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As you can read by the title, sadly we have lost another legend in the Z community. Mark was a ferocious Z32 lover. His Z was one of the earliest modified Z's in Socal and back when the Pomona was open to the public, he was laying down stock turbo 5pd records. In those days (the late 90's or so) he was the guy you heard about who you may not have met. If you were in the San Fernando Valley area of Southern California with a fast car of any type, chances are you knew his Z’s. I remember hearing about how fast his Z32 was. I first had the pleasure of meeting him on the 5 freeway on the way back from Famoso (drag strip), where he pulled up next to me with then his sport 500's and waxed my ass. Being Mark, always willing to give up the complement, he chatted with me at rest stop and told me how fast he thought my car was. That was Mark. Many of you here ended up becoming great friends with him via this site, as well as the Z. Many of you bought gears from him (Leader Gears). He took so much pride putting those together. There's just 197 or so sets of those, and if you ever put them in your Z, you know why they were popular. He enjoyed talking to every single one of you who engaged with him directly about them, and was even tossing around the idea of doing another run of 100. Aside from his Z, he had a GTR, a 280 ZX and a real passion for German Shepherds. But all of that doesn't compare to the man himself. Always gracious. Always generous. Always engaging. Always a friend. He had that rare ability to "see" everyone he came into contact with. If you spent 5 minutes talking to him, most likely he made an impression on you. He made an impression on us all. Mark passed away last Sunday night at home from natural causes; at peace at the young age of 68. While he’s not another victim of Covid, as you can imagine the coronavirus is affecting all memorial services. As such, there are no concrete plans for anything in person for now. But that said, there will be an online ZOOM memorial to share the many car related stories that Mark was involved in. Mark was a great storyteller, but an even better participant in them. More information will be posted here as well as in various Facebook groups in the coming days. Mark is survived by many loving friends, and his brother Chris. If Mark could have his wish right at this very moment, it would be a three way drag race. One car in the left lane, one in the right, and another in the bike lane. I will leave it to you to guess which lane Mark would be in. Mark Leader
7-15-1952 - 7-26-2020 In lieu of flowers: If you feel compelled to, please consider donating here in his name:
[ http://www.gsrescue.org/page_id_113/ ] #forbeba
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