The Big 3 and Me
I grew up in a suburb near a GM town. However, even with growing up in that area, and driving mostly GM cars (and a Chrysler or two), my family history lies with Ford. My paternal great-grandfather was a racecar driver and mechanic who worked for Barney Oldfield, the racecar driver who made Ford famous. Great-grandpa was able to race at the Brickyard and later opened his own garage. I still remember visiting Auto World in Flint (a car themed amusement park—see the movie “Roger and Me” ) and going on the car history ride where my dad started getting animated. In the ride, there was a display on the ride of a cigar chomping, scarf wearing Barney Oldfield inside a car while it was worked on by a mechanic. My dad started excitedly pointing to the mechanic saying, “That’s my grandpa! That’s my grandpa!” as he almost fell out of the little amusement park car. My dad later told us when he first heard his grandpa had been a racecar driver, he cracked up saying, “But Grandpa, you drive so slow...