It’s my pleasure to present to you, Alex Tauras. Alex, is a great example of what can happen when we use tragedies and past failures, and let them motivate us to become something better. Surely we can all benefit from his testimony, so without further delay here’s Alex’s story.

The last few years have been filled with death and tragedy for me. I can specifically recall a time in my life, about 3 years ago, when 11 people I knew (including a best friend and a teacher) had all passed away in a span of 6 months.

This is a story of how I found the spark that started my passion, and how I used one of the most upsetting tragedies (my best friend’s death) that had occurred in my life as motivation to chase a dream, and then finally achieve that dream.

Here’s a little background. Growing up I was the typical slacker. The guy who did everything at bare minimum. Never had a drive to do anything at all. If you looked up lazy in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of me (probably sleeping).

What is it that changed that allowed me to become more motivated in life and school? Four years ago my cousin came over for one of those summer holidays. When I heard him pull up, I was wondering what kind of car can make such a great sound. I asked him what kind of car it was, and he told me it was a Subaru Impreza WRX; a 2003 model and it was sonic yellow, which is one of the rare colors Subaru put out that year.

We started talking about the car and he told me it was a 2.0L engine with a turbo, and was generating about 350whp. At that time I just knew I had to drive it! I asked my cousin if I could drive it, and he said that I could as long as I replaced the gas that I used. I ended up driving it for about 4 hours! (LOL)

I stopped by a friend’s house to show him the car, and he was just about to leave for a mutual friend’s graduation party, and asked if I was going to go. I decided that I’d go, and he said for me to hold up while he got the keys to his dads brand new Maserati GT.

On the way to my friends house (driving down back roads), we started to mess around with the cars. To my amazement, this little 2.0L turbo’d Subaru was keeping pace with the Maserati GT. It was at that exact moment that I became absolutely addicted to Subarus.

After I got home and my cousin had left, I looked up everything there was to know about the Subaru Impreza WRX, and after reading everything I just knew I had to get one. To make a long story short, about a year and a half later I was talking to my dad about it and he said that I could get one, because of the AWD system. I’d be going away to school, so it seemed like a good choice.

I ended up finding one in Indianapolis, Indiana (about 2.5 hours from my home town in NW Indiana). We went down there on a Saturday, which was two days after I found it. My dad asked me if this was really what I wanted. I told him, “I’ve never been so enthusiastic about a car before, and he won’t regret getting it for me.”

Thinking back on it now, I think somewhere deep down inside, he regrets it only a little because of all the time and money I put into it. (LOL) Anyways, that’s just a short story of how my passion of cars came to fruition.

About a year later (two years ago), I lost my best friend to drug overdose. He was the type of guy that would give you the shirt off his back, even if it meant he would suffer. I soon began to ponder why God had to take him away from me.

His death made me take a hard look at who I was, and where I was going in life. And it was soon apparent why He did it. I decided that what I was doing and where I was going wasn’t the place I intended. It was almost like God was saying to me in His own way, “Hey Alex, you’ve got bigger and better things to do.” Who was I to question God right?

Just about a year ago, I got accepted into a school that offered me a chance to pursue my passion in life. That passion is motor-sports. Since moving here to Charlotte, NC and what could be referred to as the motor-sports capital of the USA, I became truly motivated and passionate about pursuing my passion, dreams, and goals. I started to study hard and pursue every opportunity I could, that would possibly lead me to my goal of working in the motor-sports industry.

This semester I landed a wonderful internship at a local Subaru/Evo shop here in Charlotte. I’m actually getting the opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do, and I couldn’t be happier. Through the school, I’ve met some very well known people in the NASCAR community, such as Humpy Wheeler (who is seriously one of the funniest people I’ve ever met), and his daughter, who can potentially lead me to other contacts.

For the first time in my life I feel like I can achieve anything I want. Not only did I land a dream internship, but I’m getting the good grades I want (which is odd for me since I’ve never been one to do well) too. Even though I’m a full-time college student and I intern everyday, I come home extremely tired, but with a huge smile on because I think I’m on my way to doing something great!

Last week I got a phone call from my mom on Thursday night saying that my dog, who has been battling bone cancer since October, has taken a major turn for the worse. On Friday afternoon, my mom called me again and told me that her and my dad were going to take my dog, Lexie, to the vet to see if there was anything else they could do for her, and that they would let me know what the outcome was. I received a text message from my mom later that evening that said, “Lexie is now at peace.” It’s still an on-going battle to stay strong while dealing with this, but I’m taking it a day at a time.

As if my weekend hadn’t been off to a horrible start, on Saturday I blew my engine up in my Subaru, so I’ve been having a hard time getting things done and trying to make the best of the situations that happened. On a positive note, through this misfortune I’m finally able to do something I’ve always wanted to do with my car. It’s being fully rebuilt to make my dream car a reality.

Here is what’s going in it: STi short block, machined cylinder heads, Walboro 255 fuel pump, oil pump upgrade, Competition Clutch Stage 2, FP 68HTA turbo (Super 16g), and pro-tune by Motion Lab Tuning. This setup should be able to exceed 400 whp, but will be tuned to about 350 whp with peak boost at 26 psi tapering to 19 psi at redline. Can’t wait!

Okay, so I’ve been taking all the tragedies in my life and have been refocusing my efforts on pursuing my dreams. To top everything off, I just got “promoted” at my job too! I’m now in charge of all marketing and sales for our Subaru side of the business. Instead of letting everything bring me down, I used it as motivation to do something for myself. All it takes is a spark to start the fire and some motivation, and you can truly start achieving things you never thought were possible!

Here’s what I’ve learned along the way:

1) If you are truly passionate about something, and you work hard enough towards attaining it…you will find a way to get there.

2) BIG rewards require BIG ambitions. (For me, I’ve always wanted to do something in the motor-sports field, and my ambition to attain it was large enough to have it pay off.)

3) If things don’t work out as planned, don’t get down and think it’ll never happen. (It took me a year and a half of relentless studying to get the grades needed to get into this college, even after being rejected the first time.)

4) This might not be true for everyone, but for me I needed to find that burning desire that would motivate me. That one single dream or goal that I had such a fixation on (motor-sports) was my motivation.

5) Don’t be scared or embarrassed to dream big. (I never thought I’d be doing what I’m doing right now.)

6) Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes happen, but its what you learn from it that will help you in the long run.

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