Pulling together sponsors, volunteers, and heck, even people you pay to build a charity project car no picnic. It IS satisfying work at the end of the day, but the day is a LONG one like the days I used to spend working on a farm cleaning out pig trailers. Hopefully when the car is complete, there will be less fecal matter and a lot more fun to show for it. Unlike shoveling pig crud out of trailers, I am doing this because I love it.
Some people call our car hobby an obsession. We even joke about "having the disease". Whether you have one classic car under a junk pile in your garage or possess the finest examples of vintage iron known to man, it all boils down the same thing. Automobiles speak directly to your heart.
It happened for me much the same way it does to other boys. I listened, intrigued, by my dad's stories of hot-rodding '55 Chevy's in the back yard using the limb from the oak tree as an engine hoist. I watched the grin grow on my father's face as he took the occasional turn as faster than normal in the old family station wagon. The grin was bigger than the feat; it was the size of the memories from his younger years. He'd turn to me, still smiling "This old wagon has a big block in it, you know."
The Spring of '82, I remember him bringing home his first brand new car. It was no station wagon. Her fender lines like sumptuous hips, the rhythmic engine burble resonated through the seat as dad pushed her harder around a sweeping curve, the deep blue gloss of her skin, known only to oceans and my fathers Mercury Capri RS. She stirred me in ways like these long before I even pondered what women were about.
Eight years later, on my 16th birthday, I bought the same car for $400 out of a classified ad. That day, I became an initiated man.
A love for automobiles isn't necessarily a disease (no matter what my wife may say). Our hearts and minds hard wired to react in a fevered pitch to something so beautiful, that so invites us to be dangerous.
"...God set the dangerous stage for this high-stakes drama and called the whole wild enterprise good." ~John Eldredge, Wild at Heart, Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
The love of automobiles is a God given passion. Being able to make a living by working with our fellow auto enthusiasts as blessing, and a mission. It is a simple matter of giving credit where credit is due, showing Him our gratitude.
How we are invited to appreciate automotive beauty, or harness their power, depends on who our fathers were before us…
So, what does all of that have to do with Brakes for Brett?
We chose to promote and raise funds for Brakes for Brett because we see it as an opportunity to provide an exemplary expression of this passion, while respecting the legacy and teaching the lessons of Brett's story.
Owning a fast car isn't an obsessive pursuit for something we have to have. This is a passion, a gift we have to give.
The automobile is the most universal agent in American Culture where boys can learn who they are, where their talents lie, and get the opportunity to test their independence, learning they have what it takes as a man.
Showing our sons' the power and beauty of the car, is more than showing them an object of desire or providing recreational outlet. It is revealing to them a chrome and steel reflection of the Creator's power and beauty. It is empowering them to discover the gifts God gave them and how to use them in the world. It is illustrating to them how fragile life can be, before the world brings it to their doorstep.
Sounds noble, but why should YOU participate?
We all do things for our own reasons, our own motivations. I have learned that when I give thanks and use my heart's desire to make a positive impact on someone else, then my daily life becomes a natural act of worship. It is a quickening, the rush of being truly alive. Perhaps you will feel it too.
Sincerely,
Patrick Krook President/CEO, Show Your Auto llc
