RIP John Paige (NOT A TA)

I raced a Profile and had those same pants.  RIP buddy.  

Lof8 - Andy said:

I raced a Profile and had those same pants.  RIP buddy.  

He looks so much like every other dude at our local track back in the day. No one cared if your jersey and pants matched each other or even your frame. The custom paint on the helmet, though, says that he was fast.

RIP Firebird. One more reminder that we're here for a good time, not a long time. 

RIP John

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Yep, a wild custom helmet was always a good indicator!   

That's a shame.  I hadn't noticed his disappearance until this thread brought it to my attention, but I usually enjoyed and respected what he had to say.

Enjoy those sweet jumps, sir.

Mndsm said:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/ctpost/name/john-paige-obituary?id=38470237

Obit I managed to locate. Shame I'll never meet the man, I was hoping to eventually use his f-body knowledge for a project that may or may not even exist. 

From the obituary: He also had a passion as a horticulturist.  

Not the sort of thing you'd expect from a gearhead type, he was something of a renaissance man.

Oh no... 

I have been corresponding with him since way before I joined GRM over on the 1st forum I ever joined, Trans Am Country. He has helped me out a ton over the past 20 years with all sorts of tips, tricks, and advice related to my own Trans Am. I had been wondering why he hadn't been around in my Trans Am thread for a while, as he was always one of the ones egging me on and motivating me to get it back on the road. He was basically an online mentor, and someone who would lend his knowledge to anyone who needed it. He was a hell of a guy. 

I remember he said he was having some health issues a while back. But still, this is sad, sad news. 

I'm sorry guys- I didn't have the heart to share this.

I had some communication with John a few times. He helped me find a guy to do the heads on my rover back in the day and we chatted off and on. We've met several times. Last year when I was thinking about jumping into Porsche land we chatted about his. 
 

I reached out to him early this year and didn't get a reply- we both have some health problems and I got worried. anyone with chronic health issues has friends that they check on- John was one of mine. I kept emailing. His sister finally replied and let me know that he had passed. She was working on selling his vehicles and I offered to help however possible and offered up this community for support. we emailed back and forth a few times over a couple of months. It hit me pretty hard. 
 

I've met two folks from this forum now- and sadly both have passed. I don't post much in this forum- mostly because I read on my phone before bed and posting on your phone sucks- but I greatly enjoy this community. There is some back and forth, and we have some strange characters but a lot of y'all feel like extended cousins- mostly the good kind. I hate to see us lose another family member, and I'm somewhat ashamed that I didn't let y'all know. 

In reply to grover :

Nothing to be ashamed of. We all process the way we handle loss differently, and I don't believe it's anyone's obligation to inform anyone else of someones passing. Used to be we had phone trees for this information, if you were past the phone tree, you didn't find out until the newspaper or later. Now, it's a much larger pool and can take a whole lot longer for people to find out- simply because of the reach we have. I'm reasonably sure I know how y'all would be informed if I turned up dead, but I have a pretty small circle and most of my people overlap.