Patrick Childs:  

Life In the first few years after high school, I worked in the family clothing business, along with some other jobs, and played around with race cars in my spare time, before deciding to join the Army in '78. My first assignment,for six months or so, was in the 1st Infantry Division (Forward) JAG Office, in Goeppingen, Germany, working in Criminal Law and then taking over the branch Claims Office. It was a very small and close knit community, consisting mostly of Division administration personnel, with a couple of artillery batteries on site. I made friends in the local German community and had a great time there. Apparently Claims was my forte, because I was transferred to the JAG Office in Neu Ulm, where I became responsible for processing Claims for the entire 1st Infantry Division (Forward), earning an Army Commendation Medal for creating innovative methods in handling claims more rapidly and saving the Army lots of money. When I wasn't processing claims, I was processing court documents, often as a courier driving across southern Germany to hand deliver documents. In my spare time, I coached The Dependent Youth Activity Swim "team". It was rewarding because when I started some of the kids weren't very good swimmers, but before I left they could each swim a mile (almost) non-stop. They were a great bunch of kids, who really helped ease the trauma of my younger brother Kevin's death, in December of 1979, by keeping me busy and involved. Somehow I also found time to compete in the 7th Corps swimming Championships, winning two bronze medals. (Yay for me) While I was stationed in Germany I traveled extensively in Europe and got to visit my high school bud Ed Edmonds quite a few times. When I returned from Europe, in 1980, I was assigned as the Brigade Legal NCO for the Fifth Infantry Division (Artillery), overseeing the legal administration of three subordinate Battalion Legal offices. Louisiana was hot, but somehow I got into running 6 miles every morning. Fort Polk might have been a military base, but it was a party place on the weekends. (I now own a '79 RX7 just like the one my bud "Needles" bought "used". wink wink). When I got out of the Army, in 1982, I went to Professional Careers Institute to learn computer programming. After graduating with a near 4.0 GPA (Yay again), I went to work for the Internal Revenue Service, ultimately taking an assignment in the District Counsel Office, as a computer operator and in administration. in 1983, right after I started working at the IRS, I began spending my spare time and weekends working with SCCA sports cars, as an official and mechanic. In 1986, I raced my Improved Touring C Ford Fiesta to 3rd in Central Division, while wrenching Championship winners in Showroom Stock B and Improved Touring A. During that time, while volunteering to help out Team Mitsubishi for a one-race deal, I was invited to help out at the rest of the 24 hour races. The following year I was enticed to make the jump into racing for a living, wrenching for Dave Wolin's Team Mitsubishi in the Escort Endurance & Coors Race Truck series. It was a fun gig, living on a yacht in California and getting paid for it...Expand for more