As a Viva LasVegas car show virgin, I drove blindly into a sea of horseshit opinions about what the Rockabilly Weekender is... without first hand experience, I checked and heard varying opinions about the show, especially about what I'm most interested in, the strolling pinups... no, scratch that, the hot rods! Just like the saying goes, everyone's got an opinion and I have to say, most of what I heard STANK! Living in Arizona, and only about 5 hours from Las Vegas, I decided to roll up and check for myself. (so here's my opinion... keep the air-freshener handy) First off, what had I heard about the Viva Las Vegas Car Show or "Rockabilly Weekender" as it's called? I heard the quality of cars sucked. NOT true. I heard it wasn't a fun crowd. Also not true. Then, even though I'm not a big rockabilly fan, I did enjoy the music... and I only got to hear what was played outside at the car show. About the rides... The cars I found were almost all right up my alley. Nobody goes to a car show and only finds what...

I can never get too much Nostalgia Funny Car racing! If you can, then maybe you ain't right. When I saw that Lisa Jennings was promoting Funny car fever at my old "home track" of Sacramento Raceway, I wanted to help, so here's some info for you die-hard cracklefest-ing nostalgia drag racing folks! Funny Car Fever Is Back with it's first 16 Funny Car Field At Sacramento Raceway. The 28th Annual Funny Car Fever is back April 24th - 25th at Sacramento Raceway Park. 619 Promotions has added a new marketing partner… Mickey Thompson Performance Tire and Wheels. "Having such a valuable marketing partner as Mickey Thompson, has made it possible to put on the first ever 16 nitro funny car elimination field at Sacramento Raceway Park, giving the fans twice the show of last year’s event." said Lisa Jennings at 619 Promotions. "We are looking forward to working with Mickey Thompson on this historical event and hope this turns into a long partnership that benefits us both in the years to come." Mickey Thompson will have a fully manned support trailer on hand at Funny Car Fever at...

Just a reminder! The regular Mesa Cruise is the 4th Saturday of every month including this Saturday, March 28th. This is one of the cool shots my man Swanee took at the cruise that followed the Home Runs and Hot Rods show. I left out the "Hot Dogs" part cause Lance didn't save me one. More of Swanee's pics of the Saturday Mesa Cruise here. MyRideisMe.com members get free entry and free parking at the cruise. Such a...

Nicole and Chris Eades from the Jennabears Foundation sent the nicest email asking if it would be OK to promote their Jennabear Car Show at MyRideisMe.com. YES!! I heard of their show last year but didn't get a chance to attend. I asked a few questions and here's what I found out: Who was Jenna and why a car show? Jenna was my beautiful daughter whose life was taken by a reckless driver. She was only 6 month and 21 days old. She had beautiful blue eyes and personality that everyone parent dreams of. She was and always will be my bestfriend. Jenna was always around mustangs. I had a '89 fox body that I restored and really enjoyed. We also had a '95 mustang gt for more than 8 years at the time that slowly went from stock to our family street-legal drag car. Jenna rode in it the last week of her life. Jenna was born on 9/11 and our new goal with this car is to run a 9/11. The car was dedicated to her memory and is our official foundation race car. So needless to...

After a lot of hard work, plus multiple trips to Lowes, Home Depot, the old backyard shed, the shop rafters, & even some garbage picking, the Autorama display is finally done! It looks so freakin' awesome! Many thanks to everybody that helped make this come together. I thought everybody might like to get a sneak-peek of our new display, because once we added the proper details, the lettering, & got the lights working, it really came to life. (www.SinglefingerSpeedShop.com) It's so realistic that Wayne wanted to know where we found the old panels, even as he was touching them! (killer work Todd & Tom!) The attached photo was taken just before we broke it back down & put in a trailer until showtime next week. I don't know how our pal Martyn avoided getting captured on "film", but I've posted a few pics of everybody helping out along the way: 2009 Autorama Display We're excited about introducing folks to our new website at this year's show. My cousin Louie has planned an Autorama Show Special for our new black Monster T-shirts & Singlefinger ball caps. The Singlefinger Car Club...

Thanks to many friends of mine and the support of generous parents, it was the kids that won at the "Home Runs, Hot Dogs and Hot Rods" show in downtown Mesa, Arizona on 2/28/09. One set of winning, smiling kids were the ones that enjoyed 4 hours of non-stop action running down the 50 foot track during practice among the car show hot rods. By the time racing action started, they had nailed the timing of the Christmas tree's amber-amber green start. My boys know the drill, so more than once you heard, "You got smoked!" Next time, bring your kids to the show! Now you've got something to enjoy with them that'll get you out of your lawn chairs! The second set of kids that won we'll probably never meet. A rare few will ever know the courage needed to be so different on the outside but remain a smiling, energetic kid inside. I hope other folks were inspired to give to the Progeria Research Foundation like I was when I read Amy Foose's story. As the younger sister of famed designer and builder Chip Foose, her life...

Most times it seems like nobody'd notice anyway, but I've been slacking on blog writing lately cause I'm working on my Diecast Drags track. I posted about it in the discussion forum. Did you see it? The Diecast Drags, or some might say, "Hot Wheels" track is brought to you MyRideisMe.com and supporting the Progeria Research Foundation (http://www.Progeriaresearch.org) The track is 2 continuous lanes that measure 50 feet! I roll it up when I'm done. The entire track lifted off the ground on a support platform to give a gradual decent and super high speeds! Racing will feature an electronic finish line and a "Christmas tree" start that gives an edge to the better reaction time. This promises to be more fun than Pinewood derby racing because it's easier to get started and the fastest car might not always win! Of course from the trial run 2/21 at the local, "Cruise in" called the "Mesa Pavilions" at Power and Hampton (Kmart parking lot) the kids could care less about the start! They just want to see who won and the small jump we had setup at the finish line!...

When you intend to compete for America's Most Beautiful Roadster (the AMBR) at the Grand National Roadster Show, you're asking for trouble. The time, planning, design and let's face it, high octane dollars required to build an AMBR contender make it a mission for only the top shops in the country. The folks at The Hot Rod Garage asked for "Double Trouble" and that's what they got by ignoring the lessons learned by recent AMBR winners. Past winners were modern-style show cars with custom milled billet goodies, one-off hand made body panels and alligator skinned interiors. Not for the guys at Hot Rod Garage, for them, it wasn't enough to make a show car, it had to have "Show & Go!" The trouble first started when Steve Kormondy had a Brookville roadster body and an all aluminum, brand spanking new Ardun derived flathead sitting, waiting for the right project. Deuce roadster body, Ardun flathed... yea, that's trouble! Not long after, Steve and the rest of the gang at The Hot Rod Garage out of Sand Springs, Oklahoma decided to pull in hot rod designer and illustrator, Jimmy Smith to...

I'm proud to be a member of SEMA for the excellent work they do to educate hot rodders and custom car folks of all kinds about legislation that's counter productive or just plain wrong for our hobby. I received this notice that the "Cash for Clunkers" part of the economic stimulus package did not make it to the final draft of the package. Congratulations to SEMA and everyone who wrote their local politicians. The idea of paying people to get rid of their older, less gas efficient rigs is just plain dumb. Did anyone else see the movie, "Bruce Almighty"? What was the one thing God could not control? Free Will. The same is true for car/truck buyers! People buy what they like and always will, especially when it comes to their ride. My Ride is ME! Whenever you can go down the the dealership and pick out a 18mpg+ rig that can tow the boat and race car your hard work has provided for you and your family to enjoy, then go for it. But until then, politicians, STAY OUT OF MY GARAGE! I'll do a better job...

Written by Len Stupski I moved to the Bay area in 1996 and attended the 1997 & 1998 Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS). As good as they were, nothing prepared me for the 50th Anniversary show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco that next year in 1999. As I set my eyes upon the main floor my jaw dropped down to my shoulders. Just about every previous America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) winner right there in one spot. Awesome!!. Then, scattered throughout the rest of the building were more and more dynamite cars, built by guys like Bill Reasoner, Gene Winfield, Dave Crook, Marcos Garcia and many other great craftsmen. Saying hello to Big Daddy Roth was a great highlight of the event. After taking in all the colors, the chrome and history I vowed to be at the 60th show, God willing. Fast forward ten years and I'm living in Gilbert, AZ, and the show is being held much closer now in Pomona, CA. Pure chance? I don't think so.... perhaps God shares my love of cars. Early Saturday morning I pile into Pikesan's car with my...

Pinstriping for Charity For 14 years, pinstriper Von Hot Rod has assembled legends and up-and-coming pinstripers from around the world in the main hall of the Grand National Roadster Show. Von told me the Pinstriper's Reunion was started because, "The freehand pinstriping was coming to an end in the 80's when vinyl was trying to take over." I guess I never saw that because I can't believe anyone would mistakenly apply vinyl after seeing the talent assembled in Pomona. Pinstiping looks easy... when you watch these guys freestyle a complex design while you snap pictures, but give it a try! This is art! The creativity of the top stripers can spruce up your car, garage or in my case my office. Nothing says cool like hand laid stripes. Screw vinyl! For all the pinstripers, Von reminds me this is a invite only show. On hand this year were 30 of the greatest pinstripers from all over the world. We had Pekka from Finland, Dr.D from Florida, Artie from SC, Wildman and Ghost from Japan just to name a few. Von's proud to share his success with others through his...

  Every year at the Grand National Roadster show, Von Hot Rod assembles local, and as it turns out international pinstripers for the Pinstriper's Reunion. The get together of 30+ pinstripers culminates with an auction where proceeds from the sale of donated items goes to charity. Hats off to Von Hot Rod for organizing this event.   Cruising through the end of building 4, the main hall with the AMBR contenders, many of the pinstripers are at work, including Von Hot Rod, but I what caught my eye was a couple of Japanese guys shooting a video.   I lived in Japan for a couple years and I speak some Japanese. I'm not sure what I like more... speaking some Japanese is great because you get to sneak up on guys and spit out "Hajimemashite, Pike desu." (kinda means, How are you, I'm Pike). The look on their faces when this tall lanky American dude (call me henna gaijin) hits the accent dead on, but usually they look past me to see, who really just said that? When they finally see me smiling, they realize, it was me. After...