I know this might be hard but to me sometimes it is good therapy to talk about your favorite moment with a departed loved one. I didn't know Gary well but I know many of you did and I would love it if you would share some of the good stories with all of us. Sometimes if you can smile even through your tears it makes you feel just a bit better.

God Bless Gary RIP and thanks for your service protecting all of us.

Very good idea but very hard to do right now.

In time I will share some funny Gary stories. He always made a point to make me laugh.

He did a mean Tom Anderson (Beevis and Butthead) impersonation and he did pretty good at immitating the voice of Butthead too.

I will share one small story.

I got a call from him one morning and I was dead to the world. He said "Are you ready?" I said huh? Ready for what? He's like "I'm on the interstate and getting ready to get off the exit so we can go have breakfast". (Something to that effect)

I had cork screw hair, crust in the corners of my eyes and an alfalpha sprout hairdoo. I sat up in bed and said uh...... "give me a few minutes".

I rushed as fast as I could and met him for breakfast and he laughed at how I was driving a big dodge ram dually and that he couldn't see me over the steering wheel because I was so small and short. Infact.. he had to park that thing for me because I couldn't get into the parking space.

Even though I must have looked like hell he was always so sweet and always had a compliment to throw my way. He never seemed to care that I was 'different' nor how many piercings I had in my face or what color my hair was on any given day. He thought I was 'cool' and I thought he was even 'cooler' for being so NON-judgemental of a persons appearance but instead looking at the inner person (their heart).

He's seen me cry and he's helped stop the tears. He helped me through rough times (financially and mentally)


Nikki, you and I talked that day on the phone that day Gary was here... If you are reading this, please know one thing:

He thought so highly of you. He loved you so much and always talked about how great you were. He truely loved you more than anything.

I remember how estatic he was when you surprised him at the Nationals by coming down with the dogs... I remember a lot of stuff and only wish I had known Gary longer than the few years I have known him.

That's all I can say right now. I have a killer headache and a heartache thats even bigger.

Gary my friend, I loved you.
I still do.

This is not funny but in my eyes goes to show what a stand up man he was.

I am in the military and will be getting deployed to the Middle East. They want all of us to have will and such. So in thinking of needing one I felt I needed to tie up some loose ends. I have 2 cars, my family would not know what to do with them. I approached Gary about an idea I had to take care of this problem. He was very willing to help and take care of things if the worst happened. That made a very deep and lasting impression on me.

I knew Gary through this site and am a better person for it. I am still in shock over this.

I challenged him to an eating contest at the Nats next year when someone mentioned his appetite. I can out-eat everyone I know.

He told me the stories of the foot chase after 23 burgers and 2 plates of fries.

Maybe he would have won after all, Maybe I would have. Either way, we all would have had a riot that evening.

This isn't a story but I was looking forward to the White Castle gut bomb eating contest between you and Gary.

his recent post about busting the doper he could never nab when he was the school liason officer really sticks with me and the irony of it. The pot heads court day being 4-22 and all

Gary had a way to really get and keep peoples attention and make them feel involved. That is one of the first things I remember from the first time I met him... Godspeed Gary.

I was looking forward to it, too. I also wanted to see the Challenger in person I'm sure it would have been inspiring.

When Gary's car made the cover of Mopar Muscle I made a trip to the local newsstand, hell-bent on finding it. I explained to Lita that I was looking for my buddy's car on the cover of a magazine. She thought that was cool, so I explained to her that I knew him only from here. I showed her the cover and said "There's Unlawfl's Car" She was impressed, but she really got a kick out of the fact that he was a cop, yet chose the name Unlawful and had such an evil car. I told her "Yep...He's one of the people that make that place so great."

As for the gut bomb contest...I'd been training with Double Mike Burgers and Cattleman's 24 oz. steaks. My backup plan, should I have started losing, was to make Gary laugh burger through his nose.

I love listening to people's stories just as much as I love telling mine. Help keep Gary's memory alive and share his moments with everyone else. We can all vent about how unfair it is that Gary is gone and talk about how much we'll all miss him, or wish we got a chance to meet him in real life, but that isn't going to bring him back...What is important is remembering how he touched the lives of friends, and even complete strangers in the hobby,and being thankful we got to spend the time with him mere that we did.

What a sad day... I've been speechless all day after reading about this. Gary will be truly missed.

The story that made me laugh out loud while reading it, was the story about Gary riding the mini bike down the long gravel road, and through a parking lot that the local police were in. Gary drove by acting like he never saw the squad car there.

DG, I was thinking about the story when his wife brought the dogs to the Nats also.

Not really a story either, but his car is one of the ones that influenced me to restore my '73 and paint it one of the Prowler colors (currrently in process). It was for sale until I saw how nice his looked when done. Classy car and guy - RIP Un...

The first time I met Gary was at the 2002 Mopar Nationals. He saw me pull up in my Super Bee and imediately walked over to introduce himself. We talked for quite a while. I was always impressed by the fact that he went out of his way to be so friendly even though he only knew me from the internet. We crossed paths a few times since then, and he was always just as friendly and easy to talk to. It tears me up now to know he's gone.

Not much of a story for me but last year when it was rumored the he was going to sell the Challenger and get a 70 Super Bee well I got thinking and I build models and I have a 70 Bee just sitting so I got all the things that he would want in a 70 Bee and I started building at a slow rate. That way I could give it to him at the BBQ. Now I will have to finish it as a tribute to him. Just not sure who to give it to when I am done with it.If anyone can answer please let me know. Man I miss him

Charlie

I've never had the privilege to meet Gary, but two of his most memorable posts where the one about the gas station attendant that he refered to as "The Ricer Girl," who insisted that Gary's car needed "dubs and a system". She then went on to tell him that she wanted to buy it from him.

The other post that had me in stitches was the one about police brutality, when he sarcastically stated how police interrogate suspects by pistol whipping them, then afterwards take a trip to the donut shop.

Gary worded them much better than I can remember.

RIP Gary

Chuck, your story reminded me another of Gary's generous acts.. At the first Moparty in 2002, one of the guys from Windsor, I think it was Moparphil, had tranny problems on the way over. Gary had never met him in person before but happily loaned him his truck and trailer to get the car back home to Canada. I was floored (not knowing Gary well, I kept that myself) that he would do such a thing, letting someone he barely knows borrow one of his most valuable possesions, and letting it go out of the country to boot. It then struck me of how generous and caring he truly was. I think he was the kind of person we can all aspire to be like... if even a little bit of his good character rubbed off on a few people, we will all be better off for it.

Not really a story either, but...

At Woodward '02:
I was looking at getting a different front seat in my Satellite as it was torn to shreds when I got it.
I asked Gary how he liked the seats in his Challenger. I think he said something like: "Here ya go, see what you think" & opened the door on the Challenger.
I didn't really know him that well at that point (or period unfortunately) but I sure thought it was a nice thing he did for me....letting me just hop into the car like that.

A year ago or so Gary saw one of my posts about my 69 prostreet RR and PM me about it........being the mopar gear head he is and asked if I would e-mail some pic's..... so I send him some pic's that are lets say bigger than most.......the next day he sends me an e-mail saying I tied up his computer for an hour and a half.........I didn't know he only had dial-up.......... later we did laugh about it..

I never met Gary, but one thing that I will always remember is when I finally got my Challenger fixed up and posted some pics here he was the first reply. What he said was that "it is hard to make a flat hood challenger look mean, you my friend have suceeded"

Just the way he phrased his reply made me feel as if I had made a friend. He didn't know me from a hole in ground but he called me friend. Coming from some people it would have just been a word. Coming from him I knew he meant it.

He will be missed. My thoughts are with his family.

Well, I didn't know him like some of you guys did, but here's my little story. I posted a topic several months ago when I was feeling down - I was going through a lot of stress and questioning things. I got several PMs from members, and among the two or three that really stood out was one from Gary, who must have taken a long time to write the long and heartfelt message that was accompanied by a phone number and the suggestion to call him if I needed to talk. I had never met or talked to him before.

Since then we talked several times, and each time I was struck by his demeanor. When I photoshopped and hosted his old sig pic, his gratitude was genuine, and when he took time to send me a message saying he liked my art, I knew he meant it, and when he said that we should meet and have a beer at Nats, I was really looking forward to it.

With certain people, you don't have to have known them for years and years to tell that they are good people. I wanted to know him better, and to be honest, I didn't know him all that well, but I know for sure that Gary was a good man.

A common thread that keeps coming up was Gary's genuine humanity and outgoing personality. In 2002, my wife and I did something that I had dreamed of for years, drive our 69 Roadrunner up to Detroit from Houston, for the Woodward Dream Cruise. It all came about, in no small part, due to Gary's insistance that we come on up, and even offered to let us stay in his home! We would not dream of imposing on anyone, but we were so impressed with his friendliness that we decided instantly that we had to go to meet him and the rest of the Detroit "Crew." We had an outstanding trip and a great time on Woodward and at the Donut Shop. We got to meet Gary, MoparTony, Steff, Bubba, One Bad Superbird,Frank R and Chuck West plus more folks than I can remember right now. It is a wonderful memory made bittersweet by his passing. I came home tonight and read the post with shock and disbelief. I went downstairs and asked Terry if she remembered meeting "Unlawful" and, of course, she did. When I told her what happened, tears sprang from her eyes... and mine too. A mans true wealth is not measured by money... but by his friends and family. To the richest man that I have had the priviledge of knowing, God keep you.