The MuscleCar Place

Happy 2019! This episode marks the very first of another new year, so this month we'll talk about goals for the year as well as to take an inspiring look at people enjoying the hobby or business of the world of muscle cars in new and unique ways. This particular installment featured Mike Gehri who is enjoying both the business and hobby side of our world, but not in a way we've seen before. Mike is the graphic artist and game developer behind the software company Beer Money Games, the business behind the wildly successful game Demolition Derby 2.!

For the tenth year in a row, our final show of 2018 we again had the pleasure of having on the celebrity guest of the holiday season. He even told me that this show is his number one priority! Our interview was with the big man himself, the baddest sleigh driver on the autocross circuit, Santa Claus!

This weeks installment is the fourth and last of our LIVE from the show floor episodes from SEMA 2018. This time Bernie and I talked to Stacey  of Roush Performance Road Racing, Todd Westberg of Heidts Suspensions, Rick Love from Vintage Air, Will Baty from Centerforce Clutches, and we learned about licenced BOSS and Mach 1 Mustangs with Jason Engal from Classic Recreations. It was a pretty great week!

This weeks installment is the second of multiple LIVE from the show floor episodes from SEMA 2018. This time I check in with old friends and find out the latest in innovation and design. In this third installment I spoke with Dave Kass from QA1, as well as with Duston Nixon and Damron Atkins at the Traxxas display.

This weeks installment is the second of multiple LIVE from the show floor episodes from SEMA 2018. I was able to wander the floors of the show, see some trick products, catch up with industry leaders, and just have a little fun with friends. In this second installment I talk with Scott Bowers in the Ron Francis Wiring booth, Jeff Teel at Holley, Chris Blue and Jesse Henke by the ShockR Mustang, and wrap it all up with Optima Jim and his 69 Cyc

This weeks installment is the first of multiple LIVE from the show floor episodes from SEMA 2018. I was able to catch up once again with old friends of the show, see some amazing cars, and hear about some great products. This first installment is Bernie's interviews with the Ring Brothers, and Martin Klein of Recaro. I also caught up with Jeff Allison of Allison Customs and Jeremy McLleand in the Ron Francis Wiring booth.

This weeks interview is with friend of the show Jacob Davis. You should remember him from previous episodes #311 and #334 where he detailed his journey to obtaining his dream job at Hot Rod Magazine! Since that time Jacob has quickly made a name for himself and is enjoying the rewards of his efforts. As a result of this he now runs into many people in his travels, some of whom offer him interesting and unique propositions. The story that follows is the result of one of these conversations. Please note the word "allegedly" is used (a lot) in this show.

This weeks interview is with Mark Racop, founder and owner of Fiberglass Freaks, builders of 1966 Batmobiles that are Officially Licensed by DC Comics! At a young age Mark was fascinated by the Batmobile and knew he had to have one of his own someday. This was no passing fancy or little boys dream, it was a definite passion. During high school Mark and his friends decided to create a fan fiction batman episode and of course they had to have the ultimate prop to do it with. Using very limited resources and a 1974 Monte Carlo the boys built from scratch the car now known as Bat-One. Later on the television studio finally re-released the entire Batman series and Marks dad recorded all 160 episodes on VHS. Mark spent many many hours watching, pausing, and replaying the tapes for clues on how the vehicle was built. There are pictures of him at car shows posing next to the show vehicles and even these family photos got pulled into use as reference points.

n this episode of the show our guest is Mr. Colin Date, the all new Director of Marketing for National Parts Depot! Colin has been around restoration parts industry and automotive media business for 20 years and is no stranger to the ups, downs, people, and passions that make it all go round. He and NPD's Rick Schmidt new each other, had interacted quite a bit, and had a mutual respect for years. He is an all around car guy, not tied to any one specific brand (i.e. all muscle cars are good muscle cars, and loves the whole classic car culture!

Today's show is with Rob Dumovic, instructor from Executive Flyers Aviation. He is also the host of a podcast about aviation Plane Talk Podcast. I wanted him on the show to discuss his big goals in life and how he is chasing them. Rob told me his big goals are to be a world class aerobatic pilot, a top level air show performer, and to the join Red Bull Air race. These goals in aviation are saying you are going to drive at top level Nascar or be a famous movie star. He is aiming for the very top levels of the sport.

Today's show is with Dave Hall, founder of Restore a Muscle Car, lover of Trans Am (and all muscle cars), and even a past show guest (episode 38). Restore A Muscle Car is an impressive restoration business that he and his wife have built together that restores all muscle cars, but is always the one I think of first when it comes to the "Bandit" Trans Am. They also had a close relationship with Burt Reynolds (The Bandit) himself!

Today’s show is with Tom Burden, inventor of the GRYPMAT For those of you that need a clever place to put your tools while working on the car, this is the show you’ve been waiting for. If you’d like an A-Z lesson in taking an idea to market, winning SEMA Launch Pad, winning Shark Tank, and growing a business, this is still the show you’ve been waiting for!

Today's guest is Jon Chase, Brand Manager and Art Director at Hoonigan since 2014. Back in 2012 I met Jon at SEMA and we had him on TMCP #159. At that time he was with Maisto designing amazing car models. From there he went on to run his own clothing brand company called DSTROYR. That process led to an introduction to Hoonigan where he decided to head full time, which allowed him to do all of the fun stuff he enjoyed with DSTROYR, with more time for family, fun, and to pardon the pun, Hooning. In this episode we got to the bottom if what Hoonigan actually is ( a brand lifestyle, media creation, an apparel company) and detailed all of the ins and outs that go with it.

Today's show is perhaps one of the most important we've ever done at TMCP, and frankly speaking - it's the real reason this show started in the first place. Our guest is Brandon Bailey, a man I've never met in person but one that I was convinced my my great friend Kirk Hansen that I needed to know. Brandon had just purchased Kirk's Firebird in order to restore it as the feature car for a very-soon upcoming fundraiser to raise money in memoriam for the family of his best friend Daniel. This is the story of that journey. Branden Bailey had a best friend, Daniel Reed and they met at a sandlot baseball game before they were teenagers. These two became best friends as close as brothers and did everything together. They grew up riding bikes, playing football, and watching Smokey and the Bandit enough to wear out the tape. When Daniel was offered a 1980 Firebird his dreams of a car like in the movie came true. The boys spent many hours changing motors and fixing on the Firebird and driving around having a great time. Daniel was struck by a car while riding his motorcycle to work and passed away. Local friends and relatives put together a memorial run to raise money for his 8 year old son and wife that he left behind. Branden said around 70 cars showed up for the drive and everyone had a great time.

In the early 80's there were a few different car centered TV shows competing for the same viewers. There were the Dukes and the General Lee, but Michael Knight and KITT showed up with a different, more futuristic kind of automobile. Our guest this week is AJ Palmgren who is a Knight Rider Historian similar to how our own Corn Dog is to the General Lee. Between AJ and Joe Huth there is many many shows worth of information (plus a couple books) and the depth of research is astounding. Unfortunately many important people involved with creating and developing the series are no longer with us but these guys were able to interview and document many stories before they passed away.