Back for 2009 with Don Shumacher Racing, Ron Capps is in his fifth full season with Shoe's team driving the NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger R/T for the 2nd time and of course, his crew chief is long time friend, Ed “Ace” McCulloch. Born in San Luis Obispo Capps has always been a So-Cal guy and now lives with his wife and their daughter and son in Carlsbad, CA. With a B.S. in Software Engineering from Santa Clara college, Capps joined the NHRA super-team of Don Schumacher Racing, in 2005 to drive the Brut-sponsored Dodge Charger Funny Car. With Schumacher, he's won eight national events and finshed 2nd in 2005, 3rd in 2006, and 4th in 2007. He's hoping to turn that trend around for 2009 Capps joined DSR after driving for longtime friend and team owner Don Prudhomme. DSR is only the second Funny Car team for whom he’s driven since entering the nitro classes in 1995. Since 1995 Capps has collected 25 wins in 54 final rounds, in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. He's been close, but has never won it all after claiming that crown,...

Don Schumacher's a car owner, right? Yea, that's what he is now. He's got 6 full-pro NHRA drag racing teams running including his son and Top Fuel Champion Tony Schumacher. Before that, Don Schumacher was the pilot of his "Stardust" Funny Car.  Don retired from racing  in 1974 to focus on his family business and it's said, "a huge sigh of relief was heard from rivals like Gene Snow and Raymond Beadle in Texas, Pat Foster and Don Prudhomme in California and the late “Jungle Jim” Liberman in Pennsylvania."  Known as “The Shoe” he was tearing up tracks, especially at match races and even in England where you'll find several records he set as an ambassador for drag racing across the big pond. Shoe won the winner of the  1972 Coca-Cola Cavalcade of Stars,  the 1973 AHRA World Championship, 5 NHRA (including Indy) and 9 IHRA event titles driving his Plymouth Barracuda Funny Cars always called “Stardust”. Don Schumacher, the driver and mega-team owner who wears all 6 team colored shirts on any given weekend is our next "Top Five Most Influential Funny Cars" Don "The Shoe" Schumacher's Top 5 Funny Cars “I have to start off with...

MyRideisMe.com has your Funny Car hookups! We asked 3 current NHRA superstars in funny car and top fuel what funny cars are their "Top 5" most influential of all time, and why. Look for the Top 5 from Ed McCulloch, Ron Capps and Don Schumacher. Let's get started with the Napa Auto Parts funny car crew chief, Ed "Ace" McCulloch. The "Ace" has a drag racing career stretching back more than 30 years. A socal boy living right in the middle of where hot rods and drag racing really took off. It's no wonder he's driven everything from top fuel to funny's. During those early days racing all over the country at whatever track was paying, he learned what it takes to make a nitro burning beast go fast and more importantly, win. He's got 18 wins in funny car and another 4 in top fuel and he won at Indy 5 times. "Ace" is truly a legend in funny car and a perfect kick off for MyRideisMe.com's 5 Most influential Funny Cars... Ed "Ace" McCulloch's Top 5 Funny Cars “Going back some years, probably 'Jungle Jim' Liberman would...

Car Drawings vs. Hot Rod Design   Over the last decade, we've seen explosive growth in the hot rod and custom car industry and hobby as a whole. This can be attributed to the popularity of television shows like Overhaulin', American Hot Rod and others, as well as Powerblock TV, the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Events, and of course, access to great personalities like Chip Foose, Stacey David and others. This brings in new enthusiasts, and naturally, more project cars!   Not since George Barris snapped thousands of photos and wrote hundreds of articles promoting the hobby back in the 1950's and '60's have we seen so much attention on our hobby, and it's amazing to witness. Yet, while there's all of this excitement, many of these new fans and participants are feeling lost when starting a project. It can be a daunting task to say the least, but when taking those first steps, having the right footing can make all the difference in the world.   Naturally, any success in a project requires a plan, and building or modifying a car requires very careful thought at this stage. I've...

1966 Mustang Fastback - Pro-Touring Budget "I bought a 1966 Mustang Fastback out of a junk yard for $400. Thought I would challenge myself to build as exotic a g-machine as possible for $5000. "   It sounds impossible, anti-Pro-Touring even. MyRideisMe.com asked Ron Schwarz, owner/builder of this Grabber Blue beauty, to share his 5 Tips with our readers. He tells it like no one else can. This guy is hilarious! There are some killer classic quotes here. Stick to these 5 Tips below and you too can build your own budget dream ride.   1. Choose The Right Car Your car has to be affordable, but still turn you on. If it doesn’t keep your interest it will be just another project that doesn’t get finished. Choose a car you can get cheap parts for, period.   2. Do your homework The mods on this Mustang were done with factory (Ford and GM) parts from performance models/sports cars. The front suspension is all C5 Corvette parts; great handling, big brakes, relatively cheap, and fairly easy to come by.   3. Choose The Right Drivetrain. Find a drivetrain that...

If you've visited MyRideisMe.com before, you know I have a 27 Ford Roadster with a fairly hot 2.3L Ford four cylinder that's better known as a "Pinto Motor". I've got a not-so-cool problem with the Weber 44 IDF induction setup right now though... When I get into the throttle, not that I'd ever do that, I get a misting of fuel over the top of the carbs. OK, it's less of a mist than a toxic ozone killing cloud of gas vapor. (I'll commute tomorrow to make up for it!). I owe you a video of this, before and after. So what I'd do? I knew Inglese Induction Systems are the experts.  Inglese has been making intakes for this setup for a long time so they must know what's happening and how to fix it. Even more cool? Inglese is now owned by the Comp Performance Group that also owns, Comp Cams. I've always had great success with Comp Cams in my Ford V8's and my pops has been really happy too. Having 2 great reasons, I called over to Comp Cams. "...should get the torque to come on...

Fabrication, Welding and how-to's for your home built hot rod from WelderSeries.com Dear Welder Series... I have a 1956 Chev truck and want to put a 4 link in the back .was thinking of a triangulated one. would that work? the frame is 34 inches wide.or should i use a parallel 4 bar and a panhard bar and which kit # do you recommend ? thank you Dave Dave, this is a good question... There are several considerations when choosing a rear suspension system. An important one is frame width. A typical triangulated rear 4-link has the upper bars mounting off of the frame boxing plates and angling back to each side of the differential housing. The narrower the frame, the less triangulation is possible unless the upper bars get shorter. Shorter upper bars cause greater pinion angle change. The upper bars could be angled from wide apart on the axle tubes to close together off of a crossmember to get more triangulation. A parallel 4-link and Panhard bar is not as sensitive to frame width. The bars should be mounted as wide apart as practical to stabilize the...

Here at Welder Series, we get emails. We reply to emails. All of them. Even those nice people who want to see me more satisfied. (What's a "male product", anyways? Am I a product of my own imagination?) Anyways, I thought some of these tech type emails would be beneficial to more of you than solely the person who penned keyed the question. Onward. Dear Welder Series... "Hi there, I recently purchased one of your triangulated 4-link from Horton's (www.horton.on.ca). I am currently building a 28 Model A Tudor and I am building my own frame. I'm about ready to start fabricating the rear section of the frame and I was wondering if you can give any tips on how to rig up the rear suspension/frame so I can get the car as close to the ground as possible without loosing to much headroom since the car is going to be chopped. I will be running 32" tall rear tires and I would like the frame to be about 5 inches off the ground (at the floor before the rear Z). Also, I will be channeling the body. Thanks...

Simple product is Canadian made How often are simple projects truly simple? Almost never is the correct answer but I have discovered a great product that is just that. After a very eventful outdoor show season. My first item was to get back in the shop and work. My wife and I put over 75,000 kms on our diesel truck heading from show to show this year and it’s time to get my hands back on some tin. So there I was, thinking about my next project. To keep it moving forward, I’d need to put a frame under the thing. Then it dawned on me, how cool it would be to try to keep this build Canadian. It will likely be next to impossible to keep it ALL Canadian but you have to start somewhere. If you went to SEMA this year, you very likely would have stopped by the Speed Tech Performance booth. Not only are they Canadian but they’re from right here in BC! (Maple Ridge to be exact.) They make really nice 1st and 2nd gen Camaro subframes and other cool suspension stuff. Off to...

All Ways Hot Rods, located near downtown Phoenix, was founded in 1999 by the Way brothers Mike and Randy. They help hot rodders build their dream cars. One of those dream cars you may be familiar with is a flawless 1932 3 Window Coupe that won the 2008 Goodguys "America's Most Beautiful Hot Rod" award. In this shoebox how-to we'll take a look at how Gregg Grisham, a long time member of the All Ways team gives the custom touch to a '50 Merc's front and rear bumper by adding '51 Merc' bumper guards. Let's listen in to the how-to instructions from Gregg: "This method will work for most combinations. I need to mention that it is important to clean off the chrome and copper from where you are welding, and to make the surfaces of your welds as pit free as possible, and a good chrome shop like Kerr West can do wonders to finish off the parts. Here's a list of the Chop Shop Tools All Ways Hot Rods used: Rolloc grinder with various pads to clean chrome and grind for fit, 45 degree with cutoff wheel...

Now - I know that this is totally basic - but I wanted to take the opportunity to show you the air filter that came off my car today. Generally when I think of basic, routine car maintenance, I think "oil, tire pressure, transmission fluid, and is anything leaking." As I was at the shop today (P.S. I got the headliner completely finished and the new tranny in!...check back soon for those articles) I popped the hood to show off my engine (which is horribly dirty still from when the radiator blew...it was pointed out to me that a guy wouldn't stand for the dirty-looking engine.) Sitting there shootin' the breeze, someone noticed my air filter, so we unscrewed the top and took it out. Evidently, the way to check if you need a new air filter is by holding it up to the light and seeing if any of the light shines through. Not counting the spots where there were holes in mine, there was absolutely no sunlight shining through this sucker. Handy to be offered not one, but two air filters (I love my shop guys!)...we exchanged...

Many of you wrenchin’ around have been doing it since you had a baby bottle in your mouth. When you were out in the garage learning what a radiator was I was over at Miss Sally’s ballet class turning pirouettes. That’s right, I’m a girl – and not exactly your average grease monkey. I know lots of you fellas think ladies are only around to look pretty - and while I may not be too hard on the eyes – I’m not coming around just to pose on your shiny (or primered) hood. I’m here to get under it. Sparkin’ my under-hood adventures is my 1955 Studebaker Champion. After wanting a classic car for years, I finally leaped in a couple of years ago during a move from car-less San Francisco to car-necessary Los Angeles. Now I don’t know about you, but it’s my opinion that you shouldn’t drive a classic if you don’t want to work on it. And I wanted to…the only thing standing in my way was the fact that the only thing I’d ever done to a car was change a tire (and even that...