Why Cars?

Hi! Welcome to our new lil website/online magazine/blog/thingy.  If you found this recently, it is probably because you listen to the Slipangle podcast, so for that, thanks! I'm Adam Jabaay, and life is busy lately.  I work construction with a family business 50+ hours a week (I think I was sub-50 this week though, cant complain too much I guess, I was home at 5 almost every night!), I try to race cars once and a while (1984 lemons crx, 1989 STL scca crx), and I am constantly fixing up the old house that my wife and I cram our lives into in the far south side of Chicago (right next to Indiana, its a suburb) . And I have a dog that always needs to be walked.  Always.  And that dog sheds a lot, so our Vac is on its last legs in the house here....a creaky old hateful Hoover that gets used constantly .  Maybe its not a Hoover.  Who cares.  The dog is currently staring at me though, longing to go outside , even though I just walked her.  Fricken Callie. 

So, why do so many of us attempt to cram the most all-consuming of hobbies, Automobiles, into our busy lives?  Well...because cars, and mostly the family that revolves around them if you get deep into the hobby, are a pretty awesome waste of time.  Almost none of my car buddies care deeply about the NFL, MLB, NBA, Kardashians, Etc.  It seems that almost every human blessed to not be struggling to feed themselves or their families has some sort of obsessive time sink of a daily hobby....ours just make vroom vroom noises and take us around racetracks while we strive to justify the time we've put into them by spending less time going around the racetrack.  Neat.

Last week, several of the forums I frequent lost a member to cancer.  This guy was a fixture on many of the internet circles I was in, always with a helpful suggestion, funny quip, insightful advice, or just a general decent contributor to everyday automotive thread topics.  I didn't know him well in real life, although we had met once in passing I believe.  But, when I found out the other night that Mike had died, I felt like I had lost a real life friend.   He had just posted on the forum the day before! UGG.   I still feel that way.  It got me thinking more about the reasons we do this whole hobby in general.  It would be fun if I was the only man on earth and had all the racetracks and racecars to myself, but it'd be a whole lot more fun if I had a whole automotive family around me , like I do.   Every time I load up the car for a race weekend, or to go work at a Gridlife or West Michigan Honda Meet event, I'm heading to the track with guys I used to only know online, yet now consider truly family.  I feel that way about most of the "friends" online.  Don't take your brothers and sisters on the silly internet for granted.  The people we meet in this life , be it electronically or face to face, make this life what it is.  Go to a cars and coffee event, or a trackday, or go help your buddies wrench in the garage.  The resulting interactions, being forgettable or memorable, are really the reason we do this stupid hobby.  Buddies.  Buddies are the thing.  Go hang out with your buddies more.