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Satch Carlson is a raconteur, a humorist, and a veteran correspondent of what he calls the international Motorsports Journalism Bidness. He spent years as a columnist and feature writer at AutoWeek magazine and many other publications before taking the helm of Roundel Magazine, the official publication of the 70,000+ member BMW Car Club of America. He also contributes monthly columns to Hemmings Sports & Exotic Cars magazine. He is an active participant in driving events and tours and he’s at home on the track as much as the open road. He loves his Z4M roadster so much that he was once heard to say, “When I die, just put handles on the roadster – and dig a deep hole.”
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“The important thing is this. To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” – Charles Bose
“I am not a missionary. I am not here to save you. I can only save myself from what is happening to you. There is room in my boat if you want to jump in.” – Jersey Kazińsky
An interesting behind the scenes story about how Satch became the editor of Roundel magazine.
AH-HA MOMENTS
After taking over the editor role at Roundel and the BMW Club Satch approached the board with the concept that what they had was much more than a club publication but instead a national magazine that needed to attract nations advertisers.
FIRST SPECIAL CAR
A 1943 Military Jeep
BEST AUTOMOTIVE ADVICE
Sign the papers, this ain’t no F’in dress rehearsal! – Advice from a friend as Satch was about to purchase his Z4M Roadster.
AUTOMOTIVE RESOURCE
Alibris – www.alibris.com
FAVORITE BOOKS
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
The Kings of the Road – Ken Purdy
Stand On It – Stroker Ace
PARTING ADVICE
Of you’re ever going to stand on it stand on it now. The longer you wait, the slower you get.
HOW TO FIND SATCH
BMW Car Club – www.bmwcca.org
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I really enjoyed hearing Satch’s comments about his history. His enthusiasm for the “car life” really comes through! Lucky guy too- a Z8 to add to the stable……… This was my first time listening to Cars Yeah; I’ll definitely be back.
Welcome to tru redneckville, I know you can appreciate. Scott Hendricks
Satch is such a nice guy. My wife and I had the pleasure of meeting him in Detroit in 1987 at the Grand Prix. Much champagne was bought by him. He invited us to a private AutoWeek party the next day. True to his word, when they were about to turn us away at the door he appeared and greeted us like old friends. He never made us feel like the midwest schlubs we were. He was very busy, but made sure we were welcomed and treated as his friends. We encountered him on several Formula One weekends after that and he always a perfectly charming person. I poured plenty of money into AutoWeek subscriptions that ended when he was no longer part of it. I used to eagerly await his column.
I remember Satch from the late 70’s when I worked on a stage at a SCCA Rally in Washington State ( The Good Washington ). In those days, he was driving a Saab Sonett with the rally exhaust over the roof. Great look ! Too bad it never caught on. Just needed a flapper on the end to keep rodents out. His column ” The Jaundiced Eye” in AutoWeek was never missed by me in those heady days. I still want to put Yosemite Sam Back Off Mudflaps on the next 911 I get to just torque off the snobs. I now live in Australia, so would the radio antenna/coat hanger on that car, get better reception if it is fashioned into a crude map of Australia, rather than the fashionable/popular outline of the lower 48 ? Just asking…… Waiting a response.
G’day to you Bruce –
Satch is certainly a character and it’s good to hear from someone who knew him during his rally days. He must have been even more a Yowie than he is today. As for your coat hanger/radio antenna question I can’t definitively say but I do know if you put a whale tail on that 911 you can grill up a nice kangaroo steak there after a hard day’s drive. Cheers!
It was “Life in the Fast Lane” in Autoweek
Autoweek then SAABtical ? I relate Satch Carlson to Autoweek ,I loved his humor & car knowledge !
Satch Carlson was one of the most influential people in my life, dating back to the 1970s. I’m happy to see he is still making his mark- of course, I never would have thought otherwise.
He knows his stuff!
Say it ain’t so. You live in Greer SC?
Help! I used to read Satch Carlson in Auto Week years ago. He wrote a column about “The Snap On Tool Man,”
that I keep tell my 27 year old son about. Where can I get a copy of that article????
I rallied a couple of times with Satch (I was right seat). We won an overnight event in Oregon back in 1997. Great fun.
My classmates were traumatized by Satch Carlson when he committed several rapes on this high school students in the 1980s
Ricard:
Wrong one. Not the same guy.
Same guy that you are apparently alluding to, but there were no rapes of any students.
There was one alleged consensual relationship with a student that was 17.
The age of consent was 16 at the time.
The charges were dropped.
Stupid? Absolutely.
Crime? No.
Yes. I was one of Mr. Carlson’s students back in 1986. I remember that year specifically as it was when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. We were in the process of class changes when I heard the rumor of its explosion, and I verified it with him when I first entered his class. I asked, “Did the Space Shuttle explode??” not quite sure of the chattered rumors. His response a very melancholy, “Yes it did.”
The story of his involvement with the mentioned student surfaced after our class had graduated. I knew the girl. I was rather smitten with her
If you wish to hear a sob story, talk to a SAAB owner. Early SAAB Sonnets were rumored to have speedometers calibrated in Furlongs per Fortnight.
Satch was a weekly Autoweek/Competition Press read I turned to upon receipt; loved his reference to wife as ‘the leggy stockbroker.’
License plates; Audi: ‘Doody’ and for the couple: IMZ1RU URZ14ME
I thought Satch’s column in Autoweek was titled “Running on Empty,” not “The Jaundiced Eye.”
I believe that at one time, Satch had a car (perhaps his yellow Lotus Eclat?) with the Alaska license plate “Why Me.”
In the early 1980s, I attended a memorable New Year’s Eve party at Satch’s home on the Anchorage hillside. We fired skyrockets down at a neighbor’s home — the neighbor happened to be a national NRA Board member. The neighbor, who was also an ATF- licensed automatic-weapons owner, responded by firing blanks at us from his fully-automatic machine gun. A most memorable party…
Satch’s indiscretion with one of his female high-school English class students was not a crime at the time it occurred. However, the Alaska Legislature reacted by passing the “Satch Carlson amendment” to the sexual-consent statute, which made any future such indiscretion a felony.