Hooniverse Weekend Edition – This is Your Newbie News Editor
Editors Note: This weekend, Hooniverse will be running a series of posts introducing you to some of the new writers who are now in our part of the Hooniverse. This time it’s Greg Kachadurian who is our own Hooniverse News Editor. Let Greg know how much you appreciate his writing here.
Like many of you, I love cars. I love many different types of cars, whether it’s a Ferrari 458 Italia or a ’67 Mustang Fastback. I love cars that capture my imagination, like the Pagani Zonda, and I love cars that draw my eyes to its body panels from miles away, like the Ford GT. I also cry a bit whenever I pass a junkyard and see what used to be a shiny new car rusting inside out with a Plymouth Neon sitting on top of it. Gran Turismo taught me how to drive and I can identify too many cars based solely on how they sound. I’m a little crazy when it comes to my obsession with cars and driving, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am also your news editor as of five months ago. If you’re interested in the story of my life, read on. Just bear with me as I try to make it sound interesting…
I was born in Dallas, Texas way back in October of 1991 and lived a normal life there for the next 7 years. When I was there, I picked up a love for soccer and didn’t suck that bad at it (my father was happy about that). Somewhere along the way, I also picked up a love for cars. Between going to the store for a new Hot Wheels car after a doctor’s appointment and looking out my bedroom window and trying to identify each car that passed, I developed an unhealthy obsession for cars. In 1998, we moved to a quiet suburban area just south of Atlanta, Georgia at the request of the airline my father works for (guess which one 
).
A few more magical events happened since I’ve been in Georgia that only added to my car obsession, including my first trip to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for an ARCA race. After the race, my father and I went into the infield and were walking through the pits when Kerry Earnhardt’s crew chief hands me an autographed tire that Kerry used in the race. As I was rolling a big ass racing tire out of the speedway, I decided that no matter what happened in my life, I would always be a gearhead and a passionate race fan till the end.
Fast-forward several years and my car obsession was starting to worry my family a bit. Our first family vacation overseas was to Rome, Italy, and even amongst the amazing sights and history, I was the kid who was staring into the Lamborghini showroom the whole time and was looking down every street just to catch a glimpse of a shiny red Ferrari. After getting my first Play Station 2 with a copy of Gran Turismo 3 and 4, I was able to identify even the most obscure cars, which made me question my sanity. Just imagine the look on my parent’s face when I could tell there was a Porsche 911 behind us at 11:00pm!
Cars I've seen: V12 Vantage, GTX1, and F430 Scuderia out of GT5
Throughout high school, I never even considered writing on a regular basis as I do now. But soon my teachers caught wind of my passion (must have been all the Ferrari and BMW shirts I wore every day) and let me write about cars and racing a few times. I eventually began to enjoy writing a bit more because of it and wrote a few A+ papers about cars up until I graduated in 2010.
And then I met everyone’s favorite Polish guy, Kamil Kaluski, on Twitter after he announced he was looking for a few new writers for CarGuyDad. I took up the offer and started out with a weekly news article (just as I do now). Even though I was unsure if I was ever going to be any good at it, I found it too enjoyable to give up, especially now that I’m at an awesome site like Hooniverse. Nowadays I’m in college looking for a degree in Information Systems and/or Information Security, but I still make time to hit up Sunday morning car shows, the indoor gokarting track, racing games like Gran Turismo 5, and of course, write the Hooniverse News.
Thank you all for welcoming us newbies to the Hooniverse community and I, for one, hope to be here for a very long time to come. Also, if you’re reading this right now, thanks for letting me tell you a little story about my life.
To read more of Greg’s News Features, click on this link.
Related posts:
- Hooniverse Weekend Edition – Hello, I’m One Of The New People
- Hooniverse Weekend Edition – Writing for Hooniverse, Some Months On
- Hooniverse Motorsport News for the Weekend of December 5, 2011
- Hooniverse Motorsport News for the Weekend of September 26, 2011
- Hooniverse Motorsport News for the Weekend of October 3, 2011
"I love cars that draw my eyes to its body panels from miles away, like the Ford GT." Me too! Me too!
That's about what I figured
Damnit, I'd never realised that I'm ten years up on you. Sounds like you'll have to speak in a deep voice and grow a bit more stubble before they let you in the Hooniverse Lounge for Brefass Scotch. We may have to sneak the bottle out for you.
Well I certainly have the stubble covered. By the end of no-shave-November I look like Chewbacca… or a terrorist.
Well, we might be able to let you in for brefass scotch if you get a really convincing fake id.
Only ten years? This olelongrooffan has thirty and counting. Shit, I own a tuxedo older than Greg…and no, it's not baby blue with ruffles…basic black rocks. Anyway, welcome aboard Greg…you write some excellent stuff and I look forward to more of it. And consume that Brefass Scotch sparingly, it is some good stuff.
Thanks a lot! I know the news wasn't popular with everyone at first but I'm glad some people like it. Cheers.
Greg: don't base your page views on the number of comments received…I actually get just a few per post but then one of our fellow Hoons will remember some obscure fact contained in one of my posts and remember it in six months. True.
I feel I have to supply either wit or information in a post, so when you nonchalantly wander behind the velvet rope and show us all the neat stuff you find there (which you do so often), I don't have anything to add. It's cool when you do that and thanks.
By (with?) the same token, Greg, the news doesn't provoke as much discussion as some other topics ("why the Fiat 500 is terrible and I hate it", "Identify this lug nut", "Everybody talk about their first car here"). When (I feel rather fatalistic about this) you bring me the news that the Dodge brand is officially being phased out, I will attempt to textually reproduce the sound of me chewing on my desk in helpless anger, but usually it's just "now I know more things, thanks." Knowing more things is half the battle, but you don't even get that joke because grrr I'm already old and I'm not even old yet.
<img src="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/582915/knowing-is-half-the-battle.jpg" width="500">
I love being able to bring something different to the site in the form of shiny new cars, so it's cool to know that you dig it too. Thanks for the kind words, and as always, thanks for reading my stuff
Sparingly and in a private residence with good company, at least for the next several months.
Or, y'know, you could've done as I did and visited Scotland right out of high school.
1991¿ Jesus christ…
Is this where I talk about how awesome 90s kids are?
Even I feel old now.
Damn kids! Get off my lawn!
Dude, don't even go there. There Soviet Union never existed during your lifetime. You're going to make a few of us feel old (I've still got a month of my 20s left…).
EDIT: Also, thanks for the The News. Lovely articles, keep 'em coming.
This is like my realisation that there are middle-school students who weren't alive when the World Trade Center towers went down.
Seriously, that… that's something.
That is scary. I can still recall the smells of that day. <clay davis> Sheeeeeeeet </clay davis> I'm feeling old now.
Who remembers the Cold War? TWO Germany's? Check Point Charlie? Vietnam? Anyone….Ferris? (Dammit, even my movie references are old…)
At least I can say I lived at the same time Freddie Mercury did… for about a month.
Thanks for reading
I did get to meet fellow Hoon, Aaron Pfefier, who at 19 years old is studying Mechanical Engineering somewhere in the Atlanta area and is also a friend of the Flying Lizards Motorsports Team, at the Rolex24 a couple weeks ago, so this olelongrooffan can only surmise that successive generations of Hoons are forthcoming. And for that, I, along with my Hoon father, born in 1924, can only rejoice. Long live Hoons regardless of age. BTW Greg, can you program my new Smart Phone for me?
I have little experience with coding and no experience at all with smart phones. I can, however, ask you "did you try turning it off and back on again?"
Hello computer
It is nice knowing I'm not the only young one really obsessed with the Hoon.
All of you commentators think Greg is young, I think he is old(not by much though).
I too like knowing I'm not the only one who can't [legally] drink on here. Cheers, and thanks for reading
Pretty much the biggest reason you guys were hired. It leaves a whole lot more Brefass Scoth for everyone else. And you'll probably believe that PBR is real beer. So, to summarize, motivated, talented writers + intact liquor rations + budget containment = Winning!
Two of my three cars are older than you, Greg…
…but one's older than I am, too, and by a couple of years at that.
(Knowing that you share one of my earliest interests, I hope I'm not the only Hoon our age who can identify any hubcap from about '85-'00 or differentiate between a '95 and '96 Contour, despite being completely unaware of more recent year-to-year trim changes. I sometimes wonder whether I'm losing my touch, and if so, whether that's entirely a bad thing.)
For what it's worth, I appreciate your news segments – the only other car blog I read on anything approaching a regular basis is TTAC, and they certainly don't hit on everything, so it's nice to be able to fill in the gaps. I have no grounds for complaint anyway – my only contribution above the IntenseDebate line was a gratuitously graphic interpretation of a Craigslist advert, after all; I'm really here to learn a few things and offer, ahem, witty commentary in response.
I'm a little older than you guys but I had hubcap, tiny badges and/or small fractions of car body ID too. I'd creep my parents out when I was little, barely able to look out the rear window, telling them what they were looking at. Then this came and now they have to tell me what I'm looking at so I don't faceplant everywhere.
I liked the news from the start too. Almost never have something to say but always read them. Don't have witty commentary nor non-IntenseDebate action. But I have a few Mystery Cars under my belt and got a job mentioning my "contribution" to Hooniverse so there's that.
The only Mystery Car I've ever been able to figure out was the new C63 AMG Coupe and that was because I had just covered it. Some of those are damn near impossible for me, so nicely done.
Also, thanks for reading!
One of these days I hope I can get a car that's older than me as well. It'll be a while before I can get the garage space and the time to devote to it though.
Also, thanks very much for reading!
<img src="http://thumbnails.hulu.com/304/40041304/40041304_384x288_generated.jpg" width="500">
I was not expecting you to say anything less than 1981 or 82. 1991, that is young.
Seriously though, I enjoy your stuff, and as I have said before, you are helping me to not have to clicky on sites where the comments will annoy me to no end. I think it is pretty awesome you are doing this on the side. Certainly a cooler college gig than donating plasma for cash, though that might pay better.
Just remember, like they say in Tommy Boy, lot's of people go to college for 7 years!
Thank you very much! And thanks for reading, glad you like it.
Also, I may be year '91 but I can remember Tommy Boy!
other than making me feel old, you best entertain me. I have given up on normal news and plan to mostly only read auto related stuff any more. I figure it is just as made up but highly more entertaining.
Haha thanks, Bill. Cheers.