One of the fun things about publishing The Garage is being invited to all sorts of cool automotive events. Never mind that most of them are hundreds, if not thousands of miles away, it’s just neat to know that all this fun automotive stuff is going on and that people want us to cover their events.
It was a really nice surprise a couple of weeks ago to receive an e-mail from Paige Sprecker at the town of Whitby to invite me to the opening of a new show at the Station Gallery by a local artist who creates automotive inspired art. Steven Laurie grew up in Whitby and has long been involved with the Station Gallery. His art is an eclectic mix of backyard mechanic, engineer and performance art.
It is a bit tough to describe Laurie’s work, other than to say he is a gearhead who combines all sorts of mechanical elements to create a machine that does nothing except create mechanical noise or tire smoke. Or shred lawns. In other words, Laurie is sort of a modern day Tim Taylor. Everything has that more power feel to it and the true gearhead will understand each piece, without explanation. At the opening, Laurie fired up the Posi-Track Burnout Machine for guests. A slipping clutch caused a bit of wheel hop early on, but once things heated up, it was all tire smoke and trails of burnt rubber. Very cool!
The wonders of the gootubez never cease to amaze. Mr. Faules was wasting some time cruising through youtube last night when he came across this little bit of tire shredding goodness.
I think it can be beaten. Yes folks…I’m laying down the gauntlet for our other guy on the west coast. Come on Von Minden, we all know you can do better than this!
Hot on the heels of a drag car disaster in Tennessee, there has been another case of stupidity. In Dekalb, Illionois a monster truck display set up by NAPA went horribly wrong yesterday when the driver lost control following a jump. The resulting wheelie sent the truck through a crowd of spectators, through a fence and across some adjacent train tracks. Three adults and six children were hurt in the incident, including a mother and her 4 year old daughter who are in serious condition. Continue reading →
For those readers who think we here at The Garage only go road racing, here’s one for you. As you might know, LA County Raceway is set to close after next weekend’s racing. Here at The Garage, we’re not about to let an event like that slide by unnoticed, so our man on the west coast Aaron Von Minden (posing as Aaron Von Fonda above) and his crew headed to the track last weekend for a few last passes. Continue reading →
It’s the worst nightmare of racers and organizers alike. An out of control race car slamming into a spectator area. It happened on Saturday in Selmer Tennessee, at the Cars For Kids charity event. At the end of a parade, racers were to perform burnouts for the cheering fans on a closed highway lined with spectators. When it was Troy Chritchley’s turn, up came the revs and the smoke show started. Then things went wrong and he lost control of the car. The car left the roadway and hit a pole, sending bodies flying along the way. Reports vary from 6 to 7 deaths and some 18 or so injuries. So why did this tragedy occur? Continue reading →
We’ve been watching the progress of the 49 Mercury in the Savage Speed Garage, our official West Coast connection. The first few updates have been clean up and maintenance. In the last week or so, the Kustom Werk has started! This is our first view of the stripped and slammed monster. I’ll bet you that it won’t be too many more weeks before we’re able to post video of the Merc’s first burnout!
This just proves that boys will be boys (unless they’re an Amish girl) regardless of where they live or what they drive. Keep your eyes peeled for the bus in the first display of smoky goodness.
Regular readers of The Garage know that I have a love of sports cars and a long history with cars that turn left and right. The hot rod scene has never really been on my radar until I visited a local car show a couple of years ago and discovered Rat Rods. The new twist on old skool hot rodding really caught my interest. For me, it’s all about the killer style, coupled with a big engine with open pipes. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been quietly watching the rodding scene from a distance and the style is becoming addictive to me. Continue reading →
