After we spent Christmas day at Windy’s parents, we got all our warm clothes packed up to go to Toronto, Canada, for a few days. Usually my mom comes to sunny California for a visit, but this year we decided to travel back to see my mom. It had been quite a few years since I had been back so I was really looking forward to it. That and my daughter, Jenna, was dying to see some snow and feel some cold weather!
 
The other thing I was looking forward to was a little reunion that a couple of my old friends had put together. Once upon a time a LONG time ago when I was 16, I used to hang around at this shop where a bunch of guys I knew had really fast race and street cars. They were the guys that got me involved in racing and kind of taught me the ropes. Around that same time I got a job working at the local speed shop, Engineered Racing Services. I was in heaven. I worked at the best speed shop and got to hang around with people that had the same passion for cars and racing that I did. I learned pretty quickly and later on we built a motor for my first street car. I got to go to the local drag strip and learn everything there was to know about building and maintaining a race car. This came in really handy when I stared racing myself.

Anyway, every now and then over the last few years I would see a familiar face at the races and we would talk about old times. Well, about a year ago, one of the guys from that first shop, Leo D'Agostini, sent me an email congratulating me on my job at Kalitta Motorsports. We sent a few emails back and forth and I asked about some of the other guys from back then. Leo started to do a little investigative work, and after a bit had actually made contact with some of these people that we hadn't talked to in 25 plus years. Every month or so Leo or another one of the mainstays from the old shop, Neill Stevens, and I would swap an email back and forth. As it got closer to the end of the year I told them that we were going to come up to Toronto for a visit just after Christmas. They came up with a great idea to try and get a hold of a bunch of the boys from back then and have a reunion of sorts at a local restaurant and pub called Archibald's.

Within a couple of months our small get together ended up turning into a pretty big party with well over 40 people being there. Here's a good pic of some of the people at the restaurant. I had lots of friends from the old racing days, the owner of the speed shop and my first real boss, Greg Wicklum, was there as well as quite a few buddies I went to school and hung out with. It ended up being a great night and everybody vowed not to let another 25-plus years go by.
 
The next day we went up north to a friend of mine’s place that lives up on the lake. Randy is the VP Fuel distributor for a large part of Canada. I remember many years ago when he would work at his day job and just be selling a few drums here and there. Now with a lot of hard work he has turned it into quite the business. We got together with a couple of other friends and sat around telling some stories and going out for a nice dinner. My daughter even got to see some snow and make a snow angel. The night we went up there, the temperature with the wind chill was -25 Celsius! As you can see in the top picture, it was actually snowing when we were there.

We spent the next few days hanging around with my mom, doing some shopping and eating at a lot of my old favorite places. Jenna got to take her first ride on an underground subway, we updated my mom to a new Sony flat screen TV from a circa '80s 19-incher and hit about every mall in the greater Toronto area looking for a cool 2010 Olympic sweatshirt we had seen for my wife. It only took about three days and 10 stores to find it. I guess they were popular at Christmas time. We also ended up going to downtown Toronto to see another friend of ours.

Ray Commisso is one of Canada's premier Pro Mod drivers and he happens to own and run a beautiful Italian restaurant and bar called the Dimmi Bar and Trattoria. It is located in the trendy Yorkville area of downtown Toronto. Ray met us at the door and treated us to one of the best Italian meals that we have had in a long time. The place is really cool and the atmosphere is great. It also has a couple of big patios that are open when it's not freezing outside, and I hear that they are busy from 11 in the morning till 2 at night. If we make it back this summer, we will definitely be hanging out there.
 
If you live in the area or are visiting TO, make sure to drop by and say Hi to Ray...you won't be disappointed! Here's a pic of Ray and I and the sign out front of his place.
 
All in all, it was a great time and it went by way too fast. We are already planning another trip, hopefully this summer, to hang around on the lake when it’s not frozen and see a bunch of people that we missed on this trip.
 
I am leaving this Sunday to go to West Palm Beach to go testing for a week. We have a lots of new parts and pieces to try and I can hardly wait. I will fill you in after I get back.
 
Take care and have a great 2010... I know that we are going to!