Do it for Dad
Brendan McAleer counts the ways to celebrate Father’s Day
Like any father, all I really want for Father’s Day is some peace, and quiet, and a convertible 1968 Corvette 427 L- 88 with a Muncie fourspeed manual and side pipes. You know, the simple things in life. But some hope, hey? What we dads usually get as a reward for our frontline battles against boo- boos and less- than- stellar report cards is usually some socks, or maybe a tie in a pattern that Lady Gaga would shy away from, or perhaps just a handmade card crafted with love and a pretty creative attitude toward spelling.
We treasure these things because they’re given with love, but you know what your dear old dad really wants? He doesn’t want stuff to be admired and then stuffed in a drawer somewhere — he wants your time. He wants you to set down the iPad for 15 seconds and engage in some real, oldtimey, face- to- face human interaction.
Now, I warn you, there will be some super- corny dad jokes involved. That’s just par for the course. You’ll also likely receive some shopworn advice that you probably already figured out on your own.
But make the effort to share some time with your old man, because he’s a finite resource and, believe it or not, he isn’t going to be around forever. On father’s day, leave the Beetle-patterned tie on the shelf and get your gearhead dad an experience that you can both share.
Go have an adventure together. Odds are your very existence has been the adventure of a lifetime for him.
Race your dad
Of course, the first thing you might do is let the ol’ gaffer know that it’s time to pass the driving torch on to the next generation. Just be careful, as he may whip your cocky butt around the track, which he’ll lord over you until the end of time. It’s what we dads do. Builds character and stuff.
High- performance driver education days are widely popular anywhere there’s a decent racetrack within driving distance, and that’s most places. Lapping sessions range from novice instruction for first- time track newbies, to advanced driving courses for further honing skills.
If you really love your dad, you’ll pop off together to some place like Skip Barber or the Bondurant school of racing, but this gift need not be so extravagant. A day spent together learning the finer points of driving at the local track and then comparing notes in the pits can really draw the pair of you together. It also improves reflexes and driving skills for the street: mostly, you learn how to use your vision to help dodge the bad drivers out there.
Price: $ 250, plus fuel
Race your dad II: Miniature edition
If full- sized racing is out of the question for budgetary or age- related reasons, you can still test your mettle against