1963 Ford Galaxie at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Outside near Ford's drifting exhibition sat this purple-ish beast of a 1963 Ford Galaxie. If you're a Ford fan, when you see, "Holman Moody" your curiosity peaks (or it probably should). Here's a quick summary of the Holman Moody evolution... John Holman moved from the sun of Cali to North Carolina to run Ford's NASCAR team in 1956 and teamed up with Ralph Moody. Soon after, Ford begins to dominate NASCAR amid rumors of cheating. By 1957, still winning, Ford and other OEM's pulled out of racing after the AMA (Automobile Manufacturers Association  banned auto companies from using race wins in their advertising. Seeing an opportunity, John and Ralph formed the "Holman Moody" partnership in 1957, then Moody, with refinance money from his airplane, spent $12,000 to buy up Ford's surplus racing gear. $12k!! Assembling the, eh... leftovers, Holman Moody Fords won their first two races in 1957. From there, with a shop on the Charlotte Douglas Airport they started making all parts needed for race cars, later selling those parts to other racers. Eventually, they...

280Z powered Falcon Ranchero Race Results   Remember this car? Just looking at it's low, built-for-racing stance, it was easily one of my favorites from Bonneville - and that's before I saw under the hood. With a Nissan 280Z inline six suppying the power, I had to ask the owner to keep me posted on his first year racing results from 2012 Bonneville Speed Week. If you need to see so more pictures, check out this 1960 Falcon Ranchero here.   Here's what Alan Morris out of Montrose, CO had to say about the first time out with his Ranchero:   "I apologize for not replying sooner. I've been busy cleaning the car, removing the engine and assessing the engine damage. Plus I needed a rest. I have thrown most of my energy at the car for about two and a half years. At 70 years old I don't seem to have that much energy anyway.   The first run (the maiden one for the car and me as well) they only want you to run to the two mile mark and pull the parachute. They don't want you to...

NHRA Pro Mods at Speed in Pictures I've always liked Pro Mod racing. Who wouldn't? I haven't posted on MyRideisMe.com about these blown and bad, funky-stretched and sleek bodied racers because, well, I ain't had a chance to FEEL them ripping by at an NHRA event. That's where my buddy Jim stepped up to help me out. Jim shoots for Optima Batteries, especially for the Optima Top Fueler driven by Dave Grubnic. When Jim asked if I wanted pictures from the St. Louis race, I said OH YEA! Before checking out these at-speed pictures, enjoy a couple fun facts about Pro Mod engines: Supercharger power adder Limited to 526 cubic inches Minimum weight 2,650 with driver Run on methanol Turbo power adder Limited to 540 cubic inches Max size of 88 mm each Minimum weight 2,650 with driver (same as for Supercharger) Runs on high octane racing gasoline Nitrous Oxide power adder No max displacement! (gulp) Minimum weight 2,425 with driver Runs on high octane racing gasoline These engines make 2500 to 4000 horsepower propelling the cars in the five second 1/4 mile realm. It wasn't long ago that...

Photos by the great Peter Vincent Amazing Bonneville Salt Flats Streamliner Set to Run 550 mph   Five-hundred-fifty miles per hour. Yes, you read that right! This air-slippin' hot rod's set to demolish the "fastest wheel driven, piston powered" car record by 100 mph.   Here's a few details to wet the appetite: Does it look long? It should. It's 43 feet long. (13.1m) and only 3 feet high (0.91m) Frontal area is an anemic 8.61 square feet (0.8 square meters) with an included angle of 1.5 degrees Power comes from two Dodge V8 Hemi's boosted by Whipple Superchargers Fueled by alcohol, there's 2500 horsepower on tap... EACH. Power is applied by two B & J 4-speed transmissions - shifted simultaneously- by steering wheel controls   This is the Marlo Treit and Les Davenport "Target 550" streamliner. A Few of the Crew   Marlo Triet the project coordinator and from what I can see, the "ring master". On the salt at Bonneville Speed Week 2012, Marlo was tough to corner as he answered questions from curious racers, spectators and media. As I took pictures, Marlo was being filmed. From the "Crew"...

Drive your Hot Rod! Nebraska to Utah in a Model A Roadster Download image for your iPhone here.   Nick Hoesing's a cool guy. We met at Bonneville Speed Week 2009, my first year there. He was cruising a great looking 1962 Ford Galaxie he'd driven from Omaha, Nebraska to the Salt Flats in Utah.   As friends on Facebook, I caught a glance of the model A roadster he was building, but hadn't made it over to the HAMB for a full look. I wish I had before I shot these pictures because I missed some fine details of this roadster. I'll write a brief history of the build, but you should read the 40 or so pages of posts at the HAMB where Nick supplies details and photos of the build and fellow HAMBers encourage him and help when needed. That's a community to be proud of.   Build of Nick's Model A Hot Rod   In the shortest summary of Nick's supreme one-car-garage hot rod build... Nick started with a 28/29 Ford Model A Roadster body, then added a Blackboard Hot Rods 1932 Ford frame. The...

Motorized Bike Sets Records at Bonneville Salt Flats Photographer turned record setter turned friend. It's Gunther Maier on his "Sportsman Flyer" replica 1910 Indian board track race bike.   Photos in this story are © Keith Berr www.keithberr.com. Thanks Keith! Click to see this shot full size and check out the chain. Not sure how fast Gunther's going here, but it it's a great snap!   I posted this photo of Gunther enjoying his time in impound at Bonneville Speed Week 2012: Little did I know that Gunther was the guy who'd supplied the best pictures shown in the feature story about Jeff Brock's 1952 Buick Super Riviera race car. Turns out Brock and Gunther are buddies and were pitted right next to each other on the salt!   Gunther told me, he's part of the RED RACER Team running a new production of an Indian board track racer form the 1910. The bike is the coolest and is made by Sportsman Flyer. (worth a look, or get your own kit!)   Gunther's team runs in the SCTA's A-PF class with a 175cc engine. With some success I might...

Nissan Z-powered Land Speed Racing Falcon Ranchero   So I'm riding by on the XR70 bike my buddy Erock loaned to me (a sight to see with my long lanky frame) and I see this wicked looking Ford Falcon Ranchero.   Anyone following this site knows I'm partial to the round bodied Falcons... so much so I'm building a 1963 Falcon Wagon myself. It's your typical summer remake that's taken 4 years so far. Anyways, that's another story.   As I walked up on this bad little pickup, I saw only one valve cover poking up... I thought, SWEET! He's running a Ford six just like me. To my surprise, Alan Morris out of Montrose, CO chose a 1980 Nissan 280Z motor to chase the F/CFALT record of 165.224 held by the Cohn Jucewic Monza.     I was surprised because in addition to being the owner/editor/janitor of MyRideisMe.com, I'm also a test engineer for Nissan. One of my favorite Fords combined with different and unexpected powerplant that's also from the folks who pay my mortgage... win, win, WIN!   The sixer runs a healthy 14:1 compression and triple...

Land Speed Racing Cars Shake the Salt You wait all year for this... then on the first day, you're in impound.  Here's how that looks: Willie Boelcke looks happy because he is! Not only has the rain dried up from yesterday, his "Low Sodium" racer ran 239.158 mph against the B/FRMR roadster record of  235.436 mph set at Speed Week in 2009. You'd be smiling too! Willie's roadster already holds the C class record so now he's doing what alot of racers do and adding cubic inches to go for another record.  The A-engine class might be next since that record's only 207! (someone build an A engined FRMR and get a red hat!! Here's a look at what used to be a 1927 Ford Roadster. See the painted part? Tomorrow, at 7AM, Willie and the other folks who beat the existing record speed will head to the front of the line to try and back up their record and officially break it.   Need to know more about setting records at Bonneville? Check out, How to Set a Record at Bonneville   Also smiling big was this guy:...

Failed Bonneville Hot Rod Take-over at the Nugget   What do I mean failed? Well, compared to shows at the Nugget years ago, this one was a bust.   First off, it's been raining on and off since we rolled into Wendover. It'd be easy to say that the show was small because of the weather, but my buddy Keith kept saying, "Well, the cars have to be parked somewhere!" For me, I kept snapping photos. If you see a blurry spot on a pic, it was mother nature's fault.       Looking closer, we noticed most of the parking along the casino was blocked off. The normal parking spots along the road were filled with the first-come-first-served hot rods, but as new roadsters and heavily chopped coupes rolled in, they found nowhere to park. I bugged the casino manager, "What gives?" He explained that after the show last year where there were too many cars and too many people, the fire marshall shut them down. Sorry, I call BS. I think it's more likely that the casino's management blocked off more hot rods from filling their parking...

Land Speed Racing: Quest for 1000 mph MyRideisMe.com doesn't typically post news releases. But... not that many news releases are talking about a 1000 mph race car either. There are some pretty amazing technical challenges here that intrigue me. I'm guessing you'll trip out too... One mile (1.6 km) in 3.6 seconds 10 million square meter race track (107 million square feet or 3.86 Square miles) cleared by hand Driven by Andy Green, the Fastest Man on Earth and record holder at 1228 kph (763 mph) in the Thrust SSC in 1997. The first car to officially break the sound barrier 22,000 lbs of thrust to 350 mph using EJ200 Eurofighter jet engine Add 47,000 lbs of thrust to the target of 1050 mph using the Falcon hybrid rocket engine burning solid rocket fuel 750hp F1 engine powers the fuel pump (sort of) - 963 liters in 20 second 42.6 liters/second or 11.2 gallons/second of rocket fuel oxidizer Stay tuned. Download this image as wallpaper here Bloodhound SSC News release FASTEST MAN ON EARTH VISITS DESERT RACETRACK On 24 July 2012, Land Speed Record (LSR) holder Andy Green visited...

Straight 8 Buick Bonneville Salt Flats Racer There are some cars that are near-universally popular. Here's one.   Jeff Brock, the owner, co-builder and driver of this wicked 1952 Buick Super Riviera showed up at the 2008 Bonneville Speed Week with his Buick and floored spectators and racers alike. Since then, the "Bombshell Buick" has seen some serious metal work to make and re-make it into the, "the sculptural form he favored for creating a fast, furious work of art." Done.   To help you catch up on where the Buick started, after finding it in an abandoned lumber mill near Phoenix, here's a few build pictures, then we'll catch up with Brock's plans for this year. Here's how she looked when purchased. Jeff says, "Our "first date" ... bofore shot. Her ass was fat ...I played hard to get." Here's a great shot of the Buick nose before modification. Most of the GREAT shots featured here were taken by Gunther Maier. (If I'm using someone else's shot, please tell me)   From here, we better fill you in on Brock's plans for 2012 Bonneville Speed Week:   "Yes,...

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...