I got my brother Dave started on this forum a few years ago, he posted mostly on Mopar and motorcycle threads as yellowdartdave. One evening last week he sat down in his easy chair, 2 of his bikes on one side (he kept them in the living room) and the ever present can of Mountain Dew on the other side, and quietly nodded of to sleep, never to awaken again.
David loved to talk to people and that trait served him well throughout his life. He also loved to go fast as witnessed by a nice collection of trophies. He started racing about 1970 at Edgewater Dragstrip in Cincinnati and was quite successful with his Kawasaki H1B 500 triple which still sits in his living room today. One of his racing buddies (on and off the track) was a young Mark Oswald who went on to a NHRA championship.
He moved to Ocala, Florida in the late 1970's (to escape the cold) where he continued his truck driving career. He became an active volunteer firefighter and rose to the rank of Chief for East Marian County FD before the county took over with full timers.
He knew just about all of the notable car guys in the area and he often called them when he came across barn finds or donor cars while he was out on the road. Whenever I went down there for a visit we would end up at interesting places. I was at noted Hemi car restoration expert Marvin Hughes' house a couple of times. Imagine 426 hemi engines stacked like cord-wood along the garage wall. He took my then 15 yr. old son over to Don Garlit's place to meet the man himself and tour the museum. Often we would go to a nearby garage where a gentleman had a fantastic collection of vintage flathead speed equipment. He and his father had raced flatties back in the day, he still had the '32 5-window coupe hot rod that his father bought new. One shelf had 2 sets of ARDUN heads sitting on it, one set still in their original boxes.
In the 1980's he got the opportunity to shuttle some race cars for Bob Akin Racing where he obtained one of the highlights of his life, riding in a Porsche 935 for a warm-up lap prior to a test session. Even though it was at relatively slow speed and he was stuffed into a small "passenger seat", it was impressive. He said that was this car:
http://www.canepa.com/inventory/racecar_1/Akin_935/index.html
For the last 20 years he worked for a company that delivered new Toyota, Mercedes and Lexus cars to dealers throughout the SE states. At least twice he got "commission" checks from dealers for selling cars right off his truck. He would be unloading a car at a dealer when buyers would spot just what they wanted still on the truck. He would have them follow him to the next dealer where he would unload the car and the sale was made by the sales manager. He gained a reputation for going the extra mile for the distributor to the point where Toyota execs would call on him for special deliveries such as new model introductions or high value/extra care cars such as a McLaren Mercedes. About 10 years ago he was offered an office position with the company and moved to Jacksonville but still did special runs such as 3 new Mercedes' "Christmas deliveries" this holiday season.
He loved car histories and got to go with Marvin Hughes when he finish the restoration of a rare Hemi Cuda convertible (something like 1 of 6) and took it for a surprise reunion with it's original owner. In the last year or so his employer, who was getting up in years and in poor health, had David help him dissolve a lifetime collection of cars and boats. Apparently Mr. Shafer had raced in the IMSA series but never talked about it. He opened up to David about it and that is all David needed. In a short time he located Mr. Shafer's car and contacted the owner. He got the two parties together for some valuable information sharing before Mr. Shafer passed away. The car can be seem here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3079207/1985-buick-somerset
There are a couple of nice you-tube videos out there of the car vintage racing at Laguna Seca.
Below are a few photos, most of which he posted on this forum. Even in the early 1970's photo the ever present can of Mountain Dew is visible.
He leaves two sons.
RIP David
David loved to talk to people and that trait served him well throughout his life. He also loved to go fast as witnessed by a nice collection of trophies. He started racing about 1970 at Edgewater Dragstrip in Cincinnati and was quite successful with his Kawasaki H1B 500 triple which still sits in his living room today. One of his racing buddies (on and off the track) was a young Mark Oswald who went on to a NHRA championship.
He moved to Ocala, Florida in the late 1970's (to escape the cold) where he continued his truck driving career. He became an active volunteer firefighter and rose to the rank of Chief for East Marian County FD before the county took over with full timers.
He knew just about all of the notable car guys in the area and he often called them when he came across barn finds or donor cars while he was out on the road. Whenever I went down there for a visit we would end up at interesting places. I was at noted Hemi car restoration expert Marvin Hughes' house a couple of times. Imagine 426 hemi engines stacked like cord-wood along the garage wall. He took my then 15 yr. old son over to Don Garlit's place to meet the man himself and tour the museum. Often we would go to a nearby garage where a gentleman had a fantastic collection of vintage flathead speed equipment. He and his father had raced flatties back in the day, he still had the '32 5-window coupe hot rod that his father bought new. One shelf had 2 sets of ARDUN heads sitting on it, one set still in their original boxes.
In the 1980's he got the opportunity to shuttle some race cars for Bob Akin Racing where he obtained one of the highlights of his life, riding in a Porsche 935 for a warm-up lap prior to a test session. Even though it was at relatively slow speed and he was stuffed into a small "passenger seat", it was impressive. He said that was this car:
http://www.canepa.com/inventory/racecar_1/Akin_935/index.html
For the last 20 years he worked for a company that delivered new Toyota, Mercedes and Lexus cars to dealers throughout the SE states. At least twice he got "commission" checks from dealers for selling cars right off his truck. He would be unloading a car at a dealer when buyers would spot just what they wanted still on the truck. He would have them follow him to the next dealer where he would unload the car and the sale was made by the sales manager. He gained a reputation for going the extra mile for the distributor to the point where Toyota execs would call on him for special deliveries such as new model introductions or high value/extra care cars such as a McLaren Mercedes. About 10 years ago he was offered an office position with the company and moved to Jacksonville but still did special runs such as 3 new Mercedes' "Christmas deliveries" this holiday season.
He loved car histories and got to go with Marvin Hughes when he finish the restoration of a rare Hemi Cuda convertible (something like 1 of 6) and took it for a surprise reunion with it's original owner. In the last year or so his employer, who was getting up in years and in poor health, had David help him dissolve a lifetime collection of cars and boats. Apparently Mr. Shafer had raced in the IMSA series but never talked about it. He opened up to David about it and that is all David needed. In a short time he located Mr. Shafer's car and contacted the owner. He got the two parties together for some valuable information sharing before Mr. Shafer passed away. The car can be seem here:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3079207/1985-buick-somerset
There are a couple of nice you-tube videos out there of the car vintage racing at Laguna Seca.
Below are a few photos, most of which he posted on this forum. Even in the early 1970's photo the ever present can of Mountain Dew is visible.
He leaves two sons.
RIP David
