It's December 21st, there are just three more shopping days till Christmas, and I haven't bought a single gift for anyone as yet. Team VETTE is wrapping up the April 2000 issue this week and, quite honestly, the holidays are the last thing on my mind. This coming Friday, Christmas Eve, and next Friday, New Year's Eve, are officially days off, and I really don't care. In fact, it really amounts to a couple of days that I can't get much of anything done for the magazine.
Do I sound a little bitter? I sure hope not! I'm having too much fun being responsible for VETTE to care about extra days off. It was just a little over 10 months ago that I was offered the chance to become editor of this magazine and, initially, I had some serious doubts about whether I'd made the right decision. I'd always liked Corvettes, lusted after more than a few specific models, but had never gotten involved with them. New Corvettes, or the earlier models I've been nuts about for years, were (and still are) out of reach for what I make, particularly as a single dad with a son in college
But I love challenges and new opportunities. Having essentially no contacts with the Corvette community definitely made the new position a challenge. Learning as much arcane Corvette lore as possible, in as short a time as possible, was certainly a challenge. The opportunity, however, was great. A decent pay raise to go along with the promotion, the chance to set the direction for a magazine and try to make a good publication even better-how could I resist?
The first couple of months were kinda scary. There really wasn't much material to work with. Taking over the Driver's Seat for VETTE was a little like getting a new car and finding that the gas tank was empty. Going from being a staffer for several magazines to being in charge of one you've never even worked on is a little like trading in that car you've driven for three or four years for a brand-new model from a different manufacturer-it takes some time to figure out which switch does what and how the new one performs. I had some very specific ideas about directions I felt the book needed to go, but wasn't sure if I was on the right road
Like buying and getting used to the idiosyncrasies of a new car, getting this seat adjusted just right and becoming comfortable in it took a little while. When you buy a new car, it often takes a lot of trial and error, fiddling around to get the seat adjusted just so. Then once you've hit on the exact right settings, it feels like the car was built specifically for you and no one else. And that's how I'm beginning to feel about the Driver's Seat.
I find that I'm putting in more hours, a lot more, than I ever did before. And I don't mind one teeny bit. I've met and become friends with some of the greatest people in the world over the past 10 months, some really cool people, folks who have great cars and know how to enjoy them. I was afraid I'd run into and up against some massive egos, a division between Corvette owners with high-dollar, high-desirability cars and the "common folk" with low-budget, not-so-desirable models-and I haven't.
When I bought the (not so) Great White, a well maintained but slightly frayed around the edges '76 (definitely NOT one of the more "desirable" Corvettes), I expected to be looked down on by the fortunate folks with solid-axles, mid-year fuelies and big-blocks, ZR-1 owners, and many others. Never happened! The reaction/reception stunned me: "Hey, it's a Corvette, it's cool!" I expected to be a sort of second-class Corvetter, a plastic pariah, and instead found that owning any Corvette (or just appreciating them) is all it takes to be a part of the fun.
By contrast, the vast majority of Mustang enthusiasts I'd been involved with professionally for the prior four years were and are some of the most egotistical clowns in the car hobby. If you don't have the right year, the right body style, the right color, the right engine, you aren't worth talking to. The Mustangers are divided (like North and South) into early-model ("classic") and late-model camps; a great, nearly insurmountable split between them. It's really ludicrous when you realize that egos about whose cars is best are staked on tarted-up Falcons (the early cars), mascaraed Pintos (the Mustang IIs), or re-bodied Fairmonts (every one since '79 is based on the '78 Fairmont platform).
Travelling to Corvette shows all around the country has been a privilege. Yeah, sometimes it's a lot of work, and I do get tired after three or four weekends in a row on the road. The yard doesn't mow itself, and my dogs don't do the dusting and vacuuming when I'm away. There have been several instances where I got home from an event on Monday night and unpacked, went to the office Tuesday and then home to do the laundry that night, then went back to the office Wednesday and packed the suitcase that evening, so the following morning I could be at the airport for another five-day trip across the country
But believe me, I'm not complaining. I get to go to some great events, meet a lot of special people, and do some things that most of us only dream about, like the recent two days at the Bragg-Smith driving school. For a car guy, this is a dream job. Or, as I tell my friends, it beats the hell out of a real job!