Lee / “Captain Kudzu”

Captain Kudzu is the fearless-ish leader of the misfits known as the Kudzu Kommandos.

I first started working on cars in highschool. I was told by my parents that if I wanted a car I was going to have to fix it. It didnt take much convencing to get me interested. Before I could drive I helped my older brother rebuild his 1975 Toyota Land Cruiser. I guess I was about 13 years old.

My first car was actually a truck, a 1986 toyota 4Runner. it had a removable rear top. It came equipped with a 4cyl and an auto matic transmission. I found out why they gave that engine the designation of 22-re. it take 22 seconds to get to sixty. But it was a great truck. When I started working at a shop at age 17 I thought it would be a good I dea to have the engine rebuilt. That was one of the worst mistakes I could have made. after getting it back together it ran for 3 months then I trashed the head by allowing it to over heat.

After that I started driving my mothers old car, a 1990 Volvo 240. At least it was rear wheel drive. It handled suprizingly well for as big of a car as it was. I drove that car for many years until getting a 1991 honda CRX. that was a fun car that handled like a go kart. until I drove it off the road and rolled 4 times.

When my mother got rid of the 240 she had bought my grandfathers 1997 328i BMW. I had gotten to drive it a few times in the past and the power and handling of that car was greater than anything i had owned… I think this is what got me into BMW’s.

I never owned one until one day David forced me to buy on off craigslist. It was a 1993 325i 2dr.. It was an automatic so it really wasnt very fun to drive. this is probably why I got rid of it. But just recently I purchased my first daily-driver BMW E30, a 1987 325i 4dr. It is a blast to drive.

As for performance driving I have always wanted ot race. or at least drive fast. I got my first taste of racing when my dad took me to an SCCA event at Road Atlanta. It was such an interesting experience. The cars were cool and the track is amazing. Then there were celebrities. I met Paul Newman. That is one hell of a guy. He was 78 years old and just placed 3rd overall in a c5 corvette. When I am that age I hope not to crap myself much less race.

Since then I have been looking for a way to get involved in motorsports. My first time behind the wheel on a track was last year at Talladega Motorsports Park. Afterward I started to go to autocross events and now I am a fiend - I cant wait to get back behind the wheel and compete.

My biggest goal for this year is to compete in every autocross I can get in to. I have signed up for an autocross school known as Evolution Autocross School - the first one that has been held in the Atlanta area. This should be a great learining experience for me. I also want to get my first track driving school under my belt. Another goal is to checker flag at both of this year’s LeMons South events. If we can do that I will be happy. First place would be nice too, but one step at a time.

All I have to say is “I think were gonna need a bigger boat”

Ian

Ian joined the Kudzu Kommando’s for the 2009 season. He plans to do time as pit crew and cold beverage manager for the spring race at CMP.

Driving and wrenching on beaters isn’t new to me. I bought my first car just before I turned 17 - a $250 1979 Honda Civic CVCC Wagon with well over 200K miles on its clock. It was nearly as old as I was and the baby blue paint had long since faded to a sliver primer. With 1500CC’s of carbureted FWD fury, the car put just enough power to the ground through it’s dry-rotted 135mm wide tires to get me in trouble. I learned to drive a clutch in this car, put dents in this car, I had my first spins in the rain in this car, I frightened my fiends in this car, I made out in this car, and when the headgasket let go, I rebuilt it with my father. With the headgasket failing a second time, I wrecked the car for good measure and then sold it to a junk yard for $50.

My second car, the car which saw me through my first two years of college, was a $350 1983 Plymouth Reliant K. Ever had your exhaust system fall off while driving? Ever had the engine fall out of your car while driving? Ever had your hood fly open while driving on the interstate? Ahh yes, I made it alive through all these tribulations and more in this car.

The Reliant (har!) was eventually replaced by a 1989 Peugeot 505 station wagon handed down from my parents. With an anemic two liter mill, a weak automatic trans and over 150K on the dial, I never really noticed that the car was rear wheel drive until the day I spun it to destruction in the rain while trying not to t-bone a minivan which had pulled out directly in front of me. Take it from me - telephone poles may be made of wood, but they will indeed put the hurt on a car made of steel.

I started to get the performance tuning bug while owning my next car, a hand-me-down 1996 Saturn SL2 with 125K miles on the clock. The car was totaled — rear-ended by a speeding SUV — before I ever got the chance to do more than research mods.

A friend of mine had impressed me with his old BMW’s, so I replaced the Saturn with a 1987 325is. The car had a 5-speed manual transmission, limited slip differential, performance tires and an aftermarket suspension. Behind the wheel, it was engaging in a way that was unlike any other car I had ever driven. It didn’t take much encouragement to get me to join the local BMW club and start attending driving schools at local race tracks. This BMW was followed by two more E30’s, both 325is’s, and both of which saw time on track at BMW club driving schools.

The BMW’s were followed by Mazda Miata’s - cars which only enthusiasts seem to understand were purpose-built for performance driving. My 1999 Miata was fitted with an aftermarket turbocharger which made it the quickest and most fun to drive car I have ever owned - the poor man’s Porsche 911.

These days I take public transportation to work, so my current 1999 BMW M3 is mostly used for errands and recreation. I was only able to make a handful of autocross events in 2008, but I hope to enjoy a full season of autocrosses and track days in 2009.