About Me

I'm a retired professional pilot...first in the military and then later in civilian aviation. I flew several aircraft including the McDonnell Douglas F-4, the Boeing 727, 747, 757, and 767, and the Airbus A300. Altogether, I accumulated about 10,000 flying hours over a 38 year career. My hobbies are driving my Porsche, riding my BMW motorcycle, programming patches for GPL, and keeping my lovely wife of over 50 years happy.

My first personal computer was a 1980 Apple II+ which was replaced by a Macintosh 512K when it was released in 1986. In the mid 1990s, I came over to the dark side and started using Microsoft Windows based PCs. That was a good thing though as I would never have discovered GPL otherwise.

In 2000, I discovered GPL in my local computer store's discount bin and was quickly hooked on this great simulation. This was the best five dollars I ever spent. By today's standards, the original simulation's graphics were primitive and its cars certainly were difficult to drive; however, GPL was a landmark in computer simulation. Its car physics continue today to be almost state of the art. GPL is generally considered to be the granddaddy of all car racing simulations and is still being updated and enhanced by a dedicated group of modders.

In 2001, I corresponded with Stefan Magnusson who created his GPL++ The Addons website that was and still is full of goodies about how to modify GPL. Stefan and I shared the same love of programming and started a collaborative effort to make a standalone program that would play and test the engine sounds without having to start GPL. This collaboration resulted in GPL Engine Sound Player which was my first contribution to the GPL community. Although of little use today, it is available for download here on my website.

Late in 2006, I was asked to join the private group that produces the patches which make each mod's car physics unique. Led by Richard Cooke, the members included Nigel Pattinson, a professional programmer, who wrote the patches for the rest of us. Nigel left in 2009, but we still use tools that he created. Richard and I and a few others are still active in this important group.

In 2010, I was honored to be the team leader for the 1967 Sports Car Mod and then later for the 1971 CanAm Mod. I also made minor contributions to other mods with the exception of the 1965 F1 Mod which was made before my time. For the last several years, I was busy with the 1955 F1, 1967 Sports Car Extra, Legends of GPL, and GPL 2020 Demo mods, but have also been making general purpose programs and patches for all mods.

GPL is now 22 years old and still going strong due to our dedicated mod teams. I hope to continue making mods for as long as I can.