[WDT] National Waffle Day

Plus, he wasn't just some NASA dude on Twitter. He was NASA-famous, wrote a memoir . . . played by Jake Gyllenhall in October Sky, which is the movie (also with Laura Dern & Chris Cooper) about his life.

 

He's actually trying to help her find another internship in aerospace....so...helluva nice guy.

 

That movie looked so criminally boring, but it’s actually excellent.

He’s a hell of a valuable person, what he was doing as a high school junior was beyond most scientists on earth. Bonifide war hero too. Aerospace geniuses are always badass soldiers to boot. Those guys earn their fame more than anybody.

 

Holy hell.

My first job was in a gas station, before self service was a thing....so part of my duties was to be a pump jockey. It was 1980 and I was 17. One day a guy came in with a BOSS 302 Mustang and as I filled it up I talked to the owner and admired his car. It was NICE. About a week later the same guy came in with a BOSS 429, equally as nice and I was like "How the hell many of these things do you have?" He laughed and told me "Just one more, but it's not stock." He then went on to tell me about a BOSS 429 he had with a full race prepped Holman & Moody BOSS 429.

A few months later I was driving home in my big block Fairlane across the mile long bridge we had into town and I heard thunder. I looked around for the storm and ROAR right by me goes this dude with an uncorked BOSS 429. He was flat ass flying.

I knew the guy had money, not just because of his collection of BOSS 'stangs, he also has a helicopter in his yard. He always paid for his fuel with a credit card with " *His Name* Engineering" on it. His name really meant nothing to me. I figured he was some rich guy from California that sometimes summered up in Idaho.

It took damn near 40 years, but today I finally figured out who he was and what he did.

His name was Bud Moore, his company was Bud Moore Engineering. He was a NASCAR team owner and inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011.

 

The other day I was in this beach town Grand Bend when this well groomed, well dressed older gentlemen comes rolling in with an electric blue 66 Shelby Cobra. Pure sugar. This thing broke everybody’s neck on the sidewalk, it roars like no car I’ve heard. Like an A-10 Warthog. According to spectators it was no kit-car.

It certainly drew a crowd of admirers quick. I know those things are special, but how much is one worth? I hear they are insanely rare and sought-after but there are some super wealthy people living along Lake Huron.

 

Depends on a lot of factors....mostly is it a 289 or a 427 side oiler. Either way you'd be looking at $1M+ for an original.

 

So......”sought-after”. Yeah.

My neighbour has a jet-black Lamborghini Diablo from the early 90’s. Flawless and hilarious, because essentially it is a very nice car but looks so out of place on our street of Mazda 6’s and F150’s.

Actually, I can’t think of a place outside of Ocean Drive where that car would look in place.

 

Looking back on my interaction with Bud Moore....damn, I wish I'd known who he was. I would've begged him for a job sweeping floors or something.

Then again, the fact that I had no idea who he was might have been one of the reasons he liked me. Basically all we knew in our backwoods town is a 50 some odd year old dude had some bad ass cars and wasn't afraid to mix it up on the street with what we could throw at him. In retrospect, we didn't stand a chance.

For all these years I'd figured his company was a bio-med engineering company and the guy just liked cars. I never would've guessed Ford probably gave him BOSS Mustangs to see what he could do with them.

This is what comes up for a "Bud Moore Mustang" search:

 

Something interesting (Or maybe not)...


I've always had an interest in old wristwatches. I recently picked up a Commie watch. It's a Pobeda (Russian for "Victory")....right after WWII Stalin decreed that the USSR produce a watch and gave it that name in honor of defeating the Nazis. The company produced their first watch a year later.

They produced millions of Commie watches over the next 70 years or so. God only knows how reliable they might be. Anyways, I recently bought a 1960's wind up, 15 jewel model that's been recently serviced. Since it's coming from Russia, it's going to be awhile till I have it in hand, but it sure looks good.

 

Here in town we have Steve Plunkett, whose father was Dr. Earl Plunkett, inventor of “The Pill”. To say he’s inherited some dollary-doos is an understatement. He splits his cash between his huge charity festivals, his horses and most of all his Cadillacs. He owns all the best ones, right down to the first one made:

 

He is the sweetest guy ever. We go to his dog charity in August. We actually applied to rescue another Basset Hound while there last week, hoping to get him after Labour Day weekend.

I haven’t been to his American Graffitti night yet. I’m always out of town it seems when it’s on, everyone says it’s the best “Cruise Night” anywhere. But he always brings a few of his fabulous cars out when he has guests for other functions. Most people don’t realize his backyard is a private golf course, I don’t think he uses it much.

 

When the richest guy in town has no haters, it says something for his character. He’s not exactly Helmuth Buxbaum when it comes to famous wealthy locals.

 

I don't know how quality it is, I have my doubts since it's Russian and made during the peak of Communism. The fact that it hasn't disintegrated over the past 50 years at least gives me hope.

I used to have a bunch of old Bulova wind up watches from the 30's and 40's, and while not quite high quality, they were certainly better quality. They looked great and kept time with no issues. The coolest part about them is they were small and heavily influenced by art deco.

And then we have Rolexs. I had one and hated it. Not only was it stupid expensive (And pointless), it was heavy, kept horrible time, and needed constant cleaning and oiling. I'll never own another one.

 

Dean Listed (UFC) came home a few nights ago to find a meth head in his kitchen going through all his stuff. Called the cops, then got out his camera and started filming while talking to the guy.



The video ends as he was attacked. That's when Dean pulled out his handgun and allowed the fucker to leave with his life and apparently quite a bit of money. Since the cops didn't catch him, Dean promptly uploaded the video asking for help identifying the asshole. Enter reddit, who not only identified him but found his facebook, which they then shared with dean and, presumably, the police.