It seems like it was only a couple years ago I was building my 70 1/2 split bumper Camaro and my boy crawled underneath to help me install the transmission. I was quite impressed when he rebuilt the 850 Holley (my guidance and his wrenching skills) that we used on the freshly built 496 stroker for the Camaro. He was 3yrs old and no matter what I was working on he had to have a hand in it. It didn’t take us long to get the Camaro together and ready for the initial fire up.
I recall that day as if it were yesterday, it was a sunny, fall day around lunchtime and he was all excited to see if the carb he built was going to work. He was on his little stool next to the fender with his hat backwards and ready to hear the 496 with open headers come alive. I was concerned, even though he had gone racing with me since he was old enough to walk, that this would be so loud it would scare him. I recall the look as I told him “the pressure is on…we’ll see if you did a good job on the carb!” His smile quickly turned to a serious face as I jumped into the drivers seat to give her a crank. As it cranked but wouldn’t fire he looked a little worried but as soon as I connected the power to the distributor and explained that we were just priming the engine with oil, you could tell he was anxious…. I gave her another crank and it quickly came to life…the smile on his face will leave an impression on my heart forever. He was just as excited as I was to find out the carb he built was dialed in perfectly right from the start (talk about beginners luck, I was never that good!).
After the initial break-in we decided it was time for a quick run around the block. Once we both strapped our harnesses on it was time to roll, I backed out of the driveway, put her in drive and hit the throttle and a loud bang came from the front end…we both looked at each other, curious where the noise was coming from. I asked him to stand on the sidewalk and watch as I tried to make the noise and tell me what he saw… I gave it one more try and as soon as the bang hit, his eyes went wide open….I stopped and asked what he saw and the grin came as he said…”the front wheel came off the ground!”. I hollered for him to jump in and strap in, it was time for a ride! (for those of you who have never rode wheelies in a car…especially old cars, when the wheel comes off the ground the coil spring fully extends quickly and makes a loud bang) I knew from this point on he was just as hooked as I have always been.
Through the years it went from dirbikes and quads to cars and trucks, all along he was my best friend and best tech. I poured every bit of knowledge I had into him, teaching him things it took me years to learn. Now he is 19, in college and still following the agreement we made when he was just a “lil’ guy” (as long as he was polite and used his manners, did his homework without me having to ask, no drugs or drinking, no “girl” issues and he maintained a 3.0+ average in school, he could have any toys he wanted but as soon as one of these became an issue he would lose whatever toys he had).
Well, simply put he is on the Deans List and has more toys than I do!
Ray McClelland 
Awwwwww :0) This made me tear up! You raised one heck of a boy!