ABSTRACT
I. NEBRASKA I was born and grew up in a little farming community of roughly 400 people in Nebraska. My high school had 78 students at the time I graduated and the distinction of having won 72 football games without a loss. I never played on a football team that lost a game. My French-German ancestors arrived in America in the mid-1800s; some from Paris, others from near Trier. Growing up in the country was great. By 5 years of age I recall having a horse and dog, a lot of freedom, and a long list of responsibilities, most of which I liked because I could do them with my horse and dog. Among my chores were to get wood for my mother to cook, bring the milk cows home from the pasture in the late afternoon, take water and lunch to my father in the fields, periodically check the cattle in the summer pasture to see if any needed attention, and gather eggs for my mother. But there was also time to play and dream. I loved to build and tinker with things. Along with my friends I built log "forts" in the woods and played all kinds of pretend games. My father was a good mechanic, welder, and blacksmith, all of which he taught me. I remember overhauling a single cylinder pump engine at 10 years of age. It took 2 weeks, but I managed to get the engine back together and it ran. By 16 years of age my interests had evolved to putting very large V/8 engines salvaged from wrecks into cars my friends and I built from scrap yard parts. Judicious modification of these engines allowed us to produce 300-350 horsepower in a car the size of a Volkswagen beetle. Few production cars today would beat these little rockets in a test of raw acceleration.
