Mr. Tracy Responds!

"facw" (facw)
04/26/2019 at 07:30 • Filed to: DAVID TRACY, properly fixed, Jeep, Front Page, Hey look a celebrity on Oppo

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David Tracy has been on Oppo a few times recently. Last night he posted a response to shop-teacher that’s long enough I’d thought I’d highlight it so other people could see it as well:

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DISCUSSION (15)

vondon302 > facw
04/26/2019 at 07:55

Thanks for reposting this!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > facw
04/26/2019 at 08:23

This is why i love reading David's stuff.

DutchieDC2R > facw
04/26/2019 at 08:28

God, Rootwyrms responses still feel like eyebleach.

Thnx for the repost.

facw > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/26/2019 at 08:34

I love David’s enthusiasm, and he seems like a very gregarious guy. I do wish he’d re-calibrate h is expectations for safety. It could be as he says that his somewhat flippant writing style means I have a bad sense of how concerned he is with that, but my impression is that he has an undesirable bias as to what he considers safe that should be corrected.

As I said in thread, I also wish (for his sake) that he got going on these earlier, though as a serial procrastinator, I understand how it can happen. Still it seems like it would be good to set a goal of being able to do a 200 mile round trip (within the range of AAA Plus towing!) at least a few weeks before the main event, rather than setting off in a basically untested vehicle.

WilliamsSW > facw
04/26/2019 at 08:38

Thanks for reposting! I need to follow David’s adventures more closely, it’s fascinating stuff.

I think, though, that people have a tendency to project “what he’s about” on to him, inaccurately. Some of it is how he writes, some of it is his engineering background (he’s dead right about engineering bearing little relationship to wrenching), but it always read to me that it was just a passion for Jeeps and solving “impossible” problems. It’s interesting stuff.

LongbowMkII > facw
04/26/2019 at 09:02

So I’ll be waiting for golden eagle updates

facw > LongbowMkII
04/26/2019 at 09:03

He’s got make it back first!

Ash78, voting early and often > facw
04/26/2019 at 09:29

I always took his “nonchalant” writing style to just be part of the character he portrays on the site. I’m not saying it’s fake, I’m just saying you have to play to a certain character or persona — especially online — so things come across as more interesting and unique. You have to have an angle.

None of his stuff strikes me as any more dangerous than stuff I see on the road every day in a place without mandatory safety/emissions inspections.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > facw
04/26/2019 at 10:24

I mean I get “safety of others” should be a top priority. But really I find the only safety he ends up “compromising” on is his own. Those are two very different aspects. Because in reality, driving on a public road in ANY vehicle is already an absurd risk. Then try to be in any vehicle before the mid 2000s or so and you are also fairly likely to die, even if everything is in perfect working order. Just starting with the vehicles he is using, “safety of self” is basically out the window even if the car was factory fresh. That’s where I see the risk management aspect, similar to those that go rock climbing without any gear or partake in other “high risk” activities. Sure they could die if something goes wrong, but they are doing what they love and living their best life without harming anyone else. Now saying that, I would not be comfortable with that level of risk personally. I would never take on a project like that on public roads because too much could go wrong. But I enjoy living vicariously through David since he does seem to take great care in accounting for “safety of others” by focusing on making the brakes work and such. Granted, he had a brake failure but that was an honest mistake which he had tried to fix ahead of time (and had inspected by a professional). I would imagine there is definitely some over dramatization in his writing, but that’s what makes it interesting to the average reader.

TL;DR - I agree, he is nuts. But so are underwater cave explorers and those wing suit maniacs or anyone else risking their own lives.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > WilliamsSW
04/26/2019 at 10:37

The “engineering being little relationship to wrenching” is definitely the thing that speaks most true to me. While I love wrenching and going into engineering was certainly influenced by that passion, “problem solving” was the definitely the only relevant skill I picked up in school for that hobby. I had plenty of classmates who in senior year were thoroughly incompetent at turning wrenches but could easily ACE a PhD program and create really cool stuff. I still feel like a complete novice most of the time with any sort of wrenching but it’s the curiosity of problem solving and getting my hands dirty that excites and interests me. Not having space to wrench is the number one reason I don’t take on more challenging projects, as I have to drive home in whatever I’m working on at the end of the day. If I had the space David had, I’m sure I’d do dumb things of similar proportions. Granted I’d set more realistic timeliness but that’s his thing I guess haha.

BigBlock440 > facw
04/26/2019 at 11:19

Do people not read about everything that he’s replacing, or do they forget? I don’t understand how people just t hink he’s half-assing it so much. Most of the stuff he replaces didn’t actually need to be replaced, but he does it out of caution since it’s old and unknown. No, it’s not a concourse restoration, but it doesn’t have to be. Or maybe people are just really unfamiliar with what their car looks like underneath it?

WiscoProud > facw
04/26/2019 at 13:37

I like David’s response, but most of the commenters original points stand. The vehicles, and especially this one, ARE dangerous to himself and others. Sure, in an accident he’s going to get the brunt of the damage, but if someone swerves to avoid him, that’s just as bad. Project POSTal never should have been back on the roads. It should have been a dedicated project vehicle, that gets towed to Moab by one of the other more road worthy vehicles.

His procrastination, while understandable for a college aged student, doesn’t work for projects like this. Three weeks is not enough time to make that vehicle road-worthy. Considering t he fact he’s getting into his mid-late 20s, he really should have a better grasp on timing and budget.

In the end, I enjoy his writing and even these basket-case projects. I just don’t want to see him get hurt. Eventually something will go wrong, if his worst impulses aren’t reigned in.

WilliamsSW > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
04/26/2019 at 21:33

Yeah I’m an engineer by schooling and mostly what I got out of that was good problem solving skills. Does not make me anything even vaguely resembling a competent wrench.

I think wrenching and engineering attract a similar personality in some ways, but that doesn’t mean the skills translate directly.

Urambo Tauro > facw
04/26/2019 at 23:00

Having wrenched with David on a few occasions, I can vouch for almost everything he said in that reply. The nonchalant attitude that comes across in his posts is a poor, inaccurate reflection of the actual care he puts into his work.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > WilliamsSW
04/27/2019 at 08:37

At least being a mechanical engineer, I did have to turn wrenches for a couple of projects/classes . Moreso my design classes where actual work needed to be done. But it was a much heavier emphasis on circuitry, 3d modeling and printing , programming, and aerodynamics/thermodynamics/fluid mechanics. I was always excited to get to bolt things together though, especially laser cut parts that just fit together so beautifully. Now for work, I do entirely software related stuff though so I rarely turn anything beyond a screwdriver to open a case or something.