CarStories

Legendary racing engineer Raoul "Sonny" Balcaen joins A.J. on the CarStories Podcast to talk about growing up in the epicenter of hot rod culture, drag racing with Ed Donovan, to building racecars with Jim Hall, Lance Reventlow and Carroll Shelby.

Alexander Weaver is the North American Car Specialist for RM Auctions.  He joins A.J. on the CarStories Podcast to talk about his upbringing in the car world, new trends in car collecting and gives a preview of RM's upcoming Arizona auction.

We travel to the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles to sit down one-on-one with Porsche enthusiast Magnus Walker.  After touring his entire shop, we speak we Magnus about his love for cars, becoming a brand ambassador for Porsche, current projects and the impact his vehicles are having in the car culture.

Motor Trend's Jessi Lang stops by the Petersen Automotive Museum to talk about hosting The J-Turn, how her automotive passion began and the road to recovery after her life changing accident.

Television host and metal fabricator Jessi Combs sits down with Chris and A.J. to talk about her unique upbringing, multiple life threatening accidents and what motivates her.

Chris and A.J. took the CarStories.com Podcast to Downtown Los Angeles for the 2014 LA Auto Show.  They took a in-depth looks at the all-new Cadillac ATS-V, Porsche GTS line-up and the Toyota Miraj, their hydrogen-powered vehicle.

Brendan Flynn, Sr. Director of Marketing at the Los Angeles Auto Show, sits down with Chris and A.J. to talk about the record setting number of debuts at this year's auto show, the influence of car culture in Los Angeles and his own personal automotive preferences.

Chris and A.J. sat down with Motor Trend's Associate Road Test Editor Carlos Lago to talk about his job testing new cars on the YouTube series Ignition, traveling the world to drive fascinating vehicles and his Nissan 240sx project car that some might call sacrilegious.

With over 2.5 Million square feet, 2,000 exhibitors and 10,000 booths, it would take a month to see everything at The SEMA Show.  However, Chris and A.J. did manage to speak with as many people in four days as physically possible.Day 4 started off back in the MagnaFlow, where Rich Waitas gave A.J. a tour of the company’s new mobile exhaust fabrication truck.  After that, it was off to the Acura village, where Global Creative Director, Dave Marek showed off the tastefully modified TLX Acura teamed up with Galpin Auto Sport to build.Racing legend Robby Gordon talks about a car from the Petersen Automotive Museum he drove 230mph.  The day sadly comes to end, but not before a chat with Top Gear’s Rutledge Wood and Wheeler Dealers' Mike and Ed.

Day 3 of The SEMA Show was dedicated to covering as much square feet of the show floors as possible.  Chris and A.J. chatted with Ralph Gilles, Chrysler SVP of Product Design to talk about life over 200 mph in the all-new Dodge Charger Hellcat.  Alan Peltier of HRE Wheels showed A.J. their new product line and the engineering that goes into making an HRE wheel.One of the most interesting themed booths of SEMA 2014 was Kia, with their “Day at the Races” theme.  From a Soul EV ice cream truck to a twin turbo K900, Michael Ofiara of Kia Motors showed Chris and A.J. their customized line of cars.The day ended up back in the MagnaFlow booth to talk with Bodie Stroud and Chip Foose about the cars they brought to SEMA and the one project car that would be their dream builds.

Day 2 The SEMA Show 2014 was even even more wild and over the top as day 1.  Chris and A.J. caught up with racing legend Mario Andretti in the MagnaFlow booth to talk about the cars he enjoys on and off the track.  Ray Evernham of Velocity's AmeriCarna also shared his love of Andretti, by talking about owning some of his race cars and calling him the one racer, besides Jeff Gordon, that he would want to be a crew chief for.  Radio DJ Lightning from KROQ in Los Angeles gives an in depth look at his dully pick-up that's been dubbed "Project Wideload" and Steve Strope of Pure Vision Design shared his 67 Ford Fairlane that took home this year's Ford Design Award.

Chris and A.J. brought the CarStories.com Podcast out to SEMA 2014 for exclusive same day coverage of the entire week of events.  Day one, they caught up with 7 time NASCAR champion Richard Petty and Grave Digger driver Dennis Anderson in the MagnaFlow booth.  They also talked with Bryan Fuller of Fuller Moto about the radical open wheel 32 Ford build of his.  The racing side of SEMA is also featured with the world debut of the all-new Mazda MX-5 Miata cup car and the cars that will race in the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational.

Designer Melvin Betancourt sits down with Chris and A.J. on the CarStories Podcast to talk about SEMA 2014 and Ford's Dollar Car Program.  He explains how car customizers from all over the country submit proposals for the opportunity to build and show off their cars in Ford's booth at SEMA.

Spike Feresten helps pair everyday people up with the perfect ride on Car Matchmaker.  He sat down with Chris and A.J. to talk about how Dave Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld were his original automotive matchmaking mentors.  He also talks about matching Jerry up with a Porsche 917, breaking Letterman's 356 and impulse buying a Land Rover.

John Hotchkis Jr. founded Hotchkis Sport Suspension back in the early 90's.  He's the brain behind engineering and manufacturing the popular racing-inspired suspension for the enthusiast market.  John sat down with Chris and A.J. not only his line of suspension parts, but his extensive career racing a Porsche 911 RSR and 962 at Le Mans at the 24 Hours of Daytona.