    We'll start this page where the last left off with a few unpublished shots from the 2004 CHRR. First a proud John in the seat of his Master Car.  Don Ewald was back in the seat of his 1969-1971 ride - the BankAmericar.    The BankAmericar made its second California Hot Rod Reunion appearance with original driver, Don Ewald in the seat.   John Ewald debuts his Mastercar - another Cacklefest hit.   Aside from Cacklefest the cars got some fire ups in the pits. Here AJ Ewald has her 5 minutes of sheer delight.   John and the first fire up in his new Mastercar   Bill Norman got a turn in the Mastercar.  Michelle Reed cackles the BankAmericar.  Not the best of fits - the Firestone mascot - Firehawk squeezed into the Mastercar to make some noise.  Famed motorsports artist Kenny Youngblood.  80 year old veteran racer/blower builder Gene Mooneyham.  2005 kicked of with the San Francisco Roadster Show. Close to 800 of the finest roadster and customs made their way to the "Big Show" at the Cow Palace. The show covered the three main rooms of the main building and five more buildings behind the main. Every type of car was there, some worth in the millions. Firestone gave $1000.00 to the "Best Ride on Firestones" (below). They are to only tire company showing support to the car enthusiasts at many shows. If the was an award for the most viewed car it would have to be the vintage top fuel dragster BankAmericar.  Firestone Marketing Director Brian Cladwell presents John Mumford his $1000.00 check for having the "Best Ride on Firestone Tires".  A new addition to the Ewald road show is this digital camera/printer set up. It gives fans who sit in the car an almost instant memento of their day (below). It all works on rechargeable batteries so it is completely portable... 4 X 6 glossy prints in about 30 seconds...very cool.  Dave Anton of American Shine Car Care Products.  At the SF show we did two fire ups. Now this is a roadster show known for high dollar display cars, some worth up to over a million dollars... so why would the people who attended be interested in a restored top fuel car just idling? Would there be a real interest we wondered... these aren't drag racing fans per se... well as the photos below show... we pretty much emptied the buildings on both fire ups. Alex got the crowd cheering every time he whacked the throttle... we had the TV crews, the newspapers shoving each other to get e good shot.... huge cheer when we shut it off...yep, I think the "cackle" cars are alive and well.   Firestone District Manager Jim Fogelquist took the seat to enjoy the feeling of 2500 horsepower between his legs while a throngs of car enthusiasts look on.    We posted a sign and the show PA announced we would do a second fire up at 4:30, usually most attendees would be gone by then...NOT. People started gathering for a good viewing spot by 3:45. The daughter of the show promoter got the seat for the afternoon fire up on an invite from the Firestone folks... she was a bit slow about getting back out... LOL. Just couldn't get that grin off her face.      Just two weeks later both cars were on display at the Grand National Roadster Show at the Pomona Fairplex.  I am sure many of you remember Larry Fullerton and his "Trojan Horse" funny car...well, here is Larry Fullerton III ....and he digs dragsters.  John Blanchard's Nostalgia Top Fuel dragster was also a huge hit at the LA show.   Pretty girls are always welcome in the bank cars!    One of the highlights at the Grand National Roadster Show was when American Graffiti / LaVerne & Shirley star Cindy Williams got into the seat for a cackle and she loved it, especially when Alex whacked the throttle... huge crowd around a idling car... go figure.    John & Cindy  Alex & Cindy  Cindy working the American Graffiti booth.  Kenny Youngblood doing his thing for the Firestone fans.  We followed up our Cindy Williams day act with a night time fire works show. Yep, big crowd again. Interesting shots as my time exposure was exposing different strobes from other cameras gave my shots a different look.    No clue   No matter where the vintage top fuelers BankAmericar and Master Car are on display representing Firestone Tire & Service Centers the fire-ups draw huge crowds. The fans really appreciate Firestone for their support of the car shows and for picking up the Nitro bill, about $150.00 worth of Nitromethane goes up in flames with each startup.   .The local beauty Leslie Sloan was all smiles as the 392 Hemi roared in front of her. The guys enjoyed both the beauty of her and the dragster.  |