Lost my dad two years ago this month. I'll always miss his great advice, his hearty laughter and his cheerful smile. A mechanic for military trucks and planes while in the USAF, he was also an excellent car mechanic. If it belonged inside a vehicle, Dad knew what it was, and if it broke, he could fix it. He loved cars, especially race cars. Something I never knew about Dad was the extent of his experience actually driving race cars. During the Winter of his life he talked a lot about the things he'd always wanted to do during his life, the things he either didn't get around to doing, or the things he'd hoped and dreamed of doing, but didn't for whatever reason. As a youth, he did some racing for money. He knew when to accelerate, when to brake, when to coast, when to push it toward the red line, and when to let the car fly itself across a finish line. A few months before he died, he told me about racing with the Unser brothers, drivers who made their fame at the Indy 500. They wanted Dad to drive on their team. Dad said he was torn, and when he discussed it with my mother, she said no. He abandoned his dream of professional driving and resigned to being the mechanic who kept cars on the road for other people. He never lost his great admiration for truly fast automobiles. I was very young, but I well remember the day the Unser's showed up at our house in Corrales, New Mexico, and talked Dad into one more race. The three of them, and my brother, disappeared in the Unser's race car. That evening during dinner all my brother could talk about was how well Dad drove the Unser's car. My brother followed in Dad's footsteps. He raced on tracks in several states, and he was good. But he died young, and I don't know if he'd have ever made a name for himself as a professional team driver. I do believe Dad would have made a name for himself in car racing, and I believe he would have been remembered for both his skill as a driver, and his knowledge of his cars.
I think of my dad this Father's Day. I miss him enormously. I am proud of all the things he did do during his life, and I'm a bit sad for those dreams he never did complete.
