The birth of farting exhaust

The birth of farting exhaust…

This shirt pays homage to two things - a fantastic pep talk given to the one and only Rocky Balboa by Micky Goldmill; and a not so fantastic experience I had as a new parent with my first son Phillip (fondly known as Philrod).

First, the pep talk. The year was 1976 and the movie Rocky hit the nation with an upper cut to the chin. It was such a hit that even being released on 21 November, it ended up as the largest grossing movie of the year. During a training session, Rocky gets the timeless pep talk where Micky says "You'll be able to spit nails, kid. Like the guy says, you're gonna eat lightning and you're gonna crap thunder. You're gonna become a very dangerous person."  Let's take a minute to visualize what he is saying… a dude that can spit nails and crap thunder is down right scary.

Second, my superior parenting. It was a Sunday many years ago and we were sitting outside enjoying a near perfect Idaho summer evening. The kids were running around and playing on the swing set. As we sat there relaxing, watching the kids, one, two…where's number three? Well he was around the corner sitting on the Polaris Sportsman 4 wheeler, living the dream, pretending that he was riding down some dusty trail into the sunset. Cool, he wasn't hurting anything (so we thought). Some time went by and he was still over there playing on the 4 wheeler. We went over and checked on him to make sure everything was ok and discovered that pretending he was riding wasn't enough, he wanted the full 4D experience (like the rides at Disneyland that spray water and fragrances as part of the ride). Periodically, as he  was pretending to ride, he'd reach down and  unscrew the gas cap and take a big ole whiff. He wasn't trying to get high, he just liked the smell. Think about it, what motor head doesn’t love the smell of a high octane petrol?

The kid's breath reeked like an exhaust pipe and we did what every new parent would do - went in to freak out mode. My Eagle Scout first aid training kicked in and we checked that his eyes were dilating correctly, checked his temperature, kept him away from any open flames and anything else we could think of. And of course, called the doctor. Everything turned out ok. Philrod didn't suffer any long term damage (at least that we can tell) and is a smart kid currently going to college studying Automotive Engineering.

So I put these two stories together and voila Guzzle Gas and Fart Exhaust was born. Again let's take a minute to think about this one…who wouldn't love their farts to smell like two stroke exhaust. I know my wife would appreciate it.

 Thank you Rocky, Micky, and Philrod for being my inspiration.