Ok...what's your story, how'd you get started?

[Ryan T]

I guess my car obsession started before my driving did. My older brother is really the one I give the credit too for getting the ball rolling in my automotive life. He bought a 87 n/a mkiii supra when he was 23 (I was 13) and I fell in love with that car. When I turned 16 he bought another supra, turbo this time, and gave me his n/a. The car was in crappy shape by then but it was mine and it got my fire going. Since I went to a relatively small high school there were not a lot of people into cars, and those that were could not afford the habit, most people just drove SUV's. On my 17th birthday I bought a 97 SS Camaro and my twin brother bought a 96 Z28. Then we got started into drag racing. Just about every thursday night you could find me at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dragstrip on the open night. I would run when I could and sometimes I would just watch. Learned a lot about launching a car and how to drive in a straight line. I later realized I couldn't afford the SS and sold it to my older brother. Thats when I bought the GS-R and got into the import scene. I did the basic mods, intake/header/exhaust and installed them all myself, just trying to learn. Drove the car a while and decided it didn't have enough power (going from 5.7L to 1.8L is a bit of a kick in the arse) so I bought a Jackson Racing Supercharger. This was my first real automotive eye-opener. I began the installation myself and after getting about halfway there I realized it was going to be damn near impossible for me to finish it, so I bit the bullet and took it to a shop. Never got the car to the dragstrip while it was supercharged, just when it was n/a. Had the car boosted for about 6 monthes, popped a tire, hit a tree, broke my arm in 7 places.

After my arm healed up I bought the 96 Z28 that my twin had (so he could buy the 97 SS from my other brother) and basically put it in the garage so I could come to JMU. Once here I did a search on JMU's website for "cars" and found MM. I went to Student Org Night and only went to one table, MM. Signed up, met a few people and left with a huge smile on my face. The first person I really met and talked to was Mike when he gave me a ride to the first auto-x of the semester. Thats also where I met Dave (my idol because he had the mkiv.)

Started going to meetings and events, did timing/scoring and grid and such at VIR, Summit and even as far away as CMP. I was dead hooked, no turning back. I drove my first auto-x the second semester of freshman year driving Mike's civic, which was an absolute blast. Soph year Dave and I moved into PRun with two other people from my home town. We were all hanging out drinkin one night and Dave comes downstairs and tells me he found a mkiv for cheap and I should email her. So I emailed her and 3 days later and 2 trips to Betheseda, MD with Dave, the red mkiv was mine. Then the auto-x's started. From there I've done several auto-x's, been elected President of MM (Thanks everyone) and continue on my automotive journey.