drivetofive

Odometer (ILX):  222,222

It seems I’m getting quite a few chances to put the pedal to the metal lately, including a visit to Apex Motor Club earlier this year, and two events at Bondurant a few weeks ago.  This time, I joined some fellow members of the Phoenix Automotive Press Association and we scaled back the size of our racecars to engage a little bit of friendly go-karting on a Friday morning.

K1 Speed opened its doors for an early morning race session specifically for our group.  I was proud to finish in the first half of the pack, but I was clearly outclassed by more skilled drivers in our group.  K1’s cars are all-electric, and they’re a lot faster than you’d think!  I put some of the driver training to work and honestly thought I’d rank better in the final standings.  Journalists John Priddy (left) and Wally Cahill (right) still let me at least pretend I was a first-place winner on the podium post-race.

Coming in at first place was newly-appointed Managing Editor for ClassicCars.com, Tom Stahler.

I spent the remainder of last weekend in northern Utah where temperatures dipped to a frigid 15 degrees during my visit.  I was poorly prepared from a wardrobe perspective.  But, I enjoyed the cozy and warm homes of friends & family members.  This was the scene on the campus of Utah State University where I graduated with my undergraduate degree 14 years ago this month.  Go USU Aggies!

Sunny, Jason, and Brady met up for some Mexican grub in Salt Lake City.

And it was of course awesome to see my grandma, who’ll be 90 next month.

Below are some photos of other recent visitors and events, as we near the end of this year (and this decade).  My stepdad and mom were passing through Phoenix on a long layover flight this week, so I met up with them at the airport terminal for a bite to eat.

The cars have kept me busy these last few weeks.  The NSX got an emissions check & new registration tags, the Integra GS-R got a battery, the Legend GS got new Michelin tires, the ILX got an oil change, the RL got a trip to Tucson, and the SLX got a much-needed bath after RADwood.

Here were some visitors from around the state who stopped by to say hello.

I also welcomed an out-of-towner from Austin, TX who’s been a friend of mine for many years.  In fact, he’s the one who sent his 1993 Legend L sedan over to Arizona when it needed to find a new home in 2015.

My friend Karna sent me some sweet promo materials including a leaflet that had an NSX postcard that looks just like the real thing.

My friend Eric sent me some awesome-smelling cologne called Chrome Legend.  I’ll be saving that bottle!

Andrew from Acura PR sent me two signed posters celebrating this year’s “IMSA” race series wins.  I’ll be giving one away to a lucky blog reader.  If you’re interested, let me know!

He also sent me the 11×17 display poster that was used at RADwood.

I like how they adjusted the original MSRP on there to nearly $60k in 2019 dollars.

I scored a few swag items from Ebay on the 1996 Isuzu Trooper because I was curious to see what kind of literature they put out back then, and how it compared to SLX stuff.  As it turns out, some Troopers were better-equipped than SLXs!  Example:  The “Limited” model had headlight wipers.

I had an idea for a Christmas photo with red & green when my roommate James was road-testing a 2020 Toyota 4Runner recently.  He had it nice and caked with mud for this early-morning glamour shot.

Twins!  I’m looking after my friend Jason’s 1992 Integra GS-R right now.  His car is 0718 and mine is 0343 so they’re separated by only 375 vehicles on the production line.  Jason will be picking up his car in a few weeks, but in the meantime it’s enjoying being reunited with a close sibling.

Aztec Green overload.

“Drive your Legend to work” day, as requested by my friend Alex recently.

Yesterday, the ILX celebrated 222,222 miles on the odometer.  I made sure I was driving 2,000 RPM at 22 miles per hour.  And, I was driving with 2 friends on the 202 “South Mountain” freeway which is a brand new 22-mile stretch of interstate, literally opened just minutes prior.  Amazing how the stars can align when you want them to!  (Or when you want them “two.”).

Apple Maps still doesn’t even show the freeway as existing yet.

Before you go, I thought this was pretty cool and wanted to share.  My friend Owen in Washington spent a couple years of his life gutting and restoring an old Bluebird bus into a liveable RV.  Look at the level of detail in the finished product!

Two new episodes on my YouTube as well.

Have a great Christmas!

This entry was posted on December 22, 2019 at 6:02 am and is filed under Arizona, ILX, Legend, Milestones, PAPA, SLX, Utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.