As I sat down to write The Steering Column this month, I had every intention of writing about Dale’s incredible collection of exotics now on display at The Automobile Gallery. Instead, I found myself writing about nothing. That’s right. NOTHING. By the age of 2, Dale Besson and his four brothers were without a father…without indoor plumbing…without milk for their cereal and, many days…even without cereal. They had nothing. Their mother worked long hours to feed five hungry boys on waitress wages, but there was never enough. Worse, there never would be. Dale’s life was completely empty yet his soul was completely full. His soul gave him strength, drive and determination.
Though life was hopeless Dale refused to be helpless. Other kids played while he worked, tending yards for neighbors, baling hay, bussing tables and pumping gas just to survive. He was already poor and classmates only made it worse by voting him Most Likely Not to Succeed. Dale didn’t hate them, what he hated was being poor and was determined to change his life the only way he knew how, by working even harder.
By 21, Dale owned his first business. Before his 40th birthday he and a partner bought a commercial HVAC business and built it into a major success. Other ventures followed and just when life seemed to be handing Dale everything he deserved, he was handed a death sentence instead…throat cancer. Cancer didn’t know who it was up against. If there was one thing Dale Besson knew how to do it was survive. That was more than a decade ago and Dale not only survived, he thrives. Creating one of the finest collections of exotic automobiles in the U.S. is Dale’s passion in life. If Dale’s incredible story has touched you on some level please come visit his incredible collection before it leaves our Gallery in November.
