(air whooshing)
- So, so my love of cars started
I was little, probably five or six
and my dad actually ran Hobby Stocks
at the local dirt track.
So obviously it started with race cars actually
you know dirt track race cars,
and from there it just kind of grew.
You know, I grew up in a really small town
like 500 people town.
Most of what they drove down there was trucks,
that's just the way it was.
But as I continued to grow and age
and kind of develop my own unique taste,
I realized that I didn't just love cars
and I didn't just love trucks,
I loved everything with an engine man.
I have this inborn fondness of all things automotive.
My name is Dustin and I drive a 2017 Volkswagen GTI.
(upbeat music)
So I'd sold my six liter power stroke
and bought a 07 Subaru Legacy back in 2014(laughs)
We're throwing it back, I'm old, okay.
Don't judge me.
And so that was kind of my first entry
into like the whole car scene, you know.
There was a small meet that happened,
it was right after I bought the car
and I was super excited.
I was like, "Hey, man, I have a stock car,
"but can I come out?"
And I linked up with a couple of guys
that I actually still talk to to this day,
which is pretty cool.
I started to make some friends
and I realized that I wanted to do more than
just be a part of the car community.
I wanted to give back and kind of
you know, create events and help
to do bigger and better things.
And that's where Wcec came around.
2015, Alex had posted on the page and said,
"Hey, we're looking to bring events to the States."
At that point, his club was still new,
and he really had no frickin idea what he was doing anyway.
And then so yeah, he was looking for places to go
with events,
and I said, "Well, let's do something in Appleton
"it's pretty centrally located, it makes sense."
And the next thing I knew I was planning an event,
we threw the first ATO Appleton Take Over,
for most people that don't know what that is.
It drew 1200 cars, it was massive.
And I knew at that point that this was going
to be something more than just a hobby,
and it really became a lifestyle for me.
I was looking for a Focus ST,
because I wanted something that was fun
but still practical for a daily you know,
something that made a lot of sense.
At that point my girlfriend and I were three hours away.
So I wanted something that I could drive for three hours
and not hate my life.
I was looking for a Focus ST,
I couldn't find on price to where I wanted to
and so I started looking out there and saying what else?
You know what's in that price range?
What's in that market in that hot hatch game?
And I had never considered a GTI
'cause I never owned a euro car before.
I found this one.
This car was in Dubuque, Iowa, so it was five hours away.
But it was the best price GTI I could find,
it had the options I wanted.
We had kind of struck a loose deal.
I went down there on a Saturday, I left at 5 a.m.,
got down there at 8 a.m. drove the car at 8:30
and I immediately fell in love and that the rest is history.
I signed the papers and I drove it home.
The GTI has BC racing coils BC BR series.
It's on Kansei KNPs 18 by nine plus 35,
which is a very unique wheel choice for a euro car.
That's a very JDM fitment wheel.
It's pretty stoke.
Mostly aesthetics.
It's got a ton of stickers as you can see,
plus 50 horsepower apiece.
But it's pretty stocked for now.
I've only had the car about almost a year now.
(upbeat music)
So River Valley Road Rally,
for those of you that aren't aware
is a time distance based rally that we do every year.
It's based out of Wisconsin,
it's about eight hours worth of driving.
It's a ton of fun.
My first year I was involved
just because it is the brainchild of a lot of the wcec staff
so I volunteered to staff it.
My first year I only worked a checkpoint
and then drove right home,
didn't go to the after party, anything like that.
Second year I went to
I like stuck around for the whole event
had a ton of fun.
And then my ex girlfriend and I broke up
and then before the third year, Gretchen and I got together.
And Gretchen is the basically co-founder
of River Valley Road Rally.
And so when you're dating the co-founder
you kind of tend to get involved.
So, over the last year and a half,
I've gone from just a volunteer with those guys
to essentially operations manager.
I work basically hand in hand with Alex and Gretchen
to make sure that everything Road Rally is
is on pace.
So it's interesting.
I've had this question asked before a lot, you know,
what makes me involved with cars?
What drives me back to that everyday?
And my answer always has been the people,
which is really backwards to think about right?
But it explains my involvement with the Car Club
and with the rally and why I work here
and all those things because it's
to me it's
cars are and this is gonna be a really bad pun
but cars are just a vehicle to get there right?
To me it's the friendships I've made
the connections I've established.
I wouldn't have this job had I never bought a Subaru Legacy
and gone to a bowling alley car meet.
I would have never met Alex,
I would have never met Shawn I would have never been here.
So it's so wild to me to think about that, you know.
So for me, that's what it's about.
It's about meeting people and creating friendships and,
you know, opportunities that come along the way
it's insane to me.
(upbeat music)