Up until we left Indianapolis on Thursday morning, our weather had been sun, sun and extra helpings of sun.
All our prayers for a cooler day seemed to get answered all at once, and the drive to Michigan was pouring rain.
Bad weather is a common risk during a road trip, and we decided to pull off the highway in South Bend, Indiana for a lunch break.
Sadly, bad food is another common road trip peril, and let’s just say; Our stop was picturesque, but neither speedy nor delicious.
Thankfully, the rain let up by the time we finally got back on the road and by the time we got to Muskegon, the weather was absolutely perfect for a car show.
All the stops on Power Tour have been friendly and welcoming but none so much as Muskegon, MI. There were signs and banners everywhere welcoming us to the town, and it seemed like every street, parking lot and driveway in the whole place was full with cool cars and welcoming waves.
If it’s possible to say that one stop was the best of the tour so far, we might have to go with Muskegon. It’s also a very pretty town, so if you’re passing that way, stop by there and tell them we suggested it.
The whole crew was really excited about the drive to Indianapolis from Nashville. The route looked amazing; twisting two-lane roads through Indiana farmland, and the show itself was going to be held inside the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
We were all looking forward to seeing the Speedway and the Indy Museum, but if there’s one truth about roadtripping, it’s that you should never be too set on actually reaching your destination at the desired time.
First we hit a nasty traffic jam. You know you’re not going anywhere when the GPS offers this suggestion:
The traffic put us way behind schedule, although it did give us a chance to meet some of our fellow Power Tour participants.
When we finally cleared the parking lot, the roads were, in fact, incredible, but our Pep Boys drivers had a plane to catch in Indy that evening, so after a Cracker Barrel Brunch, we hit the main highway.
Those of us who straggled behind found a very stern police office guarding the entrance to the track when we finally arrived. No amount of pleading or threats would make him let us in, so we parked around the corner from the track in a small church parking area.
We weren’t the only ones to fall afoul of Officer Mean, and pretty soon the whole parking lot was full of cars and local residents were strolling around to see the impromptu car show.
We met two fellows in town for a work training conference who saw the Camaro while on break and just had to stop to check it out.
We also met a new addition to the Power Tour who was rolling in a beautiful Grand National. When he saw our Spectre shirts, he popped the hood and showed off a Spectre filter. Awesome car.
Take that Indy. We didn’t need your stupid car show. We’ll make our own.
We realize that in all the rush and excitement of setting up the truck and tearing it down and driving through the country and watching drag racing and eating at Cracker Barrel, we’ve forgotten our manners.
You are all probably wondering when we’ll get around to introducing the key players in this crazy adventure. You know, the main stars without whom, none of this would be possible. Well, we apologize for the wait. In no particular order, please meet…the Spectre Power Tour Cars:
The 70 Maverick – Many of you have seen this car on Speedhunters. com or at other Spectre events. The Maverick being on Power Tour has a special importance, as it was here that its original engine met a nitrous fueled demise, leading to a contest as to its rebuild.
The coolest submission was the suggestion to repower the little Ford with a 2JZ toyota supra engine, and that suggestion came from none other than Lance Peltier, who is currently piloting the car on this tour.
All the Spectre cars are fitted with Spectre air intakes, and the Maverick has custom aluminum door panels and spoilers as well as custom turbo fittings. It’s a really unusual car, and probably one of the most talked about in the Spectre fleet.
The Black ‘07 Shelby Mustang -One of the newer cars in the fleet, the Mustang is still basically stock but for a trial intake set-up. It’s being used for developing carbon fiber cold air intakes and front and rear spoilers. Keep an eye out for the quick pony at the Spectre 341 Challenge next weekend.
The Green Camaro - Our green 2nd gen is barely referred to as a ‘71 or any other description, it’s always the “Green Camaro”. One of the oldest active Spectre project cars, the Green Camaro was originally raced by Cam Douglas from Optima . He won silverstate in it and after Amir purchased it, it became one of the first cars to be campaigned at track events under the Spectre banner.
The ‘99 F250 – The only automatic in the whole Spectre stable, the Ford was purchased new as personal truck, because Amir was intrigued by the Supercharged V10. Rumor has it that this truck came in to the Rosenbaum’s family at the same time as Amir’s youngest son — and that Amir actually took a little time-out from being a labor coach to go pick it up.
The truck has been a great support and camera vehicle on this trip, as it hauls the luggage as well as just plain hauling …
The ‘05 GTO – When the GTO first became available, Amir thought it was cool, and looking at it now, it really was one of the first of the new options for modern muscle cars. Originally yellow, the Pontiac is now Spectre Signature black and the 6-liter V8 makes the perfect place to test the Spectre G8/GTO V2 intake. Other modifications include the accu-aire air bag suspension, and of course, those radical fender flares and spoilers.
The 70 1/2 Carbon Camaro -Unofficially known as “Brandy’s car” (but only by Brandy), the Carbon Camaro debuted at SEMA 2010 to extremely positive reviews. Amir wanted to the car to “look like a race car” and of course, at Spectre, we never fake it, so the car performs like a race car too. At the time of this writing, Brandy has just put the Camaro in the Good Guys winner’s circle in Colorado and she, Mike and Lisa are hoofing it across the country to meet us in Nashville . The Camaro features Anvil carbon fenders front clip and hood, an LS1 out of a 99 Trans-Am and its overall appearence is based on a mid 70’s IROC car. For more details on the Camaro check out the August 2011 issue of Hot Rod Magazine.
The ‘70 Mach 1 – Last year the blue Mustang was the primary race vehicle for Spectre events. Powered by a 351 Cleveland stroked to 408 and set up with all the Spectre aero, engine and interior products the car has a very personal importance to Amir as it was purchased from the original owner, and despite the radical Spectre modifications, it maintains some of that original feel.
The 2011 Cadillac CTSV wagon – The Caddy is the newest Spectre project. Those of you who have followed our Bonneville racing already know that Amir has a fondness for high powered Cadillac motors. You’ll also know that no new car is safe from improvement in the hands of the Spectre crew. The Cad has been deemed too chunky and is on a radical weight loss plan. To learn more about project FatCad, head over to BangShift.com.
The ‘70 El Camino – The El Camino is a mid-engine LS7 built by So Cal Speed Shop for a Hard Shine TV project. This is probably one of the most famous Spectre cars, and it certainly attracts a lot of attention going down the road and parked in front of our booth.
For more shots of the Spectre cars in action, scroll through the gallery below.
Power Tour is a like an alternate reality where everyone drives a cool car and no one ever minds if you need to merge in to their lane.
After the Georgia stop on Sunday, we took a curving back road approach to Alabama, on Monday morning.
We keep starting sentences this way, but “One of the coolest things about Power Tour…” is how in the smaller towns, folks set up picnics on their porches, and out in their yards and just sit by the road waving at the cars going by. We felt like celebrities all the way from Georgia to Alabama.
We were welcomed to the Montgomery show by the sounds of drag cars.
After cruising the grassy show field at the Montgomery Motorsports Park, we left Alabama early Monday morning for a break-neck dash to Nashville, Tennessee in order to meet up with the Morrows and some special guests from Pep Boys who will be taking a turn behind the wheel for the next leg of the journey – up to Indianapolis.
One thing that has really been a pleasure on this trip — actually at all events, but especially on Power Tour — is meeting Spectre customers. Repeatedly we’ve been told how much people have liked the experience of working with the Spectre Team, and how Steve, or Mike, or Guy, or Brandy have gone above and beyond to help them pick out and install the perfect intake for their car. While we already know how amazing the Spectre team is, it still makes us feel really good to hear it from our customers.
Let’s have a peek at some of the customer cars we’ve seen so far while we try to remember what city we’re currently leaving (just kidding, it’s Nashville, just look at the view)
We’ll have interviews with lots of Spectre car owners up on the Products blog later next week, but for now, scroll through and imagine that it’s very, very hot where you are. Wow, it’s just like you’re here with us!
At Spectre, we’re very lucky to have such an amazing team and enough good friends that we’re able to cover multiple shows across the country at the same time. While the HRPT rig and cars have been traversing the South, the amazing Morrow Family has been running cones in Colorado ( then running cross country ) in the Carbon Camaro.
Brandy is working on a detailed recap of the Good Guys show in between gas stops as the Morrows head our way to meet us on Power Tour, but we just couldn’t wait to brag. Brandy fans, send our girl some congratulations because she drove that black 2nd Gen like she stole it and picked up her first win of 2011! Nice work, Brandy!
There’s no time for reveling in the glory though, the Morrows are racing against time now to get from Colorado to meet up with the rest of us in Nashville (and maybe get a few more autocross runs in?)
Over the roar of the engine Brandy told us about their progress, “Though we’ve had a couple slight hiccups with the fuel pump again which we have had to let cool down, we are approx 100 miles away from St. Louis on I 70 east. We hope to make Nashville before midnight as long as the car cooperates.”
Drive safe, Mike, Lisa and Brandy. We’ll see you soon!
If there could be anything wrong with a week-long cruise across the country with daily car shows featuring thousands of muscle cars, hot rods, race cars, and custom builds, it would only be that there is too much good stuff to do and see.
This morning started with a dilemma. The first leg of Power Tour would take us from Cocoa Beach to Valdosta, Georgia. The big question was, “Do we go to the official kick-off and driver’s meeting at the Kennedy Space Center, followed by a chance to see the shuttle launch area, or do we take a detour and head for the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, FL?”
Big Daddy won and we all hopped in the cars and hit the road. The first scenic stop on our drive was a gas station, a stop which will be repeated many times before the week ends. Somehow, even a chore like stopping for gas is sort of fun when the whole gas station is wall to wall muscle cars.
The drive to the Garlits Museum was lovely and uneventful. We saw some fellow PT participants on the road, and just generally took the time to get used to caravanning and enjoy the feel of being on the road.
The Museum itself is so fantastic that it will need a post all its own, so stay tuned for a full gallery of photos from inside. This is a must see stop for any race fan.
We left the museum a little before lunch, and immedietely hit a snarl of traffic. Luckily, our good friend Lance was in the lead and he boldy piloted the Maverick on a successful detour and we all made it safely to our lunch stop.
Lunch went long and it was a mad dash the last 120 miles to South Georgia Motor Speedway. One great thing about Power Tour is if you become separated from your lead car, you can pretty much follow any muscle car on the road and end up in the right place.
We were greeted at the Speedway by the sounds of 1/4 mile passes as participants took their cars down the dragstrip for fun and glory. The track looked tempting, but so did the show car field and the vendor displays. Once again, just too much to choose from!
Tomorrow we take the back roads and end up in Montgomery, Alabama. Stay tuned, and tell what you’d like to see covered here, or on our Facebook page.
If you’d like to see more from Power Tour, check out the excellent coverage on the Hot Rod Magazine Blogs.
Today was the first show of the 2011 Hot Rod Power Tour. The Spectre crew was up before the sun, which we watched rise in the windshield reflections of the Spectre cars as we fortified ourselves for the day ahead.
After breakfast, it was a scavenger hunt to find a coin operated car wash, as the cars were covered in bugs and oil from the cross-country open transport from Los Angeles to Florida.
Washing eight cars in an hour might seem like an impossible task, but we worked like a well oiled assembly line, and when drying the cars seemed like it might be our downfall, a fellow Power Tourer, Gary Watson, came to our rescue with a squeegee. As we’ve come to realize, that sort of willingness to help out a stranger is the spirit of Power Tour.
We were at the show field with plenty of time to help set up the truck, and even take some beauty shots!
The show was a blast, with all kinds of cars with all kinds of engines. As always, we were pleased to see Spectre filters and intakes on a variety of interesting and beautiful builds.
We spent a lot of the day talking with customer and future customers about the Spectre product line, vehicles and events.
Tomorrow we start our journey for Valdosta, GA, and in good company!
The Spectre crew is in Cocoa Beach, Florida and tomorrow is the official start of Hot Rod Power Tour.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Power Tour, it began in the mid 90’s when Hot Rod staff members decided to revive the real road trip, and left Los Angeles on a cross country adventure. Participants who made the entire drive were inducted in to the “Long Hauler Gang”.
The event now has thousands of participants, some in for the “long haul” and others stopping by local events and car shows as the tour passes nearby.
Eight Spectre vehicles AND the show rig will be on the road all week, with special guests taking turns behind the wheel.
Here’s where we’ll be headed:
Saturday June 4
Cocoa Beach, FL Port Canaveral
Sunday June 5
Valdosta, GA South Georgia Motorsports Park
Monday June 6
Montgomery, AL Montgomery Motorsports Park
Tuesday June 7
Nashville, TN LP Field
Wednesday June 8
Indianapolis, IN Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Thursday June 9
Muskegon, MI Downtown Muskegon
Friday June 10
Detroit, MI Metro Beach Metropark
If we’ll be by your hometown, keep an eye out for the Spectre cars, or stop by the show and say hi at the booth!
We’ll try to post photos here all week long, so if you aren’t able to join us, you can still be a part of the adventure.
As you all know, Spectre is excited to support Pep Boys and we’ve attended all the Pep Boys Speed Shop Grand Openings. We wanted to share some shots of Glen Burnie Speed Shop opening and encourage anyone in the New Jersey area to stop by the Paterson Speed Shop opening this weekend.
If you are nearby, have a car or just want to come hang out for some great food and fun times, come on by!
Paterson Speed Shop – Sat June 4-5
261 McLean Blvd
Paterson, NJ 07540
Don’t forget to come say hi to the crew at the Spectre Booth.
We are always posting about fun events after they’ve happened, so here’s a little advance invite for a change!
Spectre is excited to support Pep Boys and we plan to attend all three of the upcoming Pep Boys Grand Openings. We had a great time at the Orange, CA opening and we know the upcoming East Coast shows are going to be a blast as well.
If you are in the area, have a car or just want to come hang out for some great food and fun times, stop by any of these Pep Boys Grand Openings.
Don’t forget to come say hi to the crew at the Spectre Booth.
There are many aspects of the Spectre 341 Challenge which make it an unusual race. Everything from the surrounding town (which seems straight out of a spaghetti western) to the race course itself (which seems to have been cut right out of Germany’s Nürburgring) makes a run at 341 different from the normal track event.
The most amazing thing about 341 though isn’t the wooden sidewalks or the off-camber turns, but rather the fact that every participant has an equal chance at glory, because this isn’t a racetrack you can memorize, it’s a real road, and the landmarks and surface change every year.
No one better demonstrates the egalitarian nature of racing 341 than 2010 driver, Jeremy Kappus. A Reno native in a self-tuned ‘06 Mitsubishi EvoIX RS, Jeremy shocked everyone on the first day of racing by turning a faster time than any other racers on the grid, including big names like Millen, Gigliotti and Gillies. While the high horsepower cars eventually claimed the top three spots, Kappus stayed close by and finished with amazingly consistent results in the mid 3:25 range. Pretty impressive!
Jeremy is coming back for 2011, and we caught up with him to get his thoughts on race cars vs. street cars, why driving is the best way to tune a car and what new 341 drivers should expect from the Virginia City hill.
What do you do (day job)? For the last 3-4 years, I’ve been working on cars, specializing in mainly Evos, doing everything from regular maintenance to track prepping and performance part installs (clutchs,cams,turbos etc). Along with mechanical work, I also tune Evos, Subarus, Nissans and the occasional unusual project. I’m currently helping (fellow 341 participant) Adam Auerbach tune his GMC Syclone to run on E85. I specialize in tuning stock ECUs.
Have you always liked cars? I’ve been working on cars since I was a teenager. I originally was in to stereo systems and lowriders, but it wasn’t terribly fulfilling, and the first time I saw Rally racing on Speed TV, I knew that was a direction I wanted to go in. Seeing those 4-wheel drive 4-cylinder Turbo cars was exciting, those cars are insane!
How long have you had the Evo? I bought the Evo new in 06 after getting frustrated with my previous project. I had learned a lot about tuning on a pretty extreme Subaru build, which, like many projects, had gotten way out of hand. It had a full turbo kit and a programmable ECU and at that time in Reno, you couldn’t just throw it on the dyno at a local shop and get a good tune. I had to teach myself, and mostly by ear. Try something, drive it, if it rattles, back it down…it wasn’t the best way to build a car and it was especially difficult to get all those aftermarket parts to work together properly. I got tired of blowing it up and rebuilding it, and I had read that the 2006 Evo offered a fully programmable stock ECU, which I found intriguing.
What are some of the modifications from stock? The Evo is such a good, solid platform that you can do great things just by refining and blueprinting the stock package. I felt like people rarely drove or tuned these cars to their potential. The motor has never even been out of my car. It has upgraded Alcon brakes and KW coilover suspension and I did change the cams and springs but the turbo is stock, and on these cars, the turbo is really the powerplant. I wanted to see how far I could take it with the stock turbo. It’s actually pretty amazing, even in mostly stock trim, the car is fast enough to scare me.
I did change the seats to racing seats, trying to stay in the seat during a turn by holding on to the steering wheel isn’t how you want to race!
What was the first competitive driving you ever did? I’ve only been driving on a track for maybe four or five years. I started out by going to the drag strip with guys to help tune their cars, and then a friend took me to Reno Fernley Raceway. There I was, on the track in the Evo, hanging with trailered Porsches and I knew that I wanted to keep doing that kind of driving.
Driving on a track is so different from driving on the street. Even the most aggressive street driving is only maybe 75% of what you can do on a track. On the street, in the back of your mind, there’s always the concern of cross traffic, of speed limits…on the street you always have to think, “How am I going to save it?” And the thing is, you can’t.
Racing a closed course allows you to clear your head of normal thoughts and 341 is even more fun than a racetrack.
Why did you run the 341 Challenge in 2010? I believe that it’s really important for people in the car community to support racetracks and race events, so when I saw on the forums that someone was doing another race on Hwy 341, I wanted to make sure I did my part to support it. Also, the entry fee is incredibly cheap for that much track time.
What did you think about the event last year? I ran the Ferrari club hill climb early in 2010 and it was really fun. Racing the Spectre 341 was interesting because it was a first time race and because of the other participants. Racing with Lou (Gigliotti) and Steve Millen was cool. You can’t bench race it. You can’t practice. Driving up at 45 mph in one lane is totally different than driving the same road at speed. I genuinely had no idea how I’d do against those guys, and really, neither did they. It was the first time for them too.
Why do you want to return to 341 this year? This kind of racing is the best ever. After a few runs, you blank out the cliffs and it’s all about the actual road and corners. Each corner flows, compared to the race tracks I’ve been on. There’s no slow corners, no bumps.
From what I’ve heard, racing Hwy 341 was almost a cult in the old days and that makes sense, it’s really really fun, it lets you test your memory, your driving skill, your tuning skills. It’s just a perfect test of driver and machinery.
Do you have any recommendations for the new entrants this year? Make sure your car is fully functional and reliable before you get to the hill. It could ruin your day if you waste your runs due to mechanical problems. If it isn’t mechanically sound, you can’t tune it, and if it isn’t tuned, you can’t drive it.
Go to have fun, let go of all your expectations and just see what it’s all about. Don’t go to compete with anyone else. It’s all about you and your car. Look at yourself, see how you can better your own driving. The cars are all too different to compete with. Don’t let someone else push you off the cliff!
Any last thoughts for readers? This is what I like doing. I just want to see what my car can do. Racing shows you where you’ve cut corners in the build, and I want to do things right. Road racing makes you a consistent driver, and it reminds you to keep all the fasteners tight. My advice to new racers: Use a torque wrench.
Everyone knows that Texas is bigger than life. We arrived in Ft. Worth with big expectations for the show. We set up on Thursday while fighting some Texas-sized windstorms. If it wasn’t for our friends over at the Hotchkis Sport Suspension who rushed over to help Brandy and Lisa with the awning, we might still be searching for them out in the Texas landscape.
Luckily, we got all set up without losing anyone and had a quick glance at the autocross, which was unlike the usual peanut shaped course. This course would be on average a high 30 second to one- minute course depending on the driver, but had a couple more turns including a quick 90 degree lefthander that came right after a fast speed right sweeper. Little did the competitors know that the quick 90 degree lefthander would ruin many a fast lap because of the speed they would be carrying into that turn after the big sweeper, but we didn’t have that fun until Friday.
We were greeted on Friday by some familiar, but unexpected, faces. Not only did Brian Finch and Albert bring their cars out (after attending the El Toro Run To The Coast Event only weeks before), but Rob Macgregor brought out his no limits truck and John Hotchkis and Rob Phillips came out with the ’69 Chevy C10 to run in Vendor class for team Hotchkis.
The booth traffic was light, so Brandy and Steve headed over to the autocross course where Jason from Gateway Mustangs, both DSE cars, and Rob Phillips’ C-10 were all parked and waiting to run. After some tire pressure and suspension adjustment, with help from John Hotchkis, Brandy was surprised to find herself right at the top, running neck and neck with the other vendors. By the end of the day, the Spectre Carbon Camaro was in the top three! Could Brandy keep it there? We’d find out on Saturday.
Saturday came quickly, probably because we were all so excited about Brandy’s excellent autocross performance. The morning went well and Brandy was in the running for 2nd place while back at the booth, Guy Smith was building custom intakes and answering tech questions.
On the last run of the day, fellow enthusiast, Brian Finch hopped in the car with Brandy and coached her through the run to claim 2nd place, an amazing finish against some really tough competitors!
With no autocross on Sunday, the Spectre team caught up with some of their favorite customers. There were tons of Spectre equipped cars in the crowd, from Carson Collvins ‘41 Chevy Ratrod to Ted Parrish in his ‘56 Safari . Spectre friends Ed & Sue Cullen with their ‘40 Ford DLX and Tim Chesney with his ‘65 Mustang Fastback brought their cars out just to park in the Spectre Booth for the whole weekend. They were very kind and definitely helped promote our product with their Spectre Intakes.
Guy finished up the installs, including one on Jerry Watson’s ‘69 Nova . We did an install in October on one of Jerry’s other cars and he was so impressed he came back with the Nova to get another Spectre Intake installed.
We’ll offer some more detailed looks at some of the customer cars in our “New Products” blog, so make sure you check that out!
What’s the best way to tell which street car is the fastest?
You can subject it to the very basic metrics of 0 – 60, 1/4 mile and drive it in a big circle. But all that gets you is a car that goes 0 – 60 quickly, runs the 1/4 mile swiftly and goes fast in a circle. Who drives their car like that every day? On the street?
The next step is to put it on a track and get a lap time. Maybe compare it to other cars and see which gets the fastest lap time. The thing is, a track is designed to be a safe place to drive fast. There are drive-off areas, specially designed guardrails, track camber angled to help the car through the turn and it’s usually level. Some tracks have a little hill and boy does that feature make them special.
Inevitably, when you see or read these tests they always include a road section – if it’s a magazine test, the editors usually find some nice twisty back road near the track, and they drive the cars there.
Then, when the results come out, the “winner” is often times not the car with the fastest 0 – 60, 1/4 mile, lateral -g or even lap time. Then angry letters from readers ensue. They all want to know one thing:
Why?
Why didn’t the fastest car win? Usually the editors not so diplomatically reply along the lines of: “Because it’s a piece of crap. It didn’t make us feel good when driving it – there was a lack of confidence….” and so on. And so far, that hasn’t satisfied anyone.
So then, how can you determine a way to find out what the fastest street car is?
The Europeans have a solution. It’s called The Nürburgring.
It’s where car companies test their cars. It’s a road with a timing system. It involves sections where the driver has to feel fully confident in the capabilities of the car, and how it communicates with the driver, how it responds to driver input, because………. well……………there’s no other way to say it – you could die. They lose about one a week at the ‘Ring.
And that is why the car companies test there, even the manufacturers from the USA and Japan. That’s a long way to go to drive a car – but, it’s been the only place where you could test for the intangibles. Until now!
Introdücing The Nürburgring of Nüvada: The Spectre 341 Challenge. This is the place you find out how fast your street car really is. Not how fast it does 0 – 60 or the 1/4 mile – for that you could go to a Wednesday night test and tune session at you local drag strip, or you could sign up for one of many lapping sessions at the road course nearest you but all that will tell you is how fast your car is at a track, not on the street.
The Spectre 341 Challenge is for all intents and purposes, legal street racing with a timing system.
This is where you test your car for things there are no metrics for: The intangibles. Those ethereal and spectral flavors and traits of a car that can make it special……. or a piece of crap.
Hey, given enough time and money anyone can build a car to go fast on a track. So what? Real roads don’t look or drive like race tracks. This is a real road. This place has real consequences. The Spectre 341 Challenge answers the question: What is the fastest street car? Is it yours?
The Hot Rod Restoration Show serves the business-to-business side of the Hot Rod market. The show is produced exclusively for the hot rod, street rod, muscle car, and restoration markets. The Hotrod & Restoration Trade Show is a great place to share our new products, and scope out emerging trends in the market.
We were at the show to feature some of the Speed by Spectre muscle car cold air intakes for older and late model applications. We were so busy that we didn’t get many photos from the show, but here’s our booth during the set-up.
Although the folks in the East might disagree, for us on the west coast, winter has flown by, and we couldn’t believe it when we realized it was time for the Good Guys Season opener in Scottsdale, AZ.
Scottsdale always brings some unique cars that we don’t see anywhere else. Some of our favorites this year were Volkswagens and included a custom VW Bug made to look like a toy car, and a group of VW buses that all park together every year. Is it 1968?
The weather for the show was perfect all weekend long, and Friday was busy, with hot rods, street rods, muscle cars and classics all lined outside the entrance eager to claim their spot before heading to the vendor midway and check out the autocross. It was great to see such a big car count at what is a relatively new show on the Good Guys circuit.
We were set up in our usual spot near the back of the vendor midway next to PPG, Baer Brakes and Peak. We had a very special booth car for our demo install, Tim Kelly’s ‘67 El 442. No, that’s not a typo, it really is an El Camino/442. Definitely a one of one set up! Needless to say, the El 442 saw a lot of attention.
We love all the Good Guys events, but Brandy especially likes the stops which involve autocross, and the Arizona show started the autocross bright and early on Friday morning. Spectre’s Carbon Camaro was one of three official vendor cars, but there were lots of good friends running Spectre parts in other classes.
Despite vendor “competition” we’ve actually found the autocross to be a great place to work closely with other manufacturers. In Scottsdale, John Hotchkis, head of pro-touring suspension company, Hotchkis Performance teamed up with Brandy to work out the suspension tuning on the black Camaro.
This isn’t to say there was no competitive feeling in the crowd, Brandy was pretty thrilled to be just 8/10 of a second behind Brett Voelkel in the Ride Tech entry for a second place finish!
On Saturday, Brandy gave rides to lots of show goers, including Nicole Shumate, whose father Bill was running one of the most unusual entries in the autocross!
Nicole and her dad are building a Camaro, and she was really interested in learning about autocross. Nicole hopes to have her car done by next year so she can come out and start running the autocross. We certainly support that, and can’t wait to see Nicole and her friends on the track.
Sunday came quick and it was time to pack up. Brandy helped hand out awards and then it was off to Fort Worth, Texas. Will it be a TEXAS sized show?
