What do you mean by Break/Fix? #fellowship
BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show
What do you mean by Break/Fix? #fellowship
BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show · Jun 30, 2020
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Grand Touring Motorsports started as a social group of car enthusiasts, but we've expanded
into all sorts of motorsports disciplines and we want to share our stories with you.
Years of racing, wrenching, and motorsports experience brings together a top-notch collection
of knowledge and information through our podcast, Break Fix.
What's going on everybody?
This is Brad, your host here, and I'm with crew chief Eric.
We've got a couple other people on the line.
Today's topic is about the origins of why we're called Break Fix.
Before we get into why we're called Break Fix, we're going to explain, we have to understand
what fellowship means.
And Merriam-Webster's Dictionary Defines Fellowship is a community of interest, activity, feeling,
or experience, a company of equals or friends.
We are proud to say that GTM as a whole epitomizes this sentiment.
And over the years, we have definitely banded together in times of need.
So what that really means is we've had a lot of things happen here at GTM, mostly good
things but some bad, cars breaking because we all go out on track and everything.
But we all get together as a community and as a circle of friends to help in a nutshell
why we're Break Fix.
But we're going to get into more detail with that now.
So Eric, take us off.
Yeah, so with us tonight is also our special guest, Regent Ford Chief, Mount Man Dan.
And he has a lot to say about fellowship and the way this group bands together and whatever.
So I'm actually going to turn the torture over to him and let him share his sentiment
and his feelings.
And before Dan kicks in, he has a lot to say about a lot of things, not just fellowship.
He's just got a lot to say.
So now we'd like to hear what he has to say.
Well that being said, I am a plethora of useless knowledge.
I've always been a firm believer, you know, talking is always a great thing.
So that's how you get to know people and everything.
And that's one of the great things about this club and the fellowship aspect is everybody
gets together, they talk.
And it's not just cars that we talk about.
We talk about family things.
We talk about our history, you know, for myself being a veteran and the other guys in the
club that are veterans and that tight-knit feeling of that camaraderie that military
people when we transition to civilian life, it's hard to find.
And as I've spoke with Eric about previously, that camaraderie and family feeling is a hard
thing to find for me as a veteran.
This club has given me that sense of that again that I used to have when I was in the
military with the guys that I would go out on trips with and stuff.
So that is a great thing.
And unlike most clubs, we actually will go out of our way to help each other because
some clubs it's just like a status quo type thing.
But our guys, if you're in need for something, whether it be just simple knowledge or you
need a part or, you know, a toe, if you don't have it, you call someone in the club and
they're quick to respond.
And that's one of the greatest things about this club.
So let's take a trip down memory lane here.
I'll read off some things that have transpired over the years that maybe some of the guys
that are sitting in listening to the podcast will remember.
At the event where I met the Crutchfields and I had a major break failure in turn five
at some point where I had a line rupture and I went straight off into the grass and, you
know, things are catching fire, all sorts of nasty stuff is going on.
And Mike, who I had just met not long before that, you know, came to my rescue, came to
help out.
And with our other good friend, Matthew got the car basically to a point where we could
put it somewhere and I could work on it later.
And you know, I was in a position then where I wasn't really toeing the car yet.
I had this funky dolly and we weren't getting it up on there.
And it was an absolute disaster.
And it was so nice of those guys to go out of their way to help me out.
And you know, especially Mike, we had one of our members in a Miata, Rob, he went off
backwards at turn 10 at Watkins Glen and put the car, put his Miata on the wall.
And I remember me and a bunch of other guys that were there and my wife, we all ran to
Rob's rescue.
And next, you know, we're in the paddock with, you know, baseball bats and hammers and wrenches
and stuff trying to pull the Miata back straight again.
And we got him in a position where he could, you know, drive that car back home because
he was in, he was also in the position where he didn't have a trailer either.
How many times have I broken axles?
Or I broken axles or somebody else has broken an axle on my car trying to do something stupid
on the skid pad.
How did you know that would be?
Various things like that.
I mean, I've, yeah, my car has been down several times at the track and Eric is always
the first one among others to jump in and have it fixed.
One of my favorite times was it wasn't even a track event, it was an autocross.
And we showed up to the autocross.
I can't remember if you brought your car or not.
But we were there at the autocross.
We were helping out with Corvette Club.
It was a Corvette Club autocross.
And I think I signed up for the morning sessions.
I get out there for my first heat, break an axle right off the line.
Car doesn't even move.
I move 10 feet and I break an axle.
I warned you though.
That start was uphill and I said, man, this is going to be an axle breaker.
And you just looked at me and were like, I'll take it easy.
It'll be fine.
Well, about two hours later and we went to the store, got some lunch, got another axle,
put it in the car and then went to start off again.
And didn't we break another axle?
I think we broke broken.
This time it was a different axle.
It was the other side.
And I happened to have a spare in the truck left over from the previous track event weekend.
And we did three axle changes in, I don't know, the course of an hour.
I'll never forget Pat Rooney from the Corvette Club comes up and they were shocked.
They were like, you guys are going at it again.
And Pat Rooney turns to his Corvette Club buddies.
He goes, don't worry about those track guys.
I mean, they're going to rebuild the engine between the next run.
I mean, that was, that's probably my most memorable is as far as something that actually
happened to me.
And then there's always the Viking line, you know, things where I had a brake failure
at VIR and I took the shortest line between two points to get to Oak tree.
I just cut the rest of the track.
I cut what four turns out just to go straight to Oak tree.
Yeah, that's this is why listeners, we have the Viking off road adventurer award, which
Dan has also been a recipient of.
Would you care to talk about that particular situation?
If I must, but before I get onto that subject, I will say Brad may have broken some axles,
but I think Judd holds the highest number of axles broken in the club.
That just seems to be something.
It's a cloud that hangs over his head so badly.
And I feel bad for him because he's another guy without a trailer.
So hopefully this season that's going to be rectified.
I'll be seeing him tomorrow and hopefully we'll resolve that issue for him.
Speaking of Judd and before you get into your story, I must say that Daniel is the epitome
of fellowship.
And I'm going to explain why because last year in October, it's cold as hell outside.
Judd drove five hours, six hours from his house in Northern Virginia all the way to
Watkins Glen broke his axle on the first with the second day.
It was Saturday, right?
He broke his axle.
Have a three day event.
I have a three day event.
He's ho humming around trying to figure out how to get the car home.
Daniel, who was out there with his daughter, I don't even think he had his car with him.
Daniel, did you have your car with you?
No, I didn't have my car because it had unfortunately died and the engine was no good at that point.
Yeah, but you were up there.
You had your truck with you.
Nothing will hang out.
Yeah. And you said, you know what, Judd?
I will go home, get a trailer, come back, get your car and take it back home.
So you did what, 17 hours or 15 hours in one night?
Oh, it felt that way.
But luckily, instead of having to come back to Maryland to get one from New York, luckily
one of the guys in the club, Harry, said, Hey, he's like, just use mine and take him
home and then you can bring my trailer back so I can have it.
So luckily, we went ahead and we did a retrieval because Judd didn't break down at track.
He was actually on his way home about maybe 10 minutes away from track when the axle decided
to die on him.
And he didn't have a spare.
And prior to that, we called around none of the parts stores had any in stock and a 45
minute radius.
I called various different junkyards that I could get a hold of that were open.
No one had any that were available.
And then before Harry offered his trailer, we were actually calling around trying to
find a rental trailer from U-Haul.
They didn't have any within like a two hour radius.
And then I even went on to like Craig's List and Facebook Marketplace trying to find car
dollies and trailers that we could buy for cheap just to get him home.
And did you do something similar for Kerwin at pit race or you met him like halfway or
something like that?
That I did after hitting the wall.
Yes.
Yeah.
And that was.
But we're talking about trailer swapping here.
And it's funny you bring that up because I see Mike, you know, listening in the wings
and here's a story I'm sure he'll never forget because I know it sat with him, maybe a little
sideways, but we were at VIR and my student money shifted this TTRS that he had, you know,
flames.
And what a story that was, right?
That was the day I learned that VIR has a volunteer fire department.
It's the instructor's job to put out the fire in the vehicle.
I will never forget that.
But that being said, Brad had volunteered my trailer to take home some guys BMW that
had exploded.
And then I don't remember how it all worked out.
And then it was like, Mike, you ended up taking home the TT and then there was all this big
car shuffle and all sorts of craziness.
Do you remember how that played out?
I came back from being on track and another car was now on my trailer that I had to tow
home.
So we'll blame Chris.
Oh, it gets better.
And you would all have left, but put the car too far forward on my trailer.
I forgot about that.
So I'm driving home and my truck's trying to lose control.
And so I actually had to pull over and use the ratchet straps to reposition the car on
my trailer so that I could actually make it home.
And then the part you guys probably didn't know about, I didn't want Chris to drive
in home because she was tired as hell, but she's driving the bug home.
And she had a little Dukes of hazard moment going over median because we were turning
on back onto a dark road after filling up and you actually couldn't see the median.
And so she actually went through the grass and jumped off a curb behind me.
So that was an adventure.
So what you're telling me, Mike, is no good D goes unturned.
Oh, yeah.
That was a bit of a punishment there.
And I think that was the year I had the BMW.
So somebody drove the car home because I had tags on it or whatever.
But again, we're going out of our way to make sure that even people outside of our organization
are safe and they get home OK.
And whatever we're always looking out for the little guy as Brad said at the beginning
conversation.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, we got to let Daniel tell his story now.
I took us down this tangent.
Oh, that's true.
We got to get back to Daniel and wrecking at NJMP with my wheels on his car.
So he thought we were going to forget.
You're a good point there, Brad.
Let's go back to that.
You're never going to let me live this up, are you, Brad?
Nope.
OK, so we're up at NJMP.
The backstory of the car is actually bought it from a used car lot in DC, picked it up
for $1,000, drug it to Jersey, unloaded it, wound up having just street tires on it.
And Brad wasn't at that event.
So Eric was like, hey, I got Brad's other wheels on the front of my trailer.
Let's throw them one here.
I'm like, OK, cool.
So me used to say for the rest of that season, Brad's wheels and tires.
Yes, main can't see.
Brad's wheels and tires were on my car.
So I was down.
Surprisingly, those tires did well and they treated me great for the amount of time that
I put them on track.
Until they didn't.
Well, you or you back up behind a wall with Mike and his BMW on the same tires.
Even after it put me in the wall, they still lasted for, I think, two more events.
But the event in question, it was when the hurricane was coming up the coast and it was
torrential rains.
The water was running across different parts of the track.
I would start on the inside of a line and what upon on the outside of the track because
I had your plane to the outside of the track.
But I was compensating for that one.
This is where I would normally hold the middle or outside of the track for going into it.
But as the water conditions, I was purposely shooting to the inside so I wouldn't go off
track by that exit of that turn.
My ego was getting the best of me and I was chasing down a Chevy SS, which on a dry day,
I would have never had a chance to even keep up with in a parking spot.
I'm chasing them down, chasing them down.
And one of our club members, Gordon, was the coach for the guy I'm chasing down.
We're coming up right before you go under the bridge and the water had made its way
out on track farther than it had previous laps.
And I went from straight to sideways in a matter of seconds and slid into the tire wall and
did a 180-degree spin and stopped underneath the bridge.
One of the first thoughts I had because I had Brad's wheels on there that were not easily
accessible wheels that are a couple of months wait period to get, first thought in my mind
of please tell me the wheels are okay.
So that's how that happened.
But that's not the only car that NJ&P has collected over the years.
I remember vividly when Shane with his green 911, he had a tragic transmission failure
and it whipped that car around and put him off backwards and basically crushed the rear
end of it.
And we had to figure out how to get him home and that kind of stuff.
And he spent the better part of the rest of the season trying to get that car back in
shape and it's all been taken care of.
But that was another instance where it's like, hey, one of our guys is in trouble.
Also reminds me of Sam at Lime Rock where he swiped left turn and on tires with 10 pounds
of air in them.
And we spent the day trying to get him straightened out and stuff like that.
But I don't know, those moments, they're scary, right?
And I feel for the guys on our team and in our group and you see something like that happen.
And for me, I end up dropping everything and I'm full bore running across the paddock.
How can I get in there?
And I'm usually not the only one.
I got guys right behind me doing the same thing.
And they're scary, but we band together and we pull out of it.
But I'll leave it there.
But Dan, that's not the first time we've had to help you with a Jetta.
If I recall, you hit the back of a landscape truck and we had to rebuild one of your Jettas
in a weekend while somebody was asleep on the couch.
I don't recollect the events from the question.
No, so speaking of the Jetta, you're speaking of it.
It was actually a Durango that I caught the back end of.
The story changes now years later.
No, it was a Durango originally, but that was actually your old track car, TDI.
I'd wound up getting that off of you and we converted it back to road use and became
my daily driver.
You see people.
I told you in the last episode that TDI makes a comeback.
I was heading home on the GW Parkway and the guys out there on the landscaping, one of
them was on a zero turn and shot out into the passing lane and multiple cars in front
of me jammed their brakes on and I did as well and wound up tagging the rear end of
the Durango and it's sitting higher.
It crumpled up the hood, buckled the passenger fender back and everything.
I got out and didn't realize until later someone had actually tagged the back corner of the
car as well.
I may have been pushed a little bit into the Durango.
I actually drove that car home with it all mangled like that, chose to fix it myself instead
of taking it to a shop because they determined it was going to be totaled through them.
I bought it back, rebuilt it and put it back on the road but Brad and Eric came up and
graciously decided to help me and against my wishes Eric superseded and outruled my
decision.
It's called a veto there my friend.
A veto.
Yeah.
Well as you know.
For the sake of expediency.
The other option was a hard liquid Jetta and you weren't a big fan of that.
But it would have just been two panels, different colors.
With that being said, with Mike here with us it reminded me of another story.
Didn't you end up doing something with Jasper?
He blew up his Subaru or something like that?
Yeah, well he's blown up his Subaru like three times.
At least one of those times I towed him back to Rockville from Summit Point and then came
back to the track for the next day.
Wasn't that after he had just got the motor fixed?
It was like pop boom done?
Yeah, but I think that time it was because someone from the shop had stolen his new parts
and put used parts on his new motor.
So he got a replacement motor for that for free.
But that's not the only time we've done engine swaps.
I mean you guys came to Kenny's rescue with that God awful fusion engine he tried to put
in the Miata.
How did that go down?
Well, we learned that you need to do a Miata engine swap on a lift because the engine must
come out the bottom.
It gives birth.
It doesn't give chuck.
It took us 12 hours to get the motor out the top of a Miata, I think, because we kept
also just missing one wire and then one more wire and then eventually it was just the ground
wire was still holding the motor in.
Luckily Eric wasn't involved because the solzol would have gotten it out of the top much quicker.
Oh, you mean like when we took off the front of a Bronco?
We couldn't figure out how to get the front end off so we just cut it off.
That was one of my, that was the best day of my life.
Do you know how much enjoyment I get cutting a car apart with a solzol?
It's just a guilty pleasure.
I don't know.
That was like unleashing a demon right there.
But that was another event too.
Matt called us up and he goes, I need help, right?
And we all know, well, I guess the listeners don't know, but Matt's not in the greatest
of health these days and he does need a lot more help and things like that.
But when he bought that Bronco, I mean, what, he bought two of them, much like his two Landrovers
making one good one out of those.
But you know, there was like what, 10 or 12 of us over there trying to extract that engine
and drivetrain because that was going into a Fox body Mustang that had just suffered
a catastrophic failure.
So there's a lot of that paying it forward and there are good stories and there are a
lot of fun.
And sometimes, I mean, sign me up.
If it's something new to work on, I'm interested in learning to turn wrenches on it.
One for that part is I think I was the only guy there that was familiar with domestic
cars.
So I turned into the connoisseur of knowing what should be taken out in what order and
the fact that the undercarriage that was as rusty as it was, I think I wanted to wear
more rust out of there than the truck had on to begin with.
But rule number one is to make sure your Sawzall is charged.
So you brought up the behind the wall incident at Watkins Glen.
What are my favorites?
I do I do have to defend myself there.
I got grip.
I got grip.
Well, one, you almost didn't make it to that weekend.
That's true.
Because we had to fix your E36 before we hit the road.
And then we got up to Watkins Glen and it was the first track event since they had repaved
the track.
So they were being very specific.
If you are dropping fluids, you must get off the track or you're going to get hit with
a big fine, yada, yada, yada.
So we're out on track and we're going down the front stretch and turn into turn one and
it's wet and a giant plume of smokes coming out the back of my car.
And all I'm thinking about is, oh my God, what kind of bill am I going to get from Watkins
Glen?
And so there's traffic behind me and outside of turn one of Watkins Glen is a massive paved
area.
And, you know, if you're watching a NASCAR race, they're all over it.
They're way out there.
I took the car all the way out there, but there's not a really safe spot to stop except
there's one spot where you can back behind the wall.
So I hop over the curb, pull out wide and then...
Yeah, without saying anything to me.
I'm like, what the hell are we doing?
I pop out.
We're going for a snuggle.
I slam on the brakes, throw it in reverse and back behind the wall.
And Eric's like, what the hell is going on?
Fortunately, the flagger...
I think the corner worker said the same thing because he's looking at us and I'm looking
at him and everybody's confused except for you.
So eventually the session ends, they let us...
We're safe.
So they let us sit there the entire session and right across from us, across the track
was a fence.
So a tow truck came through the fence, came over to us and they're like, so what's going
on?
I thought I was dropping fluid.
So I went to get off the track and they actually said, okay, thank you for doing that.
They looked under the car and you're like, oh, you're fine.
Just drive back up this way.
So we hit the car into the paddock, I look underneath and the muffler is coated in grease.
I'm trying to figure out where the hell this came from and it was actually the seal on
the output shaft of the differential was failing.
And so every time the suspension compressed, it pulled the axle out just a little bit and
was spraying hot differential grease right on the muffler.
So that was what those giant plums of smoke were for.
So the solution to that was to cut the muffler off, right?
I think that's where we went.
No, I just parked it.
And now that might have contributed to the lack of grip in turn seven on the NKs as well.
Just a little bit.
Hey, you didn't hit the wall.
You were up close to the wall.
You were extremely confident.
No worries there.
But you know, and that goes along with it too, and everything that we're talking about,
there's this trust factor, right?
It's kind of unspoken.
We've all grown together in this organization, in this club, and there's some unsaid things.
You just know that, for lack of a better way to put it, when the shit hits the fan, you've
got people behind you, right?
And I go to those events and I joke, you know, today's a good day to die.
The whole Klingon battle cry.
But I know there's a team of people behind me.
There's a team of people behind all of us.
And it's happened to countless people.
I mean, another example that comes to mind, hashtag I used to track, Doug and his Mitsubishi
when he went off in the rain.
And I know it rattled him and everything like that.
He doesn't like to admit it.
I'm going to admit it for him.
It's okay.
But you know, as soon as he came in, there were six or eight of us on top of that car,
making sure that, hey, he was okay first.
And then it didn't spoil his weekend, despite the fact that it started to snow.
And we got that car back in ship shape so he could get out there and enjoy himself and
do stuff like that.
I was just going to say, I just think as a club, maybe Watkins Glen is best not to go
to.
We had to collect some cars.
Gordo with his massive coolant spill.
There was me when my brake line ruptured in a braking zone on the bug.
It's true.
I forgot about that.
That was that was a fun day.
This is why I carry spare brake lines now just in case.
Oh, God, who else?
Quite the list of people who have had less than stellar ends to their weekend at Watkins
Glen.
It's true.
And that's not to detract anybody from going because believe me, Watkins Glen is an experience
and a half.
And we're going to talk about that in another episode.
It's definitely worth going.
Just respect it.
That's what I'm going to say.
Come prepared.
You're far enough away that you need to bring spare everything.
The blue charberry is not forgiving.
100%.
I mean, let's talk about cursed cars, right?
I mean, could the wades have any worse luck with that mini Cooper, right?
We've seen fire.
We've seen blood.
We've seen hornets.
I mean, soon he's going to have to sacrifice a lamb or something to get the curse off of
that car.
But I mean, I'll never forget when he came in at the time, we were competing in the time
trial and I think Mikey were there too.
And he comes in and we're like, Steve, the car's on fire.
He said, what do you mean?
And that was the second time that I've been on fire because I was in it coaching John at
Watkins Glen and there's there's fire pouring out from underneath of it when the when the
power steering caught on fire.
And that's a known defect of the car.
It's not a fault of the track.
The second time when it Chernobyl, the engine, I mean, how many of us were there ready, prepared
with fire extinguishers, making sure a he got the hell out of it because he didn't realize
he was on that flames were coming out of the wheel wells.
But you know, holy cow.
Well, the flood was the overnight flood was impressive too.
That was that was a sad thing to watch is the car actually was floating at about a 45
degree angle because the ascent had just floated up in the water and it turned on all the lights
on the car.
It was it was a sad thing to watch.
Well, we were talking about, you know, on track with fluid spills and things like that.
Eric decided to go for a ride along with me up at the summit.
And it was one or two events after when I put the car in the wall in Jersey, and I was back
out on track and running the Nankings.
And so we're coming around one of the turns and we start to go in.
And of course, we had the chatterbox on so Eric and I could talk.
And I'm like, Eric, I was like, I got no steering.
And he's like, what do you mean?
You got no steering.
I'm like, I had no steering because like the apparently the from the impact at Jersey,
I didn't realize it had shifted the power steering line up against the fan.
And it was slowly cutting through the through the belt for the power steering.
And I'm trying to go into the turn steering got extremely heavy where I could barely turn
the tire.
And so we managed to get through that turn without going off track.
And I slowed down and we limped our way off track.
And that was another thing to comment on the fellowship.
Get back in the paddocks and Matt was there visiting and he's like, well, let me ask around
the pack.
So he starts asking around guys that he knew might have had parts.
No one had any.
And he was willing to, he even called guys that he knew around the area because when
I'd called the parts stores locally, none of them had it in stock.
And so he called up one of his friends that just happened to be a Volkswagen guy.
He's like, let me check and I'll get back in.
I might have one just laying around.
He used the boat on the car to get back on track.
But that's the thing, calling people that aren't even there, part
of the club and using our resources, we do that to help each other out.
And just to piggyback on something you guys will hear later on in another episode about
what car should you buy.
I think a good procedure when picking a track car is to call the local parts stores near
the track and find out if they have parts for any of these cars you're thinking about
getting.
If you're thinking of getting a C6 Corvette, they may have a couple parts for that.
If you're looking at tracking a Triumph, good luck, bring an entire spare car with you because
they're not going to have that stuff.
Yeah.
Have front wheel drive, wheel travel with axles.
I mean, that's the rule.
That's why we all have pickup trucks in vans so we can bring an entire spare car with
us.
Right.
And to that effect, right, that's the fixed side of the brake fix here that we've been
talking about.
And we have a thing inside a GTM called the tool treasury.
And a lot of us, especially on this call, we have specialty tools, things that we've
invested in that nobody else has and they're for specific jobs.
I know Mike has a lot of BMW stuff and Dan has a ton of things for the domestics and
I got all the Schwaben tools you can think of.
But that being said, they're open to borrow whenever you need it.
Just reach out to the people that have them.
We keep a catalog of that stuff to say, hey, these guys have these parts.
That way, don't waste your time.
Don't waste your money.
Oh, by the way, that other tool doesn't work.
But if you need it, give me a buzz and we'll help each other out.
But that also led us into our DIY days where we get together at the beginning of the year
to work on various cars to make sure that everybody's ready for the season.
I need to work on this.
It inevitably ends in somebody getting an engine pulled, but it's usually me.
But those are great events and they're learning events too.
And that's also part of something we talked about in the first episode is this education
that we try to do and how we try to get back.
And we're always mentoring the guys in the club, especially those that aren't wrench
turners and we have a lot of professional wrench turners in our group.
And it's good to pass that along.
And if I can just throw in one more story before we wrap this up here.
Speaking about some of those guys that are not wrench turners, we've had this one member,
Andrew, who at the time had a C6 Corvette.
He was very green.
This is probably what, his third event or something like that coming up to the track
in New Jersey and JMP.
He didn't have anything with him.
He drove the car up there.
He maybe brought a pair of spare shoes or something in his 50 pound dumbbells because
he's a gym bro.
He had brake failure.
He went off and turned one because he put the pedal to the floor, had no brakes.
And we got the car back from the paddock and we're looking at the car and he had nothing.
I mean, his pads were down to the backing plate.
So we rallied to help this guy who had no tools, no real experience, not a wrench turner
himself.
We got his car towed to somebody else's house.
One of our crew chiefs, Harry, towed his car, did the brake job for him, brought the car
back to him, I believe.
I think Andrew actually had Harry's spare car or something and drove it or whatever.
But anyway, he got his car back.
Fast forward to a couple more events a year forward.
Now Andrew's doing his own brake jobs, is doing his own maintenance and stuff on his
motorcycles and various other cars.
And all of that is stuff that he learned, not just from club members, helping him and
showing him, but also just, he got the itch.
He got the itch that he wanted to be able to do this stuff himself.
And I think the club helped propel him into that mindset and that mode.
That particular story, and it brought to mind one story that we've been avoiding here, which
I think all of us were involved in.
And that was summer bash four.
We have a couple that was sharing a car and one driver puts the car in the wall and crunches
up the left side of the car.
And they're like, oh my God, now what do we do?
And this was well before John and Aaron were towing tires around in spare parts and all
those kinds of things.
And I know John's an overly prepared guy when it comes now to go into these track events.
But he's like, you know, this is his daily driver.
Like, what do I do with the Mustang now?
And we had people going out of their way.
We had that car apart, like the suspension completely drawn down in about an hour.
And then we had a couple of people go out of their way.
And this is a big shout out to Matt.
And you guys remember this.
He drove what six or seven hours round trip to go pick up parts for the Mustang.
And we got it rebuilt by the end of the night.
And John and Aaron were back on track the next day.
I mean, granted, the rest of it was taken care of because, you know, John had track
insurance and he had the wherewithal and the foresight to do that, which we'll go into
in another, in another episode.
Right.
And Brad's written articles about this, you know, telling their story and how it turned out.
But, you know, that was epic.
And there were so many of us there because that, you know, summer bash is our big family
reunion.
And to see that happen.
And it's like, oh my God, it's one of ours.
And we had a couple of scares like that before because, you know, Harry has earned the title
Sir Spins a lot.
And, you know, he went off at Shenandoah and luckily he just barely missed it.
But the side of the car was caked in mud and you'll see the pictures on the website.
But, you know, like I had mentioned earlier, there's those scares out there and you
really start to feel for everybody.
But when it happens, much to, you know, Dan's point, it's like military precision.
We all go into action.
And everybody knows their role.
All of a sudden it just happens.
And I know Doug said that about the situation with his Mitsubishi.
He's like, one minute, I'm just getting out of the car.
Next thing I know, it's up in the air and the wheels are off and people are doing stuff.
And he goes, I didn't even ask him to do anything.
And it's just happening right in front of them.
When we are all together, you know, as a larger group, we come to each other's rescue.
It's the premise of break fix.
I mean, it's not the whole theme of what we talk about here.
And obviously we don't want to portray racing as a big crash fest.
I mean, things happen.
They're mechanical.
The race cars and even the track prepared cars, because there are very different
full on race cars versus track prepared cars.
They're under such extreme stresses that you would never encounter the engineering
failures that we encounter on the street.
So I don't want to dissuade anybody from trying it, but there's life lessons to be
learned here.
The harder you push, like in any sport, if you were a runner, a marathon runner, if
you're a football player, there's always the risk of injury.
There's always the risk of something going wrong.
The harder you push, the more you reach for that trophy or reach for that goal.
So, you know, that's it's very sage advice at the end of the day.
So I think in closing, I think we've given enough stories to give you all an idea of
what we mean by fellowship, obviously what we mean by break and fix.
All of us have broken things at some time and we've all pitched in to fix things at
another time.
That's where we are.
That's what we mean.
And we're going to continue to do that.
And as long as the club's a thing.
Exactly.
I was going to say, as a whole, we are basically a racing pit crew, each of us race,
but we're a pit crew for each other.
That's very true.
That's actually, that's a really good analogy.
We do operate like one.
And I mean, there's many of us that communicate without ever saying a word.
I mean, you and I look at it and just go, here we go.
Well, Eric, you and I have mastered doing a Mark four engine swap.
And what was it, like two and a half hours?
That is correct.
I can change a Mark four axle in less than 20 minutes.
I mean, that is, that is correct right there.
Oh, I mean, all in those Mark four motors.
How quick can we do an E 36 motor now?
Because how many times have I done those?
Well, the downside is Dan's going to put a GM in its place.
So you're only going to get the extraction part of that equation.
Oh, it's already extracted.
Oh, even better.
No.
So I think that's it.
I think we're ready to wrap up and we look forward to bringing you more content in future episodes.
All right.
On that note, peace later.
What a great episode.
We heard all about fellowship and supporting other people.
And now it's our turn to thank all of our supporters.
We wouldn't be able to do any of the things that we do at GTM without the support of our
members, our fans and our family.
So here's our first set of shout outs.
Steve Wade, Max and Michael Sonderby, Judd Gravel, Kerwin Webb, Mike and Chrissy Crutchfield,
as well as Adrian Novak and Jessica Monter-Stelley.
Without all of you, none of this would be possible.
If you want to learn more about how you can support GTM, please be sure to visit our
Patreon website, www.patreon.com forward slash GT Motorsports to learn how you can continue
to support our ongoing efforts.
If you like what you heard and want to learn more about GTM, be sure to check us out at
www.gtmotorsports.org.
You can also find us on Instagram at Grand Touring Motorsports.
Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call
our Texas at 202-630-1770 or send us an email at crewchief at GTMotorsports.org.
We'd love to hear from you.
Hey listeners, Crew Chief Eric here.
Do you like what you've seen, heard and read from GTM?
Great.
So do we.
And we have a lot of fun doing it.
But please remember, we're fueled by volunteers and remain a no annual fee organization, but
we still need help to keep the momentum going so that we can continue to record, write,
edit and broadcast all of your favorite content.
So be sure to visit www.patreon.com forward slash GTMotorsports or visit our website and
click in the top right corner on the support and donate to learn how you can help.
Original notes
This episode of Break/Fix with host Brad and Crew Chief Eric, along with guest Mountain Man Dan and others, discusses the origins of the club's name 'Break/Fix'. The group, Gran Touring Motorsports (GTM), started as a social group of car enthusiasts and evolved into a motorsports club that emphasizes fellowship and mutual support among its members. The conversation highlights various anecdotes of members coming together to help each other during racing events, dealing with car breakdowns, and sharing knowledge. These stories underscore the camaraderie and collective spirit of GTM, portraying the club as a tight-knit community that supports one another both on and off the track.
===== (Oo---x---oO) =====
00:00 Introduction to Gran Touring Motorsports 00:35 Understanding Fellowship in Motorsports 01:17 Stories of Camaraderie and Support 02:55 Memorable Breakdowns and Repairs 05:47 Adventures and Mishaps on the Track 08:01 The Spirit of Helping Each Other 10:49 Rebuilding and Rescuing Cars 16:27 The Joy of Working on Cars Together 19:14 The Watkins Glen Incident 21:50 Trust and Teamwork in Racing 23:41 Memorable Track Mishaps 24:52 The Importance of Preparation 27:08 The Tool Treasury and DIY Days 28:17 Learning and Growing Together 29:46 Epic Summer Bash Story 32:57 The Racing Pit Crew Analogy 33:46 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts 33:59 Thanking Our Supporters====================
The Motoring Podcast Network : Years of racing, wrenching and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories and information. #everyonehasastory #gtmbreakfix - motoringpodcast.net
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BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show
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