You can almost smell the tires burning cruising through the "History of the Race Car" hall at the 2010 Grand National Roadster Show.  The exhibit, of course featured drag racer from the way-back-machine, especially my favorite: Nose in the air gassers! Getting up-close and personal with the "Outer Limits" Mopar, I'm reminded of a buddy who saw his first altered wheelbase A/FX'r and asked, "Who'd do that?!"  That's exactly why I love them! Make noise, look near ridiculous and have more fun than anyone! I want one, and some day I'll get it.  I might have to build my 61 Rambler American wagon as a gasser. Low-buck, fast and loud = funner-mostess. Continuing my stroll, I found the, "Fastest un-blown Ford V-8 powered dragster running in National Nostalgia Drag Racing." ...and it's driven by a woman named Kathy Lloyd out of Castro Valley, CA. According to their show card, the car was built in 1969, then restored in '85, then back-halfed in 1996, no doubt to return to racing. Safety rules have changed, juuuuussst a little since 1969. Running on a cocktail of 85% Nitro and 15% methanol, this...

I can't say it's cool when you enter the John Force Racing compound. It's OVERWHELMING! The people, the parts, the action, I love it! We (Pikesan and Swanee) first entered the pit area of John Force, Ashley Force-Hood and NHRA Champion Robert Hight at the test and tune at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ to find every team working feverishly, even though, racing for the night was done. It's obvious, this team works well together, everyone knows their job and they're ready to rock for the Winternationals in Pomona. As a huge fan of the NHRA, especially the John Force Racing team, meeting and talking to Austin Coil, then having a short sit down with the charming, yet #2 in the world funny car racer, Ashley Force-Hood was a dream come true. It's a sure sign that the JFR team loves their fans. So dig this short interview of loveliest lady of motorsports (Danica, it ain't even close!) Ashely Force-Hood. After making several full passes, I found her listening to the Vikings, Saints game on TV while working on her laptop. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqMtGXQT3VM[/youtube] . It takes a strong woman to...

Keep your eyes and ears open for Project 1320 described in the press release below, you'll be glad you did.  The project's goal is simple. Get the facts about the how, why and where drag racing started and how it developed over the years from a first hand perspective of the people who were there. Traci Hrudka is the chairman for this project and comes from a long line of drag racing herself. Traci's uncle Joe and father Tom Hrudka started the great Mr. Gasket empire. (Click on the picture to see them full size) Look closely at these pictures taken from Traci's page at the community she's making for Project 1320. Notice the "Hrudka Bro's" and "Mr. Gasket" proudly displayed on the side? Traci worked at the family business for 20 years and in her words, "Boy do I have some stories!" That's what this project is about. An "oral history" of everyone from the legends like Don Garlits to the no name grassroots fellas (and ladies!) that made drag racing what it is. I can't wait to hear more about this project and keep you posted along...

Who was Joel Rosen? Ever heard of Baldwin-Motion? Or maybe just, "Motion Performance"? Back in the late 50's and early 60's, a young Joel Rosen finished high school at only 17 to begin college, but then joined the Air Force to get some more hands on experience. It was at Shepards Air Force Base where Rosen fine tuned his engine tuning and mechanical skills that he later used to hot rod his first car, a 1955 Olds 88 that ended up with a 4 barrel  and a McCullough supercharger. From there, Rosen bought his high school dream car, a fuelie 58 'vette, and used tune-up work and brake jobs to fund his real passion:  Build Motion Performance Super Cars. This new book by Motorbooks publishing, Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder by Martyn L. Schorr, a man who obviously was THERE, says: Mr. Motion was responsible for building, racing and selling the most outrageous low-volume-production, high-performance, new-car-dealer-delivered Chevrolets you could buy during those freewheeling decades. Baldwin-Motion Chevys have since become highly prized mega-priced collectibles that best define the Decade of Extreme Performance. This book is recommended by...

Every once in a while when cruising Youtube, you find gold. I found it five times with these 5 videos from the "Big Go" the US Nationals from Indianapolis, Indiana from way back in 1969 when they just called it, "The Nationals". Called the "Tournament of Champions" and presented by Hurst Performance Center you'll hear the late great voice of drag racing Steve Evans narrating.  The videography's cool too. You'll have no doubt, this is the late 60's! Even cooler for me is that these are from 1969! The year I was born and like me, they're about to have their 20th birthday, again. I haven't heard a single drag racer, especially the current pros, mention any other race ahead of the US Nationals. This is THE race of the year and it looks like it has been for 40 years. Enjoy these 5 nostalgia drag racing videos from before corporate sponsors and big dollar teams. The 4-speed bang'n, the tire smoking, the love of drag racing shows clear. Here's part 1: Featuring the intro and credits. Don't want watch the first minute of this one, then skip on...

If you've never been to the NHRA Motorsports Museum, GO! If you haven't been in a while, GO BACK!! It's always changing with new cars and interesting people wondering through. NHRA Motorsports Museum Calendar of Events (Nov. through Dec. 2009) Thursday, Nov. 12 Ø       Auto Club NHRA Finals Begin www.nhra.com Ø       Museum Open House 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. – extended hours and admission is free. Friday, Nov. 13 Ø       Museum Open House – 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Ø       New Exhibit Opening – 3 p.m. FREE Ø       Drag Racing Celebrity Book Signing – 5 p.m. FREE Ø       Night of Champions/Auto Club Q&A with NHRA racers – 6 p.m. FREE Saturday, Nov. 14 Ø       Museum Open House – 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Ø       Racing Collectible Show – 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. $5 Admission. Sunday, Nov. 15 Ø       Museum Open House 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. – Admission is free. Free Museum admission and extended weekend hours during Auto Club NHRA Finals, Nov. 12-15. Free Tram Service from Pomona Raceway (Gate J) to Museum. Wednesday, Dec. 2 Ø       Annual Holiday Twilight Cruise and Toy Drive 4 p.m. to...

It's easy to like iconic muscle cars like a Mustang, especially when it's a true Shelby. Add to that it's an original Hertz Shelby and I'm a little more curious. Without much effort, I can see a young man strolling up the Hertz counter (long before internet reservations!) and asking for a 1966 Mustang GT 350H.  "Yes, I would like the optional insurance." If you've seen a perfectly restored 350H or any Shelby Mustang, they're obviously valuable and visually, they're cool. You're likely to see one a concours show or more likely at auction. But for me, (and I hope most of you) I look twice when it's driven! I wanna hear it run! Beyond that, there's the rarest of rare: The unrestored racing Shelby. The first unrestored race Shelby I saw was out of pure luck. I was invited to an anniversary celebration for Bob Bondurant at the Bondurant Racing School of High Performance Driving. A treat in itself no doubt.  We drove the Mustangs he had back then (the 'stangs were later replaced by Corvettes) then he gave an interesting talk. After, we all went outside to...

Not all of you ladies and gents can imagine a car being raised to the status of an icon or art form. In fact I haven’t always myself. However, the more I get to work on and see cars, the more enamored I’m becoming. After attending RM Auctions “Icons of Speed and Style” my car love-o-meter has just shot through the roof! An auction doesn’t sound that exciting you say? What if I told you that all of the 80 iconic cars being sold in this no-reserve auction were available to peruse up close and personal? Yep... you could even touch em'! At most car shows, the best cars are roped off to keep you admiring from a distance. There were no ropes at the Friday preview before RM's "Icons of Speed and Style" auction at The Peterson Museum in Los Angeles, California. With nearly seven million dollars being drawn in by the auction, people putting out the money needed to really see what they were paying for. So when I arrived during preview day, I was able to get as close as I wanted to each car. With...

Talented Bassist Gene Schwartz hangs up his guitar for a weekend of racing at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway, Oct. 16-18 BAKERSFIELD, CA – Gene Schwartz is a former NHRA record holder in his 1952 Chevy, but underneath his racing suit Gene can’t stop singing the blues. That’s because his “day job” is as a bass player. For over 30 years, Gene played bass for legendary blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. When not jamming on his bass guitar, Gene has managed to build his skills as a champion racecar driver setting National records in the 60s to present day. The Euclid, OH resident has made the annual trip to the National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky on numerous occasions, but has yet to visit McFarland, CA for the California Hot Rod Reunion. Fans of both Gene’s music and his racing raised money to surprise him with an all-expense-paid trip to the California Reunion this October. Gene was surprised, thrilled and eager to join fans and friends at the Reunion. Gene’s car will be a sure crowd pleaser. His ’52 Chevy racecar is one of the few nostalgic...

Start getting excited NOW! Mark your calendars for October 16-18 in Bakersfield California for the best of Nostalgia drag racing at the California Hot Rod Reunion. It's a "Reunion" because is more than just a huge gathering of vintage styled racers and the real-deal, too valuable and historic to actually race diggers... it's a social gathering of friends and competitors from all over, but certainly the hot rod-packed southern California scene where the 1320-craze started.  The Reunion includes 3 days of nostalgia drag racing, a car show of hot rods, a growing swap meet and manufacturers midway and a gathering of drag racing legends from years gone by. If you can make it to only 1 drag race, make this one. (pssss... bring your camera!) Press release from the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum Top 5 Things to See at the 18th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Automobile Club of Southern California Auto Club Famoso Hosts Vintage Drag Race Event, Oct. 16-18 BAKERSFIELD, CA (Sept. 1, 2009) – The cackling noise a vintage dragster makes when fired up. Rubbing elbows with legendary racers. These are a few...

If I were to tell you about a drag car that made about 1100 horsepower, weighed 2,550 lbs with driver and has run a best of 9.0 seconds at 170.97 mph in the quarter, would you think of a Honda Civic?    That's exactly what we have here.  This Civic hatchback is owned and built by Chris Miller from NRG Tech out of New York.  It started its automotive life as a commuter car getting high 30's mpg as all Civic's do. When you get right down to it, the Honda Civic can be compared to cars in the hot rod world like the Ford Falcon, Chevy Nova II or even 30's Ford Coupe.  What, "am I crazy" you ask?!  Yes I am, Car Crazy, but just follow me on this path for a minute.  Consider 30's Fords came with 4 cylinders and were the average Joe's vehicle (as average as a 1930's car owner was since they likely had more money than average...).  30's Fords are now seen with every V8 imaginable, go 200+ on Salt Flats, sub 10 seconds on the 1320 and now even the race track/autocross...

Leaving hard at Speedworld's Nostalgia Drags, this inline 6 powered Nostalgia Dragster's different but so right! I bumped into Wayne and this cool front engine dragster at the Nostalgia Drags here in AZ at Speedworld. Always on the lookout for something different, I couldn't help but notice the the six cylinder, a not-so-obvious choice for an engine, let alone in a vintage dragster. Travelling into Arizona from Alamogordo, NM for the drags, here's some info about Wayne's digger: I decided to build an inline car because I raced my Flathead car with the Denver Flathead Inline guys and saw there weren't many "Late inline" dragsters and when there were, they all ran Chevys... so I thought about the best engineered inline and came up with the Ford. (12 port head and very Strong bottom end). Chassis: 1968 Race Car Engineering (Woody Gilmore) 182" wheelbase. Engine: 1975 Ford 300 cu in, bored .030 with Weisco flat top forged pistons with zero deck clearance. Crankshaft: is out of an F-650 which is steel. Rods: Crower H- beam. Cam and lifters: Crower (flat tappet) Head: From a 240 cu in Ford (much...