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Josh R.
Novice
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2016 5:22 pm
PHA Permanent Number: 817
Current Racecar: 1999 Formula Mazda
Location: Pittsburgh

Intro...

Post by Josh R. »

Hey folks, just wanted to drop a line here and say hi and help you connect the user name to the car and driver. I'm Josh Reinard, I ran the other red Integra in DSP this year (hence the signature). Sorry for the confusion! I've actually been lurking here FOREVER. Since about 2009 when I found out about hillclimbing, specifically PHA events, from Ted Theodore. So, a little background...sorry in advance. This might get long. (and sorry to those that have heard this a bunch of times already)...

I started autocrossing in South Carolina in 2007 with a 2002 Civic Si. SCR SCCA is a great region with great people and events. By the end of 2008 I was becoming more interested in doing other car stuff, and the track seemed logical as the SCR was developing a PDX to Time Trial program (similar to NASA). Somewhere in those years I met Ted Theodore and learned that hillclimbs weren't just for dirtbikes, and that there just so happened to be hillclimbs in Pennsylvania! Well before I could really get involved with any of that stuff, my wife got two awesome job offers back up North here. We moved back to Western PA in May of 2009. I was pretty sad to leave the SCR region and autocrossing all year round. That Summer was tough, I had a job lined up, but I couldn't start till October. So fun money was short. I got a few autocrosses in with the Steel Cities Region SCCA and the local North Hills Sports Car Club (where I started to meet Wankers). I went to Polish Mtn. that August and said hi to Mr. Theodore and spectated. "Wowee...this hillclimb stuff is GREAT! How do I get into this?" That October, I started an amazing job and I started to have some of that extra green stuff lying around so I started poking around and planning. I started doing a few TT's, one Level 1 Steel Cities event on the kart track at BeaveRun (now PittRace) and one with EMRA on BeaveRun's North Track. I attended a Wanker meeting. I bought Rick Shank's ITA Neon ACR. At the time, I had no way to tow the thing and it wasn't street legal. I struggled with it a few months but decided it wasn't for me. I'm also into motorcycles, and there was a project that I was just dying to do. I sold the Neon and bought an incomplete hardtail chopper project. Car stuff was going to take a back seat for a bit. I worked on that bike for a while and it was ready to go by Summer 2011. Then, my wife got pregnant. I kept the bike ('cause it was new and AWESOME...) but sold the Civic. I *thought* I needed a "dad" car so I bought one of those supercharged Buick Regals. It was kinda fun. It was a big, comfy sleeper. But it wasn't really my speed. Over the next couple years I started to really miss autocross (and the track was still calling) and my daughter wasn't making me broke and the chopper was wearing me out because I didn't really have anyone to ride with. Commuting on a hardtail chopper in Pittsburgh isn't that great. My aging back was liking it less and less. I sold the chopper. I sold the Regal. And early 2013 I bought a brand new Subaru WRX (which I still have) as my "do everything" car. Up until last Summer I tinkered with that and did some autocross and a handful more TT's, track days, HPDE's. At one point the car was 322 hp/345 tq at the wheels! I had C6 Corvette Z06 brakes on the front and all the suspension stuff. It was pretty fast, but it was expensive to maintain and run. And in the back of my mind, with as fast as the car was the risk level was getting pretty high...of death and/or writing off a $25,000-ish car. Mind you, this WHOLE entire time the thought of hillclimbing had never left. I was always, "Yeah, I'm gonna get back to that sometime..." Man...if I had just held on to that Neon. :roll: In late 2014 I talked to a guy who was playing with the idea of selling his DSP-prep autocross car to pay for some major repairs on an old house he bought. He wasn't yet real keen on selling it, so we couldn't agree on a price. Last Summer, he posted it for sale and Cannon beat me to the punch, but luckily passed on the car. I swiped it up in August and had a rollbar installed by September and was autocrossing it in October. I did some roadworthy/maintenance things this past Winter and Spring and here I am! My goal was 3 hillclimb events this year and drive the car at Mid-Ohio. I did 4 events with PHA and I was out at Mid-Ohio a week before Shenandoah (as well as a few autocrosses, TNiA's, etc). This car has improved my driving SO much. The high(er) horsepower and AWD of the WRX had dulled me a bit. I have lots of goals and car bucket list items, but I can save those for a beer around a fire. Well, if you made it this far thanks for reading my little story and getting to "know" me a little bit. Even aside from The Wankers, I've met a bunch of great people. This hillclimb community is amazing (but you already knew that). Thanks for letting me be a part of it, and for all the help over my novice year.
Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos
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