I bought my first Porsche in 1987, a black 944. I flogged it around the streets and canyons of southern California for a year, then traded it in on a mortgage, our first child, and a used Honda Accord.

Twenty years later, in 2007, I bought my second Porsche, a black 2000 Boxster S. A friend said “you should take it to the track.” I said, “The track? Really!?” In 2008, I joined NCR, and did a car control clinic and my first track day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. I have been sliding down the slippery slope ever since. For the last 10 years, driving on the track has been my passion – at Driver’s Educarion (DE) events and PCA club races.

During that time, I have driven 15 tracks, met some great friends, shared many track events with our four kids, and now share nearly every event with my wife Mary, who also loves to drive and instruct. The Boxster has turned into a full race car, and our second Porsche, a 2002 996, will soon be a full race car.

DE is special. Where else can an average person take their car to real race tracks, and drive as fast as possible – with an instructor! It’s pretty cool. And if you stick with it, listen to your instructors, and practice, practice, you might advance to solo, and might someday advance to instructor. Such as it was for me, and after several years instructing, I got to be Chief Instructor with NCR.

During the last three years, I have had the pleasure of working with a great group of people – the instructors who are willing to get into a very fast car, with a total stranger, and teach them how to go . . . faster! And I have had the pleasure of working with the many volunteers who make our hobby possible. So much goes into planning and executing a DE event. It’s just such a good thing.

But, it is time to pass the torch to the next Chief Instructor, who is . . . Bob Tucker! Bob is a good guy, he’s been doing this longer than anybody, he’s one of the best instructors out there, he’s a racer, and he’s graciously offered to volunteer his time as CI, to help coordinate instructors and students at NCR events. For those who don’t know, Bob’s been here before. He was CI from 2005 through 2007. The three years before I started!