Steve Ferguson
Enthusiast
The guy writes for the Chicago Sun-Times, and yes he is an idiot. Earlier this year he wrote the same story in the Chicago paper. So I decided to give him a call to leave him a scathing voice mail. Well he PICK'S UP THE PHONE on the second ring, so I had to at least start out nice.
About 15 minutes into the conversation I asked him some questions that seemed to make him a little defensive, like "what kind of high performance driving credentials do you have"? His reply was "I have gone to all the historic races and even driven in a few." I said, "what were you driving in those events"? To which he replied, "an Alpha". Well pardon me,"have you EVER driven anything at a high performance venue that has 450 bhp"? He says, "well no, that would be a little out of my income bracket". I said, "I guess that would be like sending a taco chef in the kitchen to explain how to make a pizza"! That he did not like.
After a few more jabs I told him this, "Viper is not a form of transportation. It is not a car. It is not something that is of this rational world. What Viper is is something you know nothing about. It is about an icon, and one with a heart!"
In closing, maybe I could get it through to his obviously closed ears what I meant, so I tried this: "The Viper was developed by the heart for the heart. It is those that own it that buy it for the heart. If you don't have the heart then you are never going to get it. But what Dodge gave us was something with heart. What Dodge got back was the most passionate group of owners and enthusiast that the auto world has ever seen. The Viper is special, Dodge is special for building it, and the owners are special to have them. Yes, we are a heart attack waiting to happen, all due to the Venom that runs through our veins."
"Build a car with heart, and you will get that think with their heart's. Could there be anything better!"
About 15 minutes into the conversation I asked him some questions that seemed to make him a little defensive, like "what kind of high performance driving credentials do you have"? His reply was "I have gone to all the historic races and even driven in a few." I said, "what were you driving in those events"? To which he replied, "an Alpha". Well pardon me,"have you EVER driven anything at a high performance venue that has 450 bhp"? He says, "well no, that would be a little out of my income bracket". I said, "I guess that would be like sending a taco chef in the kitchen to explain how to make a pizza"! That he did not like.
After a few more jabs I told him this, "Viper is not a form of transportation. It is not a car. It is not something that is of this rational world. What Viper is is something you know nothing about. It is about an icon, and one with a heart!"
In closing, maybe I could get it through to his obviously closed ears what I meant, so I tried this: "The Viper was developed by the heart for the heart. It is those that own it that buy it for the heart. If you don't have the heart then you are never going to get it. But what Dodge gave us was something with heart. What Dodge got back was the most passionate group of owners and enthusiast that the auto world has ever seen. The Viper is special, Dodge is special for building it, and the owners are special to have them. Yes, we are a heart attack waiting to happen, all due to the Venom that runs through our veins."
"Build a car with heart, and you will get that think with their heart's. Could there be anything better!"
