When John Einhaus left Chicago and his life-long career as a machinist, he and his wife started looking for a new home. Einhaus used to travel west to participate in backcountry snowmobiling, but he didn’t know his wife was on the same page, sort of.

They were at a retirement party and a friend asked John’s beloved wife, Nancy, if they left Illinois, where would she like to go. Nancy answered Wyoming, a place where she could live out her dream of owning horses.

“I never thought I would hear my wife say that,” John said, adding his response was, “Oh, hell yes!”

The next day he got online and purchased a laminated map of the Cowboy State and began to search for their new home.

“It was a pretty easy search. All the mountains were on the west side of the state,” he said.

They made a plan and started looking for a spot somewhere to call home. When they got to Cody, they knew they were home. Two years later they found the perfect property in the Willwood district and began building a life. Nancy needed corrals and John needed lots of space for his own ponies. However, he was looking for horsepower.

He had spent most of his life a fan of NASCAR, so, of course, he wanted to collect everything possible to do with the sport; especially if his hero Dale Earnhardt was involved. He collected model cars, photographs, posters and, one year he even enrolled in a NASCAR racing experience, where he was able to drive a NASCAR. That’s when he decided he wanted one.

Unfortunately, after Dale Earnhardt’s death, the going price for a car he drove was a quarter million dollars.

“Nope,” he said

So he looked for a Dale Earnhardt Jr. car. They were still just out of his reach. So he turned his attention to muscle cars.

His first car was a 1970 triple black convertible Chevelle SS with a 396 cubic inch engine. The Chevy had all original body panels and a matching numbers motor. Then he added a 1967 Pontiac GTO to his stable. To pass over either one of these vehicles at a car show would be tough for any muscle fan.

Very few people can walk by his cars

Both are perfect, like brand new vehicles only decades old. Seriously, they are like sculptures, but best viewed from the driver’s seat — just be careful of whiplash as they go through the gears with John behind the wheel.

He had a Chevy and a Pontiac, so of course he started looking for a Ford. He settled on a Ford Mustang Shelby GT 350.

When John is at a car show, most people can’t simply walk by his collection without dropping their jaw or slobbering a little. His GTO won best in show at the 10th annual Cody Country Car Show. But he doesn’t do it for trophies.

“I’m not a trophy hunter,” he said. “I go to car shows because you meet all kinds of people, you get to hear all their stories and it’s a great time. That’s my award.”

Then a car built for Bobby Labonte, but was actually driven by Tony Stewart came up for sale. You can still see the fluorescent green of Labonte’s Interstate Battery race car, but he wanted something else and Stewart was the happy recipient.

It is a 2006 Monte Carlo SS, which happened to be a similar model as John’s first car, only much newer. That said, a NASCAR vehicle may carry a maker’s moniker, but by the time it’s ready for the track, there is very little similarity to the actual street model.

The car was never driven in a sanctioned race, but both Labonte and Stewart drove the car and that was enough for John. So he cleared some space in his huge garage, complete with a hydraulic lift, moved his John Deere tractor and purchased the vehicle.

He changed out the original seat to preserve it because both Stewart and Joe Gibbs had autographed it. Also, he wanted to drive the car, but the original race seat was much too small for John’s extra large physique. John’s many friends call him “Big E,” which is also the name of his ranch. However, they could be referring to his size, but it also could refer to his big heart.

John’s joy for life and love of saving history makes it way too easy to spend hours in conversation with him — especially those who love lots of ponies.

He wanted to be able to get behind the steering wheel (which has to be removed for John to get in) and feel the 850-horsepower engine’s power.

To start the Super Speedway car means all conversations come to an end due to the incredibly loud growl it puts out when it’s running. It shakes your soul to be anywhere near it while running. To drive the car is pure fun, he said.

Luckily, the vehicle had a Vehicle Identification Number, which means it can be street legal. Very few race cars have a VIN number; they are not meant to be driven on the street. The vehicle has plates and is insured, but it’s not something to drive to the grocery store.

“This, by no means, is a car you drive through downtown Cody. It’s loud and you have to keep it at high RPMs all the time. But to get down here on the Willwood for a run is a blast,” he said. “People can hear it coming.”

History saved

John isn’t into collecting simply for adrenaline rushes. He does it to save history.

“Once these cars are lost, they’ll be gone forever,” he said.

He also collects old-style lanterns. He has well over a hundred, including some very rare models. And he loves old snow sleds and odd mechanical devices, like old wooden pullies. But his third love (behind Nancy and NASCAR) is his collection of 30-something brass Henry rifles. He has very rare examples of the rifles, including special runs of as little as 50.

His garage, house and out-buildings are a cross between a museum and an art gallery. You can forget what you were talking about in a blink as your eyes struggles to believe what they see.

He even saved a large Big Boy statue; much bigger than the example some folks love and some folks hate on the North Fork Hwy. He is still looking for fiberglass model, of which the older used examples are made. He couldn’t stand to see it lost to time. It still has original paint.

“A lot of people think this has something to do with the North Fork [statue], but it has nothing to do with it. It’s all about my dad,” he said. “My dad loved eating breakfast and lunch at the Big Boys.”

After settling down in Park County, Nancy got her dream ponies as well. She has two horses and two donkeys and never thinks of returning to the Chicago area.

“It’s too crowded and has too much concrete,” she said.