1999 "The Twins"
1999 was insane, we were competing in ARCA and building cars faster than rabbits breed! The sport was evolving, and I had so many ideas. The more I drove the more I wanted to build, sometimes even building cars between events. The twins were the 7th and 8th cars we built, side-by-side, for my cousin Kerry and myself. The only difference was, mine was a Vortech V8 and his was a V-6, very similar to Pinky but lighter with a Zeus fastened clear Lexan body so you could see through the panel to maneuver through rocks easier. It also had an Atlas T-case and Dana 60s with 4 link. I remember starting in 2001 at Cougar Buttes, the first event of the season, tying for first place with Tracy Jordan, then driving straight to Glamis, shredding the dunes with Mike Palmer in the middle of the night rolling off of a witches eye upside down with our heads in the sand, we were lucky to be alive and no one knew where we were. Luckily, we were young and healthy, we finished rolling it down the dune by hand & took off again a little easier LOL. Went to TDS with Tammy and the gang partying and launching in and out of the notches and maybe rolling a couple of times without a care in the world. I was a wingnut my balls were definitely bigger than my brains. I did not own this car very long but had a shit load of fun and learned a lot! I was almost finished building my first one seat car and Troy Meyers from Badlands offered me $50,000 and a dollar a mile to deliver. One of the funnest trips of my life! Doug Steele a.k.a. mother trucker and I set out to drive straight through to Indiana and as we were driving through MO, I noticed a sign in the trees that reminded me of Porky’s, “Big Louis home of the hands-on lap dance.” We went in as the sun was setting and left when it closed in a hurry to make it back the next day after delivering the car! $$$ Let’s just say me and mother trucker had a blast and even got a bunch of shirts signed personally for our friends. This became a mandatory stop whenever traveling back east!Later, Doug myself and the kids we’re heading east, I thought it would be fun for the kids to call their mom, pretend they were crying saying we left them in the truck and hadn’t returned. She asked where we were and they said “Big Louie’s” she was furious and the kids had no idea, we all laughed as we drove past.RIP Troy Meyers, we miss you.