Jeff Koch has been the West Coast Editor for Hemmings Motor News for over ten years. He has been a professional automotive writer and photographer for more than 20 years and has written and taken photographs for magazines as divers as Hot Rod and Super Street. Jeff worked for the Johnny Lightning die cast car company, and he’s an avid collector of die cast cars himself and has collected for over 20 years. Which ties in with today because it happens to be Christmas 2014! So pour yourself some egg...
Dec 25, 2014•31 min
Seattle resident and racecar driver Don Kitch Jr. has been involved in motorsports for over 25 years. He is a veteran of over 200 professional and amateur racing starts. In 1987 Don and his wife Donna founded ProFormance Racing School at Pacific Raceway where he is the Chief Instructor. In 1997 Don founded Team Seattle focusing on the 24-Hours of Daytona Sports Car Race as a fundraiser for Children’s Hospital of Seattle and in the past 12 years they have raised nearly $6.5 million for the hospit...
Dec 24, 2014•30 min
Eric Cook, is the face and voice behind Eric The Car Guy. He’s created a website filled with massive information, detailed instruction, and fact filled answers for all things automotive. His videos will help you with all your automotive repairs and service needs. Not only does he cover basic service issues but Eric goes in-depth in his instructional videos on repairs, diagnostics, frequently asked questions, tools, what it’s like to work in the automotive repair field, and he has a cool forum. H...
Dec 23, 2014•32 min
Jeff Zwart is a commercial film director, racer, photographer, cameraman, and author. He’s shot commercials for Porsche, BMW, Cadillac, GM, Huyndai, Ford, and many others. He’s a graduate of the Art Center of Design and has enjoyed an exceptionsl life and career around automobiles. He’s traveled all over the world shooting, directing, racing, and photographing cars. He’s collaborated with David Bull Publishing on many automotive books. He speaks and lectures and has driven in numerous races and ...
Dec 22, 2014•41 min
Mike Renner is a professional driver for BMW and is responsible for corporate sales and the BMW Performance Center in Greenville South Carolina. He began racing in 1983 and Mike has competed in a variety of classes including GT, showroom stock, improved touring and sports racers for the past 27 years. He started instructing at the BMW Performance Center just after it’s opening in the fall of 1999 and his list of trainees includes new drivers, racers, F.B.I agents and Secret Service members who a...
Dec 19, 2014•30 min
Traci Hrudka’s name is synonymous with drag racing and the Mr. Gasket Company that was founded by her father Tom Hrudka and Uncle Joe Hrudka. She’s started working in the company in 1982 and after the company was sold in 1997 she moved to Intermec Technologies. Today she operates the Quarter Mile Foundation along with Project 1320. Traci has set out to preserve drag racing’s history from the views of its pioneers and legends. Traci epitomizes the term “Life in the fast lane”.
Dec 18, 2014•29 min
Ross Bentley is a racecar driver, a driving coach and high performance driving instructor. His website Speed Secrets, is a landing page for anyone wanting to learn how to be a better and faster driver. He’s raced against Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr, Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi, Paul Tracy, Rick Mears, and many others. Ross has driven Indy cars, GT sports cars, and he won the 1998 U.S. Road Racing Championship and the 2003 Daytona 24-Hour race. He’s passionate about helping others perform b...
Dec 17, 2014•36 min
J.G. Francis is the owner of Mercedes Motoring in Glendale California. He fell in love with Mercedes-Benz living next door to a Mercedes mechanic who taught him how strong and enduring the marque was. His passion for well-built and well engineered cars combined with his entrepreneurial spirit drove him to launch a business where he takes well loved old Mercedes-Benz cars produced between 1968 and 1985. He carefully and lovingly restores them to their original grandeur. Driving one of his comfort...
Dec 16, 2014•35 min
Sandra Button has been the Chairman of the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance since 2002. She was the Executive Director for decades prior and has helped to inspire and guide the growth of the collector car hobby in to a truly global celebration of the automobile. Sandra participates and officiates automotive events from Asia and the Middle East to South America. She and her husband Martin have an eclectic collection of automobiles that they drive in events including the Mille Miglia, ...
Dec 15, 2014•30 min
Peter Bodensteiner is the Founder of Stance & Speed (third from the left above), a company that publishes and sells books for automotive enthusiasts. He is a 14-year veteran of automotive publishing and is an avid enthusiast, racing fan and driver. Peter has edited or published over 200 books and calendars, 14 of which have earned the International Automotive Media Award and the International Motor Press Association’s Ken W. Purdy award. The publishing house is also the home of the Stance &a...
Dec 13, 2014•37 min
Jason Fenske produces and creates the YouTube channel Engineering Explained. His video lessons focus on automotive engineering topics and provide the viewer with a clear and concise description of how things work. His passion to teach people through his video had generated a loyal following. Want to know how a V12 engine works, or how the clutches and torque converters operate? Jason’s your guy. Engineering Explained is a wonderful go-to site for quick, clear, and thoughtful explanations of ever...
Dec 11, 2014•33 min
Russell Byrnes is the founder of Linear Edge, a global motorsport lifestyle company. He designs and develops innovative and unique wall sculptures for motorsport enthusiasts. Prior to Linear Edge, Russell was an architect at Fusch Architects, where he designed upscale, luxury residential properties. Additionally, Russell spent time in Chile participating in the Start-Up Chile program for entrepreneurs and interned for the Editor-in-Chief of Jalopnik, an online media community for automotive enth...
Dec 10, 2014•26 min
Gunther Raupp has been a professional photographer for over 30 years. He shoots campaigns for Audi, Buick, Fiat, Ford, Jaguar, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo and others. His work has been displayed in museums around the world and hangs in private collections as well. Back in 1984 he fulfilled his dream of owning a Ferrari and photographed his Dino 246 Spider creating his own Ferrari calendar. He sent one to Enzo Ferrari and that began an unparalleled history of photog...
Dec 09, 2014•33 min
Kenny Welch is the owner of Kenny's Rod Shop in Boise Idaho. He’s been playing with cars and building hot rods for over 25 years. His focus is on cars from the 30s, 40s and 50s and as long as he and his talented crew are cutting and modifying vehicles they are happy. Their complete fabrication shop can handle chassis, body, paint and complete assembly projects. Kenny really loves designing and building wild and crazy suspensions and he’s owned over 300 VW bugs and cut up more of them than he can...
Dec 08, 2014•27 min
Darwin Holmstrom is the (acquisitions) senior editor for Motorbooks, a wonderful source for the worlds best transportation books for almost 50 years. He’s been a part of the team for the past fourteen years. Darwin has written or co-written over two-dozen books on motorcycles and muscle cars, including the best-selling books Top Muscle , Lucifer’s Sword MC, Let’s Ride, Camaro: Five Generations of Performance, BMW Motorcycles, The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection, GTO, Camaro, Billy L...
Dec 08, 2014•35 min
Jim Simpson is the owner of Contemporary Classics of WA in Clinton, Washington and Simpson Design. At his companies he oversees the restoration of interesting, older European cars and special design projects. Jim’s history with cars goes back to 1975 when he started his business and along the way he’s been involved in numerous custom autmotive ventures. He designed and built the Blue Ray 3 for the Nardi Company in Italy. That vehicle was displayed at Concorso Italiano in 1992. He’s worked with K...
Dec 04, 2014•36 min
Geoff Hacker has been called “Captain Curiosity” and the author and Cars Yeah guest Tom Cotter titled him “The Snipe Hunter” in his book Corvette in the Barn . Geoff’s a college professor, automotive historian, researcher, and adventurer. He’s the king of automotive barn finds and he’ll go anywhere to uncover and bring back to life vehicles many of us never knew existed or thought were long gone. Along with his friend of 30 plus years Rick D’Louhy they co-produce the website Forgotten Fiberglass...
Dec 03, 2014•44 min
Imagine growing up with a grandfather who holds the Guiness Book of World Records for owning the most cars. Eric LeMay was that boy. He is the Founding Director of the Harold E. LeMay Museum which grew in to the LeMay, America’s Car Museum in 1997. He now works as a consultant, to the LeMay Family Collection Foundation at Marymount in Tacoma Washington, a second automotive museum he has helped develop. After spending some time as a sports journalist he worked in communications for the government...
Dec 02, 2014•35 min
Peter Harholdt is both a museum photographer and a veteran racer. He is a partner with Stance & Speed in the Monograph Series, where they publish automotive books. His clients have included the Smithsonian, the Louvre, MoMA, and the White House. He has raced in IMSA and the SCCA and has had podium finishes in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Can-Am. He’s also run at Bonneville. Among Peter’s recent automotive books are: Can-Am Cars in Detail, the Stance & Speed Monograph Series, and The A...
Dec 01, 2014•32 min
Mike Cardenas is the Master Detailer for SweetCars, in addition to being a nationally recognized automotive detailer. He is recognized as one of the top 20 detailers in North America by Dupont Registry Magazine. He is also a contributing writer for various forums, blogs, and detailing websites. Mike was the first student of famed detailer Todd Cooperider, and the Esoteric Elite Detailer Academy. He’s a certified trainer and conducts workshops and clinics for both the public and professionals ali...
Nov 28, 2014•37 min
Dale LaFollette was the Track Manager at the Portland International Raceway for 27 years and oversaw up to 500 events a year from IMSA races to motocross, drag racing, police training, vintage racing, and more. He started selling racing photographs and metal sculpture through galleries while at the track in the 70s and 80s. During that time he started a mail order catalog business titled Vintage Motorphoto. When the Internet came along he jumped on board and sold through his website and eBay. Fo...
Nov 27, 2014•40 min
Roy Spencer owns Mercedes Heritage and has created Motorbinder, a beautifully presented photo book that leads the reader through the formative years of road racing in the United States. His creative selection of over 321 pages and 21,000 words along with carefully restored images take you on a journey with the great drivers and cars of the ‘50s and ‘60s. With an emphasis on the human side of the sport, the images surprise and impress and weave a story of drivers and marques in a golden age of mo...
Nov 27, 2014•32 min
Chuck Bennett is the president of Zymol, a unique and premium car care company that he started over 30 years ago. The unique formulas are rooted in nature and science and the first batch of Zymol was cooked up in a coffee urn in Chuck’s kitchen. The brand is known world wide among automotive enthusiasts and he’s been creating high quality car care for the most discerning collectors to the avid enthusiast who wants his or her vehicle to look their best while being protected from the elements. Ori...
Nov 25, 2014•38 min
Richard Pietruska’s Motor Art exhibits the dynamic fluid motion of the automobile while simplifying the basic design lines of some of the most exotic vehicles of the past and present. Richard studied automotive design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where he received a degree in automotive design and he earned his masters of fine arts degree there as well. He has been a professor at the college for over 40 years. He is a member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society and has won the ...
Nov 24, 2014•32 min
Kevin Davis is a self-described serial entrepreneur living in Montana where he manages five business ventures from web development to vacation homes. A car guy from an early age, Kevin has always enjoyed meeting other automotive enthusiasts and loves the car hobby. Never one to sit still, he started detailing cars and created his latest product, the Detailer’s Helper. It’s a lightweight, paint friendly tool belt designed for professionals and the home enthusiast who love to take care of their fa...
Nov 21, 2014•32 min
Scot Keller is the Chief Curator at America’s Car Museum. He directs the Museum’s exhibitory and exhibitions. His career in the automotive industry spans three decades. He’s worked at BMW, Callaway engineering, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Audi in advertising, merchandising, communications, and strategic development. He worked for the Chrysler Corporation in Detroit and for General Motors as well He had direct responsibility for GM’s heritage activities and co-founde the GM Heritage Center museum in Det...
Nov 20, 2014•33 min
Patrick Hong is a serial entrepreneur, an automotive enthusiast, and the founder and CEO of Prenostik. Prenostik is a public relations and marketing business intelligence, cloud-computing software platform that helps organizations tie consumer response to results. Passionate about any vehicle that goes fast, he is the former Executive Editor for Road & Track magazine and as an automotive writer he’s driven and tested numerous vehicles. He’s competed in 24-hour driving competitions around the...
Nov 19, 2014•37 min
Adam Pitale is the chief detailer, product engineer, and head of customer service at Adam’s Premium Car Care. At the age of 9 the entrepreneur bloomed and he started a small business, "Adam’s Bicycle Repair and Cleaning." From there he went on to washing and waxing the cars in his neighborhood, and at age 12, he hired his first employee, a 16 year-old boy from the neighborhood. His business grew in to a Mobile Detailing Business, and he specialized in limousine fleets through high school and col...
Nov 18, 2014•42 min
Lance Miller is Co-Owner of Carlisle Events, one of the first companies in the United States organized specifically to conduct and promote events for the collector car and truck hobby. Started in 1974 by Bill Miller Jr., Lance’s late father, the event has grown from being a swap meet to 13 automotive events and four collector car auctions. After running his own successful company, Lance returned to help run Carlisle Events along with his business partner Bill Miller Jr. In addition to his role a...
Nov 17, 2014•31 min
Tom Cotter has been a car-crazy guy his entire life. After selling his company in 2000 he bought himself a 289 Cobra and drove across the United States with his pal Peter Egan. Yes, that Peter Egan. His car collection grew and he wrote his first book, Homan-Moody, The Legendary Team . Then he wrote a series of six books on barn-finds including The Cobra in The Barn, The Hemi , The Vincent , The Corvette , and The Harley in The Barn . His latest book, 50 Shades of Rust was just released. He’s wri...
Nov 14, 2014•38 min
