We had a very interesting conversation with Jasmyn Johnson who participates and coordinates off-road and soft-road adventures with her Subaru Crosstrek. We learn what those terms (and several others) actually mean, and what the rules are when planning these runs. She gives us some how-tos and advice on how to get started. We also talk about the common elements of all car-related activities. Spoiler alert – good people and food!

Exploring state parks sounds like a lot of fun. We hope you enjoy learning about it as much as we did!

It’s a quick update on a couple of events! As you may have guessed, one of them included ice cream. Incidentally, the other contains some ice. 

Join us for a (literal) off-road adventure with our own Kathy. Kathy is an avid hiker and she tells us how she got started and gives us some great pointers for beginning hikers. Along the way, you will get to know her a little better. 

Intervention??? Are the ladies quitting gin?? We hate to spoil a good surprise. But, we love welcoming back our good friends Bill and Vicki Fischer from the Garage Heroes in Training podcast. Bill and Vicki not only surprise one of our hosts, but they launch a welcome and game-changing intervention. 

Kathy and Audra interview Jonah Delgenio, a longtime car enthusiast who talks to us about the history of harlequins (Volkswagen that is), the history of oval track and a bunch of other racing venues.  In 2012, Jonah found Lemons and has been racing with Lemons ever since. Like many others we have talked to, he expounds on the kindness and camaraderie that you find at Lemons. We also find out that Kathy never saw snow until she was 15!! Jonah has a well-rounded spirit of competition, beginning with BMX biking and currently to “not CrossFit” workouts/competitions. He is impressively and hilariously connected to track owners and makers of world-challenge cars. And believe it or not, Kathy met him at the gym. 

He has some seriously great stories that we will not ruin by mentioning here. So please listen to hear all about Jonah. You won’t be sorry, we’re not! We loved this interview. You can find Jonah and his team on Facebook and Instagram under Monkey House Racing.

The ladies sat down for an interview with the amazing talented gentlemen of meetyourheroes.tv. Sterling Vernon, Richard Viard and Larry Levin produce a wonderful YouTube series that features matching car people with their dream cars while hearing their stories along the way. We get some inside information on how their show is created; including some interesting information about La Nuit americaine (you budding filmmakers need to know about this). We hear about their dream cars. As an added bonus, we had a great conversation with some great tips on taking good photos of cars. We found out that if you say it, you must do it. It’s life changing. And, you may recognize one of our own in an upcoming episode. 

You can subscribe to them here: https://www.youtube.com/c/MeetYourHeroes. Also find them on Facebook and Instagram.

The ladies are back from their holiday break, in-person (with gin) and talking to John Xander Swig. Swig’s story includes details of some of the 58 cars he has driven at autocross and a surprising hatred of one in particular. 

In this episode, the ladies get caught up on some recent events. Kathy has some struggles with the winter tire changeover, Jess has a new experience with a Subaru meet-up and Audra has a final track-day of the season.

Read Fleming represents everything we wanted to focus on with this podcast. He is truly the person who is always there and is extremely passionate about motorsports. We talked with Read about his path to Autocross and the interesting vehicle he is campaigning. He gives some really great advice for novices in any motorsport. Read has our continued gratitude for all that he does for all the local clubs.

Kathy, Audra and Jess had the pleasure of meeting David Baker a MINI enthusiast and restorationist who educates them about MINIs and entertains with his stories of life experiences. After some technical difficulties, shared stories of some cool restorations and talked about his varied car adventures. He documents his adventures with his partner Matt at Misfits Mutts Garage on YouTube and, with his wife, is the owner of Baker’s Boffins LLC. You should check him out at:

https://www.youtube.com/c/MisfitMuttsGarage

Instagram: misfit_mutts_garage, savetheminis and dextervw

Facebook: David Baker

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/project-youtube-misfit-mutts-garage/183294/page1/

• David Baker