Since we moved to Bradenton, I have lost all my car buddies. So I am volunteering. I'm a decent welder/ fabricator, a good bit of experience at tracks but not as a driver. Lot's of free time. Not much money. Suck at bodywork. But I have many hours of bad stories. Anybody interested? PM me, OK?
Thanks, Chuck
In reply to cwh:
I wish I were closer Chuck, I've enjoyed the stories you've told so far! 
Pete- You have no idea. My stories run from ridiculous to scary. Hey, just turned 72yo, so lot's of experiences.
In reply to cwh:
Well property is pretty cheap in/around Biloxi if you're ready to move again. 
After the aggravation of moving here, next move will be in a box. But that is an interesting area.
Not sure we'll get down that far in October or not, but you're welcome to come to the challenge and spin wrenches with us. There is a possibility of bringing two cars this year and one mechanic so any extra hands could be put to use
Look up the volunteer crew opportunities on special stage.com. I hooked up with a couple rally efforts this way.
In reply to cwh:
Wanna go load some airplanes with me?? 
Paul- Would love to load planes again. For a good cause, of course. Patrick- much closer to the challenge now, so will see you there!
Get involved with your local SCCA chapter.
Look up this guy.. he's not far from you.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147690
And he's got a pretty nice shop
Chuck,
There a bunch of us around. I'm just North of Clearwater. SpinOut and Karl (not on boards) are in Bradenton/Sarasota and both doing work on Challenge cars. Andrew (Lof8) has a bunch of automotive irons in the fire and just got into circle track racing too. Enyar is in Clearwater.
Drop me a PM and I'll give you my number so we can connect.
John
Wish I was closer. Have projects and am basically only capable of body work at this point.
I'll commiserate.
I find that all of my acquaintances and "friends of convenience" are risk-averse. They don't work with their hands even as a hobby so we can't chat about the best way to do something - it's always results only. "We had a new deck put on" rather than "I just finished building a new deck". They would never say YES to invitations riskier than drinks on my patio. They don't ride motorcycles or want to stand atop the half-dome even if it's just up the ladder. They don't mountain bike or own a decent backpack or think joining an MMA gym as a tourist would be a fun xmas present. They know too much about golf, high school football records and they go to the same place every year on vacation. They talk about lawyering and doctoring and what they are going to buy next or how awesome their kids are. So, I usually sit quietly while my wife chats with them long enough to throw me under the bus... then the conversation turns to "That's dangerous!" or "How fast have you gone?" and I have to excuse myself.
Since I decided to stop club racing I don't spend weekends camping with people of a similar mentality as myself. Not just a cars thing... racers are a certain type of mindset. The conversations are always interesting and the down time is always a little more adventurous. Someone in a paddock will always be up to something else interesting to talk about.
I'm not sure where those people exist outside of a paddock. I feel like I may have to go back to the track just to find a place where I'm considered normal despite being kind of done with that.
Could always go to an autocross. Half the people will be the doctor/lawyer/football dudes but at least they have similar interests as you and enough guts to act on it. The other half will be who you are really looking for.
In reply to captdownshift: I have NEVER been risk averse, possibly a bit too much so. I have really noticed that the nicest people I have ever met were involved in racing. Yeah, there have been a few jerks, but the percentage is low. But some really cool folks to make up for that. Met some stars, too, like Dan Gurney, Unser brothers, etc. But there was this drunk guy at Watkins Glen that thought he should gut me with his Buck because I was hitting on his GF. I wasn't.
Hobie racer- PM sent.
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