Slipstream - December 2018

Coffee, Cars & Conversation
By Bill Kruder
photos by Brant Worrell
This month, once again, has an
interesting winding road. We first
met last May at the Frisco Rail
Yard Mavs & Mochas, but this
would not have happened had he
first not met our mutual friend
Mitch. Mitch was dropping off a
package at the UPS store months
earlier and Brant walked up to
Mitch and told Mitch that he was
driving Brant’s dream car… a white
911 Turbo S. From there these two
strangers started talking about
Porsches. They part ways without
thinking to get a number, so like
any good stalker Brant turned
to the Maverick Region’s Yahoo
email board and asked if any one
knew this guy in a white turbo
cab wearing suspenders. Well our
good friend James Shoffit quickly
figured out that it’s Mitch. James
connects these two together, Mitch
introduces him to Mavs & Mochas,
and as they say the rest is history.
So here is the next in my series of
“conversations” I would like to
share with you . . .
Brant Worrell, Enthusiast since 1976,
Owner 2003 996 turbo, 1988 944, and
2006 Cayenne Turbo S
Bill Kruder: You sound like you
might be from here?
Brant Worrell: No, I’m actually from
Colorado Springs, Colorado. I
didn’t move here till 1998, when I
moved to Plano, before moving on
to Frisco, before stopping off for
a short break in the Valley Ranch
area in Irving, before finding my
way to McKinney in 2014!
BK: What about college? I always
see you wearing a Buffalo cap?
BW: Oh yes, I went to University of
Colorado Boulder. I have a Poly Sci
degree, for the lack of anything else.
I really didn’t know what I wanted
to do other than own Porsches and
that needed a degree (laughing).
BK: What brought you here?
BW: Like so many, a job. I was
working for a company in NW
Arkansas and was looking for a new
opportunity, and it was in DFW.
BK: And what type of work do you do?
BW: Well after college I went to
culinary school in Hyde Park, New
York. I like to joke I went into the
CIA, which I did, just not that one in
Langley, Virginia (laughing). It was
the Culinary Institute of America. I
always thought I had a passion for
cooking, but what I learned is that
I had the skills to cook, just not the
passion to work 60 hours a week,
seven days a week and holidays for
very little money. So after a short
stint in hotels and country clubs
I went into being a research chef
for Simmons Poultry in Northwest
Arkansas; think Tyson Foods, just
much smaller. After “getting my
legs under me” on the research side
of cooking, I joined Illes Seasonings
& Flavors here in the Dallas area
as their first research chef on staff.
After thirteen years as Director of
Culinary I moved into sales for
Illes about seven years ago. We
make flavor systems for the food
industry. We don’t make the end
foods consumers buy -- we make
them taste better!
BK: Now you talk about passion.
What did you discover you had a
passion for?
BW: Don’t get me wrong: I like what
I do. However, I figured out I had a
passion for Porsches very early on
in my life. I was the kid who had
every square inch of his bedroom
(including the ceiling) covered in
Porsche posters -- not music or
girl posters (wish I still had a lot of
those posters), and if I was going
to be able to pursue that passion I
had to have a good job. So as they
sometimes say, you can live to work
or work to live, and my work allows
me to enjoy owning Porsches.
BK: Where did this “passion” for
Porsches come from?
BW: I like to say I was born into
the Porsche club; it’s in my DNA.
Both my parents were Porsche
enthusiasts, especially my father.
14 December