Bonneville Race Cars of Friends Oh, I might have mentioned it before... maybe every time I write about the Bonneville Salt Flats... the people are great. Hot rodders and racers in general are an easy-to-get-along-with group, but something about the salt turns competitors into co-conspirators to see who can go faster. On some levels, it doesn't make sense. These racers are after the same record, both are dying to wear the coveted red hat of the "2-club" or 200 mph club, and they both have been trying for years, but still they'll share everything from cold sodas to spare parts to advice to help a fellow racer. It's special. Speaking of special... each year I make my 15 hour trip from Phoenix, AZ to Bonneville, I meet and become friends with more racers. You almost can't help it! I want to kick off 2012 Bonneville Speed Week with pictures and updates of a few friends I'm looking forward to seeing. 400 mph Streamliner owned by Bobby and Peggy First up is this beautiful machine called the, "Maro Special". Bobby, Peggy and their entire crew treat me like family when I...

Bonneville Salt Flat Racing For Charity (and Fun!) Bonneville's an amazing place for so many reasons. I just learned of one more. I read and reviewed a book about Baldwin Motion, you know the "Phase III", Motion Performance, "Dragon Snake" guys?? Well that was written by Martyn Schorr who's now my Facebook buddy. He told me about the Bonneville Racing Team 608 he's a part of and forwarded this story. I had to publish it. Greatest thing is, as good as the people are on the salt, this doesn't surprise me. TEAM 608 RETURNS TO BONNEVILLE WITH TWO CARS, AND A MISSION: GO FAST – DO GOOD! Grassroots racers run a Lakester and Roadster on the Salt Flats to raise money for, and awareness of, health-related charities. Team 608, a 100% volunteer, grassroots land speed racing team, is comprised of lifetime hot rodders and drag racers who have been competing at Bonneville for more than a decade. Since 2006, Team 608 has raised and donated in excess of $95,000 for charities: Susan G. Komen For The Cure (Breast Cancer), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and Autism Speaks. Next month, they...

Northern California Car Show - Hot Rods and Custom Cars Story Contributed by MyRideisMe.com member: Nick Koljian "Hellcity316" It's that time of the year again and like a little kid on Christmas eve I'm all giddy with hot rod excitement. The night of July 6th I was very restless. Shuffling around all my camera gear, making sure all my batteries where good and charged and cleaning my lenses... I put a little stack of necessities right by the front door for the morning so I would not forget them. Phone, media pass, gum, MyRideisMe.com stickers and other little survival tidbits that I might need for the next day festivities. You know when you get that feeling that you are forgetting something and you can't put your finger on it? Well, that was the feeling I was having. I looked around at everything and went through my list 4 times over. I made all my calls, got all my gear, the ride is fueled up, went to the bank for some juice. What am I forgetting? Then it dawned on me. I took a look at the clock in my...

Fine and Finished Hot Rod Roadsters Segregation Works Segregation. It's a word with a perfectly bad score for connotation. I'm hear to give it a boost and say... It works at the LA Roadster Show. Over here, a fantastic swap meet when you're looking for that obscure 50s original part for your Caddy... Over there, a car show fit for everyone. Trucks, traditional hot rods, nose up street gassers and even a laid out Econoline van. Then, there's the "real" show... Over yonder... Separated by a walk that your dog would turn down, but featuring a conditioned air main hall filled with go-fast goodies and hot rod art... and of course, the shiny, finished roadster that are, the LA Roadster Show. To get in, you need a finished, glossy painted car and no fixed windows. True roadster and no rats. Thank you, moving along... Skip all this, I just want to see more pictures: 2012 LA Roadster Show photo gallery The AZ Hot Rod Connection (Click to see full size) Making the trip out from Arizona, my home state in case you didn't know... where two fine, real deal hot...

Hot Rods and Custom Cars from Chopit Kustom (Click to see full size) More from the 2012 LA Roadster Show: As a sequel to the radical 1955 Ford turned bubbletop kustom, I want to show off the other great rides the good folks from Chopit Kustom brought. All three rides, the 32 Pickup, the 53 Chevy Coupe and the "55 Ford" you can barely see in the back were all driven in. After parking and before the crowds, I snapped off these shots. Next time I take my kids to Disneyland, I'll arrange a tour and get to know these guys at their Stanton, CA shop. They're breaking new ground as a three man shop and getting the media attention to prove it. Enjoy! Did you get your own shots of these cars? Let's see them! admin@MyRideisMe.com [nggallery...

Bubbletop Kustom Car - Radical Custom Creation! (Click to see full size) Back at the 2012 LA Roadster Show, I'm doing my best to take my favorite pictures and show them to you, just in case you're outta state, country, or worse... you were one of the vendors I talked to that never get to leave your booth! What you see here is a 1955 Ford. Yep. That's what it started as, but according to Gary "Chopit" Fioto, all that's left is the decklid and hood. Gary, and his sons Nick and Fabian of Chopit Kustom in Stanton, CA built this truly radical creation, completely out of steel In a 3 year build, Beatnik made it's debut at the 2005 Fresno Autorama. So, this car's been on the road for a long time! Gary drove the car in as well complimenting the air conditioning that keep him from suffocating underneath that huge bubbletop. Every other detail of this car's been covered. One of the best places to learn the history of the car and Chopit Kustom is by reading the RM Auction page where it sold for $396,000 back in 2006.  RM's...

Land Speed Racer-Recreation at the LA Roadster Show You'll never know what you might see! Wandering the huge-anic swap meet at the LA Roadster Show, I found this: (Click to see full size) Feast your eyes on the not-quite-finished replica of Frank Lockhart's Stutz Blackhawk Special. Handmade and very accurate from what Ned told me to the original. It'll even run a special, rare-like-you-wouldn't-believe Miller 4 cylinder engines. (that's one reason it's not done yet) Why? I don't know... cause the owner can I guess! I wanted more info, but the guys were already loading the car into the trailer (you gotta see it in the pics below) when I showed up and with the sun beating down, it was all business for them. If you know more about the car, please get in touch. [nggallery id=66] To learn more about the original car and the crash that took the life of Frank Lockhart, here's a few links. You should know, at the time, Frank was the youngest Indy 500 winner and the record holder for most laps led from the start (81 Laps). Not to mention, the guy...

Hemi Hot Rod at the LA Roadster Show (Click to see full size - it's huge! Right click to add as desktop wallpaper) Well... you get old and learn slowly. I've learned that I find and shoot so many great hot rods at car shows, like one of my favorites, the LA Roadster Show, that usually they end up wasting away on my computer - never posted. Not this time... I don't know much about this wicked 1932 Hot Rod Ford Roadster except: A tiny sticker on the dash gave away it's a Pinkee's Rod Shop creation - no doubt leading to it's "kill'm with your awesome" stance, fit and finish. See build pictures here at 1932 Ford Hot Rod Roadster at Pinkee's project page. This beast graced the swap area of the 2012 LA Roadster Show on Friday during setup (it can't go into the full-on LA Roadster show yet because it's not painted...) It runs an electronic fuel injected Hemi and monster-cool salt-flat style wheels I didn't get to hear it running... but had a sweet dream about it! The next time you see it, it'll most...

Bring your Money! Hot Rods & Parts for Swap at the 2012 LA Roadster Show Pinkees built 1932 Hot Rod Friday of the LA Roadster Show means swap'n. This year is no exception with cars lined up fer-days waiting to get in and grab the primo swap spots. Just so you know, the gates don't open until 5AM to park and wait for the other, main gates to open at about 10AM (sometimes sooner). Once inside, there's no telling what you might find. Here's my look around with my Pops enjoying the cooler California weather. Featured Hot Rods and Customs at MyRideisMe.com: Here are the follow-up stories from 2012 LA Roadster Show: Pinkee’s Built 1932 Ford Roadster – Riveted and Injected (shown above) Frank Lockhart’s Slick Speedster Reborn - Land Speed Racer with Style Chopit Kustom’s Beatnik Bubbletop – This was a 55 Ford turned 50s Radical Kustom More Chopit Kustom - 1953 Chevy and 1932 Ford Pickup Hot Rods and Customs The first thing you'll find at the LA Roadster Show is problably the most obvious. Like the nasty Hemi powered hot rod above with a severely cool rivet...

Trend Pushrods - New Ways to Combat Pushrod Troubles Seeking and finding stories about great engine builders and the high performance parts they use, every once in a while, you find yourself asking. "What makes xyz so special?" In this case, I got to talking about high performance pushrods and didn't know much about them. Luckily, Trend Performance makes pushrods for everybody from the weekend warrior to the best of NHRA and NASCAR. So I asked a few questions... An interview with Bob Fox, founder of Trend Performance By Sam Logan with photos by Moore Good Ink Today the Michigan firm Trend Performance is the largest manufacturer and supplier of pushrods in racing and the performance aftermarket. But in 1988 when Bob Fox founded his pushrod company, after working the phones as a tech rep at Diamond Racing, things were different. During his time at the piston company, he noticed that the performance of competition pushrods was little better than adequate—their lengths varied and their ends failed—both ends! Manufacturers would reduce the material thickness of the cup ends in order to form them, and as a result they would...

Cylinder Head Innovations for 302w Heads & 351w Heads I made an appointment with the Engine Doctor, Jon Kaase. The good doctor told me about a new set of 302w or 351w heads that are ahead of their time like morphine to a cheap bottle of whiskey. Before we trust any doctor, it's best to look'm up and see where they come from. Kaase, as fate would have it, is the self-described "black sheep" in a family full of actual medical professionals... Kaase, on the other hand, "...liked mechanical things from the time I was little, and I never gave it up." Sound like anyone you know? With references checking out fine, let's learn about the new  P-38 canted-valve Windsor cylinder heads. (Text and images provided by Moore Good Ink) Small Block Ford Aluminum Heads with Better Cylinder Filling Jon Kaase keeps his eyes peeled. Over the years, the engine builder has seen an endless string of improvements and aftermarket components visited upon the 302 Windsor heads but he was woefully aware that there were no real advancements beyond the original cylinder head configuration. He thought he could produce...

Hot Rods, Custom Cars and Rockabilly in Burlingame, CA For all of Nick's great pictures from the show, visit the Hot Rod Car Show Picture Gallery (click to see these pictures full size) The Embassy Suites in Burlingame, CA played host to this year’s 14th Annual Booze, Broads and Hot Rods (BBHR) sponsored by Kool Cat Kustoms and Hermans Barber Shop. The BBHR show has skipped around locations in the past years, due to its rising popularity, originally starting out in South San Francisco 13 years ago. This show has grown over the years to "mark your calendar status" and has also added Rockabilly Festival to its title in recent years. Rightfully so with the talent this show has provided for your listening pleasure. Burlingame is just south of San Francisco and lies right along the bay, so on a beautiful mid-April day like, you will get that soothing, cool breeze coming off the bay all day long. If you plan on attending a BBHR's show, plan for an all day and night affair because when the Bombshells say it's a festival they mean it. The show is slated...