Mustang Boards - Tribute To a Fallen Hero

One year ago today my grandfather passed away. He had a heart attack while sitting up and resulted in blood loss to his brain for too long, which caused his death. He is the reason for the passion I have for cars, and doing modifications. Ever since I was able to walk I would watch him work on various people's cars in his back yard. And once I was old enough to turn a wrench he would teach me everything he could about cars.

He was a avid street racer/moonshine runner in his younger days. He would always tell me stories about running moonshine, and how the cops would come to his house and tell him that they would not arrest him at home, they would wait and catch him on the road. He just told them not to bother, because they would never catch him. And, as far as racing, I'll just put it at this, he raced a guy in reverse (he drove a 50something chevy truck) once and won (wasn't a 1/4 mile, but still won). I didn't believe this myself, thought of it as one of those wild stories a grandfather would tell his grandkids, until two of his old buddies verified the story! He was known as the guy to beat, and though he did lose sometimes it was rare!

I also remember for years people would come to his house and tell him they needed more power in their car (old muscle cars, not newer computerbased cars), and he would go spend a few hours in his garage and the car would come out sounding like a beast! He was one of the good ole boys, reminded me in a lot of ways of Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard, a nice country boy who would take care of you when you needed it, and at the same time would have your back and stand up for you and whip some ass if you needed it too.

So, this was just a little tribute thread I decided to make for him, and just raise a :beerchug: for him one time for all the memories he gave me, and the love for cars that still runs strong today!!!