remember it from the past as a fun car to drive.
Car
Mitsubishi Lancer
The Mitsubishi Lancer is a small car that some people liked for its sporty versions. It's known for being fun to drive, especially if you like racing.
Car
BMW 328
The BMW 328 is a nice car that people like because it drives really well and feels luxurious inside. It's part of a family of cars that are known for being fun to drive.
Car
BMW 330S
The BMW 3 Series is a popular car that many people like for its smooth driving and comfortable interior. It's seen as a good choice for those who want a mix of fun and luxury.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a special version of the 911 sports car designed for racing and high performance. It has a powerful engine and features that help it handle well on the track.
Car
Porsche Cayman
The Porsche Cayman is a fancy sports car that is really fun to drive. It has a great design and is known for being quick and responsive on the road.
Term
consumable
A consumable is something in a car that gets used up and needs to be replaced regularly, like tires or brake pads.
Part
CV joint
A CV joint is a part of the car's drivetrain that helps transfer power from the engine to the wheels while allowing the wheels to move up and down. If it breaks, it can cause problems with how the car drives.
Term
limited-slip differential
A limited-slip differential is a car part that helps the wheels turn at different speeds while still sending power to both wheels. This is important for better traction, especially when turning or driving on slippery surfaces.
Car
Volkswagen TCR
The Volkswagen TCR is a special racing version of the Golf car. It's built to go fast on racetracks and has special features that make it better for racing than regular Golf cars.
LIVE
Oh
Hi, I'm Scott and I'm Seth
And I'm Carson and we are track walking
Tonight
He's been on my list to have on the podcast for probably three years. No joke and
One of my longtime
grid life buddies
Gives good hugs
Just to all around good guy
Does make me blush
Well, I'm I was trying to say I was gonna say used to drive VW's. I mean you still do
But you used to drive on track
Yes, I was one of those mad lads. Yeah
Tonight we have Carson crystal on the podcast. How are you Carson?
I'm good. Thanks for having me guys. This is awesome. Yeah
So I guess I want to start when
You and I first and I don't actually remember like our first actual meeting I
remember
starting to get
tighter because
your then wife was
kind of wanting to do beginner stuff and
You and I were talking about how the car was trying to kill her
The G yeah, G35 the G35 the Volkswagen never killed anybody. No
Yeah, so there's a sedan
G35 automatic transmission and it like to downshift in new and creative ways
It like to shift in every way you didn't want it to
What do you remember like our first meeting because I genuinely it had to have been on grid at some point I
Mean it actually it was probably in tech
If anything because back then I was running tech for grid life. Yeah
Yeah, how do I been up and I just saw I'm I'm assuming and I'm surmising here
But I'm sure I said well, who's this devilishly handsome man coming up in this awesome little Miata
It got there little aren't they?
But yeah, then I remember
I
tracked a picnic at
Blackhawk, I think that's I think that's when we we really kind of
Vibed in clothes. Hey, we're friends. Yeah, okay, we're gonna do the thing now
You have a car and I have a car and we should be best friends
Everything's great. Oh was that all that was when the I
Don't remember if that was the same weekend or like the year after but that's when my exhaust made a fold
separated
melted everything
And Carson had I remember
Looking over at you guys and you had it up on Jack stands
Just trying to figure out how to drive it home because you guys were nuts
You drove that thing everywhere. I have so much respect for you for that
Seth Carson is the one
who
We were trying to figure it out because the motor mount had melted and the oil pan was sitting on the steering rack and
Carson had a spare rubber
Spring seat
That we cut in two places to put on top of the rack
So that it would like center itself and not like just want to squish out all the time
Mm-hmm. That is how we drove home
What
What makes a man bring in spare rubber spring seat to the track?
Well, I mean it all go back to the beginning of this conversation and Scott had mentioned
I'm I used to drive a Volkswagen on the racetrack. So you need to bring
literally
Everything to make sure that when it breaks, you're good to go
Yeah, Volkswagen guys are the most thoroughly prepared guys at the track is what you're saying. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I
Was probably one of the few
Very prepared but that's you know, I read my own race shop building Volkswagen's and Audis
So now I just I kind of had seen every failure there was under the Sun and back then when I was
Scraping together just to get my car to the track. I the last thing I want it was to lose track time. So I just literally brought everything
Okay, I want to know if it's a regional thing or if it's like how it's actually pronounced
But I've heard people say Audi versus Audi
Like is there a correct way
Do we know this is Audi Audi, okay
It's probably partway between because it's a German thing. So it's that subtle pronunciation that you can't even hear
Yeah, that's about it. And of course now I'm gonna get crucified for you know saying it wrong to somebody
No, because like I'm remembering the Fortners back then we're driving in the UD and
Set that whole thing
The the Scottish like accent all of a sudden like the
Felt like what that was
So how did you start making poor track decisions?
Like because you've the the car I know you for it's kind of it's a panda. It's a like a black-and-white
GTI or police car
Bluesmobile
That's got kind of all the bells and whistles and stuff like that
How how did you find your way to that?
I've
Back in high school one of my buddies bought a mark for GTI and he took me out for a spin bone stock
But you know at the time I think I had a 94 Honda Accord LX wagon still the goaded
But I went for a ride in that GTI and it just I don't know there was something about it
It bit me and then from that point on I was just obsessed with Volkswagen's so I ended up buying
my 06 GTI in 2008 and it was freaking off to the races man was
Mark 5.com the old forums and BW Vortex and just talking to people and it's like oh, you know what that
Think I want to kind of take this to the racetrack and it was
I
Remember by Volkswagen magazines then yeah, yeah
Yeah, I remember it was one hell of a community
Vortex was it wasn't quite nasiak like it wasn't quite nasiak for the VW
But it wasn't totally dissimilar like sifting through information in that age was difficult
Well, I don't know it just the bug bit me and I decided to start developing the chassis
I was already a career heavy diesel mechanic. So I knew how to turn a wrench and I
Just I wanted to see how far I could take the chassis and I ended up
I guess I was one of the first people to really truly go ham on that platform and that chassis and I just
Started throwing that everything including the kitchen sink at it and was doing things that no one else was doing swapping
You know Audi TT RS steering rack and front-end and spindles and Volkswagen Tiguan rear spindles on it
Just to get an extra 40 millimeters 20 mil per side
So
Or VW is kind of like Legos like Honda's oh, yeah
Well that generation was you know, I it it still is to a degree
But but back then, you know the the Tiguan's and Audis and then
TT's and golf ours and golf's they all the parts were almost
Completely interchangeable. It was pretty wild, but I didn't know that and no one else knew that I kind of found it out as I was going I
Do remember again as this was back in the the nonsense
Form days, but I do remember like it becoming a thing where you could buy
Bugatti wheels and put them on your VW because it was the same bolt pattern
It's five by one twelve. Yeah
And of course people would for like two or three grand per wheel
Just to say that they did it. There was a lot of reps. There was a lot of reps out there
What um and during that time that's like you just you knew
Tracking to be something that like you could do
I
Mean I I didn't I knew that I wanted to do it
I didn't come from a racing background or family at the closest thing to racing
I'd ever experienced was my mom used to take me to the demolition derby when I was a real little kid
Oh, yeah, and I was just fascinated and then you know, I remember being ten years old
Cheering on rusty Wallace and NASCAR and my mom and my dad looking at me like where the hell did this come from?
What what was it when you were like, I mean demolition I totally get as a kid like yes, that will be entertaining as hell
Watching watching NASCAR go around a circle. Sorry an oval or a tri oval. That's a different thing
What what was it about watching that on TV that was like exciting?
Nothing tangible nothing that I can put my finger on say that right there was the reason I got into this
It's just I don't know it it spoke to me like nothing else up until that point in my life had and
The bug never went away. I just I became obsessed with it. I'm
still doing it
Almost 20 years later. Yeah, so from from a love of watching cars go and try ovals
Is that what led you down a path of being a diesel mechanic? What's the connection there? Oh?
God, no that was completely unrelated
That was kind of you know, I dropped out of college. I tried going to COD
I went I was at Eastern, Illinois for a while and
I came back and I was just kind of trying to find my way and and family friends said hey, you know
I a buddy of mine owns a heavy diesel shop and
They're looking for a mechanic
We know that you you know build dirt bikes and mini bikes and go karts and you fix small engines and stuff
And you should go give this a shot and they
they
They gave me a chance and I took to it like a
I don't know
Something that takes to something really well magnets
Magnet
What so you mentioned dirt bikes? So we got to talk about dirt bikes because you're like anybody who had dirt bikes as a kid
Getting into cars makes sense
So what's oh for sure? What's dirt bikes go karts?
What what happened in your youth that corrupted you because it's more than watching rusty walls or on circles dirt bikes and go
Karts are huge corrupting influence. Oh, yeah
That was my stepdad and I
We were out just kind of you know driving around the neighborhood one day and there was I don't know if you've ever heard of a rupt
Yeah, but it's like oh, you know. Oh sweet. Okay, so there was a rupt chassis sitting on the side of the road
and that was probably I don't know eight years old and
He was like, oh, hey, that would be a really cool fun project for us
And I had no idea what he was talking about
I just saw this cool like old full suspension drum brake little mini bike looking thing
And he grabbed it and he brought it home through in the back of the truck
We brought it home and then a couple days later a neighbor was throwing out a snowblower
And so we're there's a motor we took a motor and he started teaching me how to do that and man
I used to just smash that thing around the frickin neighborhood. I went through so many centrifugal clutches
Yep
Did you guys so probably that yeah, did you guys live out in the country or like in a neighborhood?
Oh god, no god. No, we were like suburban Chicago. There's
It is definitely not the country a lot of angry looks from neighbors down the street
I bet so you just like right around the streets with these
Yeah, right around the streets in the backyard, you know the the neighbors to the left and right of my my mom's house where I grew up
They were really really cool
And they they didn't care and there's access between all three yards. So we they used to make little mini bike
Courses and tracks in the backyard between all three neighbors
But then when I outgrew that it it's naturally kind of snuck out onto the street. I was like, how fast could I go?
as one does
As one does and did you like at the time? Did you enjoy riding or working on them more?
both both
Both it was 5050. I fell in love with both aspects
It's just you know turning a wrench and and taking something that has zero value and all of a sudden
It's the most fun. You've ever had in your entire life was a very profound experience for me and it definitely
Kind of shaped the way my life went
That's interesting. So the experience of like
Had you bought it like maybe not even new but like really nice. It wouldn't have been the same experience
No, not at all. Well, I wouldn't have gotten
You know, I that was always into Legos and stuff. So I like building I like figuring stuff out puzzle solving
I hate puzzles, but I like puzzle solving
and so like that that was a
That that was a defining moment that I was able to create something myself
I was able to build something with guidance from my stepdad. I didn't know what I was doing. Yeah
That's cool
Where'd that what happened to that much like?
We sold it
Probably two three years later
And I ended up getting like another was like a YZ
90
Or something is just a little dirt bike and that's that's about as far as I ever got with the dirt bikes
Yeah, just a little dirt bike right Seth
YZ 90 is a little dirt bike. Yes
No, it's it's a perfect dirt bike for an 11-year-old
That world of two strokes and two strokes in my experience once you get used to a two stroke coming on the pipe
The next illness is turbochargers
Yeah, I don't think you're wrong
It always blew my mind like I I don't think I I'd never knew this because I
Wasn't like raised or really interested in bikes for most of my life until like of course like cruising around
Orlando at nighttime like a hooligan with your buddies like I happened upon some turbocharged
Crotch rockets, of course, but like the notion that you could put it on a turbo on a bike
Seemed dumb to me like I'm like, why would they do that? They've got plenty of power
It doesn't seem dumb it is dumb, but we do a lot of dumb things
It's it's just it's a lot of power for not having anything around you, it's all I'm saying
And
It's interesting though because that's where my motorcycles to wheel other than BMX and mountain bike
you know, that's where
That's where the motorcycles ended and very shortly after that. I bought my first truck my first car
Which is an old CJ five
cheap Wrangler and
With like the tube frame seats with canvas stretched across them
It's not even like actual seats and the thing and I just I never went back to bikes
Is it once I had a car once I knew what that was like? It was it was over. It was I just went way down that rabbit hole
hmm
So how did you turn into a car guy and not a Jeep guy?
Well
The the Jeep got totaled not by me
And then I my stepdad replaced it with a
1987 Chevy Cavalier that was rust-free
And it already had weight savings in the form of rust
Yeah
So I didn't really get a whole lot of time with the Jeep and I knew I liked going fast more than I liked going over things
And the Cavalier helped show you that did it
It was faster than the Jeep oh
My god, there's such pieces of crap
Oh
It was terrible
I hated and loved that car at the same time
I put upgraded the six by nine speakers in the rear deck and was just thought it was the greatest thing ever
Yeah, as as you do six by nines were like
the best
It was amazing
I couldn't believe the sound that came out of that left the front speakers completely alone because they were like a little
Four inch in the dash
Yep
bouncing off the windshield but those six by nines in the back man
They found it. Yeah, and you could get the the four ways if you're really wild and crazy
I went three way. Yeah, you know, but that was 16 17 years old. So I had budget mine
I think my really lame car that I kind of adored and I I don't think about anymore
But when it comes up, I I'm like, yeah, that was kind of fun was a Dodge shadow
V6 five-speed. Oh
Really, it's not the Peter cruiser. Yeah, this was before the PT cruiser, right?
But this this car it was such a hunk of crap
It was a two-door and it had somebody had to like wired in
Like speakers in their own boxes and just like put them on the parcel shelf in the back
Yeah, so you could like
Boxes you could get yeah
and
It there may be a hundred and forty horsepower, maybe
But it was a five-speed and I set some some records going to and from college in that car
And I also got more power than the Cavalier
It was like this bright turquoise with purple accents. Oh, that was the one. Yeah, it was bad about that car
We all know it was crap
Had some good time so it was either the shadow or the Beretta at that time. Yeah, like it's so cool
You know what though? It proves a good point though. You don't need something crazy to
Really get into this. I mean look at Scott and I had I had an 87 Chevy Cavalier. There was a piece of crap
He had this freaking piece of crap Dodge, which is you could put any model name in there and it's covered. Yeah
exactly
Yeah, and it's
Yeah, it almost seems like modern cars
Even the basic ones like even a basic cheap Civic is
Like a very good car compared to a lot that you could buy 20 years ago
Like there are yeah, the day at the day at $10,000 new cars is long gone though. So they better be decent
Yeah, well done. Yeah, I mean the cheapest one is what the Mitsubishi Mirage?
The four door. I'll take your word for it. It's a four door thing. It's got to have like 145 width
tires
It can barely get out of its own way, but like I bet you the interior was way nicer than anything we had back then
So
So
So you went from crawling over thing how much how much off-roading did you do in the Jeep?
No, okay zero, but so ever okay, that's fair like my grandpa's farm
Maybe you know around it because he had like 20 acres in Plano
And it actually that was his plow truck that I ended up buying from him
And so that was I never even actually got to drive it. It got totaled before I had my license
What happened?
Who did it long story? Okay, not me
Family or friend I
Will say this much if
So on those Jeep Wranglers the hood latches are the little spring clips on the two sides
And if you don't latch those down, they like to flip open it really inconvenient times
It do be like that and it was family
Well shit, yeah
so the
Was it what card you say the firebird?
No me no no what car?
Not the
Cavalier Cavalier that was it. I'm like bread. Oh god. We talked about too much
How the hell do we go from Cavalier to firebird man? That's a huge jump
May have been that my friend had a really shitty
automatic
V6 version that was very very everybody had that friend my my buddy. We had the Camaro the Iraq Camaro from back then
Yep, I remember drag racing my friend in a newer neon and
It depended but it's an automatic neon too. That's how bad it was and the neon could hold its own like
It was that bad
For good time that wasn't even a skittle like an SRT that was just a neon. Yes. I love neon
Those will always have a place in my heart
Man, I got a hard spot for those SRT fours. Oh, yeah, I've talked about those on here. That was that was my
my introductory thought in performance driving was
Taking the neon SRT four on the one lap of America which never happened
but it was supposed to and that
that I
Claim as ultimately kind of getting me into track driving
They were okay, they were so good from factory
But so is the PT Cruiser GT so you know, oh my god, don't even start with that. It's the same thing
It's the same thing up front. Just saying it's just you were just a different ahead of the CUV craze
It was really where Scott was. Yeah, the PT Cruiser was the first
soft utility vehicle and that was the PT Cruiser GT. Yes turbo one. Yes. Yeah
Yeah, so it sucks a little less it does and
Yeah, my made decent power and had
Too much suspension on it probably and I adored that car I
Had the opportunity to buy it back a few years back and it's a good thing. I didn't but like
Sometimes I think about that choice
So what's a what came?
after
That car then. Oh my god a myriad of cars. I think I went through about
Ten before I finally landed on the GTI. Were you were you doing diesel mechanic King at the same time?
No, that was so the Cavalier was like my my high school and then
Directly preceding the Cavalier would have been the 94 cord Alex wagon
And then right after that was a Mitsubishi Lancer OZ rally edition, which I
Kind of did some stupid stuff with
And ended up spending way too much money and time on that thing
And what then I had a Pontiac Grand Prix
There's I I lose track of all the cars after that feel like everybody either had or news
Tightly knew somebody who had a Grand Prix
The Grand Prix is like one of those cars that no one really talks about but everybody had or remembers it. Yes
They were everywhere like I I strangely I
See a couple of them around on a fairly regular basis
Which seems crazy to me in Michigan, but like they're the supercharge like
GTP yeah, we had a GTP. Yeah fast
People like those which was weird
And my neighbor had a Bonneville G XP, which was the supercharged bigger brother of the Grand Prix
And I remember that thing I just every time he took that thing
I put exhaust on it that probably had a little bit of an influence on me as well had the extra inlets on the front
I mean that's
It's really I mean I I remember the 90s magazines with the hoods and bumpers you could buy
More inlets was better
Remember that clearly
so
So when you well, where did go carts come in you were building and
Yeah, I mean nothing like
It was mostly just like backyard go carton and and ripping around neighborhoods and just kind of being menaces with my friends. I
Mean that seems appropriate
Was this was this something that you built to or was this something you kind of bought running?
No, I you know never came for money family never had money. I never really had money
It's still don't have money so everything was always you know
Friend of a friend was getting rid of a go-kart frame or you know driving around the neighborhood
You see a go-kart frame and you and your buddy go and just you know tie a rope around ask the people
Hey, are you guys getting rid of this tie a rope around it drag it back to the house find a
Snowblower or lawnmower something with a motor on it and swap it on there
Just hooligans, you know, yeah, so what happened with college just didn't take
So I had a
Full ride to
University of Iowa for wrestling and I had a partial ride to eastern Illinois for lacrosse and I had been wrestling
for a very long time and I was getting a little burned out on it and I really really really liked across so I figured you know
Hey, let me I'm gonna go to eastern Illinois take advantage of this lacrosse thing and when I got there
And I don't want to speak ill of any, you know
Educational institutions out there, but the lacrosse team was a bit of a joke
It was not what I was expecting it to be and when I figured that out my ambition and desire to really push through college
Kind of just fell apart
Yeah
Like the whole reason I was there, you know, yes education, but you know, I was I was an athlete
I'm a competitor at heart and and when that just didn't pan out and didn't
Wasn't what I was expecting it to be the wind got taken out of my sails
And lacrosse at the time lacrosse is a pretty small
Sport across the United States
Big on the East Coast
very very small footprint in the Midwest and on the West Coast and I actually
My high school didn't have a lacrosse team. I went to Glenbart East and Lombard and I ended up
Connecting with somebody from Glenbart West, which is the next town over is high school
And and they wanted to start a lacrosse team. So I actually co-founded the Glenbart West lacrosse team
My sophomore year of high school and that's what really kind of put me down that path. Geez
Yeah, I I played a little bit of rugby in
High school, which was would have been you know around that same time and those two sports
Were not very well known
By and large. No, but that's a real man's sport rugby. You guys don't mess around
I mean, I didn't stay in it very long, but yeah, it's
Yeah, this is a real vibe. I've seen a lot more broken bones up close
playing in rugby choking on my rum
And I have other places
so
you find
kind of a landing pad in diesel
Mechanicking and we're talking like
18-wheeler sized stuff
cats, you know Peterbilt freight liner Kenworth
All all the big stuff and you know, I
They kind of took me under their wing taught me a few things and it was all over from there
I mean, I don't know I think I got
The snap-on guy loved me. I think I was I just paid that off maybe three years ago
That was a hundred and sixty thousand dollars in tools and toolboxes. How do they get away with that? I I'm sorry
I have regularly think about this nap-on guy and like how much I I get the lifetime warranty and
Like I get especially if you're in the trade how big of a deal that is
But it seems
absurd to me the amount that they charge for any of their products
Like how does this it's convenience? I mean
So I can tell you right now because I was a victim of it and that is and I say that the payment plan is in the end
It's just so they bring financing to you
Yeah
It's a week you can do a weekly or monthly payment and at the time, you know
What's as a heavy diesel mechanic or is any mechanic, you know, what's a hundred bucks a week yet?
Whatever, you know, I got a I need tools. I need to do my job
I don't want to have to go to you know, whatever name home depot ace hardware to get my tools because they're not gonna last
That's just consumer-grade stuff and when the snap-on guy comes to you and says, oh sure
Here's a twenty thousand dollar line of credit a hundred bucks a week
You can buy whatever the hell you want and if you break it, I'll be here next week and I'll fix it for you
So is that like a 30 year mortgage with
What's the payment like however long you're in the industry for it's that's how long you're gonna be
Geez
I mean in his defense those snap-on trucks are cool. They are I don't know if you you've been on one
Oh, yeah, yeah, you see my dad's dealership. I bought a little like pocket knife from the guy there
Yeah, you weren't you weren't old enough to really like know you could buy stuff and look around and be like
But I could buy stuff
That's a big kid toy store that comes to you and the things that they sell you help you
Yeah, it's it's true
It's true. Unfortunately, yeah
What um, what did you enjoy about doing that job besides the the money?
Um, I mean, it's not like I made a ton of money doing it. I didn't do too bad for myself, but
I it goes back to like even when I was a kid Legos problem-solving puzzle solving
It's taking something that's broken and fixing it and saying I did that
And then the person that you fixed it for going holy crap. Thank you so much for doing that
so it's
it's a lot of
It helps with the self-worth. It really gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment that very few things out there do
Bring in something like bringing something that was broken to you and
Either fixing it giving a new life or something like that
yep
And you don't and I just had a knack for it
So it was very natural to me turning a wrench fixing cars fixing trucks
It's a bolt is a bolt a wrench is a wrench
It doesn't matter if it's you know on a train or if it's on a dirt bike. It's the same principles across the board
It's just bigger and smaller. Well, I was about to say I think it it feels cooler because it's so much bigger
Like I mean when I for sure when I see the in the front like clams come off of those things. It's like
That's pretty cool and the first time you see a tractor
So like take a Kenworth so you got you know your front axle and then dual axles
You got oh eight tires in the back the first time you see one of those do a wheelie is really a
Like holy what I don't know if I can swear here, but holy shit
Seen that one of those do a wheelie like intentionally. Oh, yeah
No, that was we had a couple of customers that come through our shop that you know bigger turbos these big cat C
15s with twin turbos on them and these guys and
Put bigger injectors in it bigger fuel pumps bigger turbos and just turn these things up to 11
I've seen tweak chassis's I've seen trucks do wheelies
They're just they're big kids who used to do street shenanigans and they got a job
Hauling and they just started tweaking their trucks then
And it's they use the guise of efficiency if I have more power I need less I need to use less of it. It's true
Kind of it's kind of true
I'd like
It's a guys it's
Not quite
Reality, but I mean that we all tell ourselves stuff to get through what we want to do. Yeah, I got to justify it
Somehow what's it's always the asterisk. It's more efficient as long as you keep your foot out of it
Even like going back to the GTI's
Like do it a stage one two on any of those cars
You know you do a stage one two and you're like, oh man
I can I can actually get better fuel mileage now
But you get worse few mileage because you are more inclined to get deeper in the throttle. Yeah
Yeah, it sounds like the snap-on guy all over again
How deep do you want to go
That's become my own worst enemy
So so you landed with this GTI what's
How did you get on track with it the first time?
Started off a friend of mine was a member at Autobahn Country Club and that was the first track event
I ever did was at Autobahn Country Club. It's just a member day and I went out there and
drove for
Maybe six hours just beat the ever-living crash smoke the brakes burned every fluid and the thing just I mean
Basically destroyed my car in one single day and I went well
That can't happen. I got obviously I have to fix all this stuff fixer
Yeah
And then yeah just ended up doing some HPD days
Eventually ended up running doing some stuff with SCCA
What years are we talking here
2009
2010 11
cheese, okay
and then I
NASA or SCCA kind of and then again not talking bad about any of the organizations out there because the more
Organizations we have at this point the better we got to keep this sport alive, but I
kind of lost the allure of doing time trials with the SCCA and
Ended up going over to NASA and I did one season in the GTS series
okay, and
Was very very very much outgunned
It kind of took the wind out of my sails and that would have been
2013-14
What what was the main competition? Are we talking like SCIs and evos?
No GTS German touring series, so it's all German cars
Okay, so a lot of Audis a lot of BMWs that the be it was basically the BMW group. Yeah
You know a lot of 330s and 328s
But they you know everybody had more money than me
Yes
If you if you had had more money, could you have made your Volkswagen competitive?
Well, I mean I ended up making it fairly competitive until I eventually made my way to grid life
And and then at that point it was like then it was the driver. That was the problem
Yeah, we all find that out at some point I think if we if we keep seeking out competition
We eventually find I actually
Yeah
Going back maybe 20
2018-2019 running with grid life. I remember going home and talking to my wife at the time and being like
Man, I really suck. I'm slow. I'm not that good of a driver. My car sucks. I suck everything sucks
I'm really this is this is freaking brutal and
She wanted to kind of get into it, too
This is coming around to the time when you and I really started becoming friends over in 2017. Maybe and I
Was like, well, you know, I'm just there's a it was GPS lap times was doing an event at
Gingerman and I just kind of needed a break. I was really getting down on myself and I
Will never forget showing up to that day
I went out for my first session at gingerman with GPS lap times and just blew the doors off of everything around me and
Went, oh, maybe maybe I don't suck. Maybe my car doesn't suck. Maybe the competition is just that good
In a different organization context is important
When you got 9-11 GT3 drivers coming up to you after a session when you're in a 2006 Volkswagen GTI
Going what the do you have done to that thing?
Yeah, cuz it's all it's always the car, right? It's never like wow, you're a good driver. It's like it's never the driver
No, it's like man. Do you have some more power under there? What's what's going on?
Now how big a tires you run and what suspension you got is that you must have at least like 200 more horsepower than me
Yeah, Becky Becky still gets that occasionally
whenever we go run with HPD organizations and her car and like
You know with there's a there's a yep in mooncake
There's a there's a Cayman. I have it specifically in mind that is
Is quicker reliably than she is
but not through every corner and
and
She always notes that she's like, you know, I gave him a point. I then he held me up at this corner
You know and to that effect so I am forever and eternally grateful to Becky
My dad since I started racing since I started driving on the track performance driving
I remember this. Yeah, he has
Since day one he has told me I am absolutely nuts. I have a death wish. This is ridiculous that I do this
It's absolutely absurd. He never came to a single event over
13 years I tried to get him to come out to event
he just absolutely refused because he kept telling me that I'm he doesn't want to watch me kill myself and
He finally came out to Autobahn Country Club. Is that two years ago? I want to say and
I yeah, yeah, two or three years ago
And I went up to Becky and I was like, hey, you know, I trust you
This is my dad's first time ever coming out to event and I have to put him in a car
He's getting older. So the that window is rapidly closing
And I threw him in the car with Becky and it's funny to hear you talk about her going up against Porsches and stuff
because he comes back
Into the pit lane and he gets out of the car and he's
Very very clearly slightly disoriented and a little shook it up
And he looks at me and he goes cars. I
Don't know
What what changed his mind like after going that long I
Want to I want to say that I
Swayed him to the the side of good and and got him to come around
But I think it was the fact that I wasn't driving anymore
Hmm
Okay
Yeah, it wasn't me putting myself at risk. It was me putting him in a seat and I'll put him at risk
Right, which has a dad. That's fine. That's yeah. Oh, yeah adult choice
So how so when you started dabbling with grid life in
Competition and stuff. How how long did that last for you?
That would have been
Late 2015 was half way it would whatever the first year of
No, no, no, that wasn't road Atlanta. That was the next year one of my friends Shawn camsot
Mad lad with a mark six golf bar at the time
Is 2015? Yeah, he came up to me and he goes. Hey man, cuz I'd I'd stopped racing after NASA
I went I took maybe two three years off because I just kind of lost
The ambition for it and my buddy Shawn came up to me and he goes, hey man, have you ever heard of this thing called grid life?
I was like nah, and he goes well, you got to come they do this thing called Midwest festival. It's a bit
It's just absolutely awesome. You got to come I went last year. It was freaking awesome
And I was like nah, I'm not doing competition drive anymore
I don't want to do that and he goes well, it's too bad because I already bought your ticket
And you and you have six days to get your car prepped and I looked over at my car on jack stands with no suspension on it
The turbo was off of it. There is I mean it was not ready at all and
My wife at the time and I she God bless her she spent 12 hours
I took a couple of days off work
She spent 12 13 hour days with me in the garage just turned and wrenches and just trying to get that car ready and
We went 2015 Midwest festival is my first event ever with grid life and I
Never stopped going from there. It just the community the people it was such a stark contrast
to everything else that I had experienced up until that point not just in competition but just in
the people in the paddock and the vibes and the conversations and you know, I
Coming off the track from my first session
I see somebody walking up to me and I'm getting ready to throw down like all these guys fisted me
I did something that it's gonna go fist the cops right now and he goes, dude, that was was that you and the GTI?
That was awesome. And I was wait
You're not pissed. This is this is a good thing. We're this is we're having fun
That's that's the best is getting off track and like
Getting to talk to someone else that you just shared that experience with
No, it's yeah, there's very few feet feelings and emotions like that that I've experienced
Yeah, that ended up that did competition for to
2015 to
2019
And then mothballed the car from there
Did a couple of HPD events, but you know at that point I had been tracking the car since
2008
Yeah, I retired it from street duty with
82,000 miles on it and when I stopped doing competition events it had a hundred and sixty two thousand miles on it original motor original trans
The car was the car is tired the chassis is tired spherical bearings everywhere
So all the aurora spherical bearings are making noise suspension needs to be rebuilt turbo
I blew the turbo up at that Autobahn country club
One of the charge pipes blew off the intercooler and I was just in such a bad mood that I went three more laps and
overspun the crash
Yeah, that'll do it
Yeah, that was then now I now I just work it yeah
This this was interesting to me. You know after kind of hearing about
Wrenching on things
building things up
That you go from being
hands-on with your own vehicle
Driving around to
rent or
To do in tech and working grid and how did how did that transition happen?
That would have been 20
16 or 17. I want to say Adam will correct me on this for sure, but
Adam and Adam Jubey and I kind of hit it off just throughout the first couple of seasons and
He gave me a call one day and he's like hey, man
You come in an Autobahn country club and it's like nah, I don't have the money right now and he goes well
Can't pay you in money
But if I could pay you in track time if you want to come help out in tech and at the time James Morgan was running tech
and
I was like well, I mean
All I got to do is help out in tech and I can come drive my car. He's like yeah
Okay, I guess that makes sense sure and
That that was what sealed the deal
I'm pretty sure he was like the equivalent of a spider and he lured me into the web and then just sucked me in from there
but like
But now you've been doing it
For ten years for almost ten years here like that's maybe yeah at this point
It's not an accident like there's no luring happening at this point, right?
No, no, there's not this is like what Carson does now at least in your spare time
Oh, yeah, no, it's I mean even when I got my new job back in 2022
I thought
Before I even took the job. I looked at at my boss there who would become my boss and I said hey, you know, I do this
I do this thing. I need
You know minimum of four weeks that I'm gonna be gone throughout the season
and this is non-negotiable if you can't accommodate this then this is not the right job for me and
And he signed off on it and I took that job and I've just kind of been running with it
the
It's really the people up in the tower. It's the team that I work with
It's some of the the greatest people and the best friends I've ever made in my tire life
And I couldn't imagine not having them in my life anymore
So now it's just it's an obligation to family
Not to sound like Vin Diesel. I'm not it's you family
I mean, it's not not that
It's not not that
I think that's
That's interesting. I think you put that in a way that I haven't heard anyone else say
And
And if I can't I want to ask about the word obligation
Not because it necessarily has a negative connotation
but like
You
Used it though, so what can you talk talk to me a little bit more about that
Um, I think it really comes down to having seen what the series was when I came on board
And seeing how the team has changed and grown and what it is now
it
To use another phrase solidarity
you know the people that have
been
Trying to make grid life
The best that it can possibly be
Are the people that are up in the tower. They're the people that are in the tech shed
They're the people that are running impound. They're the people running the dino and those are the people that I
travel all over the country with
way too many times a season
and it just
I don't know it's uh, you know obligation is not a negative term in this
In this case scenario. It is a uh
You're just compelled. You know, these are these are the people that helped build this
I like to think I helped build it along with them and and I couldn't imagine not doing this with them
I was going to ask if you
At some point if you you have a little bit of a feeling of ownership
In the experience anyway like the when people go experience grid life
That's
something you've done
I think it's something the team's done. I I don't know how big of a role I have played in it
Um, I just know that I'm there to you know, make sure that people are safe. Make sure that the cars are safe
Uh, make sure that drivers are good not just in
their skillset
But it's one of the reasons that I like this podcast so much is you guys look at the mental aspect of racing
Which I think is way way way to overlooked
And so when somebody is having a hard time on the racetrack and they
They just come in for space, right? You know, they're they're
In the middle of a train and they just come into the pit lane and you can tell they're frazzled
You can tell that they are just stressed
They're not having a good time and to be able to just sit there and say hey, man. Let's just take a break
Let's let's take 30 seconds
Let's make sure your head's in the right place or girl
But let's make sure your head's in the right place and let's let's get back out there. Let's breathe
And let's make sure we're good
So to some degree ownership. Ah, no, I just I'm a I'm a small cog in the in a big machine
And you worked tech for a good long time and you still do occasionally, but now
you are
Kind of the hot grid
Leader
guy
Man, I don't know that I have a title. No, you're you're a little fluid for that, but
But like you talk to us army guys. Yeah, you talk to a lot of the drivers
Uh, when they're going out to grid or when they're going out to the tracks sometimes when they come in from
um
You know if they get a black flag station bottom of grid like all that kind of stuff so
In terms of interaction with drivers, how do you typically see
Your role or your identity
In those moments, um
Somewhere between a zen master and principal
Hmm
Okay
You know if you're if you're coming in for a black flag, it's because he did something wrong
so and I like
Not my words, but I've been told by many a driver that uh that I have the
disappointed dad approach
Which seems to be incredibly effective of you know, I'm not mad at you, but I am disappointed in you
And I think that goes a long way it seems like people can deal with disappointment better than anger
Well, you'll get a lot more with sugar than vinegar. That's for damn sure
and
If anything, we're all there for the same reason. We're all dumb. We all decided to partake in this hobby. So, you know, I
I don't ever want to make somebody's experience negative. I always want to
Help guide people into reframing their mindsets to that. This is a positive experience. You chose to be here
This is what you decided to do with your time and your money
so
If you're not having a good time, I feel like that's
counter-intuitive to
Why we're doing it. So I just want to help people kind of
reframe that
Are you pulling on your previous driving experience when you talk about that kind of stuff?
Uh, sometimes yeah, I mean it's you kind of have to be
Especially with black flag and you know anytime that you're in a disciplinary enroll
You kind of have to pull from a little bit of everything
You know, some of it is is lessons that my dad taught me some of it is lessons that I learned on the racetrack
If it's if it's race etiquette, then yeah, I'm pulling directly from my experiences and things that I've seen and done wrong
That somebody else scolded me for
So what are some of the most
Common
Talks that you have to have
in hot in hot grid
Can be positive or negative can be both
Uh, let's see probably
Stop being a horny teenager
Get yourself on
like you know coming in for
Any various things where if I have a three drivers come in and say hey dude in this blue car
Is just a menace out there. He's dived by me in multiple corners. They're not giving me point buys
They're not paying attention to the cars around them. You know, that is what I call the horny teenager
That is the guy that's out there or the girl that's out there that is just very much in their own head
Mash the throttle turn as hard as you can go as fast as you can with zero
Zero attention to what else is happening around them
And that's the most egregious and scary thing for me
So that is the number one thing that I take issue with is you are it
Not that it's good to put yourself in harm's way, but when you are putting others in harm's way for the sake of yourself
That can't happen
So that's the most intense and negative i'm air quoting this you guys can't see it on the podcast, but
Uh, that's the most negative thing that I have to deal with
And it's that that's where the the disappointed dad approach really takes takes hold
You know Andy vocal
Absolute legend of a human being
But you know when he was younger and first starting out his first couple years in grid life
He was a little bit of a little bit of a mad lad out there
But uh, you have the the conversation with him and now he's one of the cleanest drivers on the on the track out there
You know the guy is just he embodies
That that change from i'm out here to to beat everybody to i'm out here to finish a race
as best as I can
So you get to see and
Kind of watch these drivers over the years grow and develop
It's awesome
Yeah
It's absolutely. I it's probably one of my favorite things in the world
Uh, is that having done this as long as I have and you know, I'm not even one of the the old guard from grid life
But to see drivers progress cars change and it's it's one of the coolest things that I get to experience
Would
And what do you like about that? I'm because I'm recalling
You know kind of your hands on nature
your
almost bootstraps
Mentality sort of thing, you know, like what what is it about seeing people?
In that environment
progressing moving
growing
What's that like for you?
I think part of it is I get to live vicariously through them
Sure, since I'm not driving anymore, you know, I I'm not developing my skills. I'm not putting any, you know
personal best lap times out there
but
I think very in the same vein is
Going back to my childhood of taking something that is broken
and
making it better
not saying that drivers are broken
but
Seeing that progression
Is really, you know you as an instructor. I'm sure you get it too the the satisfaction and
The sense of fulfillment that you get
When you've got somebody that's out there and they're clearly struggling
And you give them a couple of tips you give them a couple of pointers and they come back in and they went three seconds faster than their best time before that
Sure, you know, that's the fact that I was able to help that person
Get better at something that they want to do
Is just it fills my heart
But you stayed in the the role of tech and grid and
instead of like
You know poaching scott's role as like super teacher guy
The
Well, there are far better people out there that are more qualified than I
I think I kind of I found my role
And where where I belong in the the hierarchy and grand scheme of things
I'll I'll leave the the coaching to people like scott
So when you decided to put a pause on your own track driving
Did you know at the time that how big of a pause it was going to be or
When was the decision to like
This is gonna be a while
Um
It's a two-part answer one was that I one of my my other biggest passions and hobbies is
Hi-fi audio like two-channel stereo
and
when I
Had
Devoted all of my spare resources to racing. I actually had to sell off
You know everything that I had to fund
Building my race car at the time so I had completely abandoned
My second biggest love and hobby which was audio
And when I realized that my car needed, you know, I've got over six figures into a Volkswagen gti
Which is ludicrous
Um and the hours is just the insane
And so when I realized that that thing needed, you know, about 30 000 dollars in work in another two years of stripping it back down
And and then I hadn't I'd given up on my other hobby
You know, initially it was I need to take a break from racing
So that I can get back into my other hobby because the big part in that was that
you know racing is is very much a solitary thing
And I had a daughter I have a I have a daughter and I had a wife and
You know, I was the only one truly enjoying the racing thing
But audio is something that my whole family could enjoy
You know doing like a home theater setup and having movie nights on friday nights with my wife and my daughter and
That's something we could enjoy every single day. Whereas racing was something I enjoyed
20 days out of the year 30 days out of the year
sure
And so I I hit the pause button
It's like I can't afford to fix the race car
I want to get back into my my audio hobby and then spend some more time at home with my family and
And then it I didn't know that it was going to be
You know six
plus years
So I think you've done
Go ahead
You've exemplified the fact that I've been talking to somebody else about this in reference to motorcycles that
Like a race vehicle is a consumable the entire vehicle is a consumable at some point
Which is not something that most people think about when they go into it
You think about it really fast when you put the car in the wall at 120 miles an hour in total it
I mean, there's that
But
Where was that?
Road America at the kink
That was my other because at one point in time I had three mark five gtis
So I was I really really truly was developing that chassis platform
And that was uh road america. I had an inner cv right inner cv joint granated
at 135 flat out through the kink and with a gripper plate style lsd all the power went to the front left wheel
and just
G did that thing off the track and and pinballed me down
found the kink
That sounds terrible. I still have that door on my garage in in my garage on the wall. That's the only thing that's still standing
So why have the car anymore
is and maybe maybe we're not quite ready to have this conversation but
Why why do you sell on it?
Way too much time way too much money and way too much of my
soul
Is put into that car to walk away from it to know that I took that from a bone stock off the floor
Volkswagen to what it is now. I mean
29 2018 when fcp euro had a really big presence with grid life at at uh at midwest festival
I mean, I had people coming up to Sean Fenton. It was you know part of the grid life machine comes up to me
He's like, you know, how how did you get a tcr car?
I was like, no, no, no, no, I didn't get that I built that
It was not bought from somebody other than a stock car from Volkswagen that I turned it into this
So I just there's no way that I will ever be able to get rid of that car and I absolutely have plans of
you know once
once my current life situation kind of
Falls back into where where I'm hoping it will and I have a little bit more time and resources
I'm absolutely going to start tearing that car apart and and putting it back together and rebuilding it and
It'll be back on the track. I can promise you that
Man, that'll be a day on it
No, man
That will be a day angels will sing the skies will part rainbow
double rainbows everywhere
It'll be interesting like it's
Like you'll have expectations
No, I won't
I'm going no, no, no, no
It's I've been doing it long enough and I know that expectations are a great
fast lane to disappointment
Yeah
but like
At the same time it's it will have been quite some time since you've
Been on track certainly with that car
And you remember because I have wheeled the g35 a few times after I after I retired that car
We still had the g35 which I will admit is probably the most fun
I've ever had on a track in a car ever. I mean is in a it drifts
pretty well
It when it wants it drifts when it wants to that's not when you want it to
Yeah, it'll just be interesting because it it's not going to be what it used to be
It's gonna be something new
Yep, because it's going to be different
And you're going to be different. Yeah
That'll be it. Yeah, I'm thrilled. It's zero expectations going into it if
Once that thing's back on the track, that's all I need. I don't care how fast it is
I'm just going to turn it into an hPD. You rock it. Yeah
Well, I want to be there regardless
You better be baby
What uh, what's your season look like? What do you have coming up?
Uh, we're doing six events this year. I think cmp is our first one. Uh, now now I'll be at all of them
Here we go
Here we go, baby. Let's let's do this. This is going to be an interesting season
It's very different from everything we've done before so
a little bit, uh, wider spacing and
Should be which I'm sure a lot of drivers are going to appreciate it's so interesting to see, you know, you do
Was it 2021 22 and we were doing 13 events in a season and everyone was like this is too much
And then we scaled it back and I'm like, no, it's too little. You can't please everybody
Because we're always comparing it to what it had been
Always
Um, but I'm that, you know, we've got the the best the best, uh
Motor sports team. I think we've ever had
Nice
Well, where can people follow you and learn more about your shenanigans?
Oh god, I don't have much of a social media presence
It's not really my thing, but if you want to see pictures of uh clouds
And skies all across the country and and pictures of racetracks when there's no cars on it
Uh, I have an instagram. I think it's cars and crystal. Maybe I don't know
something
Something look look me up. I think there used to be some Volkswagen's on there
They're still there. They're just at the bottom. I know when we were doing, uh,
My uh, my ex-wife and I had uh team crystal racing. We actually started they know, I'm air quoting started a race team
And we had a team crystal racing
Instagram that got jacked by some russian hacker and I lost everything. So I had to hit the reset button
As uh, as I think it's Carson dot crystal or Carson crystal
I remember the team crystal thing. I didn't know it got hacked
Yeah, that's how I lost that they changed the password and I can never get into it and instagram doesn't care
That couldn't get ahold of anybody to try and get the account back
I mean, it's still out there somewhere if you want to see the stuff that we were doing
10 years ago. Oh, but it's not me. It's still up
It's still up. I just can't get into it. I don't have access to it anymore
But if there's anything weird going on it, it's not me. I hold no affiliation with fh anymore
That's awesome
Well, Carson, thanks for uh, thanks for hanging out with us taking some time out
Absolutely, hopefully you didn't bore everybody. No
You're good
Good to get to I appreciate you guys. You guys are absolutely awesome
One of the few podcasts that I listen to
Every episode. I appreciate that
I'm sorry
I'm not
Well, we're I'm not at all
We're at track walking podcast on most of the things and discord is really kind of where we
We do our hangout link is in the show notes. Um
Best thing you can do is share our episode with a friend family member or distant relative
And uh like and subscribe and rate and all all that stuff does help the uh, do the things
Do it all guys. You know the steps
We just need you to do them
Um
Do it for me and Carson won't be mad if you don't
He will be disappointed though
It's very true
All right, well that's gonna do it for us this week for the three of us. I'm scott and i'm seth
And i'm carcin have a good week and we'll talk to you next
About this episode
Carson Christel shares his journey from a casual car enthusiast to a dedicated track driver, highlighting his experiences with Volkswagens and the unique challenges of racing. The conversation dives into memorable moments at the track, including creative solutions to mechanical failures and the camaraderie built among fellow racers. Carson's passion for cars is evident as he discusses his early influences, from dirt bikes to his obsession with modifying his GTI. The episode captures the essence of grassroots motorsport and the friendships forged through shared experiences on the track.
bolt pattern
consumable
CV joint
four inch speakers
hood latches
horsepower
limited slip differential
Mk5
motor mount
oil pan
Audi TT RS
Audi TTS
BMW 328
BMW 3 Series
Chevrolet Beretta
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Cavalier
Chevrolet Spin
Chrysler PT Cruiser
Dodge Shadow
Honda Accord
Honda Civic
Infiniti G35
Jeep CJ
Jeep Wrangler
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
Mitsubishi Lancer
Mitsubishi Mirage
Pontiac Firebird
Porsche 911
Porsche Cayman
Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen Tiguan
Original notes
Carson finally paid off Snap On... Seth reminds us that turbos on a bike are a choice you can make... and Scott recalls that one Dodge Shadow...
Carson Christel joins us to talk about VW's, big diesels, 6x9 speaker supremacy, disappointed dad face, and making something from a whole lot of spare parts.
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Discord!
Track Walking - Instagram
Track Walking
Scott and Seth
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71:58