There have been many influential people in my life that have contributed to what is CALYPSO. On this page will be a growing list of those people, with short descriptions on what their influence was. Granted CALYPSO is indeed a creation of my own mind and ambitions, but these people created that mind-set that led to the creation, and everything that IS Calypso. Credit where Credit is due.
ME - (It's all about me, right?!) To start this page off. I offer a description that appears in my "Research" note-book. This document was written in 2013, when I was in the process of making up my mind about what "Calypso" was going to be. So this is the basic "theme" that was developed and expanded upon by the other people on this web-page.
MOM - Yet another "document", found in my "Research" note-book, it is a hand written note from my Mom about my love of cars. The timing of this note was remarkable. Rediscovering it provided the inspiration to this page of the web-site.
Rick Croteau
Actually, a friend of my sister's, Rick had perhaps the biggest impact on me with regards to "Corvette" in general. A "Eureka" moment of sorts was created on one day when I was 14 years old, and the events of that day left a lasting impact, establishing goals. The good news is that I accomplished the "Eureka Moment" inspired goal at the age of 50, and then to the culmination, which is Calypso. It all comes back to this guy. The man I knew back then, unknowingly impacted my life with inspiration to do likewise. Every young teen should have such a person in their life. Read about it in the PDF shown here.
Gary (Cooz) Maddock
Even though we don't see each other a lot. Dah Cooz is a huge influence on my love of cars. As a teen-ager he had them - - I didn't. Read the PDF here to read what he had to say about it.
Also he, as I said; always has my back and is my right hand man (shown here) - my "go to guy". With one statement, he will stop me in my tracks and cause me to reflect. As he did just 2 days ago. In addition to writing what is in the PDF he accused me of "Living in the Past". There ya go. Visit the inspired video of me "living my past" (last year) in visiting OUR homes on the Music Page. Scroll down to "Expanding Group".
Alex Domkowski - "Ikey"
Obviously Ikey is the guy on the right. Someday I hope that I will be able to his 'rememberence' of the key link between him and the eventual Calypso. But I'll put a teaser here. It involved restoring a Corvette that had been abandoned with a dead body in it. It was that entire process in 1965/66 where Ikey taught me the value of a well engineered vehicle. The attention to detail that GM did even in those days allowed Ikey to make one hell of a profit with very little (but gruesome) work.
William (Bill) Stringfellow aka "Strange"
If there was a "Eureka" moment in the decision making process to buy Calypso, it was a conversation with "Strange". Bill had a way with situations all his life and I am certain that he would have something to say here. But Bill is no longer with us, so I have to write this memory from my point of view.
Larry Hofer - THE Corvette Shop
I have known Larry for 25 years now, and I'm glad I can call him a friend. Although, I'm not 100% sure that the Eureka Moment I had with him regarding the decision to buy Calypso, wasn't wishful hoping on his part. There is an alternate meaning to his recommendation in the spring of 2013. At the time and since I take it as a "recommendation". And here is the link to Larry's C8 adventure.
Deirdre (Fred) Loftin
Deirdre, or as I call her "Fred" is my niece. We go back to the days when I used to baby-sit her. But over the years she has become so much more to me. Her observational tastes wins out so very often, and her organizational understanding is above reproach. PLUS she has a love of cars (although my Austin Healey may have triggered that). Never-the-less the decision on the Kalahari interior of Calypso is traced back to an intense email dialog between Deirdre, my sister (see the entry below) and myself. In the end Deirdre receives full credit for the Kalahari interior with the Laguna Blue paint - topped off with the removeable black top. The email thread is an old scanned document, that was in my note-book. It lacks some continuity (much to Deirdre's frustration with her uncle) because it was printed a full year before Calypso was delivered. It's been through some wear and tear, as a function of being in and out of the notebook.
Michael (Mike) Polite "Bow-Tie Guy"
Shane Webb - Corvette Museum Delivery Department manager
My introduction to Shane was in January of 2014, when I called to check on the status of the order that I had placed in December. Shane helped me take on GM back then and on several other occasions since then. If you ever decide to order a Corvette - FROM the factory this is the guy you must know. He will have your back for a very long time.
Up until now, I have always wondered how it was possible that I let this "call" go to voice mail. After all the months of waiting - this was THE CALL.
Now I know - it was intended as a MEMORY for sharing. Here is the message of a lifetime.
Cynthia (Neild) Messmer
My sister Cynthia (originally called "She-She"), is always instrumental in keeping me in line with family history and continuity. I consult with her on virtually all major decisions (see "Kalahari Email Chain above). But more key, in this case the day I left for Calypso's Delivery she asked a "key" question in a manner that as always gets me to thinking. A few days later - John Boothby addressed it. Want to know the family context - read the PDF shown here.
John Boothby - Naming Calypso
John Boothby is my adopted Brother. A friend of my sisters originally, he was well liked by my Mother and Father to the point that we have adopted him as our brother. It is only fitting that we share a "Eureka" moment over the naming of Calypso. Here is the story behind that naming and the two different but perfectly synchronized thoughts that created that moment.
Mike Smith - Videographer / Navigator
Mike refers to me as "Bunko Pete", as that is how we met, the game of Bunko - the die game. But as it sort of faded away in popularity about the time I got Calypso, we have become friends in other ways. We vacation frequently in Hawaii as couples and we used to do Harley runs around the various islands, mostly Maui. You can learn more in the write up posted here. But you will also run into his handiwork with Calypso on various pages here: "Shorts", "Track Details" and "Shows".
Marty Grenfell
Tru-nough, not his best picture. But Marty is a busy guy taking care of people and their cars. He very politely tolerates my interruptions. He doesn't like to be the focus, he'd rather supply it. No pun intended his impact as now the Body Shop Manager is magical. And we have become friends.
John Riley - The John Riley Project
The menu up at the top (Pod-Casts) is thanks to my friend John Riley, creator of the John Riley Project (pod-cast). There and here (the PDF File) provides you links to the pod-casts we have done re CALYPSO (plus two tangents). While Calypso was already 4 years old when we met - his focus on "Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" - has been HUGE. Listen to what he has to say - it's inspiring.
Gary "Pugsly" Puget
Influential People, not "friends" (yet):
Tadge Juecher is the Chief Engineer for the Chevrolet Corvette. He was kind enough to pose with Calypso for a few seconds. But more importantly he also autographed the "key" Chapter 2 of "The Seventh Generation of America's Sports Car Corvette Stingray". This is the chapter where he tells the story about the Obama era GM bailout and the critical role that Corvette paid in making that happen. He also liked my discovery of the hidden "Jake". Which you can read about at the bottom of the "Papers" page. It was due to his checking that; I was informed that "Solar Jake" is a happy happen chance.
Doug Fehan is the Program Manager of Corvette Racing. But he is more than that to the fans of Corvettes. The man has a firm grip on reality of virtually all competitive situations be they car racing or automotive excellence, both foreign and domestic. His understanding of European love of sports cars and performance comes through consistently. Then his ability to assess the situation be it local town folk, custom, or even the weather is remarkable.
We had a conversation of great length about his evaluation of the prevailing winds at Daytona one year where the Corvettes qualified 1 and 2 strictly on his guidance on how to use slip-streaming to their advantage.
Steve Page is the President of Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey California. Steve and I had a long talk about my long-time love of the raceway and what it means to me. He told me he very much valued stories like mine, as it would help him formulate his ideas for boosting the attraction of the track to others. On my last visit they were in the midst of putting things in place to attract the Indy Car "Road Series" to the west coast. He also liked my story about the # of LAGUNA blue Corvettes of people who have a tendency to "Track" their cars. While I was serious, we joked about the idea that Laguna Seca should host an
ALL LAGUNA BLUE CORVETTE TRACK DAY.
Obviously not "People", but these two commercials had a huge impact on me. The one on the left was actually for a C6, but I first saw it during my thoughts on the upcoming C7 when it was in it's "rumor" stage.
The one on the right - came out days after I had placed my deposit. It just boosted my comfort that I had made the right decision.