Local Speed Heros: Dan

Legend has it, that when he came from Prince Edwards private island, that he brought the curse of the crab with him. Although legend also has it that he does not taste good with butter...something something potatoes. If Dan is the book I think I'm reading, then I really can't place a stereotype on his personality. I guess it's much like his car: Ratsun. The parallels are strikingly similar. Endless amounts of innocent inside jokes, and it takes a person who's got the right attitude about life to really get it, to these people it looks good...nah, it looks great. Dan and I met in a dark parking lot one summer evening. His car struck me as interestingly peculiar, an '87 Nissan S12, flat black, lowdown status on some S2000 wheels. A bit of an oddball kookiness to it, again parallels. Shortly after he was out at the local track digging his roots in deeper. I've watched him progress through this year. The parallels, Dan comes from a far away place. Hailing from Prince Edward Island on the far East coast of Canada, he some how managed to acquaint a 200sx from Oregon, far far on the other side of the continent. A student in New York needed to get his stuff back on the trail home and traded his '87 Nissan to a moving company who promptly ditched it on eBay. A hop skip and a poop down to the somewhat large Apple and it was on it's way home the land of the Canadian Potatoe. It's rough on the edges, covered in inside jokes, internet memes and most of all memories, it's beautiful to the right eyes. The educated light hearts of the world, the ones who get it, love it, I must remind you of the parallels. A free spirit, it carves it own path with purely good intentions along the way. Dan is very active and social, he seems to have no fear showing people who he is and what he likes, a sort of wear it on your sleeve attitude that seems to work very well for him. While in PEI it began it's transformation, becoming something of a direct approach to performance. There's very few cases where I feel it necessary to point out the smart, the well thought, the better is actually better ideal. There's plenty of people wasting time painting, polishing, and primping their vehicles to appear cooler, and my definition of cool is that of fast. Dan broke out his knife and began to cut, when the dust cleared a complete set of S13 subframes had been swapped in with S13 coilovers, Z32 300zx brakes and hubs, and the shoe horn was broken trying to pull it self out from behind the RB25dett that wandered into the dust cloud. Nothing more was needed, taillights are always insulting. Parallels run side by side. There's no Quit in either of them, gusto, guts, glory, they are all words for a true G. I'm not sure why the car came west, and why it brought Dan with it, but it's here, both in actuality and criminal record. lol You see, this car has no Vancouver in it: it wasn't whipped together to look like a show piece only to be parted out in a few weeks. It's been around a few blocks, up a few front lawns and at least up one tree. It's a daily driver, bounced off curbs, drifted whenever possible. It's your chair at a concert, it's your truck when a load needs to be hauled, a bed when your have no where else to sleep, a taxi cab for friends and family needing to get where they are going, a race car when your foot is down, a chalk board telling the world the things that make you happy; it's your portal to the good things. There's so many great tales to be told about Dan and his S12, but they are not mine to tell. I've been witness to a few and I have really enjoyed them. Looking in my mirror to find a crab walking behind me always makes me laugh. There's few people like Dan, and much like a child with his Teddy bear, he brings his S12 with him for every adventure. It gets torn, it gets broken, the stuffing falls out, but he always seems to take the time to shove it back in and stitch it back together. Keep it up Dan. I watched you jump onto the track earlier this year and it's really starting to come together. Don't ever give up on your 200.

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6 comments

  • hulk smash indeed

    • grant