Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Here's where we go to kick back after the races with our pals. Pour a tall one, punch a few buttons on the jukebox, and relax...
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WildcatOne
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon May 21, 2018 7:06 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Gaven Adams, from Prophetstown, Illinois. Gaven was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Dan Beale. Thanks, Dan!

Gaven has been racing for 3 years. He's 10 now, and on track to be a great racer in the coming years. He has both IHRA and NHRA Jr Dragster Licenses. His home track is Cordova International Raceway.

Gaven's 2016 Highlights are the Super Chevy Show at Cordova where he was Runner Up in Junior All-Run, Runner-up in Novice Points at Cordova, and Runner-Up, in Novice Reaction Time. He was a 5-time winner that year.

His 2017 Highlights are with ADRL in Martin Michigan, where he was the #1 Qualifier, Session 1 & 2 and 3rd Qualifier after Sessions 3 & 4 in Top Junior Dragster. He finished in 16th Place in Top Junior in ADRL Points, Track Champion in Novice Points at Cordova, and the Cordova Novice Reaction Time Winner. At the Junior Summer Nationals at Cordova, in the 11.90 Index class, he was Runner-Up, Runner-up in the 7 – 9 age group, and at the Cordova International Raceway Oktoberfest, he was the Ironman Trophy Winner in Junior All-Run.

His 2018 Highlights are at the First Race of the Season at Cordova, he was the Winner of the Consi Race.

Gaven is currently in the 4th grade. He started racing Junior Dragsters in 2016 when he was 8 years old at Cordova International Raceway. In 2018, he has moved up to racing in the 8.90 Index Class and he will be racing in the Midwest Junior Super Series, for the ADRL, PDRA and CIR Points at his local track.

When he's not racing, Gaven is involved with many other sports such as Basketball, Soccer and Football. He enjoys spending time with his friends and playing video games.

Gaven is a great competitor and he has a bright future in our sport. My hat's off to Craig and Jodi Adams for their support an encouragement to their son. It's folks like these who ensure not only a great racing career for their kids but a great life ahead. Thank you.

Gaven, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:28 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Stig Olsson, from Stromstad, Sweden. Stig was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Sam Freeman. Thanks, Sam!

Stig has always been interested in American cars, mostly the ones that were made in the fifties and sixties. In the late seventies Stig's brother Leif and he started a shop for selling parts and do repair on American cars.He visited his first drag race in 1976 and it was love at first sight. Later that year his brother and he bought a turn-key race ready dragster for the astronomical sum of $2000. In true democratic spirit, they switched to drive every second race, which of course was not particularly successful. In 1978, they put Stig's wife Bente in the car and she had instant success and won her first race which also was the first drag race event ever in Norway, The FIRST GO.

In the early eighties, Stig was crew chief on a couple of different dragsters, he even helped a Norwegian guy to be Swedish Champion in 1986. This was also the year he built my first race Powerglide transmisson and the brothers' speed/ repair shop worked more and more with race cars and parts. In 1987 Stig's brother-in-law Ottar, Leif and he bought an ex-top fuel front engine dragster chassis. They put a Chevy 331 and powerglide in it and Stig was chosen to be the driver. Later that year they decided to buy a more powerful engine and did so from Neil & Parks Racing. It was Stig's first contact with them and he said that this was one of his smarter moves. Frank and Scott Parks have built him some good cars and he cant thank them enough for all the help and support they have give the team through the years. They are a big part of their racing succes.

In 1989 they sold the front engine dragster and ordered a new Neil & Parks dragster and a Nickens engine. With this car they raced at Las Vegas, Phoenix and Pomona before they shipped it to Sweden. This trip gave them wonderful memories and started a dream to do a USA Race Tour again.but in 1992 they decided to quit racing; all of them did have kids and ther families deserved more of their time. Stig contiued as a part time crew member for a ProStock team but it took to much time away from his family. His love for the sport was great, but the love for his family was bigger, so he decided to completely stay away from the sport and he did so for ten years. During this time, Stig's brother and he discontinued their speed shop and Stig started a bicycle shop that became very successful.

In 2003 Stig started to go to races again, first as spectator but quite soon he was involved as a crew member in a team. In 2006 he decided to go back to racing and because all his race cars have been dragsters and his love for the front engine dragsters is big, the choice of car wasn´t difficult. Stig bought a front engine dragster chassis from Neil & Parks. This was their personal car that Scott drove and it probably became the most tricky sportsman dragster ever in Europe. Stig Drove this car for 11 years with some diffrent engine combinations. He started with a bracket engine; after a couple of years they changed to an ex-Pro Stock Truck 358-incher, and for the last couple of years they have been running 500" Pro Stock engines.
Stig's motivation comes from constantly developing what he has and winning in competition is not important to him. A new person's best gives him a lot more satisfaction than a price check. Stig Has the European Competition Eliminator record in A, B and C Dragster. He also has a couple of second and third placements in the Swedish Comp Eliminator Championship and first place in the Comp eliminator European Series.

Before Stig started his bicycle shop he built some race powerglide transmissions. When he started racing again in 2006, other racers came over and asked for help. Stig thought this could make some contribution to the race budget and and he started Stig O Transmissions. When he sold the bicycle shop a couple of years ago he planned to retire, but the transmission buisness grew and stopped that plan. Thanks to the race Powerglide buisness he came into contact with Brandon Barrentine at BTE, and a few years ago Stig him told about his dream to drive in the United States. Brandon stepped up big, helped him a lot and pushed him when he was in doubt. Even Neil & Parks stepped up big; they built a new chassis for the team. They could borrow their shop to make the car complete and they gave them a lot off advice and help.

Living the Dream, They plan to have the car in the US for at least a year, and fly over 4-5 times to race "Over There". The first trip was not racing success; some new car blues and some driver error stopped that. They could of course made it easier for themselves; a hot ProStock engine in a front engine dragster is no easy task. But why do it the easy way when you can do it the fun way. They had a wonderful first trip, they were overwhelmed by the welcoming, all the help, good wishes and nice words they received from contestants, officials and spectators.They will be back soon!

In 2018 the car is a Neil & Parks Front Engine Dragster. The engine is an ex-Gray Motorsports 500” DRCE-3. It has a ProStockTransmission: a Stig O Transmissions/BTE Powerglide. The car look is old style but it is modernly equipped with things like Ceramic wheel bearings, carbon brakes, a Racepack data logger, and MSD Grid ignition.

In addition to this, Stig is a crew member on the PB Pro Stock Racing team, one of the top PS teams in Europe.

Stig sends a big thank you to Brandon and the guys at BTE, Frank and Scott at Neil & Parks Racing, His crew and his family. He said he couldn't make it without them.

Stig mentioned that since his setup is very aggressive, there are only a few tracks in Sweden thatare safe for him to drive on.

In between all this, they put a bracket engine in the car and Stig's daughter drives it. There is information on that project on the StigO Motorsport Facebook page.

Stig, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby Wheelzman » Mon Jun 04, 2018 7:25 pm

Wow, what a story. I hope he does well wherever he goes.
Thanks John. :D :D :D

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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:01 pm

Thanks, Wheelz. Stig is good people, and he's having a wonderful time!

My pick for Racer of the Week is Frank Saponaro, from Conowingo, Maryland. Frank was recommended to me by our friend and the top guy at Mid Atlantic Street Outlaws, Duane Morris. Thanks, Duane!

Frank has a great 1967 Chevy Nova Wagon that is a street-legal "Grocery Getter" and a fun transport for his kids, and also it is an absolute beast on the dragstrip. I was not only fascinated by the complex engineering and skill that is wrapped up in this machine, but by the amazing numbers he puts up when he takes the car to the track.

Frank built this car in his garage from top to bottom, and he had a blast doing it. He did everything on it himself except for the paint. Brent @ Taylors Custom Classics in Quarryville, PA laid down the factory color on the car.

The car was a rotted out mess destined for the crusher when Frank started on it. Rockers, A-pillars, firewall, quarter panels, fenders, all were rotted. Frank built a chassis table with I beams, clamped her down and cut it from the firewall back. 1 1/2 years later, he had a 25.3 chassis '67 Nova Wagon with stock firewall, floor pan, all steel flooring coated with truck bed liner, Air Conditioning, Heat, center console, cup holders, Overdrive, Rear seat, etc.

The car has a 555 cubic inch Big Block Chevy with Twin Work turbocharger billet 88mm S400 based turbos. Frank designed a custom intake based off a tunnel ram big block intake and his friend Ron @ Shearer Fabrication fabbed it up and welded it for him.
It has a multi fuel system cable fuel injection setup that will allow Frank to run anything from regular pump gas, E85, or Methanol and anything in between. It has 24 fuel injectors, all controlled by Haltech Engine Management. There are no switches to hit, or valves to turn; all Frank has do is smash the throttle and go.

Frank has not done much 1/4 mile racing outside of drag week, but he told me his best 1/4 mile pass is 7.54 @ 190mph. His best 1/8 mile time is a 4.63 @ 157. He did all this at 3895 lbs race weight.

He said his goal for this year is to have fun with the car, complete drag week 2018, and make a 6 second pass at 200+mph, then drive it home from the track!

You're almost there, Frank! We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby Wheelzman » Mon Jun 11, 2018 8:08 pm

That is a sweet wagon. 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:44 pm

Yes, indeed, Wheelz. The sweetest I've ever seen!

My pick for Racer of the Week for June 18th is Kamaka Pocock, from Maui, Hawaii and Bakersfield, California. Kamaka was recommended to me by our friend and the admin of the 808_FUEL page, Michael Baba Balbarino. Thanks, Michael!

Kamaka and his pal Brock Hopkins are the co-owners, fabricators and operators of Born Vintage, an automotive cusomization company in Bakersfield. They founded their business in 2017, and their work is second to none. The reviews I've read of their services are the best I've ever seen.

Kamaka built his 2 hot rods there; the 1948 Thames A/Gasser and the 1959 Ford Anglia B/Gasser for his Dad.

Kamaka has run a best ET of 7.610 at 175 mph.

He was born and raised in Maui, Hawaii and is now living in Bakersfield, CA with his girlfriend Julie McKindley.

He grew up around racing and hot rods but had never been drag racing until a little over a year now. He drives his Thames panel with a blown small block injected on alcohol in A/Gas . His dad drives his '59 Ford Anglia with an NA 572 bbc in B/Gas.

They won their first race at the ANRA season opener in April.

Kamaka sends thanks to his dad, his mom, his girlfriend, Dave Mallory, Broc Hopkins, former Racer of the Week Kevin Rapozo, Spike Gorr, DS Safety, BDS Superchargers, and everyone who has helped him and Broc get to where they are today.

Kamaka told me hopefully he can make it overseas to watch some drag racing. He said he’d love to go to an Outlaw Anglia race at Santa Pod.
I couldn't agree more with that wish, Kamaka. Those guys are absolutely awesome drag racers. We wish you good luck, safe racing, and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby Wheelzman » Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:21 pm

I'm drooling because I can't decide which I like better!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jul 09, 2018 7:08 pm

Me too, Wheelz! Kamaka has 2 of the coolest hot rods on the planet!

My pick for Racer of the Week is Steve “Big Dog” Dominguez, from Huntsville, Alabama, formerly from Derby, Kansas. Steve was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Don Cabor. Thanks, Donnie! Also special thanks to Timothy Ross, who helped get me and Steve hooked up. Tim is scheduled for an August Racer of the Week segment. I appreciate Don and Tim's help very much.

Beware of the Big Dog. He is serious business in the Super Street racing world. Steve and his ‘67 Camaro have been in the winners circle more times than we could even count! He has been in the Jegs All Star race multiple times, and has been a Jegs All Star Champion! He has several National Event wins going back at least a dozen years, and his Division 5 record is the best in his class, ever.

Steve recently moved to Alabama and another Division. If I was a Super Street Racer in Division 5, I'd have mixed feelings about that. For one thing, the Big Dog who has beat everybody again and again for so long is no longer around to hand out L's to everybody has moved away, but he's also one of the nicest people anybody'd want to meet. He will be missed by everyone.

His dedication to the Air Force and to his family, not to mention his committment to his position with Millenium Corporation is an example for everybody to admire. He just knows how to do things right, and he has been doing that for as long as he's been around.

There are a lot of heavy hitters in the Wichita Area and I hope these nominations will start a trend to put some of that talent in my future features. The group of racers there are a second family to all who know them, and in my opinion these people are a national treasure. Steve Domingues is an American Hero, both on and off the track.

Steve, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

I'd like to take a moment to apologize for the Citykings' failed feature a couple of weeks ago, folks. It sucked. We played fine, but we were unable to get a connection to the program other than with our guitar player Bill's cell phone, and the sound was awful. We hope that we'll get another chance some time and we'll have full audio and video quality. Thanks to BP, Barb and Bud for allowing us to play a set; it just hurts more than we can say that it wasn't anywhere near our standards. It's a good band and we have good songs, but all things happen for a reason, and we take full responsibility for that situation. Next time, if there is a next time, we'll have it right. Have mercy.
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jul 16, 2018 3:59 pm

My Picks for Racers of the Week for today, July 16th are Ryan Ho and Kimo Thompson, from Aiea, Oahu, Hawaii. Ryan and Kimo were recommended to me by our friend Michael Baba Balbarino, who is the admin of the great 808_FUEL page, which has all the up-to-date information on motorsports in the Garden State. Thanks, Michael!

Both Ryan and Kimo have long and colorful histories as drag racers in Hawaii. Since they teamed up some years back, they have run successfully at major events and are one of the most popular and well-respected drag race teams in Hawaii.

Their 1923 Model T altered is an outstanding example of old-school brought up to modern times, and I particularly like the solid red paint job on it. Simple is good. It just looks great, and it runs as good as it looks. They recently won the HDRL'S 1ST ANNUAL REYNOLD M CRIVELLO MEMORIAL DAY DRAGS this past May at the renovated Hilo dragstrip.

Ryan bought the car in 2014 . At that time, it was just a body and frame, but with the help of Tom Brown of Sportcraft Racing and Erwin Sakima and Kilani Fender, 9 month later they were ready to hit the track! The motor is a 615 CI Big Chief Chevy, built by Brandon Murukami of Aiea Hawaii. The best ET is a 7.45 at 178 mph. Ryan and Kimo would like to thank their crew: Erwin Sakima , Eric Lum, Former Racer of the Week Russell Izumo. Regan Lum , and Clinton Ho.

Kimo told me that they could not race without the help of Louie Perreira of Louie’s Auto Repair . They plan on trying to go quicker and still have fun! Kimo said to them, that’s what most important!

Ryan and Kimo, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jul 23, 2018 6:27 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Tim Singer, from Salem, Ohio. Tim was recommended to me by our friend, former Racer of the Week and the leader of the DADs Old-Fashioned Street Car Shootout group, Don Turner, "Mr.Z". Thanks, Don!

Tim is 32 years old, a technician by trade and has been so for 12 years. He just recently finished 91B-wheeled vehicle repairer qualification for the United States Army. He currently serves in the Army Reserve, is a technician for a GM dealer, and is the proud father of three wonderful children. Tim will be married for 6 years as of July 30th.

He's been drag racing for 16 years, started off driving when he turned 16 in the '70 Camaro being featured tonight. the car was a lot different back then and has gone through many transitions in the 22 years that Tim and his Dad have had it. The car has been a father-and-son project since they took ownership. It's powered by a 489" big block Chevy, with a th400 trans doing the shifting and a 9” outback to put it all down. Tim's fastest pass to date is a 9.41 with a small sniff of the laughing gas. Typically the car can be seen in a bracket race platform, but from time to time he enters it in the local DAD’s fastest streetcar shootout as a street legal outlaw or 6.0 index. His most recent accomplishment was a win in the 6.0 index series at Quaker city motorsports Park on July 14th.

Tim would like to give a very special thanks to his father Thomas Singer for providing him with not only the opportunity to pilot this hot rod, but for so many great nights working together making it what it is today. Also a very special thanks to his wonderful crew: his wife Chastity Singer, and his kids Hailie, Deegan and Jemma, and to his Mom Shery Singer. Tim also thanks DragList LIVE for this opportunity to be featured.

He said to be on the lookout next year for another Singer racing machine. He's hoping to hit the ground running with the new car. He says for everyone to have fast, reliable safe passes and keep the rubber side down.

Thanks for being with us, Tim. We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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