Hi All - My Name is Barry Munson and I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
First I want to thank Joe Alexander for his introduction and my nomination to
Fot. As a component of that nomination he asked that I prepare a short personal
synopsis and I must admit that I have been enjoying the benefits of being on
the Fot list without fulfilling that request. So here goes........
I am a racer, a builder, a breaker, and a teacher. I am an aquatic toxicologist
by training and I worked for the Canadian federal Environment department for
30+ yrs.and I don't have to worry about the work/play balance any more.
My current summer race car is a 1970 Volvo P1800 which I built in 1978 and have
been pounding it around race tracks in western Canada for every year since. I
run the car 4 to 6 times a year in the national GT3 class which is highly
competitive with very strong - and much younger - cars, primarily from Japan.
We, the car and me, which I refer to the "centenary plus" team - the age of the
car plus the age of the driver exceeds 100 - very seldom win any more but sure
do have fun. I do, however, run it hard as I remain a racer at heart. The
highlight this year was participating in the support race immediately prior to
the Indy Car race here in Edmonton on a temporary airport track. Racing in
front of 80,000 people is kind of cool - more on that in a later note.
Summer racing up here starts in early June and is finished in early September.
Which means that by December the go-fast bug starts to itch and to scratch it I
have a 1975 Datsun 280Z which I race on the ice from Jan. to Mar. Fast fun car
as it reaches in excess of 100mph on the front straights of the courses the we
plow on a lake.
I am a chief driving instructor and I organize and teach at about 10 driving
schools a year on a voluntary basis.
Connection to Triumph - when I was in university and single I had a 1961 powder
blue TR3A. I had that car for 3 years, which also means 3 winters and up here
it isn't the brightest move to have an English side-curtain car as your main
means of transportation when its -20C outside. Man I loved that car, however
sanity prevailed with marriage and I sold it. Fast forward 40 years to a 1980
Ford motorhome with an enclosed 40 ft. trailer behind humping north along the
I-29 from Kansas City MO with a treasure inside. Upon arrival at the US-Canada
border, the US customs officer got a chuckle out of what was in the trailer and
the description on the transfer of title - "barn car" - a primrose yellow 1959
TR3A. So "Barnie" is home and the adventure begins.
The first piece of advice that I got from Fot was to buy Kas's books which I
did - man what a head start that has given me. As I move through Barnie's
reincarnation to a fast road car that can hold its own on the track - remember
once a racer always a racer - I hope that I will be able to contribute to this
group as much as I am getting out of it.
Thanks.
Barry.
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