"Hey, what are you doing on Saturday?" Asked my friend, Jonathon Klein. 

"Nothing of note," was my response. "Probably going for a ride or doing a little writing." 

We're doing a video with a track designed American muscle car and I am going to see if I can make my dad puke for his 6oth birthday. Do you want to come shoot this craziness? 

"Yeah, I'm down but I want whiskey and food. I get bitchy if I can't drink and eat afterwards." I replied. 

"Deal"  

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Jonathon Klein happens to be a good friend of mine who I met at a press launch a year or so ago. A kindred spirit of equal nerddom. Our friendship developed over our love for cars, motorcycles, and science fiction. Currently, he is an associate editor at Automobile Magazine so he's always messing around with some cool or mediocre automobile, you know, for work's sake.  He is a talented driver, elegant wordsmith, and an all-around amusing dude who I am happy to call my friend. Friends are also the only people I allow to pay me in food and whiskey. 

I drove up to Santa Clarita with our mutual friend Manuel and was introduced to Jonathon's family. They happened to be in town for the holiday. The agenda for the day: Take Jonathon's Dad out to the canyons and give him a birthday present he would never forget. A bone-crushing run in a 526-horsepower Ford Shelby GT350. Oh yeah, and we would film his reaction the entire time. You all will have to wait to scope out that video at automobilemag.com when it comes out next month. I guarantee you it's going to be fantastic. 

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You see, Jonathon's Dad has never been in a car like this before, and by some transitive property of logic, he has definitely never been in a car like this with his son behind the wheel. This was bound to get interesting.  

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I did what I could to get some cool shots during the day which included: hanging out of a sunroof, climbing a cliff, and having a 2-ton muscle car barrel past me just inches from my lens. 

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After Jonathon ran his dad through the wringer, I was able to hop in the passenger seat as we needed to go farther up the hill to get some beauty shots of the GT350. 

"Seriously dude, don't pussyfoot around now that I am in this car. Give me what you got. Or at least whatever grip is left on those tires." Of course, I would instigate my friend. It's what we do. 

Jonathon unleashed the beast and man, what a ride! The entire time Jonathon whipped through the corners, I tried my hardest to talk a little bit about the car. I think I spent more time laughing than talking. 

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