Noise pollution is when sounds in the environment are too loud and can be harmful or annoying. For cars, this usually means loud noises from their exhaust systems that can bother people living nearby.
The exhaust system is the part of a car that helps get rid of gases produced by the engine. If it's changed to make the car louder, it can cause problems with noise in the area.
The Toyota Supra is a popular sports car known for being fast and powerful. Many people like to modify it to make it even better for racing or performance.
The Ford Mustang is a famous sports car that people love for its speed and cool looks. It's been around for a long time and is often talked about because it represents American car culture.
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that’s easy to drive and great for everyday use. It’s known for being reliable and fun, making it a popular choice for many drivers.
The Volkswagen Rabbit GTI is a faster and sportier version of the regular Rabbit car. It was made in the 1980s and is loved by many car fans for how fun it is to drive.
Import tuning culture is about people who like to change and improve cars that come from other countries, especially Japan. It became popular in the 1990s, with many fans customizing their cars to make them look and perform better.
The Jeep Cherokee is a type of SUV that is known for being tough and good for off-road driving. Many people like it for its ability to handle different terrains.
The Ford F-150 is a popular truck that many people use for work and everyday driving. It's known for being tough and able to carry heavy loads, which makes it a favorite among truck buyers.
Blowing the engine means that the engine has broken down badly, often because it was pushed too hard or not taken care of properly. It usually means the engine needs to be replaced.
The Honda Prelude is a two-door car that was made for people who like sporty driving. It’s known for being fun to drive and has a loyal group of fans who appreciate its style and performance.
Bolt-on performance modifications are parts you can add to a car to make it go faster or look better, and they can be installed without changing the car's main structure.
VTEC is a technology used in Honda engines that helps them run better at different speeds. It makes the engine more powerful when you need it, like when you're driving fast, and helps save fuel when you're driving slowly.
The Honda S2000 is a small sports car that is fun to drive. It has a powerful engine that makes it go really fast, especially when you push the gas pedal hard.
Coilovers are parts of a car's suspension that help control how the car rides and handles. They can be adjusted to change how high or low the car sits and how it responds to bumps in the road.
A parts car is a car that doesn't work anymore but can still be used to take parts from it to fix other cars. It's usually cheaper because it's not drivable.
The Dodge Spirit is a car that was made in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It's not a sports car, but more of a regular car that families used to drive around.
The Nissan 300 ZX is a stylish sports car that people loved for its speed and cool features. It was popular in the '80s and '90s and is still remembered fondly by car fans today.
Torque is a way to measure how strong an engine is when it comes to moving a car. More torque means the car can speed up faster and pull heavier things more easily.
The Nissan 240SX is a small sports car from 1990 that many car lovers liked because it was easy to modify and fun to drive. It has a rear-wheel-drive system, which makes it great for drifting.
The Datsun 240Z is an iconic sports car from the late 1960s and early 1970s. It's known for being fast and stylish, and many people love to modify them for racing.
A short-ram air intake is a part that helps the engine get more air, which can make it run better and sound cooler. It's a popular upgrade for car enthusiasts.
Rear-wheel drive means that the back wheels of the car are the ones that move it forward. This setup is great for sports cars because it helps with handling and driving fun.
A turbo is a part of the engine that helps it produce more power by forcing extra air into it. This makes the car faster without needing a bigger engine.
All-wheel drive means that all four wheels of the car get power from the engine, which helps the car grip the road better, especially when it's wet or slippery.
The Subaru WRX is a fast car that can handle well in different weather conditions, thanks to its all-wheel drive. People who like racing and driving on tough roads often talk about it because of its exciting performance.
'Stock' means the car is just like it was when it came from the factory, without any changes or upgrades. Some people like to keep their cars this way to enjoy how they were originally made.
The Infiniti G37 is a newer version of the G35, offering more power and modern features. It's a great choice for those who want a sporty car with luxury touches.
The Infiniti G35 is a stylish and powerful car that combines luxury with sporty performance. It's a good option if you want a comfortable ride that can also handle well on the road or track.
LIVE
Welcome back to another episode of To All the Cars I've Loved Before.
Hey, it's ready for another installment.
And as we roll through the stats, it's people from all over the world.
I got to tell you, I just get so pleased as punch.
Every time I log in we have somebody from a new city, state, country, continent, and on and on and on.
So thank you for joining us here, real excited about having today's guest here.
How you doing, doug, doing great.
Thank you, excellent, excellent.
And let's see, before we bounce into this here, let's introduce today's guest, who's a friend of a friend of a friend of the show.
A friend of a friend of a friend of the show, a friend of a friend of a friend of the show.
Yeah, it's like the Kevin Bacon, it's really the Art Kevin Bacon rule If you're more than six friends, friends of separation away, we can't have you.
But we're real pleased to have Chris on the show.
But let me be quiet.
Pass the baton to my esteemed narrator, doug, to get us kicked off here.
Yeah, so everybody, welcome back to the show.
We have this wonderful gentleman who's going to join us today, Chris, who hails from outside of Dallas.
He's got a great, great background in some really cool cars, been involved in a little bit of the street racing culture and he's had some cool cars along the way.
His next car might be a minivan with his family planning, but he's going to tell us a lot about his growing up with cars and working on them and blowing up engines.
It's going to be a great show.
Welcome in Chris.
How are you doing today, bud?
Doing great, Doing great.
Good to hear your voice, glad to have you.
And did we want to say anything more about him?
Did we want to kind of bounce into some automotive nuggets here?
Talk through a few things we saw on the news?
Chris actually has so much going on here that we might truncate the bit about the news because he's got some causes that he espouses and works with noble extracurriculars, as I like to call them, and of course we'll get into we might even get into a street racing culture, possibly losing his life or at least a limb while working on a car.
And again, friends of a friend.
So, without any further ado, let's talk about something that I saw on the news here today.
You know the best automotive news always comes out of Detroit.
Okay, so let's talk briefly about a proposed Michigan legislation cracking down on vehicles modified to be louder.
I saw that, let's see, and this from CBS Detroit, so you know it's got to be true.
A bill introduced in the Michigan legislature is looking to decrease noise pollution around Metro Detroit and more particularly along Woodward Avenue.
I love how they put the name of the street in here.
So somebody's got a very specific bone to pick here.
House Bill 5696 was introduced on April 25th and, if passed, would increase fines for motorists who purposely alter a vehicle's exhaust system to be louder than normal.
I see, feel in secret seething with the thumbs down.
Let me get a little bit further before he jumps to the screen and smacks me around here.
The bill was referred to the Committee of Transportation.
Quote we're looking to do a $500 penalty for the first infraction, $1,000 for subsequent infractions, says State Representative Natalie Price, a Democrat from Berkeley who brought forth the legislation.
So what do you think about this?
What do we?
What do we think?
Good guy, bad guy, we don't like this.
What do you think?
So I'd love to hear Chris's opinion, because he might have had some loud cars in the past.
Yeah, sure, what do you think, chris?
Well, I think it may be well intentioned.
You know Nobody likes to hear a loud car when you're trying to sleep, right right, right.
But the way I see it, if you give the government more rules and regulations, then it's probably a bad thing, because then maybe they enforce it well or not.
It just kind of depends, maybe, how loud is too loud.
What qualifies it's a, it's very subjective I want to know if chris did any racing along woodward avenue.
Chris, was that you?
Where were you on the evening of?
Uh, if it was anywhere near woodward avenue?
I have a.
I have a bill to send to you, but yeah, this caught me because, um, uh, it's in the news where I live in the in the Florida panhandle here, and same thing.
So I think this new news ordinance is this noise ordinance is just kind of a ball to kick around these days and you know it's how loud is too loud for any given person.
And when you're walking around with with somebody down holding hands and you're talking, and you're in this window shopping and this and that, and somebody tears by on a motorcycle that left its muffler two blocks back, or a huge truck or the latest Supra or whatever, I say oh well, that is just too doggone loud.
But it's so subjective.
I mean I don't know how you, unless you have some sort of decibel meter, how would you know?
Right, yep, yeah, no, they have a similar law in Maryland and I can say this from going to a lot of cars and coffees.
There are now cops at some of them because of people revving their engines.
You know, somebody could get hurt, right?
I hate to sound like an old car mudgeon if you will, but as I've grown up, yeah, that noise is just.
It is annoying.
I think people should be able to modify their cars.
It is what it is, right.
It's very subjective.
I will say there are some cars that have active exhaust system, even I think, ford Mustang to some degree, so you can have a quieter mode when you're leaving and then turn it up Like hey, that is the way to do it.
Obnoxious mode here.
This is the best part at the end.
Let me tip in with this.
Back to the article quote.
First violation the fine is completely waivable if the person uses that money to put into the vehicle, to get it fixed, get it back to standard and get it updated as needed so that it complies.
But, yeah, so, okay, so, the cops all over you.
It was 300 decibels and let me I'm going to, okay, let me take that money and get it back to.
You know, 196 decibels is which was where I started.
So bananas anyway.
Yeah, any last thoughts, chris, before we move on.
Yeah, I need to go open a muffler shop in Detroit.
I'm going to make a killing this guy is smart.
You absolutely do man your tax dollars at work.
I love it.
The only other thing and we got to get to Chris real quick, I know, but I saw this piece rodentrackcom.
It is called why the Volkswagen GTI has always been the alternative of is called why the Volkswagen GTI has Always Been the Alternative of Choice and the Rabbit GTI was the Uncamaro to Generation X.
I love that.
It became an icon for decades to come.
And if you could just bear with me a minute, I'm just going to give you the first paragraph and then we can slide or drift right into Chris's first car.
By the way, he's got a really nice lineup.
We'll have the pictures of his cars on the site here, but let me just give you a little bit, and then I just want to bounce off you to see if this means anything to you here.
Oh, and before I start, I had a Rabbit GTI in high school.
What year?
What year, christian?
I did 84.
And I dated this unfortunate young woman, christian 84.
And I dated this unfortunate young woman.
Yes, I dated in high school.
Shocking, but she had a regular rabbit.
So I had the rabbit GTI and she had a rabbit and we would go back and forth driving my car and then her car and it was like driving a completely different car, like body roll, the acceleration, the jumping off the line.
Anyway, anyway, let me give you this paragraph and then we can move on.
Try to find a Gen Xer who doesn't have a memorable experience in a Volkswagen GTI somewhere in their past.
My own involves high school friend Brian Schmidt firing his dad's Rabbit GTI into a curving highway off-ramp at an imprudent speed, utterly powerless.
From the passenger seat I could feel the black rabbit pushing toward the ditch at the edge of the ramp.
Its inside rear tire lifted.
Rollover seemed inevitable but there was precisely enough shoulder pavement for the car to slow sufficiently and regain control.
I can't recall us ever speaking about it and I imagine his dad never found out.
Well, until now, I suppose.
So the way Chris is going to break a little bit of news here today to somebody in his history, his world, just kind of spoken about in that preamble here to this article and just kind of brought me back to when I had my car Really a fun car.
Anything from you guys on that, I think a Volkswagen GTI.
Might have been the first German car I drove and I just test drove one.
It might've been the first German car I drove and I just test drove one and I just remembered the feeling, very, very different from an American car, japanese car the steering, the brakes, the shifter.
It was pretty, pretty cool, totally agree.
No, a lot of a lot of buddies had those.
Really a lot of fun to drive.
They always, they always dropped them a little too much, though.
You know hard to go over the speed bumps, but a lot of fun.
That's a good point.
You're right about that.
I forgot about that.
Yep, and they are collector's items these days, indeed.
Indeed, gosh, I've not seen one anywhere around here for sale and I'm looking at.
So many memories flooding back.
I'm looking again.
This is on rodentrackcom, the answer to many memories flooding back Again.
This is on rodentrackcom.
Dance of the show.
Yeah, I love it when they have a picture of the old car in here and it looks exactly like the one you drove, from the color to the dash, to the cluster, to the shifter, to the steering wheel, my goodness.
Anyway, enough about me, move along to our wonderful guest Chris.
Okay, so let's talk about the memories flooding back from your first ride.
What was your?
first car?
Sure, yeah.
Well, let's see, I think I was 17 years old, working at Subway, a hashtag sandwich artist, and my mom pulls up in a early 90s Toyota Celica.
This is a maroon color, this has got chrome wheels, giant spoiler, and I didn't know it was my mom at first.
But yeah, that was my car.
She bought it at auction for probably a couple thousand dollars, I think, first.
But yeah, that was my car.
She bought it at auction for probably a couple thousand dollars, I think, ended up, uh, taking me about a year to pay it off.
But uh, yeah, I didn't really care about cars before that.
Um, what changed after I got that car, though?
But yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Was it a stick shift?
No, no, it was automatic.
I didn't know how to drive automatic.
Same here, same here, same here, yep.
And if I recall that year's Celica, that model was kind of a jelly bean, right, oh yeah, oh yeah, it was very rounded, very 90s.
Yeah, spoiler, it made it look even more ridiculous, but I think it was that spoiler that really got me into the import tuning culture from basically not knowing anything about cars to being obsessed with it, you know, within like a month or two.
Beautiful car.
Love the color.
Chris shared.
He's got a montage of his vehicles here that he's going to share with us and we'll put up on the site for you.
Now, did you, did you know that car was in the offing?
Did you know she was?
Had you picked it out?
Was she bringing it to you?
Was this a surprise?
She just pulls up and orders a meatball sub and oh, here's where it is, or what?
How'd that?
happen?
No, not exactly.
She hated a meatball sub so long story short For the record.
Yeah, I used to drive around her Cherokee, her Jeep Cherokee, and go pick all my friends up when I'm taking it out to the store and then go out all night.
And I think she got tired of that and just surprised me with this car.
It's like, hey, here's your own car and I thought it was pretty nice.
And I think my stepdad Ramon, he actually taught me how to work on cars.
I think he definitely had a hand in buying it at the auction Complete surprise.
Yeah, so you're working on cars with him.
That's interesting to me, kind of predated the getting of this car, so you would sort of learn at his feet, or did this car something so attractive, really kind of pull you in and he mentored you from there?
Yeah, he had a I think it was a 300Z, older 300Z oh wow, that he would work on and an old f-150, um, and yeah, I wouldn't really help him but watch him sometimes.
But uh, he didn't teach me how to do this stuff until I had my own car.
I thought it was pretty nice, you know, spark plugs, oil, uh, very nice changing the tire, all the basics and you mentioned the import tuner, so this celica did it.
I know we mentioned automatic.
Uh, I believe you said black.
Had anything been done to it before you got it?
uh, yeah, I don't know exactly what I come to think of it, but whenever I would get on the gas, like flooring, it would make some kind of weird high-pitched hum sound.
And it wasn't a turbo, but it was.
The car wasn't really stock and uh, yeah, eventually I think I floored it a little too much because I blew the engine on that car and that one was the car wasn't really stock and uh, yeah, eventually I think I floored it a little too much because I blew the engine on that car and that one was the.
The selica was red, um well, kind of maroon color, oh, red, thank you, yeah, you know, same color inside too.
Matching seats you know, I uh, I had two red cars, maybe I just had one and I got two.
I was probably 20.
I got two tickets in two weeks of each other.
Never bought a red car again.
That'll teach you.
That'll teach you to have fun and be stylish.
Now I'm my old age.
I might get a red car, just so people will see me.
You should.
Yeah, it's a good color for a minivan.
I hear yeah, bring it all full circle, so sorry if you said this before.
How long did you have the Celica?
Oh geez, must've been, let me think, less than two years, yeah, yeah, less than two years, until the engine went out.
And then I got the Prelude after that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
So before we move on to the Prelude, did you live at the same house with each of these four cars?
I'm just looking at the pictures and it kind of looks like all these are taken at the same place, or no?
Oh yeah.
Okay, yeah, it was a Dallas suburb about an hour outside of you know main city Dallas.
It's kind of a small highway town.
I guess you could say it's like you know cul-de-sac.
We didn't even lock the cars doors at night.
It was a different kind of environment than where we are now over here in Dallas.
But yeah, it was nice.
I had that Celica and the Prelude blasting me through college.
I like that.
Yeah, we were giving him a hard time before.
We chit-chat before each show and we were talking about how I was always jealous of people that lived in a cul-de-sac because it felt like this tight-knit community.
Jealous of people that lived in a cul-de-sac because it felt like this tight-knit community and you know, you had all these eyes inward looking at what was happening and you always knew the strange car coming by.
You did well, not.
Yeah, nothing can escape that many pairs of eyes.
And because it's a cul-de-sac, there's no through traffic.
You got to turn around if you're up to no good.
So I always thought that was kind of a cool exclusive community that would.
That would never have me anyway, that was a good prelude to the honda prelude indeed, and I see what you did there.
That was a terrible time, tell what.
Tell us about the prelude, how you found it.
Obviously you needed another car after the incident with the uh yeah, yeah, so the the celica engine blew and I it started me out.
And to this, you know import tuning culture because of the way that it came when my mom bought it.
But prelude, um, actually I customized that one quite a bit more like the performance and the visual part of it.
Um, learned a lot more about working on cars on that one.
Yeah, it was a lot more fun too.
Yeah, I lowered it, I had the bigger wheels, had the bolt-on performance modifications, all the tacky like early 2000s, you know visual modifications you can get, like the colorful badges and the gaudy stickers on the windshield, you name it.
It was there in loud.
Probably would have broke that new law in Detroit, hey, hey retroactively, you're going to owe Detroit a lot of money.
Oh, I mean Dallas, some city.
Was that car mostly stock and you modified it along the way.
Oh yeah, I bought a stock from a local dealer.
It lasted me a long time.
It got me all the way to college.
Maybe it's because it's a Honda, I don't know.
Yeah, probably.
I remember if it's the right car.
I remember when honda came out with that and it had a really neat dash and it had two digital gauges off to the right yeah, yeah, yeah, this was.
I remember that dash of that prelude.
It was probably the.
I wish they'd bring that back.
You see it in games like a video games, like cyberpunk, with these um 80s style dashes and cars and like it's all just reminds you of like one of those 80s watches you, you wear.
It's, uh, super cool.
I love that dash and you're absolutely right yeah, yeah, was there any um, before we talk about what you might have done, well, actually tie it all.
What was like your favorite feature of that car, whether it's the work you done, you did or what the car came with like, to me it was, hey, you went a little digital, that was cool, but you probably have something else um, yeah, I think the vtech uh, love the vtech engine that that one did have the vtech.
Um, some of them didn't, but that one did.
I think it was one of the first hondas to get vtech.
Actually, um, yeah, just uh, you know with the custom exhaust and vtech.
You get this.
Once you get past 6 000 rpm, it's just wake up the neighborhood yeah, yeah, I uh, I had a o2 honda s2000 so yeah, I'm familiar with that.
Really no power down low, but once you're over six grand to nine, right, the VTEC kicked in and it was like a push, like a shove.
It was a cool car.
So, yeah, big, big fan, maybe the spiritual successor to the Prelude, but you did some mods to it right, and you did some work in the I, I guess, uh, in the family garage, right no, we didn't have a garage.
Uh, I just did it on the outside.
You know, cul-de-sac actually had a, had a couple accidents out there.
A couple times the neighbors came out to kind of save my um, my hand or my leg.
Whatever the case may be, whoa nice thing about the cul-de-sac.
You didn't drive over your hand or anything.
No, I didn't really get all of the lessons that my stepdad taught me and you know I had a couple of jack failures and tools that I didn't use in the right way under the hood.
And, yeah, I had one situation where I was adjusting the coilovers I don't know if y'all remember coilovers.
I was adjusting the coilovers on this prelude and Jack failed and you know, my wrist got stuck between the tire and the wheel, well, and so I was stuck and yelling and neighbor came out to help.
It's a good guy, dave.
I still remember him.
Yeah, the things you learn.
Yeah, let's hear it for the cul-de-sac.
Yeah, the cul-de-sac crew.
So what happened to that Prelude?
It got you through college.
Yeah, so I moved from a small town to Dallas proper, had that car.
I was actually on the highway one time and I wasn't watching where I was going and some guy at the trailer pretty much just side swiped me.
But I still drove it for a while but ended up selling it to one of those cash for cars people.
I think it was about 600 bucks actually.
No, that's not right.
It was only like two or three hundred dollars when they bought it.
Piece of junk by the time it was done, though.
A lot of good memories in that car, but uh, yeah, yeah, sold it parts probably yep, yep, sounds like a parts car, but yeah, neat, neat.
And so, uh, gotta ask.
Obviously you have lots of cars, but who was the follow-up car?
How do you?
What do you go?
From celica to prelude?
Did you get a ferrari next, where'd you go?
uh, no, I had a um, I guess you could call it a I don't know a space or car, because it wasn't a fun car at all.
Um, ended up buying a 1990 dodge spirit which was like a kid car.
It was a light blue.
Uh, definitely didn't help me in the girlfriend department in college and it ran.
I think I bought it for about 800 bucks out in oklahoma and I had that for a couple years until, uh, I think I almost finished college and I got a different honda.
Yeah, but but a 1990 Spirit, a lot of fun.
Yeah, I have a funny story you're bringing me back.
My mom had a probably 1990 Dodge Spirit.
She ended up getting the one with the V6, and very into cars.
I think I had a Dodge Daytona back then, but this car had a V6.
We had this high school friend and he he had this 1985 Nissan 300ZX like the big wedge and he was always bragging how fast it was.
So we went on this road that nobody went on and we lined the cars up and I beat him in my mom's Dodge of all cars and he was just destroyed over it.
Now it was five years newer but this was a sports car, right, this was my mom's car.
It had a lot of torque.
And your mom will only discover that listening to this episode right now.
So we break news.
That's us breaking 30-year old news as quickly as possible.
I think the newsmakers call that a scoop.
Yeah, I hope my mom's not listening.
Retroactive grounding um, yeah, so uh, we were kind of nissan fans.
I ended up with a.
My best friend had a 300zx, a 1990 car I always wanted, but I ended up getting a 240sx, which was really one of the.
It was a 1990 car I always wanted but I ended up getting a 240SX, which was really one of the.
It was a great car.
And you know, I actually own a 9300ZX right now.
It's like five different colors, but that's a whole other story.
But the 240s, wow, that is like a tuner car.
It was a great car.
I didn't do anything to it but it handled really well.
It was just very well-tuned.
I called it the spiritual successor to the original Datsun 240Z.
It looked a little bit like it.
It was just a really great car.
Have you ever seen those, chris?
Oh yeah, I got a lot of story to share with the 240SX Coolest car, so my brother actually had two of those.
Oh, this is my older brother, so 240, number one, it was a hatchback right.
That's what mine was.
It was an 89.
Nice, I think his was maybe the same, I don't remember, but it's funny because he went on a trip, I think, and I surprised him when he got home by installing a short-ram air intake on his 240 just to give it a little pep, like I need more, more for sound.
But uh, his second 240sx, uh, we were living together in college and it was a 95, so it's a different body style okay, yeah, second gen yep and uh, if he's gonna be listening to this, he's gonna be, he's gonna kill me.
but uh, I used to take that car out at night when he was sleeping because I wanted to learn how to drift and I hadn't driven a real wheel drive car before, and I'd take it out to like an abandoned parking garage and have some fun with it.
And eventually he would ask me he's like hey, what'd you do to my car?
And of course I denied everything.
And you know it was all me, sorry, man.
After, I think it's almost 20 years later, but it was, it was all me, sorry man.
Um, after I think it's, uh, almost 20 years later.
It was me sorry, but you know you got a car dealership now, so I think you're okay indeed, yeah.
So a lot, of, a lot of love for cars in the family, obviously.
Car dealership, oh yeah yeah, yeah, he's got a car dealership out here in Dallas about smaller one.
It's not like the giant ones, cool, cool, we should have him on the show.
Oh yeah, if you're still alive after this episode, feel free to give him our contact info.
We'll edit all of that out for a fee.
Let's talk about your current car a little bit.
I'm curious about this bit.
I'm curious about this.
Yeah, um, I was right before the pandemic, I guess.
Um, I bought a, um, it was a.
It's only a couple years old now, I guess, um, maybe a little bit before the pandemic.
Uh, subaru wrx and uh, I've always wanted an all-wheel drive turbo car that was new, not used, because if you've ever bought a used wrx, it's just a time bomb Cause it's probably been used, probably been abused, but yeah yeah, it's, yeah, yeah, buy a tuner like yourself.
Somebody's brother took it out in the middle of the night.
You know, absolutely yeah, but mine's I call it stock plus because even though it's fast and capable of being a full-fledged sports car with modifications, I've kept it stock because I love the way the car drives and I couldn't be happier with the way it drives in stock format it's not the the latest models, one right before they did they uh added the bigger engine.
But it is a lot of fun.
Every day I drive it almost every day.
I drive it to gym or somewhere else and I love it to death.
Took it out to the track once.
Um, there's a track out here called motorsport ranch and they let you.
You know it's not even that expensive, it's just like a small fee.
You pay a small fee and they teach you how to drive on the track and let you, at it, probably get a good hour track time and you know it's got a lot of corners.
Uh, it's maybe a mile, um, from start to finish track, maybe a little more, but it's a lot of fun out there, especially in that car.
I just about to say you got the right car for it.
Yeah, oh yeah, I'm an amateur With the instruction whatnot how fast.
I assume this is an oval track right, something like that.
Oh, no, no, no, it's got.
It's got a lot of corners and, uh, I think the fastest you can actually get up to.
Well, in my car which my car is not slow, but it's not, you know, it's not like a steam ray, um, it's uh, I got it up to about 90.
Um, and then it's just constant.
You know, learned a lot about driving like on a track, like it's just constant flooring it and then constant hard braking for a long period of time.
I really learned a lot about driving that day.
Yeah, and I bet you were exhausted afterwards, right?
Oh yeah, just stopping turning right, I don't know how long it was, and actually one of our previous guests who also lives in Dallas, he had taken his Infiniti I want to say it was G35, G37, to a track out there.
It might have been the exact same track.
Might have been.
It's pretty popular.
It's in a Crescent.
That sounds like such a blast.
I feel cheated that I don't have one near me.
Can we get the link to that and kind of put that on the site?
It just sounds like so much fun.
The uh that puts it on.
It's called track night.
In america they have a lot of different tracks they go to.
I think it was like 150 bucks and, yeah, you get the helmet, uh, the training, and then you get to go out there like three or four times.
It's great wow, that is a good deal.
How uh, how long do you have for that uh amount?
um, I think I went out four times um and it's about 15 to 20 minutes each.
Okay, and you know there's rules.
I broke a couple of them because I'm an amateur.
They flagged me down a couple of times, Not proud of that, but, you know, learned a lot.
Took out some cones, things like that.
Good cone had it coming.
Yeah, definitely keep your windows down your front.
Two windows are going to flag you for it.
Definitely keep your windows down your front.
Two windows are going to flag you for it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, cause you got to be able to hear them.
And vice versa.
Yep, absolutely.
Good deal.
Well, we are at, uh, I knew this would happen.
I knew once we got into it, time would fly.
We're past 30 minutes, but Chris does what we found to be some really interesting volunteer work.
So this is, uh, the part of the show where we just sort of pause and let the guests speak about their causes and things that they're passionate about Could be automotive related or not.
And, chris, if you would like to share what you had shared with us on your dossier, I'd love that, sure.
Let's see, about six years ago I wanted to.
You know I work in tech software.
It's kind of, you know, busy work and I wanted to actually spend my time doing something good.
So I started doing some volunteer work for it's mostly just administrative work for a hospice organization and you know that's doesn't take a lot of effort.
Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but bless your soul.
On a hospice, those people are angels.
Bless your soul.
I mean.
That is such an amazing mission.
It's touched my life.
Same with Doug.
I didn't mean to interrupt.
Please continue.
No, you're good and I do not want to take a lot of credit for this, because I don't actually go and volunteer, like a lot of really really good people do.
I just do some admin work.
It takes a team.
It takes a team.
Yeah, that's great man.
Yeah, but really where my passion lies is the work I do, a volunteer work for my.
There's two different nonprofits I do work and we're basically trying to create the designs for space habitation One for Luna, which is the moon, and two for Mars, and we have a couple of different concepts that were thrown at.
Some of the big space commerce is coming up.
Companies are the nonprofits that work for their Mars Foundation and the Space Development Network, and right now we're working on a concept for retrofitting the Starship into a.
I think there will be three-floor habitat for people to be living on the moon for more than like a couple of days and, yeah, we're showing that pretty soon.
But, uh, yeah, we've made a lot of different concepts in the past couple years um, actually it's about a year now.
I've been doing work for them for different habitats on mars and the moon.
How did you get involved in that and what you know?
We've all looked up and say, hey, there's some cool stuff going on, but you went and did something with it.
I'm just wondering how you uh, got connected with these guys.
Um yeah yeah.
so I was on a trail walk my buddy evan maybe he's listening, um and he has asked me what I would do if I do anything, and I'd say I'd create the communities that we're going to be living on in mars and you know, in the future.
And so I actually watched some youtube about youtube videos about this a couple days later and, uh, saw some of the guys that are actually making waves in the space and reached out to one of them and he got me connected to the other one and mostly it's two guys right now that do this.
They're really connected in the industry.
That's awesome, thank you for sharing.
Thank you for sharing.
That's important work.
You're a passionate guy about a lot of things and definitely about what you just shared with us.
So, as we come up on the end of this episode, we just wanted to touch briefly on some of our stats.
If we look out over the past seven days, we can see that we are being listened to in eight countries and territories, 81 cities everywhere, from Virginia, mid-atlantic or the Florida Gulf Coast which is understandable because that's where the two co-hosts hail from.
But top apps, where people get a hold of us only 62% of our audience comes from Apple Podcasts.
18% come from the web browser, which I thought was interesting 6% from Spotify I thought that number would be higher and then Overcast and Chromecast in single digits.
This is the part that I love to geek out on Last five episodes.
Top countries and territories only 90% from the United States, 4% from Germany, 3% Canada, 1% from United Kingdom and 0% oh that must be rounding error from Australia.
So we're truly around the world.
Thanks for everyone who boosts, shares, posts and tells by word of mouth.
We appreciate it all and that's how we grow and widen the audience and for the show to survive, it grows.
Just want to thank you, chris, so much for being on the show.
It was just great to get to know you Very interesting guy with a fantastic memory, sense of humor and thanks for your passion and volunteer work.
So thank you, chris.
Thank you, chris, and we should mention how we got connected with Chris in this wonderful connected world.
So, one of our previous podcast guests, dora, who apparently is I haven't driven with her, she's a good friend, but I think she was neighbors with you, chris, her and her husband, and, as you know, she has a passion for cars.
But uh, you guys were neighbors and uh, maybe you could tell uh real quick if she told you about the podcast after she was on it.
Just wondering how we all got connected sure, yeah, um, so dora and andreas great friends, so I know andreas.
Before he met Dora, we were neighbors when he lived in Dallas and yeah, I go out to Austin and visit him sometimes and love hanging out with them.
Good people.
I think last time I saw him they were back here in Dallas on the trip.
But yeah, I will say one thing I've driven on the track and 20 years ago I've been on the street race.
But when Dora drives, drives, oh my lord, she is the fastest driver I think I've ever been in a passenger seat with.
Wow street racing without the title culture yeah, and not like an impatient driver, she's just, she just drives fast because she likes driving fast oh yeah, and she'll.
She'll do it while on the phone and then and type an email at the same time oh, noted, dora be careful Not to start a binge, but I think we did.
It's what we do we stir the pot.
Yeah, well, hopefully we'll have Dora back on sometime soon and, Chris, love to have you on your brother.
Your friends tell them about the show.
Carslovecom.
And, of course, chris, you mentioned several of the podcast platforms.
We're on all the major ones.
Please follow.
We're going to do some mixing up of things for season two, where we're going to have some guest hosts that actually interview Christian and or myself on different episodes.
We both have a lot to talk about cars Probably me more than anyone, versus Christian at least, but a big fan of cars and thanks to Christian for pushing me to start this, love having him as my co-host and, yeah, we're going to have some fun.
So, please just follow, subscribe, whatever you got to do.
We're going to have new episodes coming out and season two is going to have some twists Excellent.
Yeah, thanks so much, guys.
Great, check us out Carslovecom, carslovecom, doug at carslovecom, or Christian at carslovecom, carslovecom, dougatcarslovecom or christianatcarslovecom, to all the cars I've loved before, on all the platforms where you stream your podcast.
Have a great day, everybody.
We'll see you next time.
About this episode
Chris shares his journey from a 90s Toyota Celica to a Subaru WRX, detailing his evolution in the import tuning culture. He recounts the thrill of street racing, the challenges of modifying cars, and the lessons learned from working on them with his stepdad. The discussion also touches on a proposed noise ordinance in Michigan, sparking a debate on car modifications and regulations. Chris's passion for cars is matched by his dedication to volunteer work in space habitation design, showcasing his diverse interests.
When Chris's mom surprised him at Subway with a maroon Toyota Celica GT complete with giant spoiler and chrome wheels, she unknowingly created an import tuner for life. Within months, the "sandwich artist" went from not caring about cars to obsessed—then promptly blew the engine.
Next came a Honda Prelude Si that Chris transformed with coilovers, VTEC screams, and every tacky early 2000s mod imaginable. But the real education came from near-death experiences: jack failures in the cul-de-sac, neighbors rushing out to save his wrist crushed between tire and wheel well. Lesson learned—the hard way.
The confessions keep coming: Chris secretly borrowed his brother's 240SX at night to teach himself drifting in abandoned parking garages. Sorry, bro—20 years later, the truth is out.
Now driving a Subaru WRX that's "stock plus," Chris finally took it to the track at Motorsport Ranch, hitting 90 mph and learning what real driving feels like. When he's not at the gym or track, he volunteers designing space habitats for Mars and the moon.
From blown engines to Mars colonies—Chris proves car passion takes you places.
But it’s not all about horsepower; Chris also reflects on how these fast cars kept him on track (literally and figuratively) during life’s twists. If you’ve ever cheered at a drag strip or daydreamed about a perfect launch, Chris’s story will ignite your engines – blending fast-car fun with the emotional undercurrent of a life driven by passion and perseverance.
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