if you aren’t already familiar, del.icio.us is a “Social Bookmarking” site. I ran across it last year, bookmarked it (how appropriate…) and then just kind of left it alone. At the same time I downloaded a plug-in for FireFox… and left it alone. I thought it was cool, but got sidetracked with running a business and building my website and logo.
I am a car guy, and I need a business excuse to go to more car shows… I can tell my wife that I am “networking”… Seriously.
So, to that end, I want to have a new feature on GarageHomesUSA. It will take a little while to spin up to full speed, but here is the plan:
My clients that move into Atlanta from other areas are car people. Many are looking for car clubs in the area. Many are also looking for cruise-ins, car shows and other events.
I’m also finding out something else… it is tough to find most of the events in the area. There are a few clubs that have calendars of their events. But, there are no central databases that seem to have up to date information.
Last year I set up a calendar on my old site. Even though I only supported it with one blog post, Google picked it up for several events… #1 placement. I’d like to get together a list of car shows, cruise-ins, autocrosses and other local events… all compiled in one place, and in front of other local enthusiasts.
I have also previously asked for local car club banners to put on GarageHomesUSA… and only had one response. It seems that some are worried that I want email lists or other info about members. I don’t. I just want to be a great resource for others iin the area that want to hang out with car people.
If you are an enthusiast, you should be…
I posted a few days ago offering a free rotating banner on my website for any local car club (or local chapter of a national club). I would love to have as many clubs as possible showing themselves so that people coming to Atlanta can find them.
But, what if you are an auto enthusiast and aren’t in a car club?
You really should be. There are several great reasons to join a club of like minded enthusiasts. To start with, there are the friends. If you have a GTO, and join a group of other GTO owners, you all have a similar interest. You will probably find that your fellow members are like-minded in a lot of ways. So, it’s fun to hang out after the meetings and compare experiences and trade tips. Of course, there are the great technical resources. You can bet that the other folks in the Porsche Club know exactly who should and should not service their cars. And they are quite willing to share that info. Instead of finding out the hard way that the independent shop around the corner isn’t really that good, get 50 personal referrals for a great shop. And then there are the deals. 
Almost every club I have been involved in has had a member or three just want to make sure that some parts or cars found a good home. In some cases, they were parts that were tough to find. In other cases, it was a cheap price because the seller wanted to make sure that someone was going to car for the toy. Finally, by joining together with other enthusiasts, you can accomplish great things. Oddly, nobody talks about it, but every car club, 4wd club and motorcycle club I have ever come across seems to have adopted some charity or cause. Usually it is because a member has had some connection at some time. And, these groups of enthusiasts band together and promote the cause. Toy drives at Christmas, Charity Runs, Blood Drives and all sorts of other events raise money and awareness.
So, if you are just about any kind of auto enthusiast, find a good club and join up. Participate. You’ll have a great time, meet great people, and maybe even accomplish some great things.
While sitting down to update the GarageHomesUSA website today, I turned on the NASCAR race. During qualifying the other day, Michael McDowell, a rookie, got a serious introduction to the “safer barrier” and the Car of Tomorrow.
Despite already being an incredibly safe sport, NASCAR has upped the ante with the new car, and installed a new type of impact absorbing wall on almost all of the tracks. If there were any doubts about the effectiveness of these improvements, the first clip will lay those to rest.
Of course, the NASCAR boys aren’t the only ones to crash and crash big. Here is a compilation of Rally crashes. There are some amazing impacts that drivers and navigators walked away from.
Have fun and stay safe out there. Even if your car looks like one of these… it probably isn’t BUILT like one of these. And even if it is, I’m betting the other cars involved won’t be.
