ARIZONA REGION – James Frink was born and raised in New York. New York state, he is quick to say. Upstate New York state, in a couple of suburbs outside Albany.
He's similarly non-specific about his childhood, saying only that school didn't suit him well at first. When it came time for college, he wanted it to be far enough away that "a trip home would be a major event." He ended up at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. The small college (about 1100 students) and small town (about 9000 residents) suited him well enough that he stuck around and earned a degree in marketing.
A dull first job selling furniture back in New York state and his parents' winter home in Fountain Hills tempted James and his girlfriend to Arizona in 1996. He liked it; she didn't. He stayed; she didn't.
Work, always in marketing, has included a long stretch selling business telephone systems for a local company called Copper State Communications. But he left them in 2003 for "a series of dud jobs with unsuccessful firms." Fortunately, that changed in July of 2005, when he landed a position at CADsoft Consulting, a local software firm that markets and supports Autodesk AutoCad design software. He likes this job a bunch more than any other job he's had.
James credits his older brother for a strong interest in cars, going back as far as he can recall. But he especially remembers lusting after a neighbor's rarely seen Ferrari Testarossa. He parents' choices in transportation gave him a preference for Japanese vehicles, but the first car he could call his own was a 1983 Pontiac 6000 STE passed down from his father. The STE's lack of reliability motivated him to move on to an early 1980's Chevy Cavalier, which took abuse for about a year while he "prayed it would break" and looked for something more interesting. He found a 1988 Mazda MX-6 that turned out to be a great car for a college student, reliable and inexpensive to operate. After college he got a 1995 Ford Probe GT, which he brought with him to Phoenix.
A few years later, he began his Subaru fetish by leasing a 1999 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS. It was fine, but he was soon bored with its automatic transmission. A accident that totalled the car and doubled his insurance premiums helped him into a 2000 Nissan Sentra SE. A good car, he says.
James first noticed autocrossing while driving by Firebird one day. He stopped to check it out, but didn't enter until a later event. When he did first enter, he "found it nerve-wracking to make it through the course." But that passed, and he did several events in the Sentra. A good car, he says again, but not for autocrossing.
About this time the car of his dreams – the Subaru WRX – became
available.
He sold a lot of phone systems to pay for one, and to buy after-market
upgrades that he now admits didn't help much to make him more competitive.
At least he was getting a lot of seat time.
When the WRX STi became available, he couldn't resist the lure of a rally car
for the street.
He bought one in December 2003, and got really comfortable with it after a
couple of months of autocrossing.
He's had a string of second and third places in ST1 and finally got an ST1
first place in the Fall 2005 series.
He feels less competitive now that the STi is in BSP and he's running a chip,
but he's "still having fun."
James thinks of autocrossing as half social event and half competitive activity. For a while he resisted getting involved administratively, but he was soon requesting waiver work for every event. He's recently became our club's Waiver Chairman, having switched chairman and assistant positions with Don Sattler. He has also quietly developed a reputation for assisting newcomers.
Other hobbies include micro-brewing and watching Formula 1 & World Rally races. He credits Geren Smith for sparking his interest in brewing. As for racing, he's done a few track days, but only a few, since they're hard on a car that's needed during the week. He'd like, some day, to be able to afford moneyed entry into some motorsport activity. In the meantime, autocrossing is good.