If you're a fan of NHRA drag racing, then there's a great chance you're a fan of John Force Racing and his team. As a Ford fan, (don't forget, Pop's was a Ford Mechanic for 25 years) I've been following Force for as long as I can remember so when I got the chance to interview co-crew chief Austin Coil, I jumped at it. Meeting with Austin Coil in the small town the John Force Racing trucks make was awesome. Cruising past the beast Force pilots down the strip as his crew finished prepping for Saturday at the Firebird Race, then stepping into the trailer you often see on TV was unreal. I carefully tried to keep my grin from extending past my ears as I sat down with Coil. Without his trademark toothpick, Coil smiled alot and seemed to be winding down from Friday's session that saw all of John Force Racing cars in the top half of the field. Coil's easy going manner and obvious passion for racing and technology made this interview a breeze. I just had to keep up... WHAT’S CHANGED THE MOST ABOUT FUNNY...

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!...

Written by: Erock805 (Erick's Garage) It opens like a shot, not knowing the music, it felt like motor head, loose, violent, and melodic and real…what you see is what you hear…a front engine rail blitzing through the lights. Smoke and raw fuel and flame blasting from the pipes…you can almost feel it in your chest. The track lights lit up the night just like you remember they did. You can almost smell the nitro... Perfect! At this point, I am not even thinking about the pleasures of the flesh I am about to witness. All I can think about is the first time I heard that sound, felt the thunder and cried in joy as the fumes burned my eyes… David Perry…creator of Hot Rod Pinups, the DVD, my new hero. Then came little Ruby Rae, and a song that defined what I was witness to…a real live girl. Ruby quickly reminded me what I was here for. I’m watching a pinup video... a first for me. Sure, I've watched a ton of hot rod flicks, and gasser movies, they usually have a couple models, but never a video...

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...

Found a really entertaining website called Fail Blog: failblog.org. I grabbed this video from their youtube gallery and I doubt it'll be the last. Just kick back and enjoy! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6BidDtffG8&eurl=http://failblog.org/page/18/&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]  ...

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...

Following up on Dwayne Vance's new book called: The Hot Rod Art book: Masters of Chicken Scratch, I caught up with Dwayne at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona (damn that was a good time!) The book will be officially released on February 10, 2009 and judging from the buzz at GNRS, the books already of to a great star! There were about 100 advanced copies available at the Grand National Roadster Show, but they sold out! It's no wonder when 8 of the 13 artists featured in the book were at the show and ready to sign their pages of your brand new book. Several artists stopped by and checked out my book at the show including: Chip Foose, Steve Strope, Carter Hickman, Eric Black, Larry Wood, and many others to check out the book. The book's also going to be featured in Rod and Custom magazine as well as Hemmings Auto news. For those of you that have not yet heard of this "Hot Rod Art Book", it is a unique book of over 100 pages of beautiful hot rod art from thirteen very talented artists...

Turns out pinup photographer Mitzi from Mitzi & Co is a St. Louis Rams fan. That's great for me for a couple reasons: The Cardinals whooped the Rams here in Arizona and Mitzi's coming to town! I'm a hack pinup photographer. Who am I kidding, I'm a hack photographer, but I'm trying. That's why I was jazzed when I got a chance to meet Mitzi again and see her working. I also helped out getting my buddy Erock to bring his traditional styled 34 pickup down for the shoot. I wanted to use Bonnie, my 27 roadster, but she had other plans (damn webers!). Mitzi on the other hand is a pro. In stead of seeing the, "Work it, yes YES, oh you sexy bitch!" style of Austin Powers, Mitzi was super calm and professional. She shot slowly and purposefully and I could tell the girls were comfortable and having a good time with their "Pinup for a Day" photo shoot. Here are a few of the shots taken outside Mitzi's buddy Adam's Electric Haven Tatoo/High Life Pomade shop in Tempe, AZ. Adam's also a member and has posted...

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...

Courtesy of Ford Media and PCGCambell John Force, driver of the Castrol Edge Ford Mustang Funny Car, heads into this weekend’s 2009 Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., with four career victories in the season-opening event. Force, who has a record 126 career victories and 14 championships, reflects on his team’s 2008 accomplishments and looks ahead to this year. JOHN FORCE – GTX Castrol Mustang – CAN YOU CONTRAST WHERE THE TEAM IS RIGHT NOW TO WHERE IT WAS A YEAR AGO THIS TIME? “Well, we’re in the middle of change right now. That’s what our new president Obama has been coming in and screaming and that’s what I have been hearing, you know, from all of the automakers, but Ford started change, we went back years ago. You know we knew this was coming; we are trying to get right and what I’m taking to my race team is I’m not going to wait for the opening race to figure out how to run on a budget – we saw this six months ago coming. We have got to cut back everywhere to make this thing in...

Couresty of Ford Media and PCGCambell Bob Tasca III, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang Funny Car, enters his second season at the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals this weekend in Pomona. Tasca talks about the importance of off-season testing, racing in Pomona with sophomore eyes and the return of the Mustang Cobra Jet to competition. Bob Tasca III – MOTORCRAFT/QUICK LANE SHELBY MUSTANG FUNNY CAR – HOW WAS THE PHOENIX TEST SESSION? “Phoenix is traditionally a difficult race track to go down this time of year. For whatever reason, it lends itself to cause tire shake. In our sport, tire shake is a huge challenge for crew chiefs with certain track conditions. It prevents you from going A-to-B and it will cause tire smoke. The car will shake and will end up smoking the tires. Going into Phoenix this year, I have a lot more confidence than I did going into it last year and our results proved pretty strong. When you look at the teams that were there, John Force Racing, the Schumacher camp, Del Worsham and other seasoned teams with a lot of data didn’t go...

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...