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2015 HOT ROD POWER TOUR

CAR SHOW COVERAGE

Before the Pandemic, we'd cover the Niftee 50ees Classic Cruisers Saturday Night cruises in Spring, Texas almost every weekend. They also moved the event a little further north to The Woodlands for awhile, but they're back in Spring again. One event we've never missed though is their annual Halloween show. Easily their largest gathering and people show up dressed for Halloween, including the kids' parents and their pets! The show coverage below is their Opening Day event for 2026 and I've always liked it to see what new vehicles show up.

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The previous weekend, my brother covered a show south of Houston in Brazoria and saw the VW outside a shop in the area. This past Saturday we had planned on covering three shows but never got to the third. Weekend road work on a Houston area toll road had five lanes narrowed down to only one. After over an hour, I just gave up. Anyway, on our way back from a show north of Houston in Willis, we spotted a nice-looking bike at an area bike shop and the Charger on our way home from the "busted" show.

Checking out an Extreme Truck Drag Racing event on YouTube and saw this wild wheel stand (left) by one of the competitors. As the same truck was staging (right), I noticed the exhaust system and a light came on. That's the exhaust I want on a model kit I'm getting ready to build (further below). I'm also going to duplicate the roll cage bars to the bed.

.....DIECAST, PLASTIC MODELING, ARTWORK COLORING BOOKS

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Cleaning out one of my drawers at home and found a CAR TUNED "RIG" that I had bought a while back and as you can see, I had a little fun with it using other CAR TUNED releases.

My son recently bought me a 1/24 scale dragster model kit and I loved the rear tire/wheel combination. I went looking for something to put them on and came across this old 1/32 Chevy Step-side Pickup on Ebay,

smaller scale but would make the tires look bigger (check above). I've also ordered a modern dragster blower assembly (resin), also in 1/24 scale (above). I'll be starting on it real soon!

I bought a set of 1/24 scale resin semi wheels with low profile tires and bought this MPC 1/32 scale

custom semi to put them on. As it turned out, they were way too big. I just ordered a 1/32 scale set (above) and hope they work. All I've done so far is disassemble the kit (very carefully!) and cleaned it up. I actually found the kit on ETSY and I then checked EBAY for one and couldn't find any. (One of the pictures the seller posted didn't look right and when I got the kit, that's when I noticed he had the rear wing and mount backwards!)

Since I didn't cover any car shows in 2020 and very few in 2021, I decided to join several private and public Facebook Groups to share my old pictures, some going back 50 years! Below are the latest images I shared.

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Before heading out to cover the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green (KY) back in 2018, I made some prints of a handful of pictures that I had taken of "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. He had made surprise appearances in the past so I was hoping that he would show and I could get the pictures

autographed. As you can see above and right, he did and so did I. My old images, now autographed, were taken years ago at Alamo Dragway in San Antonio and Green Valley Race City in Fort Worth (top row). Both bottom images were taken at Eastex Dragway in Porter just north of Houston. Now as far as the political bumper sticker above, Garlits ran for Congress in Florida back in 1994.

After a couple of years with a two-door 1962 Chevy Bel Air which I wish I still had, I bought my first brand new vehicle; a 1972 Datsun pickup (left). Once I got used to working the manual shift, I slapped on some big-meat Goodyears on Ansen wheels. It got plenty of attention

whenever I picked up my younger siblings at Junior High and High School.

Check out my admission ticket from Houston International Speedway (above). Not sure of the year but only $3.00, it had to be from quite a while back.

Right after the Pandemic shut everything down, I joined several Private Facebook Groups to share my old images. As I share, usually 8-16 per week, I also post them further above. Before the Pandemic, I

also had a "RACING" page where I posted my old racing images. I've decided to post a condensed version of that page below. What I'm trying to show is the variety of motorsports that I frequented back then and as you can see, it was quite a few!

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8 - Rear Engine Top Fuel Dragsters Aug 15, 21

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4 - Green Valley Raceway Drag Strip May 12, 21

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2 - ALAMO DRAGWAY SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS May 24, 20

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Yes, all the images above were taken by me over the years but this image was not. It's the only image I've ever seen posted that actually has me on it!

That's me on the right side (w/beard) leaning on the trailer at Eastex Dragway when Don Garlits was there.

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Although I never use my camera's motor-drive feature, I do get lucky enough sometimes to get an action sequence.

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GREEN VALLEY RACEWAY HISTORICAL AREA

Several years ago, I received an email from someone on the North Richland Hills (TX) City Council concerning a Green Valley Race City Historical site that was in the planning stages. They were asking permission to use several

of the images that I had taken at the track back in the '80s. I of course told them that it wouldn't be a problem. Below are the latest images of the site that were posted on a Green Valley Race City Facebook Page.

A quick check of the three information boards that are already put up (top, right) shows eleven of my images! I posted those images below and I hope I can make it up one day to check it out. (On the right image, you can see some of the original track that's still there)

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It was a lot more fun to be 20 in the '70s than to be 70 in the '20s!

Time is precious,

Don't waste it.

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2018 NHRA

HOT ROD REUNION

Before heading to the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in 2018 (Bowling Green, Ky), I decided to make some enlargements of images I had taken over the years including some of "Big Daddy" Don Garlits and Tom "the Mongoose" McEwen in hopes of getting them autographed. They had both showed up in previous years so I decided to give it a shot. As you can see above (left) and below, Garlits did show up and I was able to get some of my personal images signed. Not sure if he had planned on showing up or not but sadly, McEwen passed away three days prior at the age of 81.

All the images above were taken at Texas tracks that I frequented when I was a lot younger. Left to right...Alamo Dragway in San Antonio, Green Valley Race City in Fort Worth and the final two were taken here (Houston) at Eastex Dragway in Porter. The tracks have been closed for years.