[Jeff Higgins]

Thanks for sharing your friendship with Chad with us, Dave. Like I said, I only ever got to spend a very limited amount of time with him, but in that time, he always came across just as you describe - absolutely unpretentious and genuine.

I remember the first time I met him, at one of our early Treffens in Monterey. He had driven a 906 of all things. Kind of the "mic drop" car in a sea of early 911 hot rods that were no slouches in their own rights.

I had no idea whose car it was. I was checking it out when some guy I had never met walked up and started b.s.ing with me about it. Then he opened the door and let me look in, then the engine cover. By then I figured it must be his, or he at least knew the owner.

Then he asked me which car was mine, so we walked over to it and he started checking it out, doing his best to compliment what he could (in those early days with my car, it was still pretty rough). We spent more time with my car than with the 906. He was truly interested in what I had done, how I had done all of the work with my then quite young sons, and all of that.

We were just about to part ways and wander the parking lot, when it occurred to us that neither one of us had introduced ourselves. So we did that, and he remarked "oh, you're with the crew down from Seattle".

He had made our first encounter more about me than about him. It could, of course, have been all about him. But it was obvious he didn't want it to be that way. He made a real impression that day. Like you said, absolutely unpretentious.

I wish I could have spent more time getting to know him.