in remembrance of CARL R.I.P.

[GRAMPS SS]

This thread will be of the good things and good memories you have of Carl....and any pics you have of him AND OR with his car ...weather at tower or the track..his wedding...with his kids....etc.......

so lets keep this thread clean and no bullshit from a few....alot of people i'm sure still have alot to say about him as a friend that they NEVER got to say before...now is the time, while it's fresh in your minds....i'm sure we all have some good stories of him





R.I.P. CARL........

[Yooformula]

Folks this thread was created by friends of the now deceased. If you werent a friend or didnt like the person then DONT post here.

[nismodave]

I dont have any pics of Carl. And the only real story I have is when i first met him.

He was working on his race car at his rented shop, and I kind of got the cold shoulder from him. I only briefly talked to him and let him continue his work.

I talked to some people shortly after that and was told that he didnt like people he didnt know checking out what he was doing to his racecar. It took me a bit to understand that, but after a while I completely understood.

He was out to race and beat other guys in thier cars so he didnt want someone he didnt know checking out what he was doing. It made me realize that he was a serious racer, and wanted to win.

After i got to know Carl, i memtioned that day, and he apologized for doing that. But I told him I understood why.:)

R.I.P Carl

[nismodave]

Some vids of Carl, that were made by others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpzTfHpzpQw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A28vGEjsusI&feature=related

[Memphis]

I only met him a few times, but I PMed him one time about a motor I was building and he basically offered his help and his opinions on what to do/not to do whenever I was ready. That says alot about someone who doesnt even know you and is still willing to lend a hand.

[GRAMPS SS]

Dave..thanks for sharing those vids...Sean and i just finished watching them...and talked about remembering Carl...Sean said he was a great friend to him,....and ..."God he could drive"......the man was a very talented driver....

like you went to his shop...i remember another story about another shop...not good memories...but the shit he would say after he was healed up.....
hell when he had the camaro...he knew how to race that car...no matter who he ran and how fast the other car was...at tower he would beat the person by a fender every time to make it interesting....and then just smile....

[b4mytm]

I met Carl years ago while visiting Mr. Plimpton at his shop. We all ended up going to lunch that day,and Carl treated me like we had been friends for awhile.
He always had a hug for me whenever I saw him after that.
He is truely missed.


R.I.P. Carl

[DR.FORD]

Over the past few years, we didn't spend much time together-but we were closer than most know.
I met Carl because of John at Fast Times. He would tell Carl I'm talking about racing and beating him (which I didn't) then John would call me or I would call for parts and John would tell me Carl is talking crap about beating me(which he didn't).
So when I would take the Torino to the track and have the hood open (hardly EVER!) I would say to my guys "if you see a black dude walking over, shut the damn hood"! One day he ninja'd my ass, came from nowhere. He stood there, looking at the engine and said, "why you coming after me with all that! Then I said, "but I heard you talking crap about racing me". The close friendship started right there.
I was Carls Best Man at his wedding to Jennifer, who was a great friend also.
My Family went to his house for cookouts- man that dude could make catfish!! His family and mine were close.
When Carl was badly burned in the garage fire that also took his "Terminator Camaro" I would visit him regularly. Tom Herman found a RS Camaro in a field next to the exhaust shop. We decided that Tom would buy the car, and I did all the bodywork and paint donating all parts and materials. When Carl got out of the Hospital, we gave the car to him. He hugged me and cried on my shoulder. This is the car pictured in Scotty Ks avatar.
I remember one time he called me on a Saturday about 6pm and asked,"what you doin'" and I said "I don't know, what are we doin'", and he said "I'll be at your house about 8pm and be ready for a road trip". He gets to my house with a HUGE bucket of his homemade chicken wing and says, "lets go to Chicago and watch the street races". We threw chicken bones out the windows all the way to Halsted, laughin' our asses off!
Carl wanted to get into Martial Arts and learn Tae Kwon Do, and he watched me fight in tournaments and rooted for me when I fought at the 1996 U.S. Nationals, so I introduced him to Master Hong who was my Grandmaster. We had alot of fun sparring together. May I add, at least with me and his fellow students, he never fought with anger or lost his self control. I could tell you people many more stories but I will conclude with right from the start we both had alot of respect for each other and I miss all of the times we spent together.

[lordairgtar]

I don't think I ever met him, but RIP anyways.

[86GUTLASS]

I Didnt know Carl but R.I.P I Know people that knew him and I heard he was a good guy.

[scaleracer]

I'll have to say Carl was a stand up guy and willing to accept people for who they are and not what car you have or don't have and he was always serious about racing. He was a role model for many! Scottie K and a bunch of others got him into slot car racing and he was fun to race with and we always had a good time. He even had a replica of the car Dr. Ford mentioned that they built for him. And as Proshow stated he could drive he reminds me of "Preacher Boy" never let off when your car hooks and then gets a little sideways. Rip Quick Carl!

[Voodoo Chick]

After seeing the videos and hearing all these stories, I wish I could have known him. He sounds like he was a really cool person, and that car of his was a beauty. I hope he is at peace.

[u_say_go]

first time I met him was probably 1990 or '91. He was in my buddy's garage hooking up what looked to be a giant nitrous bottle in my friend's built to hell, but raggity '67 LeMans. The "nitrous" bottle was actually a fire extinguisher painted blue, the real bottle was tucked up under the dash. That night we all headed to Tower so my buddy could run this chump who was running his mouth. Carl was the starter for that race, and acted like he didnt know Ken....Carl tells him to remove the bottle from the trunk, and then hands me the fire extinguisher. Ken ended up whoopin' the dude bad. Later that night we all had some good laughs at Denny's.
A few weeks later we were at GLD and Ken was having trouble with that death trap car so Carl offered to run it a few times and see what it could actually do. Carl's first run was pretty slow, he just wanted to shake the car down and get a feel for it. We met him on the return road and all you could see was a big grin on his face- he pointed to the starting line and told us to meet him over there. Carl's next run was one I'll never forget...he lines up, the light goes green and launches so hard that the rusty ass floorboards in the LeMans gave way and the seat flips staight back! :rolf
Lame stories, but they'll stick with me forever.
RIP Carl

[juicedimpss]

I met carl at the street races. he and Tom were trying to race me with tom's Gran Prix. They of coarse wanted me to pop the hood to see what i had,which of coarse i wouldnt.From that night on,we all had a mutual respect for each other and never asked again about what any of us were running. Later both tom and carl brought stuff to the shop i was working at to have stuff done.
Carl donated the "second plate" for our trip to memphis in 97 for the street car shootout,which in the end was the demise for our little grenade.

[slowlx]

I first met Carl down on Tower in the early 90s. I think one of my fondest memories was at GLD with him and a few others. He was running the Terminator Camaro, and on the launch he snapped a rear spring, but he stayed in in with the drivers front tire off the ground the whole pass. The car went 9.9 I think on that pass, and all he had to say was it was a little squirly. I sold parts to Brad from my 71 pro-street project that ended up on the replacement camaro. I could not afford to donate the parts, but I gave the best prices I could, because we all wanted to see Carl back at it. Over the years I met up with him here and there, but he will be missed.

[pOrk]

I met Carl at Bradford Beach, ended up chatting for some time and he offered tons of advice to a guy he just met. He was one of those guys that would help damn near anyone for nothing. RIP Carl, I didn't know you for long and you are and always will be missed.

[Crawlin]

I had never met the guy. EVER. Had heard of him of course on this board and from Scotty. Carl had that website of his with the funny music playing on his racing vids in the background. Talking shit that he only needed a 10.5 tire, no "W" tire and only one kit. He posted up on here a couple times, and I had always wanted to go to some of the bigger races and he PM'd me asking me if I was willing to go with him to help race. He wanted to visit some of the national races. I actually met him at a machine shop I think, not a car one, out in New Berlin, and we chatted for an hour or two. Was awesome to talk to the guy. I never did go anywhere with him to race. Then of course came the red 4th gen that I was SO infatuated with. I had wanted to put a BBC in the black camaro. We ended up talking at the track, on the northside, everything. Offered to have me stop by so he could show me how he did certain things on the car. No questions asked. No hidden agenda. Just like everyone is saying, a great overall person that wanted to help everyone and anyone he could. He even stopped in to Heiser Chevrolet since he knew I was there. He was looking for a C6 corvette. I was in finance and I set him up with the pricing, with the financing, everything. He had told me if I hooked him up he'd hook me up with the cage in the black camaro. So I did accordingly. I think he decided not to do it and wanted to look into getting a new truck to haul the red car around. This was pretty much RIGHT before he passed away if I remember correctly. couple months maybe.

I am a younger guy and didn't get into the car scene quite as heavily as you guys did until later in my life. So I missed out on the early street racing days. What I know of him, was that he was a great friend and a great guy, to even me. I couldn't imagine the fun and memories that some of you guys have of him I'm sure. I wish I could. I wish I could have known him longer or experienced some of the stories you guys have posted.

I actually think I found someone on yellowbullet that bought the red 4th gen. Was in a guy's avatar. had the same hood, gray stripes, etc... Those two vids that were posted are awesome reminders. I actually watched them early last week since I was getting excited about this coming racing year.

[VroomPshhTsi]

Anyone have a link to his site? I forgot what it was.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, how did he pass?

[johnny--2k]

I did not know Carl either, although I may have been introduced to him once, maybe. Sounds like a stand up guy. R.I.P. Carl, you are and definitely will be remembered by many!

[BlackLightning]

I never knew carl but first heard of him 5-6 years ago at the borchardt's car show. I was parked across the street from the show and he pulled the camaro in on the trailer. He pulled it off and was driving it towards the show. the cop was on the median and as carl turned onto 27th he got on it then pulled into the boyland honda lot right away. Then when carl was leaving the cop got off the median and was headed towards him so carl backed back into the lot. a little while later he goes to leave and this time the cop got off the median and pulled up to the driveway so carl backed down again and they ended up coming and getting the trailer to pick the car up. was pretty funny as they drove by with the car on a trailer revving their van. It was cool seeing him race at RSD's too.


http://www.racers-edge.org/carl.jpg