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kiltedveteran · 3 months

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Today we remember Doug Barney - End Of Watch - 1/17/2016

Officer Douglas Barney, 44, was killed in the line of duty on Sunday, January 17, 2016, while trying to question a man who seemingly had done nothing more than leave the scene of a traffic accident. An 18 year veteran police officer, Doug loved law enforcement and interacting with the community. Doug was perfectly suited to law enforcement, never able to sit perfectly still, always eager for something exciting, and relating to other people in a down-to-earth, sincere way.

Doug was born June 3, 1971 on a military base in Taiwan to Douglas Scott and Darlene Heinz Barney. Doug was raised in Anaheim, California, and worked at Disneyland as one of his first jobs. He attended Clara Barton Elementary School and Loara High School. He played water polo and was on the high school swim team. Just before his senior year, his family moved to Orem, Utah where Doug graduated from Orem High School. He loved the move to Utah and being able to ride dirt bikes daily in the hills behind his family home. After graduation Doug worked a series of jobs, mostly in the auto mechanics field like his father. He loved working on cars and raced his cars a couple of times at the old Bonneville Raceway.

Doug and his wife, Erika, grew up near each other in Anaheim and he liked to tell stories of how he had always had a crush on her. When Erika moved to Utah to attend BYU they continued their friendship and he tried his hardest to get her to commit to dating him (she had a habit of inviting her roommates along when he asked her out for pie.) In 1995 he showed up to her apartment unexpectedly and asked her to marry him. He asked again every day for several months until she finally accepted. Doug married Erika Gilroy on February 17, 1996 in his family home in Orem. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Jordan River Temple. Doug passed away one month before their 20th wedding anniversary.

After their wedding Doug told Erika that although he loved working on cars, it was a bit too lonely of a type of work for him. He didn’t like being underneath the cars by himself all day long and would tend to move around looking for conversations with other mechanics. He admitted to his wife that he had always wanted to be a police officer and, with her blessing, began applying with different agencies. Doug was hired as a corrections officer with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office in December of 1998 and one year later was hired as a patrol officer. He worked primarily in Kearns and Magna, Taylorsville City, and Holladay City during his career. Doug earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah by taking two classes a semester while working full time to support his family. His degree was in Sociology with a Criminal Justice certificate.

Doug was a devoted husband and father who loved spending time with his family and talking about them when he couldn’t be with them. He loved teaching his kids how to shoot guns, appreciate cars, and the basic approach to a few defensive control techniques. He loved music and listened to every conceivable type of music. For years he kept a cassette tape keyed up in his patrol car to Kenny Rogers’ Long Arm of the Law, which he would sing loudly when a prisoner seemed especially sulky on the way to jail. The end result was usually that they would come into the jail laughing together.

Doug was well known for his boisterous personality. He was larger than life in every way. He was very funny and was often able to diffuse a tense situation with a perfectly timed joke. It is very hard for a criminal to consider violence while laughing. Doug’s law enforcement brothers remember him for his signature greeting of, “hey, brotha!” or “hey, sista!”, and an almost knocking-the-wind-out pat on the back.

Doug struggled with bladder cancer and the side effects of treatments and surgeries for many years. He was frustrated by the time it took him away from work and from his family, but had an amazing ability to stay positive and upbeat and even lighthearted about the challenges. His only desire, always, was to be able to get back to work and to take care of his family. Doug will be forever missed.

RIP Doug. You are NEVER FORGOTTEN!

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kimta22 · 8 months

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Truck Camping on the Largest Salt Flat in America - Bonneville Raceway

#youtube

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rideutah · 2 years

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Sunday, August 28

Bonneville Salt Flats Raceway is temporarily Lake Bonneville. The halfway point of our tour.

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lawrencedienerthings · 3 years

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Arcimoto & Lightning Developing Leaning Electric Three-Wheeler

Arcimoto and Lightning Motorcycles Begin Development of World’s Fastest Electric Three-Wheel Tilting Motorcycle

Built on the platform of the Lightning LS 218 and outfitted with Arcimoto’s patented tilting trike technology, the new electric bike will look to set the record for fastest three-wheel motorcycle at Bonneville.

EUGENE, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Arcimoto, Inc.® (NASDAQ: FUV), makers of fun, affordable, and ultra-efficient electric vehicles for everyday drivers and fleets, today announced a collaboration with Lightning Motorcycles with the goal to develop the fastest tilting three-wheel motorcycle in the world—gas or electric—using its patented Tilting Motor Works TRiO tilting trike technology.

“From the moment I met Richard Hatfield and saw the Lightning for myself at Bonneville, I knew there was the potential to create an electric trike unlike anything in the history of motorcycles, ” said Bob Mighell, Arcimoto’s Chief Tilting Officer, who himself broke the land-speed record for 3-wheeled motorcycles at the 2013 Motorcycle Speed Trials held at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. “This will be the first time we outfit an electric bike with the TRiO kit, and it certainly won’t be the last, as we drive toward a sustainable future faster than ever before.”

The Lightning SuperBike set a record as the world’s fastest production motorcycle, electric or otherwise, with the SCTA official World Record of 215.960 mph and a best timed run of 218.637 mph at Bonneville during Speedweek in 2011. The record-setting run was powered entirely by solar energy at an estimated cost of only 8 cents.

“As the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance electric motorcycles, we are excited to bring our technology and know-how to the collaboration with Arcimoto for the three-wheel market. The convergence of our proprietary technology, the market adoption of EVs, and the widely recognized environmental benefits of clean energy propulsion make this an excellent and exciting time to bring these vehicles to the mass market,” said Richard Hatfield, Founder and CEO of Lightning Motorcycles. “Our vision is to see Lightning’s electric motorcycles provide performance-oriented and environmentally conscious transportation, as well as adrenaline inducing fun, for both new and experienced riders all over the world. This collaboration amplifies our vision. It’s an honor to build the first electric bike outfitted with the TRiO alongside ‘Bonneville Bob Mighell,’ who has proven throughout his career that trikes can, and should, fly.”

Arcimoto’s Tilting Motor Works TRiO is the leading tilting three-wheel conversion kit for touring motorcycles. TRiO allows the rider to lean naturally, maintaining performance and the thrill of the ride while increasing safety, stability, and confidence. TRiO kits can be augmented with the TiltLock leveling system, allowing the bike to stand up by itself while stopped at lights or in traffic.

“This collaboration is something that could only happen between two legendary speed demons of Bonneville,” said Mark Frohnmayer, Arcimoto Founder and CEO. “While Plaid-level performance has never been a part of the Arcimoto narrative, proving our tilting trike technology beyond ludicrous speed will give us, and our customers, added comfort that our future micromobility solutions are stable under the most demanding conditions. Further this first adaptation of the TRiO for an electric motorcycle is in full alignment with Arcimoto’s mission to catalyze sustainable, emissions-free mobility.”

The prototype collaboration trike is anticipated to be unveiled at the “FUV and Friends Summer Showcase” to take place at the Portland International Raceway on July 26. To request a ticket, send an email to [email protected] Pricing and availability of the TRiO Kit for the Lightning LS 218 will be announced at a later date.

For the latest company updates, follow Arcimoto on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. For even more information, visit Arcimoto.com.

About Lightning

Lightning Motorcycles produces high-performance premium electric motorcycles. Lightning products have been proven in competition against the best gas motorcycles in the world and have incorporated this innovation and experience to deliver a combination of performance, price and rider experience that positions Lightning to drive mainstream adoption of electric motorcycles. Lightning is currently producing two platforms in the company’s facility in Hollister, California and is preparing to expand production and extend its product line into several additional platforms to address the global market. For more information, please visit LightningMotorcycle.com.

About Tilting Motor Works

Tilting Motor Works was founded by Bob Mighell with the mission to build a tilting three-wheel motorcycle with increased safety and stability without compromising performance. Arcimoto acquired Tilting Motor Works this year in order to accelerate the deployment of true sustainable micromobility solutions for the world.

About Arcimoto, Inc.

Arcimoto (NASDAQ: FUV) develops and manufactures ultra-efficient and affordable electric vehicles to help the world shift to a sustainable transportation system. Now available to preorder customers in California, Oregon, Washington, and Florida, the Arcimoto FUV® is purpose-built for everyday driving, transforming ordinary trips into pure-electric joyrides. Available for preorder, the Deliverator® and Rapid Responder

provide last-mile delivery and emergency response functionality, respectively, at a fraction of the cost and environmental impact of traditional gas-powered vehicles. Two additional concept prototypes built on the versatile Arcimoto platform are currently in development: the Cameo

, aimed at the film and influencer industry; and the Roadster, designed to be the ultimate on-road fun machine. Every Arcimoto vehicle is built at the Arcimoto Manufacturing Plant in Eugene, Oregon. For more information, please visit Arcimoto.com.

Safe Harbor / Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express our intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements relating to our future activities or other future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and include, without limitation, our expectations as to vehicle deliveries, the establishment of our service and delivery network and our expected rate of production. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and are likely to, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to numerous factors discussed from time to time in documents which we file with the SEC. In addition, such statements could be affected by risks and uncertainties related to, among other things: our ability to manage the distribution channels for our products, including our ability to successfully implement our rental strategy, direct to consumer distribution strategy and any additional distribution strategies we may deem appropriate; our ability to design, manufacture and market vehicle models within projected timeframes given that a vehicle consists of several thousand unique items and we can only go as fast as the slowest item; our inexperience to date in manufacturing vehicles at the high volumes that we anticipate; our ability to maintain quality control over our vehicles and avoid material vehicle recalls; the number of reservations and cancellations for our vehicles and our ability to deliver on those reservations; unforeseen or recurring operational problems at our facility, or a catastrophic loss of our manufacturing facility; our dependence on our suppliers; changes in consumer demand for, and acceptance of, our products: changes in the competitive environment, including adoption of technologies and products that compete with our products; the overall strength and stability of general economic conditions and of the automotive industry more specifically; changes in laws or regulations governing our business and operations; costs and risks associated with potential litigation; and other risks described from time to time in periodic and current reports that we file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and except as may be required under applicable securities laws, we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

#motorcycle racing

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 4 years

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Utah's Great Salt Lake Utah’s Great Salt Lake and its surroundings are featured in this false-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. The Great Salt Lake is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, and one of the most saline inland bodies of water in the world. The Great Salt Lake is the largest of the lake remnants of prehistoric freshwater Lake Bonneville, that once covered much of western Utah. The lake is fed by the Bear, Weber and Jordan rivers which, together, deposit around 1 million tonnes of minerals in the lake each year. As the lake is endorheic, meaning without an outlet, the water evaporates which leads to a very high salt concentration. It greatly fluctuates in size, depending on the rates of evaporation and the flow of the rivers that feed it. The distinct colour differences in the lake are caused by the Lucin Cutoff, an east-west causeway built to create a shorter route. The railroad line is visible as a sharp line cutting across the top part of the lake. This acts as a dam, preventing the waters to mix, leading to the north basin having a much higher salinity than the southern, freshwater side of the lake. As the lake’s main tributaries enter from the south, the water level of the southern section is slightly higher than that of the northern part. Several small islands, the largest of which are Antelope and Fremont, lie in the southern part of the lake. The lake’s varying shoreline consists of beaches, marshes and mudflats. The bright, turquoise colours visible on both sides of the lake are evaporation ponds, from which various salts are collected in commercial operations. Although it is commonly referred to as America’s Dead Sea, the lake is nevertheless an important habitat for millions of native and migratory birds. It is also home to several types of algae, brine shrimp and brine flies. The lake’s basin is defined by the foothills of the snow-capped Wasatch Range, to the east, and by the Great Salt Lake Desert, a remnant of the bed of Lake Bonneville, to the west. This part of the desert is known as the Bonneville Salt Flats and is used as an automobile raceway, as the flat and smooth salt beds make the area ideally suited for speed trials. Utah’s capital, Salt Lake City, is visible in the bottom right of the image. This image was processed in a way that included the near-infrared channel, which makes vegetation appear in red, while rocks and bare soil appear in brown. Copernicus Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite mission. Each satellite carries a high-resolution camera that images Earth’s surface in 13 spectral bands. The mission’s frequent revisits over the same area and high spatial resolution allow changes in inland water bodies to be closely monitored. This image was captured on 17 March 2019. contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

#space #science #earth observatory #esa #Utah

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j2rkt · 5 years

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I like Falcons, my great grandmother had a '69. I used to sneak it out and go bracket racing at Bonneville Raceways in my teens. Only ran 21 seconds in the quarter, but I was RACING ! Some people don't get it. #falcon #carshow #dragrace #westhavenutah #ogdenutah #saltlakecity #utah https://www.instagram.com/p/BzBEtY1hJTO/?igshid=1wpix3smitjqv

#falcon #carshow #dragrace #westhavenutah #ogdenutah #saltlakecity #utah

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automotiveamerican · 4 years

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1968 Pontiac Bonneville ambulance was used for race track emergencies - Bob Golfen @ClassicCars.com

1968 Pontiac Bonneville ambulance was used for race track emergencies – Bob Golfen @ClassicCars.com

The Pick of the Day transported motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, the former owner claims

The Pick of the Day, a rare 1968 Pontiac Bonneville ambulance, is an oddball relic of motorsport history. Now a half-century old, the emergency vehicle was used at Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona, where it transported many famous drivers after various stunts on the 1-mile oval, according to the…

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#Ambulance #Bob Golfen #Classic Cars.com #Evel Knievel #Pontiac Bonneville

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itsworn · 5 years

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Petersen Magazines Overflowed With L.A. Rodders, Racers & Customizers in 1961

Heaven. Granted, the City of Angels ain’t what it was at the turn of the 1960s. Bashing all things Cali is as fashionable today as moving west was six decades ago. Indeed, gearheads elsewhere can now make excellent arguments for automotive scenes wherever they happen to live. Truth be known, high-ranking Eastern and Midwestern executives employed by one of the investment groups that acquired the former Petersen Publishing Company argued that the whole shebang—including the millions of irreplaceable negatives and transparencies in the precious photography archive—rightly belonged on the Right Coast. Their first choice was Florida, insisting that Florida is the California of the 21st-century for all things automotive. They might’ve been right. They’re all gone now (whew, close call!).

While it’s a fact that bare-bones travel budgets usually kept Petersen’s skeleton crews close to home, staffers needn’t have ventured beyond L.A.’s vast city limits to fill every page of every 1961 HOT ROD, Car Craft, Rod & Custom, Motor Trend, Kart, and Motor Life with worthy editorial material. New trends ignited out west were hungrily awaited by millions of monthly readers across North America. Armchair sociologists will be forever debating causation for the hobby’s post-WWII convergence and explosion here. Two of the movement’s main influencers and beneficiaries offered very different reasons on the day that chief photographer Bob D’Olivo captured the mug shots accompanying this article. George Barris and Ed Roth didn’t agree on much else, either, beyond fiberglass sculpting being less expensive than full-custom metalwork; Petersen’s magazines and major car shows enabling eastern builders to close the styling gap with the west; and Los Angeles being the center of hot rodding’s universe.

Another believer was Tom Wolfe, a virtually unknown and entirely nonautomotive New York newspaper reporter whose assignment to cover a local rod-and-custom show inspired a story pitch to Esquire. The editors bit and flew him off to (where else?) SoCal, where HRM’s Tex Smith introduced local heroes and showed Tom around Burbank’s eye-opening Teen Fair. The resultant article, which Esquire titled, “There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy Kolored (Thphhhhhh!) Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (Rahghhhh!) Around the Bend (Brummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…),” led to a best-selling first book that brought widespread fame to the author and two interview subjects previously known only to magazine readers: Barris and Roth.

Nobody working here is old enough to have formed firsthand opinions about alleged regional bias by “those California magazine guys,” but the extent of the state’s influence is unmistakable throughout the thousands of images composed by staff photojournalists in 1961 and considered for HRD’s ongoing series. Skeptics from Someplace Else, USA, who never made the scene, are forgiven for continuing to profess that Southern California subjects, in particular, received vastly disproportionate barrels of ink simply because most magazines happened to be produced there.

“Those people have it exactly backwards,” suggests historian Greg Sharp, a native Angeleno old enough to know. “The magazines were here because the action was here, period. End of story!”

While other carmakers more or less observed the industrywide Automobile Manufacturers Association agreement to avoid sponsoring motorsports or promoting performance, Pontiac Motor Division gained a winning reputation and unprecedented market share by discreetly funneling parts, engineers, and street vehicles to a network of independent skunkworks. Leading the straight-line assault was Mickey Thompson, whose factory involvement is evident in the engines and Pontiac-powered Dragmaster rails crowding his Long Beach facility when HRM photographer Eric Rickman made one of his regular visits. “America’s Speed King” continued repaying his factory favors this season by using eight-, four-, and two-cylinder Pontiac powerplants exclusively to add 14 international and national records for the standing-start mile and kilometer to his unrivaled resume. (See Sept. 1961 HRM; Oct. 1961 HRM, MT, CC & ML; Mar. 2012 & Nov. 2016 HRD.)

Just as Ed Roth’s all-fiberglass Excaliber/Outlaw created controversy in 1959-1960 by redefining the T roadster, this year’s follow-up broke further from traditional hot rods. The Beatnik Bandit began as sketches drawn by regular Rod & Custom contributor Joe Henning in response to Roth’s desire for “something like the Outlaw, only in coupe form.” Less than a year later, Roth’s vision of a futuristic hot rod rolled into the San Mateo (CA) Custom, Rod and Sports Car Show. The one-piece shell wrapped around a shortened ‘55 Oldsmobile chassis and drivetrain. A conventional, functional, lavishly chromed Olds engine by Fritz Voigt (Mickey Thompson’s builder) was revved by a floor-mounted joystick that additionally controlled steering, shifting, and braking. On setup night, R&C staffer Neal East snapped this outtake to the small photo from the same spot that ran in the June 1961 issue.

Ray Callejo stretched tradition, literally, to double his ‘31 Tudor’s displacement to a whopping 584 ci. Yes, this is one Backstage Past image that has already been published, but it’s the only one we found of a homebuilt hot rod too neat to ignore. Although the drag car later earned an entire Car Craft feature, the negatives for those photos presumably remained with freelance contributor Dave Cunningham. Callejo was evidently still working the bugs out of the combination, as the 124-mph top speed reported by CC came previously, with a single 292ci Chevy. (See June 1961 HRM; Oct. 1961 CC.)

Ah, life must have been good for one of Hollywood’s most-eligible bachelors! None of our sources could identify Robert E. Petersen’s apparent date for Motor Trend’s Car of the Year (Pontiac Tempest) reception, though historian Greg Sharp contributed the best wisecrack. Referencing a Jan. 2019 HRD photo of the publisher’s personal sports car nose-down in a neighbor’s yard, Sharp suggested, “Maybe she made up with Pete after rolling the Mercedes down the hill.”

In one historic frame at Motor Trend’s January cocktail party, Petersen staff photographer Pat Brollier captured the most-powerful trio in hot rodding, drag racing, and land-speed racing. Wally Parks (center) was both the president of NHRA and the editorial director for Bob Petersen (back turned). Mickey Thompson, who recently became world’s fastest (406 mph) with Pontiac power and was leading development of the Tempest four-banger for racing, joined the L.A. celebration for the new compact’s Car of the Year selection. (See Mar. 1961 MT; July 1961 HRM.)

Car Craft staffer Bud Lang’s sequence captured Ed Roth’s plastic bubbletop in action during the NHRA Winternationals car show that preceded the inaugural Pomona national event. A remote control box operated the canopy and started the engine. The unquestionable star of the show inexplicably came up empty in judging for the top trophies, scoring only Best Engine Compartment. That slight by NHRA officials was said to inspire Roth’s withdrawal from future competition in favor of guaranteed appearance money and/or free booth space for painting and selling so-called “weirdo” or “monster” shirts. (See May & July 1961 R&C; May 1961 & Feb. 1962 CC; June 1961 HRM; Mar. 2012 HRD.)

Charles “Boogie” Scott’s record-setting horsepower must have impressed chief HOT ROD photographer Eric Rickman, who tracked down the Olds-motivated Deuce in Pomona’s staging lanes for a rare, candid crew shot. (With just 12 frames per roll of medium-format 120 film, action shooters were understandably reluctant to devote film to mug shots unlikely to interest editors.) Also impressive was the long haul from Louisiana in a ‘51 Ford woody tow car by (from right) Henry Penedo, Cliff Smith, Scott, and Gary Lee. Boogie was denied a Winternationals trophy in the A/Altered final round but earned the national e.t. record in 11.15 seconds, while tying the class-record speed of 140.75 mph (See May 1961 HRM). NHRA Museum historian Greg Sharp reminds us that 45 years later, the 70-year-old chassis builder joined Bonneville’s 200-MPH Club in his Gas Modified roadster at 238.508.

A week after becoming Stock Eliminator at the inaugural Winternationals with his ‘61 Impala, Don Nicholson (right) was a logical choice to participate in Motor Life’s test of Chevrolet’s new 409/409 option. Amazingly, the Chevy that he brought—possibly even drove—to Riverside International Raceway was almost certainly the Pomona-winning race car (this license plate checks out). Unbelievably, he allowed a magazine guy to burn rubber and bang gears in it. Note Petersen’s analog “fifth-wheel” data logger and the dust storm stirred up by fenderwell headers. Bob D’Olivo shot the scene and believes the test driver to be former Motor Trend writer Wayne Thoms.

Petersen conceived Motor Life’s awards ceremony as an annual March event recognizing outstanding drivers, mechanics, car owners, promoters, and racing journalists from each preceding season. Neither the awards program nor the magazine would survive the new year, however. The first—and last—Men of the Year lineup included (from left): Carroll Shelby; Henry Banks (accepting for Official of the Year Harlan Fengler); A.J. Foyt, named overall Driver of the Year; Mrs. Robert Bowes (for son Bob Bowes); George Bignotti; Jack Chrisman; Louis Clements; Rex White; Bob Colvin; and Russ Catlin (for writer Max Muhleman). Not shown is Mickey Thompson, honored for his one-way 406.600 at Bonneville. After the November issue, Motor Life—a title intermittently produced by various publishers since the early 20th century—would be absorbed and replaced by a new Petersen monthly, Sports Car Graphic. (See June 1961 HRM & ML; Dec. 1961 SCG.)

This series has spared readers the go-karts that commanded more pages in some Petersen monthlies of the era than hot rods and race cars combined. (You’re welcome!) Two rolls logged into the archive’s film index as simply “Jet Kart” earned this exception. Chief photographer Bob D’Olivo pulled the trigger on color photos for a Kart magazine cover story that none of our collector sources owns (thanks, anyway, Gary Medley and Greg Sharp). All we know is that neither the kart owner’s crash helmet nor his tuner’s crescent wrench dissuaded D’Olivo and fellow staffers from blasting around the company’s Hollywood Boulevard headquarters during the after-hours session in Petersen’s makeshift photo studio. At least Car Craft editor Dick Day donned proper headgear for his turn in the seat.

Before the champ-car industry gradually relocated to Indianapolis, suburban Los Angeles was home to countless open-wheel cars. Even so, it’s hard to believe that two different staffers, shooting for different Petersen magazines, would find such homey scenes on two unknown streets in the same city at virtually the same time—if not on the same April day. Oval-track experts Jim Miller and Greg Sharp each answered our plea for vehicle IDs, and then some. We learned that the Vatis Special was the first of three Kurtis-Kraft J-2 models delivered. At the Brickyard in early May, the brand new car was damaged when Chuck Hulse tangled with two drivers during time trials, repaired just in time for the final day of qualifying, then missed the cut on its only timed attempt. (Hulse also drove the adjacent Kurtis 4000 roadster on dirt tracks this year.) The backyard scene shows camgrinder and Indy veteran Dempsey Wilson aboard the Kuzma-built Casale & Greenman entry that did run the race, placing 16th after its 252-inch Offy’s fuel pump failed on Lap 146 (of 200). The photo archive’s film log reveals that respective Petersen photographers Al Paloczy and Eric Rickman turned their exposed film into the lab just one day apart. (See June 1961 ML & HRM.)

Al Paloczy was hired by Bob D’Olivo as a lab technician but proved capable of shooting creative car features, particularly of customs. Colleague Pat Brollier captured some foolishness while Paloczy was waiting for B&W prints to dry.

George Barris’ signboard insisted that his XPAK 400 “runs on a 5-inch cushion of air,” but spectators at the Tridents Car Club Show don’t seem to be buying it. Nor was satirical R&C contributor Joe Henning. Perhaps biased by his design work and fondness for arch-rival Ed Roth, Henning described a recent Bakersfield show during which George “personally conducted a demonstration of the fabulous air car, during which it rose to microscopic heights.” Harsher still was a subsequent Roth Studios ad hyping Big Daddy’s upcoming Rotar as the “only land, sea, air car to work without gimmicks (no hydraulic jack to make it lift), actually flies!” Barris’ addition of a billowing parachute added drama to the demonstrations, but we have yet to find evidence of the advertised elevation. (See Mar. 1961 CC; May & Sept. 1961 R&C.)

We were seeking some excuse—er, that is, a good reason—to share a negative shot for Motor Life that doesn’t appear in our incomplete collection. We found justification under a May HRM headline that looked like a leftover bit from a goofy April Fools issue: “Tragedy Hits Model Car Field.” The disaster turned out to be the theft of 1,200 cartons containing 15,000 AMT plastic kits of 1961 Ford “customizing convertibles” from a Chicago freight terminal worth $19,000. Coincidentally, when Motor Life visited this unknown factory a month after HOT ROD’s item appeared, the bodies stacking up in front of a lone assembly line worker happened to be hardtop versions of a ‘61 Ford.

Pikes Peak’s big story was the surprising emergence of Fords as contenders in the Stock Car class. Not coincidentally, four of them were freshly outfitted with the factory’s first four-speed transmissions, installed by Bill Stroppe on behalf of Colorado dealers anxious to end GM’s domination on the mountain. Fords qualified 1-2-3, ahead of the favored Chevys, but Curtis Turner (pictured) fell 2.4 seconds behind Louis Unser’s 409 bubbletop on race day. (See Sept. 1961 HRM; Oct. 1961 ML & MT.)

Wally Parks waited until Kent Fuller finished building the first four-engine dragster before banning four-engine cars—all except this one, effectively granting Tommy Ivo an exclusive exhibition act. “NHRA told me, ‘If this thing runs good, we’ll have four-motor cars popping up all over the place,’” Ivo explained in a recent e-mail. What appears to be a suburban L.A. neighborhood was actually an elaborate set on the 20th Century Fox lot (where Century City sits today). HRM’s chosen photo location was the fake street in front of the fake house familiar to millions of viewers of a 1961-1962 series costarring TV Tom and Cynthia Pepper as Roaring ‘20s teens. “It was Eric Rickman’s brainstorm to shoot it on the Margie set and get me grounded from drag racing after [studio execs] saw the car I owned. Nice idea, Eric—not! You might say this was the defining moment when I decided to change careers. I gave up acting for drag racing when the series ended because I never wanted to get grounded again.” A tire-wiper named Don Prudhomme graduated to the seat. The duo charged $500 per local appearance; the kid was paid all of 25 bucks. “Ron Pellegrini took Prudhomme’s place when his now-wife, then-girlfriend Lynn told Don that if he left town again, after touring with me and the twin-engined car in 1960, she wouldn’t wait for him anymore,” Ivo added. “He was grounded! After three years, Pellegrini told me the car was all done, so I sold it to Tom McCourry—who ran it nine more years!” It was restored with the aluminum station-wagon body that Tom Hanna attached in 1966 and resides in a private collection. (See Dec. 1961 HRM; Mar. 2012 & Nov. 2016 HRD.)

The so-called kustomizing kings sat down together with R&C editor Bill Neumann in early December for a lengthy, tape-recorded interview that inexplicably waited until the May and June 1962 issues to surface as excerpts entitled, “Mr. Barris, Meet Mr. Roth.” The show-car world was anxiously awaiting the debut of Rotar, Big Daddy’s answer to George’s much-maligned XPAK 400, and an inevitable battle between so-called air cars. Dig the following exchange: Neumann: Ed, Does Rotar actually fly? Roth: Yes. Neumann: George, does XPAK fly? Barris: Does it fly? It’s an experimental car that will raise in the air. Yes. The same two issues carry a related, two-part episode of Pete Millar’s popular Arin Cee comic strip (starring R&C’s answer to Tom Medley’s Stroker McGurk character in HRM) in which the editor assigns Arin the story behind each man’s desire to reign as the king of kustoms. The last two panels bring the contenders together, suddenly sporting each other’s distinctive style: Ed wears a suit; George has a goatee. Their true motivations are finally revealed at the end: Roth: I wanna be king so I can wear a shirt and tie. All my life I’ve wanted to be like George. Barris: … and I want to be like Big Daddy and grow a beard. (See Apr., May & June 1962 R&C.)

Just guessing, but hard times seemed to be a theme of the company’s holiday party in December. Staff artists produced life-size facsimiles of three bums wearing mug shots of PPC executives. The dummy holding the dismal sales graph appears to be Robert E. Petersen himself. While HRM reported unprecedented sales “crowding 700,000,” a tumultuous year internally saw Pete fold two other titles and replace the entire R&C staff after editor Lynn Wineland, a six-year employee, devoted much of the September issue to a newfound fascination with skydiving.

Mr. Petersen obviously got with the poverty program, panhandling for spare change while wearing a signboard showing discontinued magazines. The dapper dude at left looks like ambitious Dick Day, who’d advanced from contributing cartoonist to current Car Craft editor (later becoming a PPC publisher and vice president).

One of the last “car” features shot this year captured the much-anticipated, ill-fated Rotar. Here, Ed Roth shows the after effects of cramming a six-foot-four Big Daddy under the tiny bubbletop for Bill Neumann’s camera. Powered by dual, unmuffled 650cc Triumph engines sitting on their sides, the remote-controlled hovercraft would soon debut in a Pasadena show and remain a major attraction for two show seasons. Unlike Barris’ XPAK 400, Roth’s version proved adept at rising 4 to 5 inches while “blowing up girls’ skirts,” Roth noted proudly. The fun and the “air-car war” stopped suddenly in Detroit when an oil-starved crankshaft failed at full throttle, blasting bits of aluminum fan blades and plastic into the crowd, seriously injuring at least one bystander. (See Aug., Sept. & Dec. 1961 R&C; Apr. & June 1962 R&C.)

The post Petersen Magazines Overflowed With L.A. Rodders, Racers & Customizers in 1961 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network https://www.hotrod.com/articles/petersen-magazines-overflowed-l-rodders-racers-customizers-1961/ via IFTTT

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carreviewupdatebuyer · 6 years

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eddiejpoplar · 6 years

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Surpassing 300 MPH in a Jet-Powered Pickup

Swoosh. No, not Nike’s logo. Rather, that’s what it felt like. Of course, you don’t think of “swoosh” as being a feeling, especially the feeling of traveling 303 mph in a 1957 Chevrolet pickup. Certainly, it was a big swoosh, a loud, shrill swoosh, but a swoosh nonetheless.

“Pretty much what I told you,” said Hayden Proffitt II, the owner and driver of the 25,000-horsepower twin-jet pickup he calls the Hot Streak II, as we roll to a stop, awaiting a tow back to his pit. “All the drama happens behind us.”

We’ve seen that drama, as far south as the San Antonio Raceway dragstrip and as far north—2,200 miles north of San Antonio, to be precise—at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

At San Antonio Raceway, Proffitt and Hot Streak II made the big windows in the tower’s pressroom shake so violently that the caulk sealing the windows in place cracked and splintered away from the glass, peppering the people beneath the windows with little pellets and causing several occupants to flee. More went for the door after a ceiling panel shook loose. That occurred when Proffitt performed the obligatory “burner pops,” caused by hitting the afterburner as he dumps raw fuel into the engine, producing explosions that would register on any nearby seismograph. Did we mention how track neighbors love jet cars?

At Castrol Raceway, Proffitt and his truck experienced a near-disastrous close call, the closest thus far of his career, minutes after we nagged him for a ride: Of the 35 or so jet-powered exhibition vehicles that perform at North American dragstrips and air shows, Hot Streak II is one of a handful that has a passenger seat, and it seemed like that would make a good story. After that close call—we’ll explain what happened in a moment—a shaken Proffitt said, “Bet you’re glad you weren’t riding along on that run!” True, but it would have made it a great story.

The fact Proffitt, 30, owns and drives a jet-powered truck surprises even him, though he grew up surrounded by racing. His grandfather Hayden Proffitt, now 89, was a four-time national champion in the National Hot Rod Association’s Super Stock classes in the 1960s, a deservedly legendary innovator. He remains the only drag racer contracted to all four of the American auto manufacturers—GM, Ford, Chrysler, and American Motors—and has been inducted into multiple drag racing halls of fame. As he should have been—if for nothing else, then for managing to win a lot of races in 1968 driving the unlikely AMC Rebel Funny Car, typically topping 180 mph.

If you think Hot Streak II lights up the scenery in the daytime, you should see it at night.

You’d suspect Hayden II might have followed his grandfather into drag racing, but he found more of a role model in his uncle Brad Proffitt, who drove the USA-1 rocket dragster, a spindly, narrow-tired little rail that burned hydrogen peroxide. In 1979, Brad set the quarter-mile top speed record of 349.7 mph in 4.35 seconds. It took nine more years before Eddie Hill finally made the first sub-5-second run in an NHRA Top Fuel dragster, and it took four more years for an NHRA Top Fuel dragster to hit 300 mph, which Kenny Bernstein did on March 20, 1992.

“At the end of the quarter mile I’m going 280 mph. A jet car is accelerating its hardest as you go through the lights. … Any sort of failure, and you’re in dire straits, probably headed right off the end of the track.

Hayden Proffitt II was born in California but at age 14 moved to tiny Tow (rhymes with “cow”), Texas, 60 miles northwest of Austin, where his grandfather lives. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, spending the next nine years working on aircraft and serving multiple tours in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East. When he returned to civilian life in 2015, he looked for a business to buy. Owning a jet truck “just sort of happened,” he said. “The truck was available, I was available, and I thought, ‘Why not?’”

Hayden Proffitt II fills the Streak up with diesel. Proffitt and whoever’s around to help must pack the parachutes into the long metal cylinders after every run.

It didn’t hurt that the truck was built, in 1994, by Les Shockley, who drove dragsters for Hayden Proffitt before building his first jet vehicle in 1978. Shockley quickly became a big fish in a relatively small pond. What really put him on the map was the Shockwave, a 1984 Peterbilt powered by three jet engines, totaling about 36,000 horsepower.

The Peterbilt was in such demand that Shockley built the Super Shockwave, which gave him and his sons a second truck to place on the touring circuit when the original Shockwave was busy—or to match-race the two trucks if a track or an air show really had some money to burn. Shockley said the Super Shockwave was clocked in a standing mile at 406 mph, and the Shockwave Peterbilt’s best speed was 381 mph. Frankly, if you want to go super fast, jet cars—and there are several examples built to unique themes out there—are the best buy going. There’s one for sale now that has logged a best time of 4.98 seconds in the quarter mile at 317 mph. Asking price is $65,000.

They require maintenance, of course, but compared to an NHRA Top Fuel dragster, which essentially needs an engine overhaul after every run, jet cars are the Toyota Corolla of the quarter mile. Proffitt said off-season maintenance on the Hot Streak II is largely confined to changing the brakes and cleaning out the vertical exhaust stacks behind the cab, which belch fire during the run. Tires can last the year. But expect to use a lot of diesel—Proffitt can go through 150 gallons per run.

However, if you are thinking of buying a jet car and raking in money with multiple drag race bookings, reconsider. Off the record, NHRA and International Hot Rod Association officials said jet cars are not always embraced as part of a program. The sanctioning bodies cited the need to remove everything they can from starting lines—signs, brooms, buckets, trash cans, small people—or they will literally blow away. The officials also said some non-jet competitors don’t like to make their runs after the jets perform. “They say it greases down the track, and they don’t want to run unless we clean it,” one such official said. Consequently, jet vehicles often close the show.

At least there’s no longer a formal ban at NHRA tracks. In August 1963, LeRoi “Tex” Smith, one of the top automotive writers of all time, published a story in Hot Rod magazine headlined, “The Jet: A Short-Fused Bomb?” which questioned the safety of jet cars, speculating they could explode and take out half the crowd. Wrote Smith: “We intend to limit our jet-watching to Bonneville.” The NHRA immediately responded by informally banning jet cars, which lasted 12 years.

All this is the legacy that Les Shockley helped contribute to before he retired, selling the Shockwave Peterbilt to Darnell Racing Enterprises in Springfield, Missouri, in 2012. Three years later, Proffitt bought the Super Shockwave and renamed it Hot Streak II in honor of his grandfather’s original Hot Streak, a more conventional single-engine jet dragster he drove in 1980.

Last year, Proffitt II and the Hot Streak II teamed up with Castle Rock, Washington-based Bill Braack, who owns a “regular” jet car. The Smoke ’n Thunder is essentially a jet engine with a little bullet-shaped cockpit up front; it rides on four narrow wheels, not much different from the late land speed legend Art Arfons’ original Green Monster. Braack is primarily an air-show performer, not surprising since he flew with the U.S. Air Force for 20 years.

Both the car and the truck use the same engine, the Westinghouse J34-48, which was introduced in 1959 and has powered a variety of military aircraft. Although Braack’s car has one engine and Proffitt’s truck has two, performance is comparable because Braack’s car weighs just 2,300 pounds to Hot Streak II’s 4,300—and Hot Streak II has the aerodynamics of a Kleenex box.

Braack, who has driven the 38-year-old car since 2006, said that although at one time the IHRA actually had a class for jet-vehicle racing, everything now is “for exhibition purposes only. We might race, but the paycheck is the same whether we come in first or second.” Braack’s specialty is match-racing airplanes at air shows, where he has competed against everything from a P-51 Mustang to an F-18.

Indeed, Braack only books air shows, regularly turning down offers to run at dragstrips. Most air shows are on military bases, where the runway is a couple of miles long and a minimum of 150 feet wide.

“On a dragstrip, at the end of the quarter mile I’m going 280 mph, and unlike a regular dragster, a jet car is accelerating its hardest as you go through the lights,” he pointed out. “Any sort of failure, and you’re in dire straits, probably headed right off the end of the track.”

Which, as we mentioned earlier, very nearly happened to Proffitt at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton. It’s a quarter-mile track with a runoff area at the end, then a sand trap (hit that, and you’re “On the beach,” in NHRA insider parlance), and after that a road, and after that a bright yellow crop of canola.

There’s a pair of long stainless-steel tubes, one on each side of the Hot Streak II’s engines, that contain parachutes needed to stop. Pull the throttles all the way back, and the parachutes automatically deploy. Usually. Remember, Hot Streak II weighs well in excess of 2 tons, and there’s no engine compression to help it slow.

Proffitt made his second run of the weekend, nudged 200 mph, throttled back, and … no parachutes. One sort of deployed and fluttered around. Its lines had been singed previously by the jet engines, and Proffitt thought it was good for at least one more run. He was wrong. The other parachute never made it out of the tube; there’s a wire that holds the cap on, and when you deploy the chutes, the wire pulls out and lets the cap open and the chute pops out. But the wire was simply too tight this time.

Belted in and ready for my run. What am I looking at down there? Pavement. There is no floor forward of your footrests.

So Proffitt hit the brakes harder than ever, but the end of the track was coming up fast. At the very last exit, Proffitt yanked the wheel to the left, hoping and praying his business investment could make a 90-degree turn at maybe 60 mph. Somehow, it did, though for a second you could see daylight under the three left-side tires. Back in the pits, he parked next to his 80-foot transporter and apologized to fans who were hoping for at least one more run: Sorry, no place to buy jet truck parachutes on the weekend in Edmonton, Alberta. The 2,000-mile tow back to Texas seemed even longer.

Thankfully, nothing like that happened when I finally got a ride in the Streak’s right seat. It took place at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Wayne County, North Carolina, at the Wings Over Wayne Air Show, featuring, in very large letters, the Blue Angels, and in much smaller letters, a jet-powered pickup truck. Perhaps the best news was that Johnson AFB’s Runway 28 is 11,760 feet long and 300 feet wide. If the chutes don’t deploy, there are a couple of miles of super-smooth concrete before you would have to figure out what to do next. So even though I had never gone 300 mph on rubber tires and still had my driver’s narrow escape in Edmonton fresh in my mind, I wasn’t worried. Reassuringly, Proffitt wasn’t concerned, either. He used to be stationed at Seymour Johnson, working on the 4th Fighter Wing’s 95 F-15E Strike Eagles, and if those pilots trusted him, what could go wrong?

I pulled the belts tight and then tighter, as I’d been warned that it wasn’t so much the start that gets you—even though Braack said to expect more acceleration g’s than an F-18 launching off an aircraft carrier—but rather the deceleration g’s when the twin chutes (hopefully) deployed.

Proffitt explained why he was adjusting levers and pressing buttons and flipping switches, but I just nodded, as my hard drive was fast filling with just the sensation of sitting a few feet ahead of 25,000 horsepower. My head did not have room for technical details. I think he did a few burner pops for the crowd, but I’m not sure, because, like he said, everything happens behind us. In front, when I looked down, I saw pavement: Beneath the familiar ’57 Chevy hood, behind the gaping grille and working headlights, was pretty much nothing. Ahead of my feet, no floor.

Proffitt pulled onto Runway 28, looked over, gave me the thumbs-up, and I thumbs-upped him back. And we launched. The start wasn’t eyelid-peeling abrupt, and surprisingly neither was the stop. Yes, both big chutes deployed just fine, but when you’re slowing 4,300 pounds, it’s more of a gentle transition than it is for, I suspect, Bill Braack and his 2,300-pound jet car. Another set of thumbs-up and then helmets off as we waited for the tow back to the trailer. “What did you think?” Proffitt asked.

“It’s spectacular in here,” I said, “but I really think it’s even more spectacular watching from out there.”

“Told you so,” he said.

Swoosh.

Hayden Proffitt’s Hot Streak II and Bill Braack’s Smoke ’n Thunder can be booked together or separately through IFTTT

#IFTTT #Performance Junk Blogger 6

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williammarksommer · 1 month

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End of the Tour

Lines of Salt series

Hasselblad 500c/m

Kodak Tmax 400iso

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jesusvasser · 6 years

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Surpassing 300 MPH in a Jet-Powered Pickup

We’ve seen that drama, as far south as the San Antonio Raceway dragstrip and as far north—2,200 miles north of San Antonio, to be precise—at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

If you think Hot Streak II lights up the scenery in the daytime, you should see it at night.

Hayden Proffitt II fills the Streak up with diesel. Proffitt and whoever’s around to help must pack the parachutes into the long metal cylinders after every run.

Belted in and ready for my run. What am I looking at down there? Pavement. There is no floor forward of your footrests.

“It’s spectacular in here,” I said, “but I really think it’s even more spectacular watching from out there.”

“Told you so,” he said.

Swoosh.

Hayden Proffitt’s Hot Streak II and Bill Braack’s Smoke ’n Thunder can be booked together or separately through IFTTT

#IFTTT #Performance Junk WP Feed 4

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years

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Surpassing 300 MPH in a Jet-Powered Pickup

We’ve seen that drama, as far south as the San Antonio Raceway dragstrip and as far north—2,200 miles north of San Antonio, to be precise—at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

If you think Hot Streak II lights up the scenery in the daytime, you should see it at night.

Hayden Proffitt II fills the Streak up with diesel. Proffitt and whoever’s around to help must pack the parachutes into the long metal cylinders after every run.

Belted in and ready for my run. What am I looking at down there? Pavement. There is no floor forward of your footrests.

“It’s spectacular in here,” I said, “but I really think it’s even more spectacular watching from out there.”

“Told you so,” he said.

Swoosh.

Hayden Proffitt’s Hot Streak II and Bill Braack’s Smoke ’n Thunder can be booked together or separately through IFTTT

#IFTTT #Performance Junk Blogger Feed 4

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robertkstone · 6 years

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Celebrity Drive: NASCAR’s Kurt Busch

Quick Stats: Kurt Busch Daytona 500/NASCAR Champion Daily Driver: 2017 Ford Expedition (Kurt’s rating: 8.5 on a scale of 1 to 10) Other cars: see below Favorite road trip: Tail of the Dragon, North Carolina Car he learned to drive in: 1964 Volkswagen Beetle First car bought: 1995 Chevrolet Silverado

Although happenstance would have it that NASCAR champ Kurt Busch would one day get to own and drive any Ford he pleases in addition to the No. 41 Ford Fusion race car for the Stewart-Haas team, he owns some unique Fords; it’s a collection that’s inspired in part by his dad’s love of 1932 Fords.

Busch has six 1932 Fords, which make up almost half of his collection. “[My dad and I] share a few different ’32 Fords. He doesn’t want to actually take ownership because then mom would get upset for having too many. So he blames it on me,” Busch says, laughing.

He rates them between a 7 and 9 on a 10-point scale and explains that each Ford offers something different. “One’s a roadster, one is traditional, non-chop top, one is an extreme chop top, one’s a side window,” he says. “They all have their own distinct level of rebuild as well as traditional items left onto the car. My dad’s just very indecisive when it comes to his ’32 Fords. So I figured he’d top out at seven one day because there’s only seven days a week.”

Busch grew up helping his dad work on these cars and recalls his dad selling his first Ford around the time he was going to college. “To me, I didn’t know all the finances of how things were set up in our family, but I always thought, ‘That car sold, I went to college,’ and I’m like, ‘Man, that probably was my tuition,’” he says. “So I always had this mental plan to re-gift him someway, somehow, and it worked out with getting in racing and having a lot of Ford connections. I hope to one day go to Bonneville Salt Flats with him and do one of the divisions in an old ’32 Ford.”

His dad, who was also once a racer, goes to car shows around the country. The two were together for Father’s Day in Pomona, California, where they bought another ’32 Ford. “He talked me into that one,” he says with a laugh. “I should’ve been the father figure and told my dad, ‘We have to sell one before we can buy one.’”

Although Busch bought his wife a Mercedes-AMG GLE63 with a twin turbo, his own daily driver is a 2017 Ford Expedition. He gives it an 8.5 rating and likes its reliability.

“They did good with the styling for as big of an SUV that it is, and the ride quality to me is always important,” Busch says. “It’s easy to navigate the buttons, and the driver ergonomics of the car feel nice when you’re sitting in the driver’s seat.”

He’s had quite a few Fords. “My first professional contract when I signed on with NASCAR was with Ford and had a 2001 Ford Mustang, and I still have it today,” he says. “I chose to buy that one after that contract was up, but I’ve been through different Expeditions, different Explorers, F-150s.”

2001 Ford Mustang

Rating: 6

“I put in a Roush stage 3 kit on it, so I took it from a GT Mustang to a Roush stage 3,” he says. “At the time it had 400 hp and felt like a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Driving it the other day, it’s funny how we all get spoiled with GPS in the car or satellite radio. The headlights didn’t turn off. When I got out of the car, it was dinging at me. I was like, ‘Oh, these are the little creature comforts that we’ve become so accustomed to.’ And that car isn’t all that old, so it’s fun to jump back in it, and even other cars that I have in my collection. … A 2001 Mustang on a scale of 1 to 10 today is more like a 6.”

2005 Ford GT

Rating: 10

“One of my favorites that was a gift from Edsel Ford II was a 2005 Ford GT, and I treat it like a trophy; it only has 97 miles on it,” Busch says. “To me the symbolic value of why he gifted me the car was when I won the championship in NASCAR and was driving a Ford, so for that to be a gift, I treat it like a trophy and never put miles on it. It felt special, something from Edsel.”

Busch gives it a perfect 10. “When I drove it a few times, it’s a pure sense of American heritage in motorsports,” he says.

Most of Busch’s cars get driven more than that, he says: “They’re all in good condition where you can just fire them up and go. I have a few different ’70s muscle cars: a ’70 Challenger, a ’69 Camaro.”

Busch drives his cars in good weather as well as when he’s back in North Carolina and not on a racetrack in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. He has his own little personal race shop and garage that’s a few miles down the road.

“I try to drive them as often as I can, and I have a couple mechanics who are always working; whether rebuilding an old race car or working on another contract car for a client, we’re always working on cars at my shop,” he says. “We do some contract work for clients, and we have our lineup of different cars within my shop.”

The shop is pretty much by word of mouth. “It’s not like a full machine where we’re streamlining stuff in and out,” he says. “It’s just a hobby. I’ll go to some of the Barrett-Jackson auto auctions to sell or to buy and to look around, and I try to keep up with different trends.”

Car he learned to drive in

Busch learned to drive in a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle his dad helped him buy for $500.

“We bought it when I was about 15, and it was in pretty rough shape,” he says. “Then we spent that summer rebuilding it and getting it ready, and he taught me how to drive. We put some paint on it and literally took it to my driving test when I turned 16. I was a junior in high school that year with a ’64 Volkswagen bug. Still have it today.”

He learned to drive in Las Vegas, where he grew up, on relatively easy suburban streets. “The first thing I did, I got my driver’s license and my buddy filed in and we went cruising up and down the Strip,” he recalls.

When his dad taught him to drive in the Volkswagen, he was just starting out racing and knew about the clutch and shifting. “When he was teaching me, I remember my first time stalling it when he told me to turn right quickly,” he says. “I thought we were coming up to this intersection, and he said, ‘No, no, no, I want you to turn into the bank right here,’ and I was almost past the turn in and I was trying to slow down and then I forgot to push the clutch in and stalled it trying to turn into the bank parking lot.”

Busch has held onto that first car for the shared experience spent in it. “It was easy to keep because it was a cheap car, and we put a lot of work on it as father and son,” he says. “When I was little, I wasn’t making a big impact when I was helping him work on some of his ’32 Fords, but with that ‘64 Bug, that was a good education in how to build a car and how to work on everything, and it was great father and son time.”

First car bought

“When I was about 20, we were racing so often, we needed another truck to get to the race tracks,” Busch says.

Around 1998 or 1999 Busch bought his first vehicle, a 1995 Chevrolet Silverado with an extended cab off a friend for $10,000.

“We went to the bank and had to get an approval,” he says. “I paid $5,000 down of cash and then got a loan for $5,000, and that was my first loan that I took out. Had to manage the car payment, insurance, and just coming back from college, so there was a lot going on. And then the adulthood importance that went along with that truck.”

Busch kept it for a while and then sold it to another friend who needed a truck, for $5,000.

Favorite road trip

“When I was a kid we traveled up the Pacific Coast Highway a few times to San Francisco all the way from Las Vegas,” Busch recalls fondly. “When we were racing, I loved the road trip on I-70 through the Colorado Rockies. Just going through the mountains and you get the elevation changes, the scenic view on I-70.”

On the East Coast, closer to home, there’s a road in the Charlotte area Busch likes to drive purely for fun. “It’s to the west of Charlotte; it’s fairly close to Asheville, North Carolina: the Tail of the Dragon. A lot of motorcycle guys love that ride,” he says. “I’ve got a Dodge Viper that I drove on it years ago. It’s always fun. If there’s a day here or there where it’s not far from the house and hit the drive, grab lunch on the other side and then come back.”

Even though Busch drives for a living, there’s something different about being on the open road.

“Everything’s relaxed and yet I feel the car underneath me and different turns. You feel the front tires, you can feel the rear tires if you’re accelerating too hard. It’s always fun to learn a car’s limit in a situation.”

Sometimes he’ll rent out a road course such as Virginia International Raceway or Road Atlanta to take some of his own cars “and really go stretch their legs,” he says.

For more information and news on the 2018 NASCAR race season that starts next month visit www.kurtbusch.com.