Wow… So now I am supposed to try to express how excited and happy I am with words, much less written ones… IMPOSSIBLE! But I guess I have to try… lol.
So for me this all started with Ford, no not Octane Academy, in the mid 80′s in Jack Roush’s pit watching my dad and Scott Pruett race GTO Mustangs for Ford. 1987 Portland Trans-AM Race After a few races I was hooked and I knew that was what I wanted to do in life… I someday wanted to race for Ford like dad, BUT, I wanted to be as good as Scott Pruett lol. All my life I have been bitten by the Ford bug, all I’ve ever driven is a Ford, and twice in my life I have had to call my Ford Bronco home for a few months when times were tough. I know there are some huge Ford fanatics out there… but when it comes down to flatout love of the Brand, I will give ANYONE a run for their money.
Below are the Ford’s of my life, unfortunately I do not have a picture of my first car a 1979 Ford Bronco, but I do have a picture of my 95 Cobra(no longer own), my 95 Bronco, and my tow vehicle(which I am embarrassed to admit how much I love) my 2003 E-350 7.3 Turbo Diesel Van. I know, I know… you think your Ford is badder than mine etc. etc. But your Fords didn’t just win Ford’s 2013 Octane Academy… mine did ;-P and patting the dash and driving around with the top off never felt so good…
Ok enough about my Fords, and on to Octane Academy. The whole experience was very surreal and stressful to be honest. I enjoyed winning Deegan’s camp for a few hours but realized I was even stressed going into the training day. The whole thing, with the $50,000 prize + a $50,000 car, the cameras the crew and the none stop interviews and questions, the fact that we were shooting this in the late Spring/early Summer in the southern California desert day after day, or the fact that I just NEED this for my last and aging hopes of a professional career… It was stressful to say the least and I just wanted to get through it.
For those of you that have no idea what Octane Academy is, below is a link to a “teaser” and below that if interested are links to all the episodes
| Episode | Name | Competition Style | Air Date | Network | Winner | Episode DL Link |
| 1 | The Draft | ALL | Mon 6/17 12amEST | NBC Sports | from 24 to16 people | EP1-The Draft |
| 2 | Camp Foust | Stunts / Road Course | Sun 6/23 1pmEST | NBC | Robert Strohmeyer | EP2 Camp Foust |
| 3 | Camp Gittin Jr | Drifting | Mon 7/1 11pmEST | NBC Sports | Jonathan Nerren | EP3 Camp Gittin |
| 4 | Camp Deegan | Off-Road | Sun 7/7 3:30pm EST | NBC | Me / Burt Jenner | EP4 Camp Deegan |
| 5 | Camp Block | Rally | Mon 7/15 11pmEST | NBC Sports | Kyle Gagliardi | Camp Block EP |
| 6 | Training Days | Camp Winners Choice | Mon 7/22 11pmEST | NBC Sports | none | Training Day EP |
| 7 | 2013 OA Finals | ALL | Sun 7/28 1:30pmEST | NBC | Me  |
The Finals EP |
Don't be shy...