[tcoley]

November 1st, 1970
Milwaukee, WI

He had always wanted to race, race competitively. If he couldn't do it right, he didn't want to do it at all. With a wife and 4 kids, and recently coming out of the service, life was crazy. Another problem with making the circuit was that there were too many races to compete for the championship. Looking back over NASCAR's recent seasons, with anywhere from 45-62 races, it was easy to understand that going from 0 races to 62 was not feasible.

Milwaukee...he hated Milwaukee! It was cold and icy half the year, and hot and humid the rest of the year. The only good thing about Milwaukee was that there were a lot of racetracks in the area. He loved the Milwaukee Mile, and the short tracks; Madison International Speedway, Slinger Super Speedway, and Hale's Corners Speedway, just to name a few. He'd take his kids to the races each week. He'd teach them the lines, the lingo and how to see what a car was doing on the track. The 2 boys, Bryan Lee and Boyd Allen took notice. All that was about to change...

Staying in Milwaukee was not the answer. He had to make a decision, follow his racing dream, putting everything that his young family had into racing for the NASCAR championship, (which would be too much at 40-65 races per season) or, move his family to the Gold-lined streets of California. They could start fresh and really make something of their live's out there. Business's are booming in California, he could find a good paying job. Maybe getting away from racing, what he wanted to do more than anything, would make it easier choosing California over his dream. Being able to hit a racetrack almost any night of the week in the racing hotbed of Wisconsin was maybe torture instead of serenity. He was about to find out.

With the 4 kids packed in the back seat, trunk stuffed full, and luggage strapped to the roof, they pulled out of his parent's driveway and headed for the Golden Coast!