I grew up with my Dad owning modded Mustangs, then going to Trails with the Mach 1 and auto-x with the SVO.
As I got older and got my own car ('78 Caprice FTW) he helped me maintain it. When I joined the Navy, I would call him when I needed help and eventually started doing things without his advice in the base Auto Hobby Shop, which is where I picked up my independent skills from manuals and the shop techs. They were further refined once I joined a car club in Jax and was doing the modding thing.