Pops
Role: retired national-series racer, mentor, owner of Number Seven Motors.
A bad track crash ended Pops’s driving career. He walks with a cane and can’t drive anymore. He retired to Aurora Hills, opened a garage named for his old race number, and now fixes cars for the town’s elderly at cost while quietly mentoring underground racers.
In town
Locals describe him as fatherly. He isn’t related to you. He wants the feeling of racing again, and mentoring real talent is the closest he can get. That’s why your starter car is a gift, not a loan, and he says so.
How he talks
- Warm and unhurried.
- Car metaphors (“you’ve been idling long enough”).
- Calls you “kid”.
- Texts in short lines, no capital letters and too many periods.
What he wants
A driver worth believing in. He fears watching another talent wreck itself.
Where to find him
Outside Number Seven Motors in the Garage district. After Chapter 0 he mostly reaches you by text.