I have a passion for movies, for moving images and images that move you. Movies tell stories and inform…they make you feel…sometimes the feelings aren’t good and they come out of nowhere…it’s art…whether an indie film or Hollywood tent pole movie. Yes, liberties and creative license is taken, and that’s ok… Movies are a way to preserve and pass on our culture and history. The stories depicted in movies are real stories whether fictional or not (let that sink in for a minute).

I have a passion for motors…pretty much anything that’s powered and locomotes. It’s even better if it’s at a high rate of speed…even better when you get a group of them together and race them…doesn’t even mater what vehicle it is. Hell, I’ve seen lawnmower racing and belt sander racing. The visual and aural sensations I get from the sight and sound of some cars and motorcycles are the same as those I get from movies. I get emotional over them. I’ve shed tears for no explicable reason at the start Indy 500 and Daytona 200.

I went to see Ford v Ferrari last night. Sports car racing is something my dad did very well. He quit when I was young but I still have found memories of him racing and spending time with him at race tracks. The movie starts out with Christian Bale’s character, Ken Miles, and his son at a race track in SoCal, Willow Springs Raceway. It’s set in 1966, the same time my dad was gaining prominence in SCCA Sports Car racing, the same series depicted in the movie. The track in the movie was very much like the historic Virginia International Raceway, that the characters in the movie actually raced at as well. I have fond memories of being at that track with my dad “back in the day”. It was too much, I became overwhelmed in the theatre and started balling uncontrollably, but quietly…I held it in…you know, like when you try to hold back a sneeze, but it still kind of squirts out anyway. I almost had to leave the theatre. Those were contemporaries of my dad’s on screen. He raced with and against some of the drivers depicted in the movie at some of the same tracks. I really wanted him there by my side watching it with me. For gear heads like us some of the scenes were so epic and exhilarating…I can see the shit eating grin on his his face, his raucous cackle growing louder as the RPMs and speed increase.

I enjoyed the movie immensely. It did what it was supposed to do, it told a story that made me feel…everything…the entire gamut from low to high.

#moviesandmotors