2011 Winternationals Winner Robert Hight HIGHT MIXES LUCKY CHARM WITH FORD ONE APPROACH TO START SEASON 1-0 YORBA LINDA, CA (March 1, 2011) ---Minutes after Robert Hight and his Jimmy Prock tuned Auto Club Ford Mustang raced to a season opening win at the 51st annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals Hight was giving some of the credit to a lucky charm he picked up from a fellow Ford teammate last season. In honor of the Wood Brothers dominating performance at the Daytona 500 Hight raced all day with a commemorative coin Eddie and Len Wood gave him at Charlotte’s zMax Dragway in 2010. “I had a little good luck charm (Sunday) besides my daughter Autumn. The Wood Brothers gave me this (commemorative coin) last year,” said Hight a three-time Winternationals winner.  “It was a celebration of their 60 years of racing. They went out and won Daytona in the No. 21 car this year and they didn’t get lucky. They dominated kind of like John Force Racing did (on Sunday). This year is NHRA’s 60th anniversary.  It was cool as the day went on to look at that coin and to...

1923 Hot Rod T At the best hot rod and custom car shows like the Grand National Roadster Show there's always car instantly identify with and of course, cars that totally miss. For example, car-covering murals of dragons done in florescent green on a black base ain't my thing. Lucky for me, it didn't take long to find my car. (Click any picture for full size) On the first day of the show, right through the side doors of the main hall where I set out for my first look at the 12 America's Most Beautiful Roadster contenders... there sat Russ Freund's "Takeout T". At first I was shocked. Is that purple? Can it be? Yes. Knowing the 12 AMBR cars are the best of the best roadsters at Grand National, I knew I'd found this year's "America's Most Bitch'n Roadster". When's the last time you heard someone say a light purple car is Bitch'n? Is there another AMBR award? No, not officially! I made it up for the sick-of-sick roadster called, "Double Trouble" back in 2009. Here's the blown, Ardun head 32 Roadster built by Hot Rod Garage....

Street Car Racing at OUSCI airs this Friday on SPEED tv The wait is over! This Friday and Saturday you can catch the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational on SPEED tv. What is OUSCI you ask? It's only the coolest kind of "car show" you've ever seen. As soon as the showroom doors close at SEMA, these invited street cars head out onto Las Vegas' streets and on their way to Pahrump. The following day they prove their worth in a combined competition of road course, stopping challenge, autocross, and design. The car with the most total points wins! Street car racing has never been so fun! I've been lucky enough to be out at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch for the past two years of OUSCI - and let me tell you this year is not to be missed. Last years SPEED special was fantastic and this year's is going to be even better! Tune into SPEED this Friday, March 11th at 8pm & 11pm ET or Saturday, March 12th at 11am ET to catch this one-hour special. It's not be missed! Just to whet your appetite, here's a...

America's Most Beautiful Roadster Winner & Contenders Is All About The Details At 2011 GNRS At big-time car shows such as the Grand National Roadster Show I sometimes feel a little "out of my league" as a beginner. Sure...there's always personal opinion when it comes to building a car of your own - and when it comes down to it that's most important. But when you step into the big league such as entering a car into the America's Most Beautiful Roadster competition at the Grand National Roadster Show - its much more than just your personal opinion thats up for being judged. Although I'm only in the beginning stages of learning about cars, I do have an eye for details. So while I can't give more then my own opinion on which of the twelve AMBR contenders was the most beautiful - I can share with you first impression details that I thought made each car special. This 1933 Ford Roadster, Nugget, is fiberglass bodied, which deducts points in my book. But that still doesn't take away from the pretty lines of a full-fendered '33. How sexy is that?!...

My Ford Falcon Wagon's Finally Got Paint   It's been a long journey. I'm rebuilding/restoring/modifying (choose what you like) my 1963 Falcon Wagon. I'm way over due on what's been done, but here's where it is now:     Shown with premium primer from Squeeg's Kustoms (Squeeg's is a TOP QUALITY paint shop, not to be confused with the painter mentioned later)   OK, fine, the car's been sitting around way too much waiting for me to get off my butt. I'm kinda off now, but not completely. Thanks to buddies here in town helping me "get off the computer!" and back into the garage... there's been some progress.   So I have one question: Do you like GOLD?   It looks great in the sun here, but I would NOT recommend this painter. Terrific Paint and Customs, a Phoenix, AZ custom painter and body shop.     The great thing about MY Ride is Me is that I don't really care all that much if you like it.   I've been working with a Phoenix, AZ painter that specializes in affordable paint. The idea was to get a...

Gave Their Lives for Racing This video's a compilation arranged by Ryan over at Jalopy Journal. This is vintage racing video, and Ryan warns that in some cases, the drivers lost their lives. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/20247765[/vimeo] Here's the original story called, "Killed Myself When I was Young" Check out more videos from days gone by here: Jalopy Journal Motion Pictures Thanks to my old buddy Swanee for the...

Feeling at Home with Custom Cars and Hot Rods at GNRS So many great classic cars appear in every hall of the annual Grand National Roadster Show - from hot rods to lowriders to custom cars, dragsters, and of course the America's Most Beautiful Roadster Contenders. But of all the halls, I have to say I feel most at home in the Suede Palace. Maybe it's because my own Studebaker hot rod would be most at home there. The Suede Palace was created for those cars that, although perhaps fabulous examples of workmanship and ingenuity, might be lacking some of the more traditional "show quality" characteristics. Such as a shiny paint job - thus the "Suede Palace." So if you missed out on the 2011 GNRS, let me take you on a little walk around my favorite building, the Suede Palace.This 1930 Ford Model A Five Window Coupe has a pretty vicious stance. Not only customs, roadsters, and rat rods claim suede. This 1940 Chevrolet Gasser Coupe of the Devil's Car Club is showing off the suede well. This 1950 Oldsmobile is still in it's original paint! It's in great condition but...