telco1

Just thought I'd share this TSX story that happened yesterday. You'll appreciate it if you're Canadian and/or from Toronto.

My wife works in the Yorkville area on Cumberland. While dropping her off in the morning, I noticed a red TSX parked further down the street in front of me. Since I don't usually see too many TSX's on the road, I pointed it out to my wife (as if she gets as excited as I do). While leaving, I thought I'd drive by slowly to see who was driving the car and acknowlege ownership with a little wave or thumbs up.

What I noticed was the nice dark tint this person had on the windows. It was a bit too dark for me for you could barely see into the car, but it looked great nonetheless. I pulled up right in front, got out of my car, walked over and knocked the driver's window. As the window powered down, I introduced myself, apologized for disturbing him and proceeded in complementing on the tint job and asked where he got it done. After glancing at my car in front of him, he told me that a friend in Woodbridge did the tinting and if I give him my name and number, he will pass it on to him.

While writing down my name and office number and engaging in some chit chat about the TSX, he asked me if I new how to change the time on the clock, for he just got his car and hadn't had a chance to go through the manual. So I reached in through the window and proceeded to quickly show him. He also mentioned that he loved the car and had been driving an older TL before. We also chatted about driving the manual as opposed to the auto for his car was an automatic.

Throughout the 5-10 minutes that all this was going on, I kept saying to myself "this guy looks very familiar". So while ending the visit with a handshake and mutual "thank you's", I asked him his name.

His reply was "Ben........Ben Johnson." I said that I thought so and followed by saying that I enjoyed watching him run and compete to which he thanked me. I got back into my car thinking......that was cool.

As a side note, for those who don't know who Ben Johnson is, he was one of Canada's (and the World's) top track athletes, an Olympic star and World Record Holder. Also controversial. Regardless of that, he was very pleasant to meet.

Just thought I'd share this TSX experience.

Lawrie

spc

That was nice! Enjoy reading your story.

fdl

What??! Are you serious? You saw Ben Johnson driving a TSX?? LOL, thats crazy. What a story! I guess he still has "some" money but he's a long way off from the Ferrari he used to drive.

telco1

Dead serious and I remember that Ferrari.

Iron Chef

Did he have any accessories on his TSX?

telco1

Other than the tinting, nothing that I could see. Since we only spoke for a short time, I didn't get chance to really look at the car.

Visorboy

good stuff telco1, thanks for sharing your story with us!

AKay

damm from a ferrari to a tsx wow.
Maybe it was just his daily and now he drives the ferrari on weekends or something.
AKay

Soze75

"Ben Johnson still lives in Toronto. He's never held down a job and lives on an income of a few hundred dollars a week. He trains at York University with his first coach Percy Duncan for races that may never come."

This was taken from CBC:Witness web page. Looks as if the TSX was a gift from his Libyan friends.

AKay

whoa
show the link @ soze

Soze75

http://www.tv.cbc.ca/witness/doping/dopben.htm


there you go:P

fdl

He's still training? The guy is like 50 years old now isnt he?

TorontoTL

Kind of a cool story. Cool that Ben is in a TSX now. Good choice though don't you think?

zircon

what, old guys aren't allowed to train?

fdl

Not professionally.

TSXnT-dot

I remember meting Ben Johnson at a Harvey's a few years back. He lives near me in the Stonehaven area of Newmarket last I remember.

combustible1

cool story.

Also heartening in a way to see that cheaters don't necessarily come out ahead in life, afterall. In our westernized culture, success, money and fame tend to buy one prestige and respect, regardless of by what means that may have been attained.

Take the wild cheering that occurred when Kobe Bryant returned to the basketball court. I have no idea if he is guilty or not, but I would neither boo nor cheer for the guy in that situation until I knew what the outcome of his trail was going to be.

End of mini-rant.

Btw, I guess Ben Johnson can't be too much of a failure if he gets to drive a TSX.

Crazytree

I would have to laugh if I ever met Ben Johnson.

dom

The guys I play Hockey with work at BMW of Mississauaga and BMW of Woodbridge. They apparenetly know Ben pretty well and they used to always talk how Ben was in there buying a new car etc. This was a few years agao I guess. I can't wait to tell them what Ben's driving now.

So I guess Ben's had to take a step up from driving BMW's

LurchRSX

On a side note we saw 5 red tsx's in 2 days.......i have only ever seen 3 previous to this weekend.

telco1

Ben's red TSX was only the second red one I've seen on the road. I've only seen a handfull of them in the 3 months I've owned the car. I did see a new silver TL last week.

Maybe it's time that us Toronto TSX owners pick a coffee shop somewhere and meet to shoot the breeze...very informal.

Just a thought.

Spud

I've always thought that, while certainly guilty of doping, BJ was singled out more than he deserved. It's overwhelmingly unlikely that he was not the only user of illegal substances in that field of runners. He's just the one that they caught.

Not long ago he defiantly stated that his gold-medal race in 1988 still stands as the best 100 metres ever run. He can't have the gold medal, but drugs or no drugs, I'll give him that...

Good man. Great car

dom

Its painfully obvious now that he was definently not the only runner in that race using steroids. Carl Lewis was definently using them and that came to light recently. But just because others were using them too that still does'nt make it right for Ben, he still cheated.

Ben ran a 9.79 in that race I think. Has'nt Maurice Greene or the other American (can't remember the name) beat that recently?

fdl

Ben Johnson still claims that the record has never been beaten. I think someone has gone faster but there is something about the conditions, etc that Ben Johnson argues means he still holds the record.

crisco

Wow! great story!

Yes, he broke the rules, but regardless - that was the greatest 100m ever run. Maurice Greene's run was a 9.78 (I think), but the tailwind was at the legal limit. I think the whole doping thing is a hypocrisy - I mean it really boils down to what we will tolerate in an athelete's training regimen in order that he/she enhances their performance. Where do you draw the line? If one athlete uses or has access to an oxygen/hyperbaric chamber, high altitude training, 'natural' supplements, high tech weight training etc. I mean - none of this stuff can be considered 'natural' anymore. In my book, yes, he cheated and received his just reward....I'll stop there...

dom

On a side note (and a sad note) I think thats quicker than I could go in my Auto TSX