Hello CR!
My name is Dennis Alton MIlne, (mill-knee) AKA Den Alton, Alton03! I am 36 years old and currently reside in Ft Huachuca Az. (Fort Hoochie Coochie as my friend JBailey calls it). I live with my lovely wife Lynn, our two labs… and a cat 🙂 Lynn and I were married 4 days prior to Sept 11, 2001. Hard to believe it has been 6 years already! We have two beautiful daughters, Halie, 14, and Courtney (my step daughter), who is 20 and going to college in Missourri.
Dennis, Lynn, Halie and Courtney
I am a Staff Sgt. in the US Army. I have been a bass-guitarist / vocalist / drummer for the US Army band for 12 years now. This was the career I chose after being a music major in college. I couldnt be happier with the decision:) I have been to at least 13 different countries, and it led me to my wife and her daughter Court, who have turned my life around for the better a million times over! In 7 years, Lynn and I plan on retiring from the Army (at age 43:) setteling down in Mo. and living in our log cabin on the lake… doing lots of fishing and horse back riding! Oh, and she wants a cow:)
I was born and raised in a small town in northern Illinois. As a child I had an uncle that raced the local short track (Rockford Speedway) on Saturday nights. I will never forget how excited I was when he would let me sit in his car. I blame him for my “first” racing experience. Then there was my moms brother Steve, who recently passed away. Racing was definatley in his blood. He often took me to the Byron Drag Strip, where he raced often. He spent every day of his life working on cars. He was a great childhood influence:) My parents still reside in Rockford Il, as does my sister and her family.
As much as I loved a good local short track race when I was young. NASCAR was not a huge part of my life then. Remember, I grew up in the 70s and 80s in northern Illinois. My life was football and baseball as a child! My dad, boy scouts, the Chicago Bears and Walter Payton are what shaped me 🙂
Den and Lynn with their labs Bristol and Payton
As I grew older, NASCAR became more and more interesting to me. And eventually living in places like Tennesse and Ky, I followed it more and became a huge #3 fan! Thank goodness this was before the #24 days lol. I was so amazed at the intenseness of what the drivers were enduring, the nerves of steel that they had to possess. I wanted to be a part of that in some way. Soo, in around 95, I got (whats now) a silly console racing game, on the first play station I think… And to make a long story short, I have been “SIM” racing ever since:)
I raced the PAPY sim off line for a lonngg time befor I got up enough nerve (and computer power) to try it on line. I joined open servers and raced on and off for a year or two… never really enjoying the “mayhem” a whole lot. I tried a few different leagues but found they were not a whole lot different than racing open servers, and none of them seemed to be very accepting of “noobie” drivers. Then one Saturday night I raced in an open race on the christianracing server. WOW was I impressed.
BUT.. I wasnt sure what to do.. Being part of “christian” racing made me feel guilty in a way. You see, I didnt grow up around religion and it seemed a very “uncomfortable” subject for me at the time. What experiences I had had previously in life were not good ones. I guess you could say that I had met a lot of “hypocrites”.
So, two things happened in my life pretty close to the same time. I married Lynn, and just a year later I found CR. Was this a coincidence? I never thought nothing of it then, but now that I look back on it I see it very clearly.
Lynn has taught me that we are all here for a reason. She has shown me the way of a “true” christian. And Christian Racing has also shown me what being a real christian is all about. You have all shown me what it means, and why it is important to give our lives to God. As long as I live, I will never forget the LAN event Lynn and I attented in Indiana. I seriously left there with tears in my eyes, and still to this day can not explain why. But I know I was touched in some way, and I know my life has not been the same. Since marrying Lynn and becoming a part of CR, my life will NEVER be the same again, and I couldnt be happier! … and I get to SIM race too? lol, NO, it was NOT a coincidence.
Thank you Brent, Ray, Darryl, Dennis S…. and soooooo many others here at CR for becoming a part of my life, and helping get my life back on track. I know I still have a LONG way to go, but you all lead me closer and closer everyday.. thats why you will never get rid of me:)
Den
at the CR Lan
Halie
Courtney and Max