Missed Opportunity Or Moment Of Good Fortune For Mark?

I grew up hoping to be some kind of race car driver. In my hometown of Great Falls, we had a stock car track. We didn't have air conditioning in our house, so I would listen to those race cars roar every Saturday until 2 in the morning.

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Fast forward to my radio career during which I got several opportunities to drive in "celebrity" stock cars and bump & run races. I never lost a race. I was sure to remind other drivers from local media every time we raced against each other.

I won a bump and run when they ran them out in Lockwood and it really gave me the race car bug. But what I know about racing is that it's extremely time-consuming and very expensive. If you're a racer, you don't spend the weekend camping or going to the lake, You go to the car wash, the auto parts store, and back to your garage and get back to work on your car so it's ready for next weekend.

I'm no mechanic, so I would need help working on the motor. I found a car for sale that fit the bill to be the class of stock car that I wanted. I talked to my friend at the body shop about painting it.

Then I called my mechanic friend. I told him what I was up to and I asked if he would be my mechanic. He said that he would.

Great. Then we talked motor. I asked him how much money my race car engine was going to cost. I'll never forget what he asked me, "Do you want to be in front or the back?"

Great answer. He saved me all kinds of money.