So I found myself listening to S3 Podcasts of years past and… I want in… again. I say “again” because, I’ve been a part of the S3 guys live’s in-&-out for most of this century. In the earlier years (2008 or so), I had an office & desk at the original Downtown Buford S3 office… coincidentally close to where Black Bear Off-Road is now. And I can tell you, it lit-up a fire in me for this crazy world we call “The Scene”. We had some damn good times together between those walls. All of it fueled by authentic genuine passion for automotive culture. The energy was pretty much as real as it gets.
Then I made some adult decisions…
And took a more responsible job with stability & benefits, etc. Most of my jobs over the next decade & a half stayed in the automotive realm… but they were getting further & further away from genuine automotive culture. Finally, I pivoted & landed what “I thought” was a dream job with an industry-leading company back on the scene side of things. Only to find out – the company was dictated by suits & corporate policy that wanted to eat my whole soul lol. Needless to say, I was disenchanted. Lost & drained… without fully realizing it.
But I finally got ‘that feeling’ again…
At Jeep Beach in Daytona this year. Wooley & Bubba pretty much forced me to go. We over-occupied a house right on the beach. And I can say that we made enough memories to last for years to come. Whether it was Bubba & I solving the world’s problems at sunrise, fighting over who was the best rapper of all time, or Wooley screaming in my asleep face after I gave everyone the ol’ Irish exit & passed out (I don’t remember that).
The thing I’m getting at here is…
Car culture provides something truly great if you let it – family. Yeah I know… Toretto just entered the chat. Lol but seriously – call it family, call it camaraderie, friendship, ‘bro time’, call it ‘having each other’s back’, whatever.
The word ‘culture’ gets thrown around a lot in the automotive space…
But it’s the side of cars that’s more than cars. And that shouldn’t be waved-off or taken lightly. If car culture is a passion, then staying true to that passion keeps you grounded, recalibrated, gives you clarity, and keeps you on the path of your True North. And that is success. Responsibility & sensibility will honestly cloud your vision, disorient you, steal your color if you’re not careful, & pull you away from your passions. But know this – there is absolutely nothing irrational or immature about having a solid peer group. On that Jeep Beach Daytona trip, I was hit with a clarity/perspective that I honestly can’t even put on paper out feeling stupid. And it was something I desperately needed at this point in my life.
So put in the effort…
And let cars grow into more than cars. Find a group of people you vibe with, over-occupy a small space, tell stories, argue over pointless topics, drink a lil too much beer, get out from behind screen-based car culture, and find camaraderie. At the end of one of S3’s older podcasts, Gregg Bucell said it best when he answered the question about his favorite part of The Scene… “It’s the People”. It’s always the people. So go forth young man or woman, and get you some of that.
-Frankie Corndoggs-
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