[gtofreek]

Originally Posted by Brian Baker

More info...I just learned that the Challenger pictured was wrecked and burned to the ground, with Arnie driving. Apparently Arnie got his hands burned up pretty bad in that one too (a little deja vu from his fire in the Tameless Tiger a few years ago...he obviously survived both, but man, those are some creepy odds).

I ran into Arnie at the PRI show and I must say, he's healing up pretty good. Looks a lot better than when I saw him a couple years ago. He's getting some more movement out of his hands now. He's such a nice guy and will go out of his way to talk to a fan.

Does anyone have any Stories about any personnal experiences with Arnie they would like to share? I have a few I will share if you like.

I first met Arnie in the late 90's when he was out here in Tucson making some exhibition runs at our local track. My wife and I stopped by the outskirts of his pit and watched him working underneath his car[the Tameless Tiger] on the tranny. The rest of his crew were just standing around. When Arnie got out from under the car he glanced over at my wife and I and proceeded to walk over, wiping off his hands, and introduce himself to us. I told him I was the President of the local GTO club here and had a 64 GTO myself. He talked to us for about a 1/2 hour and then proceeded to give us lots of Arnie stuff like a 64 GTO Tameless Tiger 'fridge magnet, some T-shirts, a video, and an autographed copy of a Tameless Tiger booklet. It was the coolest thing. He asked what I do for a living and I told him I was a machinist. It would have been an honor to do some machine work for him. He called me one night at home a couple years later and said he was looking for someone else to do his heads. He interveiwed me, so to speak, but I think he was a bit put off by the shop I worked at[it wasn't the cleanest shop around, matter of fact, it was about the dirtiest shop around since the boss hated a clean shop, but that is another story]. Well, about 2 1/2 years ago, now that I work at a real shop, I finally got the opertunity to fix the E-heads on his 8 second 63 Tempest that Jeff Samms drove for him. I had to install some seats and cut all the seats to the same depth as well as make all the valves the same legnth from tip to face as well as overall. This got all the stem heights the same for his shaft mount rockers to work right. It was a thrill for me to do those heads and since I have talked to Arnie on a few occasions at the PRI shows. He's a great man and never seemed to let his fame go to his head.

I suggest that if anyone ever see's Arnie, don't be afraid to go up and start talking to him. You won't be disappointed.

Anyone else?