Years later, while living in Peoria, Arizona, I had a neighbor who ran Chrysler's proving grounds northwest of Phoenix. One day, he invited me to an autocross on the east side of Phoenix. I didn't even know what an autocross was. But it involved cars, and that was enough to get me interested.
I went. And my life changed that day.
There was something about competing against the clock, learning to drive a car at its limits, and being surrounded by people who shared that same enthusiasm. I had found something that would become a major part of my life.
By the late 1990s, the internet was beginning to change how automotive enthusiasts connected. I became involved with the Toyota MR2 Owners Club, better known as MR2OC, one of the early online communities dedicated to these remarkable little mid-engine sports cars. What started as conversations on internet message boards grew into friendships, technical discussions, and eventually real-world motorsports events at racetracks across the United States and Canada.