This month, the pylon points to:
Travis Gianelli
Travis grew up in Strawberry, CA., a very small mountain town in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Yosemite. "I feel very fortunate to have grown up in such a beautiful place," he says, "close to a ski resort, and awesome fly fishing!" So naturally, he grew up skiing "lots and can honestly say that's the thing I miss most living down here. Arizona is not exactly known as the ski capital of America. :)"
"I moved to Arizona in 1997 to go to UTI. I actually went to UTI for their CAD drafting program, not for their automotive school. After school ended, I decided I liked Phoenix so much I decided to stay permanently. I have four sisters. And thankfully I'm the oldest."
"My Mom and Dad are both retired and still live back home in California. My Dad's name is John and frequently makes the 10.5 hour drive down to Arizona so he can go autocrossing with me." Awesome! :) "I love that he makes the drive just to hang out and run. It's a good time when he's down. He absolutely loves it and I'm sure if he didn't live so far away he'd be down for every event. If you guys ever see a really tall guy (6'10") down here roaming around the pits checking out all the rides, feel free to give him a hard time and say hi."
Travis got into cars "ever since I was little. I grew up watching my dad work on all of our cars and I thought it was fun to go out and watch. I think I drove him nuts with all of my questions I asked about this and that. But I learned a lot, and am grateful that he spent the time to teach me. So thanks Dad!" How cool is that !?!?!
Travis lives in Buckeye "with my wonderful wife Markette, who thankfully is very understanding and supporting of my autocross addiction. She also makes it out to some events and drives. She loves it and I have to say, she drives very well. We also have two dogs that keep us plenty busy. They're both deaf! I was not really a dog person until we got our first one 3 years ago. Now I can't imagine not owning dogs. I absolutely love them! Travis works at Southwest Gas in the mapping department "with my good buddy Clint Child".
"I have to thank Clint Child for getting me into this ridiculously addicting sport! I remember when I first started at work we started talking about cars, and not long after he told me I should come down and check out autocross. So I went to my first event with him just to watch, in Casa Grande. After that, I was hooked.
Travis drives a MK2 VW Jetta and "I just love it! I love having a car that is not really thought of as an autocross car and seeing what I can do in it. It does surprisingly well and is very fun to drive. I can't complain, especially since I picked up the car for 400 bucks! I also own a S13 240sx, but that is really my daily driver and it will be quite some time before it'll see any autocross time." When not autocrossing, Travis says he likes to weld, hang out at home with friends and family, go to the movies with his wife, and play xbox! Lots of xbox. "I'm quite addicted to it actually, but it is glorious fun."
"Overall, I can't express how much fun I have when I go to Autox down here in Ptown! We are lucky to have such a great group of people that show up on a regular basis and keep the club running like it does. Not to mention how much fun it is just visiting with everybody and hanging out enjoying all the cool cars. So a big thanks to everyone who keep the club running smoothly, and volunteer your time to do so. You guys are awesome. Thanks!"
And thank YOU, Travis! Another one of the great guys we have around; always smiling, having a great time, and helping out whenever needed. And yes, we dig the car too, bro !!! :)