AZ Young Gun

[Sbeck09]

Hey everyone glad to officially join the crowd here! I've been part of a few forums, but always just lurked here. Love what you guys do and I finally get to start my build! I hope I can bring some solid value.

I'm 27, almost 28, and I've lived in in Phoenix, AZ for a little over 6 years now. I moved here from Dallas, TX on a whim. I grew up around racing and it's always been my true love. Just ask any neighbor I've ever had. They love me...



As a baby, my mom and dad raced a Toyota pickup he built in our carport with mixed success. Both left racing as I hit school, but my dad always had friends with badass cars and bikes so we were always riding with someone or meeting at some track. I lived for those weekends.

My Mom was all about me racing. Said it would teach me car control, better sportsmanship, and good mechanical knowledge that would serve me well. She wasn't wrong.

I built go karts for my thrills growing up since we lived on a farm, but I wasn't allowed to have a dirt bike. I learned engines from lawn mowers and the '69 F100 that my stepdad and I painstakingly rebuilt after he rolled it into a ditch one night. That was my lesson in not drinking and driving. It stuck. That's also when I discovered that woodworking may be cheaper, but metalwork/fabrication is an art worth attempting.



I have essentially self-taught myself from there. When I hit high school my love of building things with engines had reached a feverish pitch. I pushed my way into the welding shop where I learned fast and took the school to winning regionals and placing in state competitions. I would build atv frames and scooters out of scrap just to practice. I also bought a well used BMW 3 series and learned to track/autox. I never knew my favorite sport until then. From there high school and college got expensive.



About that time my dad wanted back into competitive motorsports so with my ability to weld and the contacts he had made we built a full competition road race car in his garage. I welded the full roll cage (which passed tech the first time out) and helped with every other part. I had also begun working at a performance shop where I was the fabricator. Cool job, but I had no creative freedom and I was too young to understand the opportunity. Still learned a lot. I bounced around at a couple other places learning along the way, but still had no true direction.


*stole this from a post my old boss did. I promise this is me.

Fast forward a few years to now. I've been keeping my head down trying to avoid getting back to track cars. To be clear....that initiative has officially failed. I've been into riding motorcycles for a number of years now and I love it. It's mostly satisfied my desire for speed and corners without the massive cost of a car. But my family feels I need to be building and after I inherited a bone stock 95 F150 this year they all jumped on me to go nuts. So I have and you can read about it in the Truck build section.

Longer term hope is that I might one day do this for a living under my own name. My sales/marketing career has been kind to me so far, but my heart is in fab work and one-off builds. Shorter-term I'd kill to have my truck invited to SEMA 2019.

I'm honored to be a part of this community and I hope my new perspective and enthusiasm can accentuate the wonderful things already happening with the pro-touring segment. I've had the chance to meet a couple people already and I can't wait to meet more of you!

[SSLance]

Welcome! Glad to see you finally dived in head first. What part of Phoenix are you from? I recently relocated from Kansas City to the North Peoria area and am finding it crazy just how many "car friends" I've been able to find and meet around here.

[Sbeck09]

Thanks man!

I live by Metro Center. 35th ave/Peoria. We might need to start a local pro-touring support group.

I noticed the same thing....there is a great car culture here if you learn where to look and ask. I bumped into Mark Allen at the Pavs last weekend all because his LT4 swap caught my eye while walking around.

[andrewb70]

Do you have a name? Welcome!!!

Andrew

[Sbeck09]

Do you have a name? Welcome!!!

Andrew

My bad...I'm Sean. And thanks!

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

Welcome aboard! Gilbert, and soon to be Queen Creek here.

[Sbeck09]

Welcome aboard! Gilbert, and soon to be Queen Creek here.

Thanks! Glad to know I'm in good company!

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Best intro that I have read, welcome!

[Twentyover]

welcome, thinking about Apache Junction when I retire in a couple years

[Sbeck09]

Best intro that I have read, welcome!

That means a lot! Thank you. Hopefully I can keep that up in my truck build thread.

welcome, thinking about Apache Junction when I retire in a couple years

Not sure if you've been here yet. If not, do it. Summers will seem downright brutal and endless compared to MI, but our winters are what dreams are made of. I love it. I never expected to say this, but I plan to stay here a really long time. Plus I can use more pro-touring people around here. Way too many baja bugs here for me. Come on down!

[WalshShiya]

Hello, Sean! Welcome aboard!

[Alponcho]

Welcome from N Scottsdale

[oleyeller]

Welcome, I'm another Zonie from Gilbert.

[Sbeck09]

Thanks! Glad to know I'm in good company especially locally.