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Crossroads How the Shadowfast supercar and his driver came to be From the journals of Jerry Staute 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Sponsor this page This page last updated on or about 12-18-07 a - j m o o n e y h a m . c o m - o r i g i n a l

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BACK to Me and my Shadow supercar: Driver logs

The 1969 Ford Mustang I ended up buying for my first car had obviously endured some tough times before I came along. But he wasn't the only one so shaped by past history. I'd faced some trials of my own.

It may be these similarities were what served to make us the formidable team we would ultimately become.

For those who'd like to know more about how and why I came to buy Shadowfast and rebuild him as I did-- plus at times pursue somewhat unusual courses with the machine-- there's the links below.

The accounts below largely deal with events occurring somewhere between my own ages of ten and sixteen-and-a-half years. It's strange to think of that total span being only six and a half years long. In some ways it felt like a whole lifetime all in itself.

• A small slice of one young rural geek's life;

  Sudden bouts of unprovoked violence were remarkably common throughout my childhood. But somehow things always seemed to balance out in the end.

• Passages to a larger world;

  It's sort of amazing how much change youngsters can sometimes absorb. Their world can be turned completely upside down, and somehow they accept it about as readily as a change of clothes.

• A teenage pressure cooker;

  Standing up to an unrelenting daily barrage of violence is plenty difficult enough, without a horrendous crush adding to the predicament.

• How one struggling teenager met one wrecked Mustang;

  Getting your first job and car can feel very empowering. At least once you make it through the inevitable 'gotchas' reality usually likes to add to the mix too.

• Of new best friends and old;

  For better or worse, our closest and dearest friends have enormous influence on who we are, and who we might become. But plain old luck plays a huge role in who you end up with.

• Testing the limits;

  Young men and gobs of horsepower make for a volatile mix. Especially when those men feel unduly constrained in other aspects of their lives.

  The graveyards are filled with young men who wanted to impress someone.

  A rare and mighty Boss 351 Mustang would not survive these events.

• Fools rush in; (This section still being written up)

  Saving the day is very often lots tougher and scarier than you expect.

• Ancient mysteries; (This section still being written up)

  To teenage boys, a mere decade removed can qualify something as ancient. But the mystery aspect here would grow ever more eerie over time.

• So near, yet so far; (This section still being written up)

  This would turn out to be the closest thing to a date I'd ever experience with my favorite high school cheerleader. It would also offer a preview of the apocalyptic nature actual dating would hold for me in the years ahead. Sheesh!

• The Talladega incident; (This section still being written up)

  Repossessing a stolen race car would be but one of quite a few daring acts on the part of Steve and I in our early days. This was surely one of the very earliest police chases in which Shadow and I were involved. However, I was not yet the expert driver-- nor Shadow the supercar-- which we would later become.

• To save my world;

  During this time for me, the whole world was defined by the existence of a single teenage girl. When that existence was threatened, I had no choice but to throw myself into the breach.

  Both me and my car came perilously close to our own end here.

All the above was prelude to the events covered in The Shadowfast supercar driver logs.

MORE COMING SOON!