Its been on my mind since I found out. I cant even begin to comprehend what Mike is going through right now. But Im sure he will overcome this and High Torque Racing will be bigger and better. I sent my donation. I wish there was more I could do
I can't imagine going through this. Donation sent. Not sure if i did it right. Donated as normal but with a note this was for Mike.
Dont know if someone already posted this but I ran across it on my news feed. https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/6613c2cc-47dc-38b1-83dc-42b33c29c738/ss_fire-destroys-topeka-area.html Tom
Yesterday afternoon, on behalf of the fine folks on this board, I was able to do this... Went Friends and Family of course, so no fee was paid... freaks me out to have that much money in a paypal account, I figured it's best to tear off the big chunk of it and get it where it needs to go. We are well on our way to our next goal. Thanks! JW
Update for Saturday Morning finished.. several folks have now come back and donated again, their name appears twice on the list when that happens. I am grateful for the excellent response to this call for help for a fellow Buick Brother. Thank you all JW
Ya, Mike said that one of the heating tubes in one of his overhead radiant heat fixtures failed, and melted, the debris dropped right into the interior of a convertible, and started the fire. Not much you can do about that deal. He already has a new heating system planned for the rebuild. JW
I hope the insurance company still pays out? Maybe go after the maker of the heater? As soon as PD hits I will donate again.
Told my wife about this effort this morning. She was impressed and I'm proud to be apart of this community.
I may of shared this story in the past, but I remember the first time I met Mike in the 80's. Here I am this kid from NY at my first GS Nationals. Didn't know anyone. I guess it was 88 or 89 maybe? Never had been outside of the NY, NJ, CT area. So I was totally out of my element in BG. About an hour before I had just got informed that the white clump on my breakfast plate wasn't mashed potatoes, but something called "grits". So Im walking around the swap meet area and this kid runs up to me from this big red trailer. Starts talking to me like he was my best friend and hands me this ram air bracket he said he just reproduced. I remember how excited and passionate he was about it. Being from NY, I wasn't used to this. Normally, you try not to even make eye contact with other people when you walk around in NY. As he was talking to me, I remember being like, who the heck is this guy?" and looking around like does he even have the right person here? I was really taken aback. He probably didnt think anything of it at the time, but looking back I always found that funny.
The insurance company will pay, no question and he does have a good company; I know them and almost signed on with them at one time. They will probably go back to the manufacture of the heating system for payments made for the fire if there is enough evidence to show there was a defect with the heating system. That is called Subrogation and is common in the industry. The biggest worry I have for Mike is that he has enough coverage for loss of income during the time he is down while rebuilding. I'm sure he will need more that what has been donated already. What sounds like a ton of money really isn't in this situation. But make no mistake, Mike will persevere and come out stronger. I've known him for over 30 years and know how strong he is and how good of a man he is in his personal and business life.