20-years ago

I did my first autox, and learned about GRM while there. I joined the forum the following week(at work - didn’t have internet at home yet) and decided to call this place “home”. Thanks for putting up with all my stupid E36 M3 over the years!

Who else has been around a long time? With the username changes over the years I know a few, but I’m sure I’m missing some. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

I don't remember when I joined, but it was prior to the $1999 Challenge, as I recall all of the fun discussion about that.  Maybe 1997 or 1998....

But I've been the same username since my day 1.  

(My first autocross was in the 80s)

I believe that was called the $1500 challenge and it was what got me interested in the mag and forum, whcih I think I've been a member of since 2001(?) with the same username as now.

I started a new job at the end of 99, straight nights, 12 hours, often with little to do. One day I went to the local store to look for some reading material and saw this:

Build a race car for $1500? These are clearly my kind of people. I read it over and over. So many cool cars. I eventually entered in 03
I tried autocrossing because of the mag but didn't much care for the low speeds and short seat time.

I don't really know when I joined the GRM forum, but I've been a subscriber for at least 20 years.  I would say that I joined the forum somewhere between 1998 and 2000.

alfadriver said:

(My first autocross was in the 80s)

Mine was right around 20 years ago, and you were there. It was an AROC event at that truck driving school near Ypsi. I want to say it was 1997.

I'm just shy of 10 years. My user name also hasn't changed. The avatar changes every couple of years though. 

I’ll also add it’s been great finally connecting with non-local GRMers, whether it’s been IRL or through Facebook. 

I started autocrossing in 1986 and saw a second hand copy of Auto-X magazine shortly thereafter, but I didn't subscribe right away, probably because I didn't have any money and the subscription card was already gone.

Around that time, my best friend bought one of the first new Integras and I wrote to King Motorsports to get info on Mugen parts. Along with a bunch of brochures, they sent a copy of the magazine. That's when I got my first subscription. Eventually, I lurked around the forum for a bit, but I don't think I actually registered until some time around 2006. I shortened my username a few years later.

*note the early appearance of young The Stig.

In reply to Suprf1y :

Oh, you are very right, it was the $1500 challenge, won by Guido in a Cosworth powered Midget.  

By then. my GTV is what it is now- with stiffer springs, and a nice and warm engine.  We bought it in early 1996, and it had some growing pains.  But by '99, it was a very solid car. 

The $1500 challenge really made me think about putting an CRX Si motor in to my HF that I had stopped driving a few years prior.  But what set off the $2002 build was the event revival in 2001, and the fact that I found a '78 Spider for $800.  

This group has been around for a LONG time.  (and I've never bothered keeping post counts when we changed formats).

Tom_Spangler said:

alfadriver said:

(My first autocross was in the 80s)

Mine was right around 20 years ago, and you were there. It was an AROC event at that truck driving school near Ypsi. I want to say it was 1997.

For fun, I just took a look of what old data I have on my computer here- and I found an article I wrote in Feb 2001 about making a GRM challenge car.  And then just over a year later in 2002, an article I wrote about the $2002 challenge that we did.  

I'll have to look on the home computer to see if I have any results of events back in the day.  But I very much remember that lot- that was a great place to run.

Toyman01 said:

I'm just shy of 10 years. My user name also hasn't changed. The avatar changes every couple of years though. 

 

Its gotta be longer than 10 years for you. 

12 years or so for me, I think my first post was asking about a SAAB to replace a Maxima that had been totaled--that would have put it around 2007, but I really remember being online in high school for my junior year, which would have been 2006. Autocross followed shortly after. 

I’m about to hit 14 years on here. Oh young idiot, asking how to get a 33% naturally aspirated power increase out of bolt-ons.  

I haven't been around as ridiculously long as many of you, but most of you are really berkeleying old.

I remember putting down my XBox controller, turning off my game of Forza Motorsport (the original, brand new at the time), and heading to Borders to read the latest GRM- I was so grassroots (and broke) that I didn't buy them, I would just read a copy cover to cover and put it back!  It wasn't until years later that I joined the actual forum, which is probably for the best since my posts would have been pretty dumb anyway.

I used to work with Oldsaw (Steve Hockenberry). He had a slick little Honda he autocrossed here in Atlanta. I asked about his car and he told me about a cool car website I should check out. I joined as Slefain and have been the same handle ever since. I'm guessing that was around 2001 or so I think.

Oddly I've worked at a few jobs in Atlanta that had fellow GRMers as coworkers.

In reply to slefain :

That probably coincides somewhat with why Atlanta is such a hotbed of cool/cheap cars!

I started parking lot racing in 2006 IIRC with my 2001 Elantra. Seriously outclassed in STS at the time. That was already Spec 89 Civic Si back then. The Elantra was 2800lbs with 120whp on a good day.  Found this place around 08 IIRC. 

Interestingly enough, 20 years ago today was also when Sgt Pepper taught the band to play. 

I was a lurker for along time before joining the forum.  Im practically a newbie at only 6 official forum years! I was a newsstand buyer for a long time before finally subscribing (Which reminds me, I think my subscription is about to run out)

You got me beat. 15 years. 

I bought my first AutoX in maybe '86 or '87, so I've been around a while.  I had just graduated from college and was autocrossing an Alfa Spider.

Member since 2014, disappeared for a while because life. Reading the magazine for a lot longer than that.

SVreX said:

You got me beat. 15 years. 

Wow, I thought you’d been here as long as I had?

I think I've been here 17 years.  

Crap.

Just over 11 years now, I signed up in May 2007. Still working on the stuff I had planned for the Corolla back then, most of that work is done now.

I don't think I've ever changed my avatar, and the car still looks pretty much the same from the outside, except for the paint being much more worn out...

Since I bought the first AUTO-X in a grocery store in Southern Pines, N.C.. Been driving gutted street cars ever since.

Almost ten years on the forum....but still a reader.  Maybe in another 3 years I'll get half dork.  Lurked on the forums a year or two before I joined.  I've been reading grm since I was probably 11 on my dad's subscription.  So maybe 15 years total?