Racing Against Autism

A Brief History

Asa Jay Laughton was born in 1964 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on the edge of Kittery Maine.  The son of an Air Force officer, Asa spent most of his years growing up near Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington.  There he attended school in Medical Lake and later went on to college at both Spokane Falls and Spokane Community Colleges earning a degree in Automotive Technologies as well as completing some general studies.  At the same time, Asa joined the Washington Air National Guard as a Radio Communications technician with the 242 Combat Communications Squadron.

Eventually Asa found his niche in electronics and worked for a time with Hewlett-Packard in Liberty Lake, Washington.  Later, Asa landed a job with Itron, Inc. where he continues to work to this day.  During his time with Itron, Asa became involuntarily activated with the National Guard and was sent overseas in 2002 prior to the build-up for the Iraq invasion.  Sometime after returning and finishing 21 years of service in 2003, Asa retired to spend more time with his wife and son.

Also in 2003, Asa and his wife Shelley completed construction on their new home.  This was an undertaking of over a year and a half, some of which Shelley had taken care of on her own while Asa was deployed.  Shelley managed to get help both from Itron and other members of his National Guard unit while he was gone.  After retirement, they both finished the house by the end of 2003 and are currently living in it.  That same year, Shelley gave birth to a son, Samuel Asa Laughton.

Samuel was born with Hirschsprungs disease and had major surgery barely into his second week out of the womb.  Asa has written about that experience and follow on difficulties, in his blog at Asa Jay dot com.  It wasn't until after Sam was two years old they suspected and were finally given a diagnosis that he had Autism.  Since then, Shelley has worked hard to get Sam into targeted education opportunities for Autistic children.  Sam has progressed well and is now entered into regular school in addition to special education classes.  Around the time Sam became diagnosed with Autism, Asa also returned to school.

Taking a lead from a co-worked at Itron, Asa entered Whitworth University's accelerated adult education program in the evening.  This allowed him to continue working while going to school.  In 2008, Asa graduated summa cum laude from Whitworth University with a Bachelor's degree in Organizational Management.  Asa hopes this degree will open even more opportunities for him at work and in life.  Through it all though, Asa still enjoys his cars.

Asa's love of cars has only been limited by his income, and other hobbies.  Being a general specialist, his hobbies are varied across a wide swath of interests, including computers, music, movies, Lego, Hot Wheels... and the list seems to go on.  However it was a chance encounter while working his first job at U-Haul in the early 1980's that started him down the path of automobile infatuation.

The Vehicles, starting with a 1949 Willy's Wagoneer

Asa really had two first cars.  The real first was a 1949 Willy's Wagoneer his father had found for him.  At the age of 14, Asa began figuring out what it needed and doing the work.  The Wagoneer needed a rebuilt transmission and transfer case.  Asa did all the work himself.  He also repainted the body and cut new wooden panels for the interior out of oak plywood.  The flathead four cylinder engine ran fine though the top end seemed to be about 55 miles and hour.  That suited Dad just fine but Asa was looking for something a bit more sporty.

Add a 1972 Mazda RX-2

His other first car was a broken down 1972 Mazda RX-2 left on the side of the road.  It's owner had come in to the U-Haul where Asa worked in order to rent a tow-bar.  While there, the owner let it slip he'd be willing to sell the car.  For the price, Asa jumped at the chance, not knowing what was wrong with it.  He bought it, towed it home and began the process of figuring out what kept it from running.  Thus Asa had two cars at the time, both the Willy's and the Mazda.

A burned out instrument cluster and wiring harness is what Asa found in the RX-2.  A trip to the local wrecking yard specializing in imports, some dollars spent and he walked away with new instruments and wiring.  After a couple of weekends ripping out the old and putting in the new, the car fired up and ran fine.  The only difference Asa was not used to, was the fact this car has a Rotary engine; something he would soon learn to enjoy and learn to rebuild.

Both the Willy's and the Mazda gave Asa a lot of mechanical experience which assisted him obtaining his Automotive Technology degree.  it was during his time in college finishing his A.A.S. degree that he found his first real car love.  Asa re-discovered the Ford Mustang.

Sometime in the year 1975, after his family had moved back to Fairchild from a short time at Pease AFB in New Hampshire, Asa was with his mother as she drove up Division street in Spokane.  Near the intersection of Garland and Division, Asa clearly remembers a Ford Mustang Mach I.  He didn't know it at the time, but it was from the short run of the longest body style Ford made, 1971 to 1973.  All he knew was that it looked fast and intimidating... and something like the Hot Wheels he had in his collection.  It wasn't until nearly 10 years later that he finally figured out what it was and was able to get his hands on one.

The 1973 Ford Mustang Fastback

The first Mustang Asa purchased was a 1973 fastback.  It wasn't a Mach I, but it got him started down the road of learning more about Mustangs.  He joined the local club, the Inland Empire Mustang club in 1985 and maintained membership for over 20 years.  Here he learned about the various years, body styles, options and much more.  After rebuilding the Ford 351 Cleveland engine during his college engine class, he found a good deal on a 1971 Mach I.

The 1971 Mustang Mach I

After purchasing the 1971 Mustang, Asa had the body stripped and color changed to a 1986 Ford Deep Metallic Blue.  He changed the carpet and headliner, then vinyl dyed the seats, dashboard and painted the trim.  Once all that work was done, he took both the 1973 and the 1971 Mustangs to the Fairchild Auto Hobby shop and performed what he lovingly refers to as a "heart-lung transplant."  he took the newly completed engine and C6 transmission out of the '73 and put it in the '71.  His Mach I was now done.  Years later, Asa would end up rebuilding another 351C and C6 transmission for even greater fun.  The most recent photos of his 1971 Mach I Mustang can be found here.  It was this same year in 1986 that Asa caught his first real up close glimpse of a DeTomaso Pantera, but he wouldn't end up with one for nearly 15 years.

A 1987 Jeep Cherokee and then a 1982 Jeep Wagoneer

Asa purchased a 1987 Jeep Cherokee with a straight six engine for towing a boat he owned for several years.  Later, he purchased a 1982 Jeep Wagoneer Limited, with no engine and transmission.  He would end up doing another "heart-lung transplant" using a 1967 Kaiser 327 engine and Turbo 400 transmission from an older Jeep project his Grandfather had built.  Again, Asa did all the engine and transmission work himself, except for block and head machining which he farmed out to local vendors.  After all that, and a marriage to his wife Shelley, Asa once again turned his eye to the Pantera.

The 1973 DeTomaso Pantera

Once the Pantera bug caught him again, the Internet was in full swing and provided nearly no end to what could be researched.  Asa became a charter member of the DeTomaso Email Forum, joined the Pantera Owners Club of America and Pantera International.  It was two years of asking questions, looking at cars and getting advice before he finally made his purchase.  Since then, Asa has tried to keep the car in good shape, but life tends to get in the way.

At this stage of life Asa has completed his Bachelors, has retired from the National Guard, has built his house, and is ready to take on new challenges.  Never seeming to be satisfied with just sitting around, Asa has decided to start racing his Pantera for a while before settling down to a long restoration of the car.  This will be something new to him.  Though he raced his RX-2 and his Mach I at the local drag strip, racing the Pantera is something totally different.  Going in a straight line for less than a quarter mile is vastly different than toughing it out for long periods of time on long winding stretches of road.  And if he's going to pursue this, why not try to make it worthwhile and benefit an Autism charity.  Asa simply wants to try and give back to the community some of what it's given to him and his son Sam.

Racing Against Autism was born.