To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History

The Racing Gene: Pro Porsche Driver Sabré Cook & Hall of Fame Dad Stacey Cook

• To All The Cars I've Loved Before • Season 8 • Episode 5

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A Father’s Day Special: The Unbreakable Bond of a Racing Family

Happy Father’s Day! This week on To All The Cars I've Loved Before, we are celebrating the ultimate father-daughter racing duo. We’re sitting down with Sabré Cook—a mechanical engineer and professional driver for JDX Racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America—and her dad, Stacey Cook, a former professional motocross rider who was inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2023.

In this episode, we dive deep into the Cook family’s high-octane history. Stacey shares his incredible journey from racing a $800, 200,000-mile Datsun pickup across Colorado with dirt bikes in the back, to the terrifying realization of watching his own daughter speed past him in a formula car. Sabré discusses her disciplined path to the driver's seat (which required straight A's just to get a Chevy Equinox!), her ultimate goal to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and why she believes a $2 Million Porsche 911 DLS Singer is the ultimate dream car.

Don't miss Sabre' and Stacey's favorite episode featuring Monster Truck Jam driver, Nicole Johnson - https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/15924202

Whether you are looking to get into track days yourself or just want to hear a heartwarming story about a father who supported his daughter's drive to the top, this episode is packed with life lessons, laughs, and serious horsepower.

In this episode, we cover:

  • Stacey's wild early days: Street racing a 1965 Corvette and surviving cross-country trips in an orange Datsun.
  • Safety Evolution: The shocking differences between a 1970s Datsun and Sabré's modern safety cocoon.
  • How to start racing: Sabré's advice on using simulators (like iRacing and Assetto Corsa) and buying a Mazda Miata to build track skills on a budget.
  • The emotional toll of motorsports: Stacey opens up about the sacrifices Sabré makes to be a pro driver, working 24/7 with little social life.
  • Trivia: What common safety feature was invented out of necessity at the very first Indy 500 in 1911?.

Follow Sabré Cook: Check out her website and find the hidden Easter egg photo of her at 3 months old on her dad's vintage motorcycle: sabrecookracing.com.

Connect with Us: Got a great car story? Email us at stories@carsloved.com. Find all our content and social links here: linktr.ee/carsloved.

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Remember, every car tells a story. What’s yours? 


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DeLorean Memories And A Farewell

Doug

Welcome back to All the Cards I've Loved Before, the only podcast that shares life lessons through the rear view mirror of your favorite cards. It's time to get a little grease under your nails, grab your favorite card being teacher hat, and jump into our Devorean kind of game, get it up to ED, and get back to that first sense of your freedom. The windows down, the music tag, and the best friend file. Every card tells a story, whether it's the forgotten beater or the one that got away. We're diving into the personal history behind the metal, so let's get into it.

Dave

Hello again, Doug. How is everything going in your world? Doing great. Great to be back here with you, Dave. It's always good to sit down and have conversations with new friends. I see you have uh you have your textbook and and kind of trademark Back to the Future DeLorean swag on today.

Doug

Yeah. In addition to my Dearan picture in the background.

Dave

A little fuzzy on the camera, but we know it's there. That's all that matters.

Doug

Yeah, we got the Flying DeLorean from Back to the Future.

Speaker 2

Perfect.

Doug

Yes. All right. It coincides with the passing of James Tolkien. Hopefully I'm saying his last name. He played Principal Strickland in the Back to the Future franchise. He passed away at age 95 just a couple days ago.

Dave

So that's a great long life. That's actually news to me. I didn't hear that, and I'm sorry for the loss of his family and friends and and the loss to the the movie community. But yeah, he did a great job as in his roles.

Doug

So he he was also in Top Gun. He was the commander on the on the aircraft carrier. He had a lot of other roles, but those are two of the popular ones I can think of from the 80s.

Dave

I was gonna say, uh out off the top of my head, I didn't even realize like they were the same. Like, you know, thinking back, I've seen both movies multiple times. I don't think I've ever connected the dots. Huh. Now I gotta go re-watch them. In remembrance. That's your mission. Yeah, well, I'll have some downtime soon. Maybe. We'll

Listener Review And Guest Setup

Dave

see. Well, on our last and latest episode with our 45-year veteran automotive journalist Matt Zio, it just dropped. And Matt was the former editor of Road and Track and Auto Week magazines, the author of the book Mercedes AMG Race Bread Performance. He is also the editor-in-chief of tightwadgarage.com. And if you if you've been influential and has been influential in automotive media since the 1980s. So if you're hearing this episode, go back, listen to that one. That was a great interview. So that being said, I also have some updates from a recent review on Apple Podcasts. Carly said that I enjoy tuning in for the variety of guests this podcast has. The beginnings finds it finds me in nostalgia land for car memories. You would not be able to guess the humble beginnings that many guests started with. So thank you, Carly, for that wonderful review. And if you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review. It's the best way that we can get our name out there and get some more listeners in to enjoy the stories just like we we like making them. We love listeners to come back and say how much they're enjoying them too. So that being said, Doug, please introduce our guest. Tell me and the listeners how we found them, how they got into our virtual garage.

Meet Saber Cook And Stacey Cook

Doug

Sure. You bet. So getting more involved in motorsports, we've talked about me doing the sim racing and whatnot, and just trying to think of what else I can do with cars. You can't go very far without hearing about Miss Saber Cook, especially with her unique background as mechanical engineer and growing up with Stacey Cook as her father. And we're super excited to hear that. It's another family duo, one of one of many we love having. And these are the stories our listeners want to hear. So, with that, a little by way of a little more background, we're joined by this duo that has the obsession with speed in their genetic code, it seems. So, first up we have Saber Cook. And if anybody follows Portia Carrera Cup North America, you know her as the powerhouse behind the wheel for JDX racing. She's not just a driver, she also is a mechanical engineer who has designed suspension components for the Renault F-1 team. And she's one of the few people on the planet who can build a car, break it down, and then go out in the field in a 500 horsepower 911 GT3 cup car. And with her virtually, we have her man, her father, pardon me, the man who started it all, Stacey Cook. Stacy is a Colorado and was inducted in 2023 into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame. He made his name on two wheels, not four, as a professional motocross and supercross rider back in the day. He's the one who traded his handlebars for a wrench to help Saber get her start in karting at the early age of eight. And he's been in the corner for every championship and podium since. So here we have family history. We're going to talk. We are really excited to have this duo. So Saber and Stacey, how are you? Good morning.

Sabre' Cook

Doing great. How are you guys?

Doug

We're great. We're going to have you. Yeah, absolutely.

Stacey Cook

Thanks for having us. Yeah. Wow.

Dave

Well, thanks for the introduction, Doug. I just want to say thank you both for being here. Thanks for coming on our humble little show to get your your story out there. That's what our show is all about is the stories that brought us to where we are today and the cars that got us there. So thank you all for being here. I'm I'm super looking forward to hearing about the humble beginnings and and the successes you've had, especially the Motorsports Hall of Fame for Colorado. That's amazing in itself. So congratulations on that. Thank you.

Sabre' Cook

Yeah, thank you guys. Happy to be here and excited to kind of share share our stories and get to know more about you guys as well. Yeah.

Indy 500 Trivia And Old-School Risk

Doug

So we have something new we've added to the last couple episodes where we do a trivia question. Stacy, Stacy and Saber, even if you know the answer, we're going to hold it till the end. But the trivia question for today's episode is we talk a lot about keeping your eyes on the road, but in the early days of racing, drivers had to rely on a riding mechanic sitting alongside them to yell where the competition was. Obviously, that's changed a lot in modern days, but this goes back to the very first Indy 500 back in 1911 when the driver, Ray Haroon, hopefully I'm saying his name, without a mechanic. So to save weight and see what was behind him, he bolted a very specific household item to his dashboard. And so the trivia question is what common car feature did Ray Haroon invent that day? And we'll we'll get to that towards the end of the episode. So probably the answer. But can you imagine having to have somebody along with hey, there's a guy there? Now you have your crew chief maybe helping you just in case.

Sabre' Cook

But yeah, I mean, there are more wild things, I guess. If it's like that is totally normal. And then like nowadays, we're like, they were crazy. So I'm just excited to see like in another hundred years, like, you know, what are we doing now? That's just absolutely diabolical that they're gonna be like, what were they?

Doug

Yeah, what were these people? They weren't they were dreaming, like taking their lives in their own hands.

Dave

Well, especially looking at the safety aspects that we have today in both just regular civilian cars versus race cars and and everything, and how you know, like it was just the regular lap belt back in the the the 50s and 60s, and they're like, I put a helmet on, and you know what I mean? Like that was it. Now we have roll cages and five-point harnesses, and you know, the oh the Hans device for your neck. I mean, like so much stuff that they wasn't even thought of back then, and they're like, Well, I had a lap belt and a helmet, I'm fine. But the cars were made different than two, so we you everything goes in consideration.

Stacey’s First Datsun And Race Trips

Dave

Well, speaking of cars, I would like to to start with Mr. Stacy. What was your first car? And tell us a little bit about it, please.

Stacey Cook

Oh boy, you're you're not you're gonna be extremely disappointed. It was an old like 1972 Dotson pickup with about 200,000 miles on it.

Dave

That's not disappointing. I bet it if if you still had it today, it would still be running. Because the old Nissan's Dotsons, Hondas, like those are all those old things, man, they were built for for longevity. Oh they were. How did you come about obtaining this this uh Dotson pickup?

Stacey Cook

Well, of course, you know, it's back in the day when when you're turning 16 years old, I mean, you're you're ready to get your license immediately. So, you know, I saved up money mowing lawns and doing whatever I could, and I think I paid $800 for it. And when I turned 16, and first thing I did is take it to the car wash and open both doors and wash all the junk out of one side out the other side, because it was it was pretty rough. And and but I drove the wheels off that thing for a couple, I don't know how many years and probably put another 200,000 miles on it.

Sabre' Cook

Did your motorcycle fit in the back?

Stacey Cook

Yeah, motorcycle in the back. It was a two-seater, of course. You remember the old Dodson stick shift pickups, and and we would pack three or four people in there, and and of course all the races were over in Denver, which are you know 250 miles away, and we'd put two, three, four people in a Dotson pickup and two or three bikes in the back and and make our way to Denver and not no money, no nothing, sleep under the truck when we got to the track. And and so lots of great memories there.

Dave

So that's that's amazing. If you don't mind me asking, what what bike did you have back then that you can remember the you know, like the specific bike that you're putting in the back and going to these these places with?

Stacey Cook

So that back then that day would have been a 1978. Would that have been a 78 Suzuki? Arm 125. Wow. I think is the is what that was. Now I'm trying to remember. Might have been a 79 Honda because I went to Honda in 79. Wow.

Dave

And obviously we've already talked about a couple things that make you smile, but like looking back, what makes you smile when you think of that truck in particular?

Stacey Cook

Oh, just the incredible adventures and fun we had, and you know, and and uh just great memories. You know, just so many great memories with friends and my brothers, and you know, just uh and you guys understand the racing, you know, the environment and the racing family, which consists of motorcycle people and mo, you know, auto people, and it's just an amazing group of people. And and so those memories you can just never you can never replace, and and so grateful, you know. 16. I can't believe our parents, of course, you know. I I couldn't imagine, of course, my daughter's so hard-headed and independent that, you know, at 16 she'd have been fine going on her own. But, you know, being kids and and our parents just letting us leave the house and drive 500 miles round trip to go race motorcycles with no no idea how we were gonna get home. It was it's just a lot of fun and a lot of great memories.

unknown

Yeah.

Dave

Yeah, in that time when there was no there were no cell phones, there was no GPS, there was nothing. Like you were just, well, let's go figure this out together. And you would like freedom. You had a you had a map, a book with a map.

Doug

Yeah, the old Atlas, Rand McNally Atlas.

Sabre' Cook

I do have one in my car just in case. Like the world stopped and I know my phone no longer worked.

Dave

In the zombie apocalypse, you'll be able to navigate.

Sabre' Cook

Yes.

Dave

I love it. Well, one last question about that that old pickup. Like, what happened to it? When did you get rid of it? Where to go, kind of thing.

Stacey Cook

I don't know if I can say that on paper. Cover your ears.

Sabre' Cook

No, you can I I'm I'm interested. Go ahead. What happened to him?

Stacey Cook

Well, I I unfortunately I had uh my dirt bike in the back and was out one night and running up and down. We have a local strip here called North Avenue, and that's where you run up and down, you know, as a young kid looking for girls and whatever trouble you can get in. And unfortunately, I rear-ended another car of girls, and my bike flipped up over the top, landed on the hood, caved the hood in, busted the radiator. Yeah, so needless to say, I I was carless there for for a bit, and then had to try to figure out how to piece together enough parts to get it running again. I ended up just running that thing until the motor just finally blew up. And I think I took it to the salvage yard.

Dave

So well, that's that's a really expensive way to meet a car full of girls. It was.

Sabre' Cook

It was very expensive when did you get a date out of it at least?

Stacey Cook

Well, yeah, but I don't know if that was good or not.

Sabre' Cook

Well, yeah.

Dave

Oh man. Well, that's an amazing story.

Doug

Well, you know, you know, Dave, we like to say that this podcast asked people what's the first begs to ask the question, what was your first car? Maybe this is the first one.

Sabre' Cook

Well, I'd asked him like what it what it was in the past, and he told me, Oh, I had a little dots of pickup truck, but I never got to know like the the details of this. So this is it's fun for me to hear it as well.

Doug

Yeah, yeah. No, we're we're glad you're enjoying it. I'm enjoying it, especially because you're enjoying it.

Sabre' Cook

Just in your face, you're like, just mom know about this? He could write a book. So I hope one day that he does.

Dave

I hope he does too. I'd love to read it. Yeah. Well, there you have it. So you see, we got three right three readers there if you want to get started.

Doug

We should probably advertise some more too. We love having authors on, so you would be our our first guest slash author, slash motorcyclist, there you go across, slash father of professional race car driver. So that's well that let's do it. Okay, it's a deal. Saber, you just gotta keep stay on him, stay on your dad for that.

Sabre' Cook

Yeah, that's that's the hard thing, is yeah, I think I'm pretty sure he probably has undiagnosed ADHD. So getting him to probably put the book, I don't know. We'll see.

Doug

He probably knows it at this point. He doesn't know.

Speaker

No, he's totally aware.

Doug

Yeah, like many of us.

Stacey Cook

Too many years the landing on my

Saber’s First Car And Safety Talk

Stacey Cook

head.

Doug

Yeah. So, Saber, I'm gonna ask you the first question about your first car and how'd you get it?

Sabre' Cook

Mine is way less cool. I wish I had a cool story, but I would say, I guess, like one thing I want to give background on is my dad, he grew up, you know, in like he he grew up from like nothing. Like trailer park fought his way, tooth and nail, built himself up to eventually being, you know, an amazing real estate broker and has created a lot of success. And that was after the racing, obviously. But like something that I just want to call is how appreciative I am of having a dad who who fought tooth and nail to come from nothing. And then by the time I was in a position to be 16, I didn't have to worry about going and paying 800 bucks to get a Dotson pickup truck. Thankfully, we were in a in a good enough position to where the deal was if I got straight A's all the way until I was 16. My parents said, okay, if you get straight A's, then we'll we'll buy you a car. So, but also they didn't disclose that they also get to choose the car.

Doug

So it wasn't gonna be a Corvette.

Sabre' Cook

Oh no. Which I didn't want it to be. I mean, I didn't need it to be anything fancy, but my mom was pretty intent on making sure it was also something that was not fast, which was probably a good thing because I probably would have got a lot more speeding tickets. So when I was 16, we went and we tried a few cars and it we found something that was very dependable, very good on gas mileage, great in the snow. And it was a Chevy Equinox. So nothing, nothing crazy fancy, just got me to and from where I needed to go. Very safe. It was it was decent in the snow, not bad, but yeah, not not as an exciting of a story as my dad's.

Doug

Did the car have a name?

Sabre' Cook

It did have a name. I named it Pudge. The fish off Lilo and Stitch that eats the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because he's he's kind of pudgy. He's got like a fat face, and so the Chevy Equinox, like the front bumper, is very like round. And I was like, that's its name. Perfect.

Doug

I love it. So I did want to ask you, Saber, just given your background and now having looping back to your dad's first car as a mechanical engineer, like thinking about the difference between his first car and your first car. What's your feeling on safety and aerodynamics? And obviously, obviously you have a unique perspective given your background.

Sabre' Cook

Well, obviously the Dotson pickup one because it's much older is gonna be way less safe. There's a lot less mass to it. There's a lot the safety ratings were a lot different in the 1970s than they were when I got my car in what was it, maybe 2010-ish. So quite quite a big gap in the development of consumer cars. I'm sure I probably there's I don't even know what the airbag ratings were for you guys back then with that kind of truck. No idea. Yeah, I was like, I don't even know if you guys had that.

Doug

Like not until like early 90s, and it started like with a driver airbag and then eventually a passenger airbag, and then kind of group it.

Sabre' Cook

So yeah, much mu I was in a much more safe cocoon, which is exactly what my mother wanted. So she she reachieved that. And then aerodynamic-wise, though, maybe the Dotson might be better because I'm sure it actually has a lot less, maybe has less surface frontal area than Chevy Equinox. Chevy Equinox, I mean it's a small SUV, so it's gonna have a lot more surface area in general, so probably a lot more drag than the pickup truck, I would think.

Doug

And and think it back to those Dotsons. I mean, those were small. Correct me if I'm wrong, Stacey. Those were small pickup trucks. And they had three across, maybe middle seatbelts. I don't even I don't think it didn't.

Stacey Cook

If it had seat belts, we never used them.

Doug

Okay. So seatbelts seat, we were talking about airbags, so seat belts optional on that class of car as well.

Sabre' Cook

I was kind of hoping that those were at least like a given, but I guess that.

Dave

Yeah, I think they did seat belt had to be in the car in '68, I think is when they came out with the actual like mandate of the seatbelt has to be in the car, but they didn't actually mandate laws to use them until the mid 80s, late 70s, maybe early 80s.

Stacey Cook

80s, yeah.

Doug

Dave, your your law enforcement background's coming out.

Dave

Yeah. I didn't even we didn't even tell them. Like, we didn't tell them. I'm a cop. Like, that's the scary part. Yeah. I don't I don't judge racers for how they got their experience. Oh, good.

Doug

It's still a great story about if it had seatbelts. Never street raced, so uh Well, you can't get a ticket on the track, is my understanding. That's true.

Sabre' Cook

You can get a penalty, yeah.

Doug

Penalty demerit. Awesome. Ultimately cost money too.

Sabre' Cook

So it all is just lighting money on fire, pretty much.

Doug

And and for the fun of it. So, Dave, I think you wanted to ask Stacey about his second car in compared to the first one. Given the lack of uh seatbelts and all. Yeah. Maybe the second car had seatbelts.

Second Cars And Living On The Road

Dave

What was the second car? What do you remember moving on to from the the Nissan or the Dotson? Sorry, I keep saying Nissan because my brain hears Dotson automatically goes to Nissan. But what was what did we move up to or laterally to from the pickup?

Stacey Cook

I made a really big move up after the Dotson. I went to another used Dotson that was orange again, but it had the little extended cab behind the driver's seat. Remember those? They had to do it.

Dave

Did it have those back seats? Yeah.

Stacey Cook

Yeah, the little, yeah, and I mean nobody could, but I would force my brothers to ride in those back seats all the way to Denver so we could fit more people in the Dotson pickup. And and so I made quite an improvement when I moved to my second Dotson pickup. And yeah, of course it was the same color and and probably ended up in the same scrapyard as my first Dotson pickup. So my whole life evolved around being able to carry my motorcycle in whatever car I had and going to the races.

Doug

So yeah, it was a utility vehicle for you and you had some fun with it though.

Dave

Yes, it was.

Doug

Yeah.

Dave

I remember those little fold-down seats of some of my friends, and it was it was like rock, paper, scissors of who was not gonna be in the back because those seats were the most uncomfortable. But you had to get to where you were going and you wanted to spend time with your friends, so 100% exactly awesome, awesome. Yeah, and I love that you stuck with the color because I actually had an orange pickup, and when I was so technically it would have been my second car, it was an orange, but it was a Ford F100, 1975 Ford Fund single cab, and it was orange. They loved their oranges in the 70s, so they did, yes, they did.

Sabre' Cook

Was it like like fluorescent orange or just like a normal orange?

Stacey Cook

No, not a fluorescent, it was more of a normal orange, yeah.

Dave

Yeah, yeah, not not super, but nothing, nothing crazy, and not the burnt oranges like they have nowadays. It wasn't this matchbox over my shoulder, it's not that orange, it's more of like the background of this one here, kind of orange.

Stacey Cook

Yeah, more that color, yeah.

Dave

Yeah, but that's at least mine was. But yeah, thank you for sharing that little bit to this information. I appreciate that. And Saber, what about uh what about your second car? What did we move from the equinox? Or are we still rocking the equinox?

Sabre' Cook

No, we're not rocking the equinox. I uh it's actually so much cooler and faster. It's uh Toyota RAV4, it's still still my car. I got it in college. It has 118,000 miles now on it. So, you know, it's just broken in for a Toyota. So currently I'm having a slight issue with my paint peeling off. It's because there was like a recall on the paint, but long story short to it, it doesn't want to cover it. So it's uh it's been it's seen better days at this moment, but it gives it a little bit of character, but it's uh all over the country in it, got me all through college. It's great in the snow, so I I can't complain, and it doesn't go very fast, so it keeps me out of trouble.

Dave

Yeah, that's probably the best thing, is like when your car won't go over this posted speed limit, you can't get a ticket that way.

Sabre' Cook

Exactly. I mean a lot more distance and time to build the momentum.

Dave

So it's adding up on that. So we talked about speed and we talked about safety.

The Most Dangerous Rides They’ve Had

Dave

What is the most dangerous car you would consider yourself have ever been in? Like what if you think back of like this is probably not the safest time for me, what where would that be?

Sabre' Cook

Anytime I'm receiving as the coach, but probably the the the the the most dangerous would probably be seating when you're coaching someone that's an am and one of them would be like I I got to receive in an aerial atom, which is they're insanely fast.

Dave

That's one of that's on the list of my dream cars.

Sabre' Cook

Yeah, it's there's one in junction, the guy out at Spec was it Spec Miata Dad that built one or had one, and he brought it to the go-kar track. Yeah, that's what. Yeah. And but other than that, I got to ride in oh my gosh. I can't remember the name of it right now. It's not a Morgan. Basically, like a really old British sports car that has no to it. Yes. Yes.

Dave

So you're old and British and up there with the Ariel Adam. It had to be the Caterham, or I don't know how they pronounce it. Of course, I am American, so I don't do accents really well, but it's Caterham 7. And it's also on the list of cars that I would love to either drive andor own. But being that I'm a blue-collar worker, I'll probably never own it.

Sabre' Cook

You never know. You never know. Like, I mean, I I don't I it was it's cool. I don't know if I would ever buy one, to be honest. It it was neat. It was a neat experience, but I vividly remember being in the seat as I'm coaching this guy, and I'm like, holy shit, if we crash, like I'm gonna die.

Dave

Not the the the highest in the safety protocols for that either. One question about the aerial before we move on, because like I said, dream car. Was it the supercharged version or was it just a natural aspirated version?

Sabre' Cook

I think it was just a natural aspirated.

Dave

Still fast, not this was forever ago.

Sabre' Cook

Honestly, it's so hard for me to even remember.

Dave

This was like I love the idea of that open like exoskeleton of the car. Like that that's what drew me to that in the first place.

Sabre' Cook

But yeah, I don't think it had a turbo because I I don't remember the feeling of the supercharged. Sorry, I don't think it was. Yeah, I don't think so.

Doug

Was that car available as a kit car? Like I I remember seeing those on Motor Week actually, and part of me wonders if they were built in Maryland for some reason. I don't know why.

Sabre' Cook

I have no idea.

Doug

Okay. Is that the one? Yeah, Ariel Adam.

Stacey Cook

Yeah, so so the Ariel Adam that she that she was talking about, a local guy here in Grand Junction bought that car, and it was the car, it was the Ariel Adam that they had on top gear. No kidding. It was that car. And so a guy here, matter of fact, I played golf, I see him golfing once a week, and and he bought that thing and then brought it out, ran it at our racetrack that we have here, and and and it was terrifying. And poor Sabra had to ride with him in it.

Sabre' Cook

And I mean, it was fast. It was really cool.

Stacey Cook

It was really fast.

Sabre' Cook

That's all I remember about it. I was probably like, what, 15 at the time?

Stacey Cook

Yeah, yeah, and it was fast, and it was yeah, and and I think he ended up ultimately he crashed it and destroyed it. It's the car that like completely distorted Jeremy.

Dave

And that was that things, yeah.

Stacey Cook

Yeah, that was the one that totally was distorting oh, what's his name? Jeremy Clarkson. Yeah, yeah. Wow, yeah, it was pretty funny. Matter of fact, he the guy that bought it went to Montreal, the F1 race, to watch Sabre race last year, and they flew out there and watched her race. That was that was Ricky Hootrest's Saber that she with the car.

Sabre' Cook

Oh, that that okay, gotcha.

Stacey Cook

Yeah, that was Ricky's car.

Dave

Wow.

Doug

Awesome. Yeah. And I I was I was just reading because I I knew I was wrong on so many facts. This is an open-wheel car made by the British Aerial Motor Company based in Somerset, England, under license in North America by TMI Auto Tech at VIR. Maybe they make them in Virginia. Maybe they that's where they're looking. There have been eight generations to date. And uh looks like the most powerful version had about 500 horsepower. They were really light too. Yeah.

Sabre' Cook

Yeah.

Doug

Really light. Yeah. Doesn't have the uh let's see, wait, wait, wait.

Sabre' Cook

It felt like a go-kart when we were riding in it.

Doug

So curb weight 1,349 pounds. So yeah, wow.

Dave

What it comes down to is just a road legal golf go-kart at that point. Yeah. That's all.

Doug

Yeah. It's uh tuned by Lotus and you Lotus always had the philosophy, suspension-wise, do more with less. So the lighter the better. So definitely fits in the Lotus formula.

Sabre' Cook

Absolutely.

Doug

So what was the most dangerous car you've been in, Stacy?

Stacey Cook

Okay. So well, I have I have one of the new Corvettes, but that thing's just absolutely incredible. And of course, I got uh Sabre set up last fall, opportunity for me to go drive her cup car for a day, which was unbelievable. But but those two cars, I mean, they're just absolutely incredible vehicles and and handle and of course the Porsche is just But they're not really dangerous. No, they're not dangerous. But I had a so I during my career, you know, after my Dotson experience, and then I went from two Dotson pickups to a I was a proud owner of a of a a Conoline Ford van that I built out so I could put my bikes in the back and I had a sleeper in the front so I could sleep in the front. And that's what I kind of took to start traveling, you know, doing the national stuffs in the beginning. And but during that time period, I started making a little bit of money, you know, racing, and and for some dang reason, I ended up owning a 1963 Corvette coupe. And honestly, those things were terrifying. I did, they didn't handle well. They I mean it was they were great for straight line. That's they were, but man, I'll tell you what. It yeah, it and of course, you know, it I never did actually crash it. I had a wheel fall off at about 121. So real of course I had eight girls in the car at the time.

Doug

So Saber is learning a lot about her dad.

Stacey Cook

Yeah, unfortunately.

Sabre' Cook

No, I'm not I'm not sure.

Doug

I could tell it's not your shock face. You're like, really? Another one?

Stacey Cook

Another story to but it was that car was scary. I mean, it was you know, fast and and uh but ill handling and just and of course I barely had enough money to put gas in it, so I shouldn't own it.

Doug

They call that being carpour, or is it crap?

Stacey Cook

Carpour, yeah. So that was definitely my most terrifying car.

Doug

Yeah, and that was the uh split window.

Stacey Cook

It wasn't a split window. Oh, it was not. Yeah, no, it was it wasn't the split window. It was actually it was a 65, not the 63. Okay. 65 coupe, and you had the pipes down the side, and and it was red. And of course, you know how those things are, those those cars are you and your colored cars.

Sabre' Cook

I feel like that's just like a little target a little bit.

Doug

I had two red cars, and I think it was the second one. I got like two speeding tickets in the same week, and I've never owned a red car since then.

Stacey Cook

They say that. Of course, we got we we got a police officer here.

Doug

He can tell us if those are I don't know if he's allowed to tell us what they look for. Like do you profile car colors, Dave?

Dave

Colors, no. Depending on like where you are in the world, then maybe you know, it's like there's so Kiyas and Hyundai's uh or Hyundai's, however you want to pronounce it, those are the most commonly stolen vehicles. So like we look at those closer.

Sabre' Cook

Why are they the only stolen? Are they easy to break into?

Dave

Yeah, easy to steal, as they were. So like just you know, but those things. But when it comes down to to colors, obviously colors draw your eye, but at the same time, like I end up I probably if I was gonna go through the statistics of the cars that I've stopped, I think I've stopped more white and silver vehicles than anything. Wow, yeah. It's like those two colors seem to be the the speed demons in the road, at least.

Doug

Silver my favorite color, or it was until I learned this. So I drive pretty slow these days, but that's that's fine.

Stacey’s Motocross Origin Story

Doug

So speaking of speed, we want to talk about motorsports, if you will, with both of you. You both got really unique backgrounds. Stacy starting it and Saber, of course, taking it on, growing up with it and taking making it your own. So, question for Stacy. You started with the, and correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know bikes. You started with a 60cc mini bike in Colorado, dirt bike, I guess. And when did you realize that you weren't just a kid on a bike, but you were gonna be or felt like a professional racer?

Stacey Cook

Oh boy, probably so here in Colorado, and where we live in our local community here, we have we have a thousands of acres of open riding area out here, and so they always had motorcycle events out there and and as a kid, and and uh and I had a neighbor that was racing, and he would sign me up, he would sign for me to l so I could race. So I raced a few different times without my parents knowing.

Sabre' Cook

Wait, was this Raleigh? Who was this?

Stacey Cook

No, it was his name was Melvin Cobb. And I was like 12 years old, so I was, you know, and so my parents finally found out, but then they started getting behind it, you know. Once they started seeing that, you know, I went I went to the 125 class and started, you know, winning through that and and and then made our first trip. So we're racing locally and we're you know just a little podunk race with 50, 60 people, and and and we made our first trip to to the eastern slope to Denver Car Springs. That's where all the big races were, and they'd have, you know, four to six hundred riders. And of course, I went the first time and and got whooped pretty good. I made the main, but I I got whipped pretty good and and mainly because I was scared. I just had never been around that many riders. And uh so then I gotta go back finally, you know, and and compete. And and and suddenly, and it was the only time my dad in his entire life ever got mad at me because he could tell that I was just being so cautious. And he he said something to me after the first moto when, you know, I was scared on the starts, and and he got a little mad at me, you know. He goes, We're not gonna waste our time coming over here if you're not gonna give it a hundred percent. And so the very next moto, I went out, pulled the whole shot, and won by a mile. And and uh and it and then it was just like a trigger for me. It was like, this is what I'm gonna do. And and and then it was just I was gonna be a ski racer, you know, up to when I got into the motorcycle world. I was gonna be a ski racer and I'd go to Aspen and and you know, stay up there in the winters a lot and ski race and and do different things. We had friends up there, and and then when I once I discovered motorcycle racing and and just I was so addicted to it that from that point on that's all I did. I 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I lived and breathed racing. And you know, I so it everything my whole life was evolved around that. I just everything I did was so that I could be better on the track, and which was a good thing. But then, as Sabra will tell you, and you guys probably have seen, when you get where you just are so committed to a sport and to succeeding like that, your social life, your friends, everything, you have none of that. You were it's seven days a week, 24 hours a day, if you're gonna be good and you're gonna be competitive. And and that's just how we were. That's just our whole life evolved around what we ate and you know how we trained. And and of course, back then it was nothing like what Sabra and these motocross guys are doing now. These guys, you know, their training is so much more sophisticated and focused. And but that was my trigger. That was at that point I knew I'm I'm gonna be a motorcycle racer. And I wasn't smart enough to do anything else. Yeah.

Sabre' Cook

He says that, but he's pretty he's pretty smart.

Dave

You can pick up on it that he's holding back.

Sabre' Cook

But just because he'd be if he didn't get hit in the head so many times, too.

Stacey Cook

Is that true, Stacy? Hit in the head? Yeah. Well, landed on my head. Landed on his head definitely too many times. Yeah. Yeah. You know how it is. It comes with the territory. That's part of part of the racing. That's it. That's the one downside of motorcycle racing is it's not if you get hurt, it's when and and how serious. And you just you you know that. And it's just uh But you're willing to take that risk. It's amazing how you just are willing to to step up and take the risk and ride injured. And, you know, you watch these national guys now, and it's just incredible, you know, some of the crashes they take, they get back up, and they're riding with, you know, with continuous injuries and and just but it's what you do. You just are so obsessed with it. It's just amazing.

Doug

Yeah.

Stacey Cook

And now you get to live live through your daughter. Well, that's a hard the first time she ever really got in a car was at Homestead, and she did a skip barber test in a formula car. I can't even remember what it was.

Sabre' Cook

The skip barber old formula cars. They weren't the F4 cars like they are now. It's like the Barbara Dodge stuff.

Stacey Cook

Yeah, but she came by me on the straightaway the first time, and I literally had a panic attack. And and suddenly I'm like, oh my god, what have I done? And and and so it did, it scared me. I mean, it it just really uh all of a sudden I realized that, you know, my my daughter is in love with this sport that is, I mean, it it could be fatal. I mean, it you know, you you have to really think about that. And as a parent, I'll tell you what, it's different when it's yourself because you know, but when it's your child, oh my gosh, it just But the the carting stuff never scared you? No, carting stuff never no. From from me coming from racing motorcycles and getting into a go-kart, I felt like I had for I could just I felt so safe compared to a motorcycle. And and so I felt much safer with her carting than I definitely did when she once she got in a car. That makes sense.

Dave

It does make sense, but I'm sure that it's like a double-edged sword at the same time because you're so proud and you know, you want to shout her from the rooftops like that's my daughter, and then you're thinking to yourself, she's in a position that could, you know, detriment her life, but at the same time you want her to keep pushing, you know?

Stacey Cook

Yeah, and you know, as she's so determined and just tenacious, you know, she just she just 24 hours a day, seven days a week, she lives and breathes racing and does whatever it takes to to accomplish that. And and and and then I also knew coming from my background, uh, the downside of that. You know, she's not gonna have this social life, she's not gonna go on family vacations, she's not gonna, you know, she is gonna be consumed because she's so driven that it will be her life. Seven days a week, that's all she'll think about, and she'll live it, breathe it, and and and that is the consequences and the downside of of these athletes and these race car drivers, you know, that are trying to make it. They they don't have a life outside of that. And and you know, now that I'm out of racing and and I haven't been on a motorcycle since 1997. And almost 30 years. Yeah, yeah. And I'm one of those guys, I mean 100% in it or I'm a hundred percent out. And and I just couldn't do it for fun. I couldn't, I just had to walk away from it. And and but, you know, the day that she finally retires and and you know decides to become somewhat of a normal person. I don't know if she'll ever be normal, but we knew that was coming. But for her to enjoy just everything else lives has after racing, you know? That's you know, that as a parent, that that's something that when that it comes, I'll be very happy.

Saber’s Endurance Dreams And Racing’s Future

Dave

So well, Sabra Sabra, we've been talking about you like you're not sitting there. Let's bring you into the conversation a little bit. Uh-huh. You've conquered engineering and you've conquered some of the the the Porsche Cup. If you could check one ultimate box in your career, what is a specific track or championship or milestone that you want for yourself? What are you working towards like even now? What is your do you see it happening for you?

Sabre' Cook

For in the next few years, I'm focused on entering into IMSA or WEC full time and doing like for me, I really want to do 24 hours of Daytona, 24 hours of Lama, and 24 hours of Nerbergreen. Wow. Wow. I've done some endurance stuff, but never full time in the series. I did I've done two races on the Nordschleifer as well. So I'm I'm working my way there. It just unfortunately takes a lot of sponsorship to get there.

Dave

Yeah. You'll get it. You'll get it. Yeah, you it's one of those things where anything anything is possible if you have the the drive. And I feel like as far as you've come already, you obviously have the drive. You'll figure out a way to get there for yourself and for your team and everybody. So just keep working. It might not, you know, it might not be tomorrow, but I I bet it'll happen in your in your future for sure.

Sabre' Cook

That that's the plan. I uh my motto, I feel like, ever since I was a kid was I'll figure it out. So that's what I'm planning on doing.

Dave

That's awesome. I love that outlook too. It's like, you know, it's one of those you're not a quitter, so you know, it might not happen today, but we'll figure it out. And I love that. I love that. And for someone who builds and drives these machines, do you think the soul of racing is safe as we move towards a more digital and electric future?

Sabre' Cook

I'm not sure. I would like to think that the recent surgence of the popularity of like F1 motorsports in general is kind of helping people understand why why we love it so much and why it needs to stay around. But, you know, we are seeing in a unique situation right now, especially in Formula One, where it's, you know, it's kind of an in-between. It's a lot closer to Formula E than it used to be. And a lot of people are not happy about that. So I guess maybe a good indication of what the trajectory is going to be is how things develop after this season in Formula One if they continue to if they'll change the regulations to go back to a little more traditional, or if we're going to keep going down this path. But I I I don't get super excited about the idea of watching a bunch of AI robots race around against each other. Because ultimately, like the reason why people watch sports and and everything is they they get very invested in in the story, and I think it would be hard to be invested in a robot story. So I'm hoping that the that everyone just kind of wants to continually at least if the cars change, whatever, if the technology keeps adapting and becoming more sustainable, that's fine. But I I just hope that we don't we don't remove the driving. Yeah.

Dave

I like that answer. So because I mean it's it's one thing watching drones race, but it's if they're doing it autonomically, it's not as fun because it's computer learning and not somebody somebody behind the controls. So I love that idea.

Sabre' Cook

Yeah, I mean the whole whole idea behind sports is we we love them and we get inspired by them because it's the it's the peak of humanity. It's like we always are we want to be impressed and inspired by what a human can achieve. And I think that if we take the human element out of it, we we lose that.

Dave

Yeah, 100% for sure. Yeah.

Doug

I I I agree wholly and I I think about my daily driver, Tesla. Super fast, it does everything great. It's really pretty boring to drive. Totally boring.

Sabre' Cook

Other than when you can accelerate. I mean, that that's fun, but I feel like it would probably maybe get old after a bit.

Doug

Yeah, it gets old. I drive in chill mode because even in the standard mode, it just it it just maybe maybe I'm showing my age and like, what's the point? And I I was telling somebody when I got my first Tesla, I remember Subaru STI, WRX STIs pulling up next to me, and I'm like, dude, you didn't even want to bother. Like, no, it's not even worth it.

Sabre' Cook

You can't even trust it.

Doug

And it takes and it takes the fun out of things for sure. Like to your point, where where's that human element? Or I love I wrote down what you said about sports being the, you know, it shows off the peak of what humanity is capable of. Yeah.

Sabre' Cook

It is interesting because a lot of motorsports they uh with the cars getting better, it does allow like, you know, the the bronzes and the ams to be closer to the pros, which in some ways can be great, but it also it does take away the when someone is truly talented and can really extract the performance out of a out of a difficult vehicle. So it's it I guess there are pros and cons to all of

How To Start Motorsport On A Budget

Sabre' Cook

it.

Doug

So so on on that topic, uh closing out the our motorsports part, what advice would you have? And I'm thinking about cars and about families, what advice would you have for somebody who's interested in getting into motorsports who doesn't have maybe the background that your that your father has, right? Which obviously very valuable to somebody, but somebody who's thinking about it, maybe they just want to do a weekends thing, maybe they're they're me, they're in their early 50s, and by go do, go do. I have done autocross, but I think I'm gonna get into some track stuff that requires a car. So I get excited about that. But for for anybody who, whether they're starting out, whether they're live in, let's say, Colorado, and they just have access to that that type of environment.

Sabre' Cook

So you're asking specifically as a driver, not just in general?

Doug

I would say as a driver.

Sabre' Cook

Okay. So as a driver, obviously sometimes it kind of depends on your age and what you have available to you. But I I do think carding is still an amazing initial pathway. But not just carding. I think it's it's really critical. Like whether you're someone who wants to eventually become a pro or you want to do it for just for fun, I think it's important to either start in carting or, you know, like you mentioned, go do an autocross. Have find local car clubs, car groups that can get you connected to people that are in the space, love the sport, and you can learn quickly because you know, there's there's a lot to learn. So surrounding yourself with good people initially is very, very important, just so you can make sure you're on the trajectory and you can get where you're going quickly. But I also highly recommend getting a simulator because the seat time in real life, unfortunately, costs a lot of money. But a sim, once you have the sim and you've got your iRacing or your Recetto course, and once you have the software, then you know, there is no additional cost in theory on top of doing as many laps as you want to. And there's a lot of skills that you can build through a simulator. So I think taking advantage of that is also really important as well, if you want to get really get into it and take it seriously as a driver.

Doug

Yeah, I was I was gonna ask you about sim racing because I now that once I did it and I did it on an MX5 Cup League, I only went once just because of time. But I got hooked and I'm immediately like, man, I know somebody who has a Miata for sale. I wonder, or it's not for sale, but it's been sitting a long time. You'd probably sell it to me for some Miattas are great. I know Miata's always the answer.

Sabre' Cook

Yeah, I I I actually have a 1.6 liter spec still that's it's sitting at the track in Colorado. It is for sale, that's it.

Doug

Well, yeah, 1990 Miata was my first convertible, and I I love that car.

Sabre' Cook

Yeah, they're they're great cars. They're a hundred percent recommend. Like if that's it, that's a perfect route for anybody that's interested in getting started track days. You can get a you can get a decent spec Miata and it's pretty cheap to maintain and run, and there's places you can race them all over the country. So it's it's a good way to get into it.

Doug

Okay. I will I will blame you, but not really blame you because something something's gonna happen soon. And I know where one is, only a few blocks from my house. It's been sitting. I think he needs to part with it. But th thank you for that. Yeah, I have to say the the sim racing and We were gonna actually have the the co-founder, co-owner of the local sim racing place in Annapolis, Maryland on the show soon. He participated in the uh Gran Turismo Academy. So he like that movie Gran Turismo, he was actually one of those guys who won in I wanna say he said 2014, but uh it was just so much fun.

Sabre' Cook

And being in the sim races are impressive.

Doug

Yeah. And being in a league and just, hey, I'm passing you on. I got passed a lot, so I heard that a lot in my headset. But man, it was so much fun. And just what the the amount of feedback you get from those rigs, a good one, is off the charts.

Dave

Well, we've talked about how technology can be a hindrance but also a help. And then and as far as technology has come, the amount of actual physics that are implint implanted into these simulators is like so crazy where because you can learn how the car in real life will react because the amount of time they put into the physics where it's not it's not the old N64 where the car will just you know hug a curve like they've put in gravity and and ever and you know tire wear and everything into it. So it can help you in the long run train and it's a lot cheaper, like Sabre said. You can do lap after lap after lap, it's not gonna cost you any money.

Doug

But yeah, and I'll I'll I'll add to that, Dave. Sorry, you got me you got me going that uh like one day I did a FDRX7 and you know I'm just the the owner said, you know, these cars don't have a lot of torque, so make sure you you know rev it up, dump the clutch, and he's like burn the brakes. And I'm like, wait, he just told me in a simulator how to drive, how drive the car like you would a normal car. And then I drove a Miata and like just the big differences between the two and what as you you know, physics that are factored into the software themselves.

Dream Cars Trivia Answer And Goodbyes

Dave

So well, obviously, we've been talking for a while, and I don't want to keep these lovely people from their actual lives. So the last question we always ask everybody, and I'm can't wait to hear your guys' answers. This is for both of you, and you guys can pick who wants to go first. What is your dream car? We already know that on my list is uh an aerial atom. So what is what is y'all's dream car?

Sabre' Cook

Do you want to go first, Ed? No, go ahead. Okay. My dream car is a 9-11 DLS stinger. I think I would probably want it in peppermint green. It's ironic because I don't know if the if at nobody could probably see this, but I am wearing a peppermint green shirt today. So it's like one of my favorite colors. But yeah, that's that would be my dream car. It's you know, just a casual, like probably two million dollars. So we're we're gonna work up to that.

Doug

But those are great cars, just taking that 964 and reimagining it as Singer would say. Reimagined by Singer. How about you, Stacey?

Stacey Cook

Well, I'll tell you, I I became a pretty big Porsche fan after driving her car for the day. So now my my I guess my dream car is the new Corvette, the new ZR1 or the ZR1 X. And I've been trying to figure out how to get my hands on one, but of course haven't been successful. But that thing is amazing, I think.

Doug

So that's that's the one to have, one to do incredible.

Dave

You guys had that like in the chamber ready to go, and I love that because a lot of people are like, well, no, you guys knew. So I want this and I love it. And with determination, those are both a chain of obtainable goals. So I I hope you both see that happening. Probably more obtainable than me getting an aerial atom.

Doug

But never never knew, Dave.

Dave

I'll find one in a junkyard and put it back together. That's how that's gonna go.

Doug

We knew we know a guy who can help you.

Dave

We asked the question in the first indie 500 in 1911. What did the driver put household item on the dashboard? Did you guys want to take a stab at it?

Sabre' Cook

Your question is what is the item or who was the driver? Because you you already said it was Ray Haroom.

Dave

Yeah, so the driver we yeah, that was in the question. The item.

Sabre' Cook

What was the I I mean, I know what it is, but I don't want to spoil it if my dad doesn't. Do you know what it is, then?

Stacey Cook

Well, to me, it would either be a mirror or uh guess, Stacey.

Sabre' Cook

Oh yeah, I want to know what the other one is.

Stacey Cook

Well oh well, I'm trying to think. Okay, if it if it's not an actual you know, glass mirror, what could they use? You know, a stainless steel something. I mean you have quite sure what all that you're you're on it.

Dave

Yeah, it was the rear view mirror, and specifically it was a three by eight inch mirror intended for horse carriage. So remember, it was 1911.

Sabre' Cook

So like there wasn't a lot of options, yes. That's hilarious. I know why didn't they think that through? Like the uh the so the car that he won in, the Marmon Wasp is actually in the center of the roundabout that's like maybe 10 minutes from my house. It's like a a statue, so he's like forever immortalized in.

Dave

Okay, awesome. Small world around the corner from your house. And that was not intentional to ask a question about that particular driver for your episode.

Sabre' Cook

So I mean, I'm in Indianapolis, so it is like the odds of there being something tied to it is is pretty large.

Dave

It's pretty close, yeah. Well, as we gently steer the podcast into the the pit lane, we wanted to thank our fantastic guests, Stacy and Saber, for truly sensational duo, for being a truly sensational duo. We all want to see our kids have the best opportunities in life and the more than we did. And I would say that this father-daughter team honors that spirit 100%. So thank you guys for being here. And for you guys, where is the best place for our l listeners to find you in the online and or offline world? Where you like, where can we follow your career?

Sabre' Cook

Well, for me, it's sabercookracing.com. From there, all my socials are linked. And there is a special Easter egg for anybody that wants to go and find it. If you click on my about page, there's a picture of me on my dad's motorcycle when I was three months old. So you can see see him. He's on a vintage one, though. It's not one of his like it wasn't one of his current race bikes, but it is it is an adorable photo.

Doug

You have just heard the high revving, low mileage, late model her round the world authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia. If you or someone you know has a great story to share about their first cars, please drop us a line via email at stories at carslov.com or via social media. And the easiest way to find all of our content is our link tree at L-I-N-K-A-T-R dot EE slash carslov. And we want to leave you with this final thought. Telling car stories is contagious. Just go ahead and ask your friends and family, neighbors, or the owners of the next cool car you see about their first car memories and watch their reaction. We guarantee they will smile. And we will see you next time.

Head Shot

Doug

Co-host