I grew up around cars as my father was a collector/owner of many classic luxury cars. We often went to car shows, and participated in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) rallies and other club events. My Dad was often a judge at various meets and I became familiar with "car guys" early on. It was fun except I always was the one who had to wash the white walls when we got to the event. I learned to drive when I was ten. We had a VW single cab truck that my father used in his real estate business and I was allowed to drive it around our rural homestead. Later, when I was 15 I rolled and totaled it with two friends riding with me. I was showing off out on a local highway and we were lucky we weren't killed. My first car was a 53 Ford two door sedan. It had a flathead V8 and stick shift on the column. You had to remember to latch the right side door manually inside the car or the door would fly open the first time you went around a left hand turn. We had great fun scaring the pants off of girls who we would allow to ride "sh***un". It was black with a white top. Of course I took the hubcaps off and painted the wheels black. Looked great with the white wall tires. After I wrecked his truck my father sent me away to a military school for four years. However he promised that I could have any car I wanted for graduation if I got through the four years with out getting into any big trouble. That seemed like an impossible task however I managed to do it though it was more luck than planned. In the spring of 66 I got to order a brand new 427 Corvette. Talk about cloud nine! That was a real high but I'm still not sure it was worth four years in the military academy. The next car was a 68 911 Porsche. I had never even driven one because I was a muscle car guy, but the Porsche dealer knew my Dad and they convinced me to at least test drive one. I came back after a half hour test drive and bought it on the spot. This is the car that got me interested in sports car racing. Little did I know that barely two years later I would finish 10th overall and 2nd in GTU class at the Sebring 12 Hour in 1971. By the mid seventies I was working for Peter Gregg's Mercedes dealership in Jacksonville as a salesman and had a Mercedes demonstrator for my personal use. I have never bought another car for personal use, but I have bought many as a dealer who used them a little bit and went on to the next one. By the early 80's I was making plans to open my own car business and in February of 84 I opened Ash Tisdelle Inc as a used car center for sales and service of the high end German cars. This led to the acquisition of a VW franchise in 92 and the subsequent sale of the franchise in 2006. I have been located at 1481 Wells Rd in Orange Park Fl for 25 years and have retailed several thousand automobiles during that time. I have had a very enjoyable amateur racing career beginning with my first car, a Formula Vee in 1970. In 1971 my friend Pete Kirill and I were partners in a 911 Porsche which we took to the 24 Hours of Datona. Unfortunately we did not finish but a few weeks later we placed second in the GTU class at the 12 Hours of Sebring and 10th overall. We were sure we were going to be Formula One world champs one day. I have also raced a 3 liter Porsche Carrera RSR in many of the old IMSA series races as well as a Camaro GTO, and Porsche 935 in IMSA. Today I am still racing in a Carrera RSR in the Historic Sportscar Racing series. I have about 30 wins and a like amount of 2nds. I am a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in business, married and father of three grown daughters.
