And they handed the reins to a welder from Detroit—2015 in the rearview mirror

December 17, 2015

Figure 8: Josh and the 2016 Viper ACR.

I figure that one day down the road, when I write an autobiography, it will be titled 2015. You know, “one day,” as in when the statute of limitations is up and I can tell the whole story. I’m kidding! Or not. Anyway, it’s been a pretty intense year, way too crazy to lay out here, but what’s the last post of the year without a bit of a recap?

2015 started much like the two years that preceded it: with a surgery. Another major wrist surgery involving a removed tendon and a reconstructed joint, and this one took a lot out of me. It’s still not right and seems to be trending in the wrong direction. However, while I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, I’m going to try to keep this one: No operations in 2016. My guess is I’ll need at least one more, but I’m going to put it off as long as possible.

While having my livelihood ripped from me for 15 out of 22 months sucked, I did what I could to make lemonade out of lemons. I kept on with my writing: three posts a month for this fine website, and the response continues to be very positive. I truly appreciate all of you who tune in for my thoughts and rants and projects.

Traveling via road trips was a large part of 2015. In February I rented a Chevy Sonic (Figure 1); $300 got me 18 days with unlimited miles. “Unlimited” ended up being 8,400 miles, which got me the Blue Ridge Parkway, Tail of the Dragon, Mardi Gras (by accident), the Pacific Coast from San Diego to San Francisco, Yellowstone, and Lake Superior. Home came just in time to get the cast off.

April came and so did my follow-up with the doc. Despite being in a considerable amount of pain, I thought he was gonna clear me for action. Instead I was informed that there would be no work for me until at least July. Given my ligament reconstruction, he wanted to give it six months at the very least to heal.

Bummed, I hit the road again. This time in my trusty Ram R/T (Figure 2), we headed south to Austin, Texas, for the Lone Star Round Up. A bunch of friends were showing their art, and I’d always wanted to check it out, so what the heck. I drove straight through from Detroit to Austin, which was maybe the third-longest nonstop trek for me, from November ’14 to April ’15. Detroit to Riverside was the longest; New Orleans to San Diego was No. 2; and I think the drive south to Texas was the third.

On the way north I stopped at the Gibson guitar factory in Memphis, and then Jim Beam’s distillery (Figure 3) and the Louisville Slugger factory (Figure 4) in Kentucky.

Speaking of factories, I finally got the chance to tour my Graceland, Miller Electric’s headquarters in Appleton, Wis. What a cool opportunity to check out American manufacturing at its finest. They laid out the red carpet and led me around for a day. It was really neat to feel the passion the employees have for what they are creating. They even let me weld with the not-yet-released Dynasty 210 in their lab (Figure 5)! The factory rat and welding geek in me were equally satisfied with this trip.

2015 was the third year in a row I’ve filmed “how to” and product videos with Miller, but instead of having them visit my shop in Michigan, we headed out to SoCal and filmed at the shops of my friends Bodie Stroud and Max Grundy. Having the time on my hands, I once again pounded pavement, this time in a little more style. Dodge gave me a Challenger Scat Pack (Figure 6) for two weeks. We were all set for the trip when I realized the Hot Rod Power Tour was the following week. Me: “Hey, do you mind if I keep the car another week to go from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico with a few thousand other hot rods?” Dodge: “No problem!”

In between, I hit the El Mirage lakebed, which back in the day was the epicenter of our country’s speed industry. A lot of “go fast” parts for American hot rods were developed and tested there, and for 15 bucks they let me drive out on it and do pretty much whatever I wanted! Which mostly consisted of taking pictures. Annnnnd maybe a couple of triple-digit runs.

Figure 1: Chevy Sonic.

8,100 miles later I was back in Detroit. I couldn’t get the 500-HP V8 out of my ,brain; shortly thereafter I bought a Scat Pack of my own (Figure 7) and started racking up the miles.

Finally in July I was cleared to work. The left wrist still hurt like hell but my surgeon was confident the reconstruction would hold. I started back at General Dynamics’ prototype shop and started prepping to show my art at SEMA. It’s now been three years in a row that my working months have been six or fewer. I’m not gonna lie, this time around has been the most difficult. In the past I’ve absolutely enjoyed heading out to my shop every night. The last few months it’s been a drag. Pain sucks.

SEMA is a giant automotive tradeshow in Las Vegas, and 2015 was my fourth year in a row making the drive and showing my art there. Now, I don’t want to slip into hyperbole, but for this road trip I may have pulled off the single biggest “car guy” upset in the history of cars, and guys. I convinced Dodge to toss little ol’ me the keys to a ’16 Viper ACR (Figure 8). The ACR is a track-specific version of a car already built for the track. It’s so track-focused, in fact, that every review of the car up until then had been done on a race course. Dodge hadn’t even allowed anyone to drive the car on the street. And then they handed the reins to a welder from Detroit.

So I went from a rented Sonic, to my Ram, to a Challenger, to a flippin’ Viper ACR! I figure with this trajectory, I should be on Mars piloting a Lunar Rover by next spring.

Five thousand miles in the Viper and I was back in Detroit, if only for a few hours. After getting in at midnight on Monday, early Tuesday I headed toward Chicago for FABTECH.

Weiler had me in its booth for the majority of the show. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve obviously had booths at shows before with my work, but this was the first time I was a guest, and part of the attraction, in a manufacturer’s booth. The response was overwhelming, so many folks stopped by to talk shop, or just shake my hand and get a picture. Thanks to everyone who did!

Oh yeah, I started teaching this fall at Macomb Community College. They have a really good welding lab, one I’d attended as a student in the past. Being on the teaching end is pretty enjoyable, and the kids seem pretty excited to learn.

My plan was to reprioritize after FABTECH. So much going on to prepare for both SEMA and FABTECH, plus the writing, and the teaching, and the seven-days-a-week job at GD. But it just hasn’t slowed down. I guess at some point I just need to slow it down. Easier said than done!

And now the year is almost up. Wrist is still messed up, but at least it works. Putting in a lot of hours. And planning one last trip. This time I’m gonna take my wife Darla with me.

Other than going a year without a surgery and keeping up with this blog, I’m really not sure what 2016 will bring. I do know that 2015 will be a year not soon forgotten.

All images courtesy of Brown Dog Welding.