Holiday Shopping Guide, 2023

Friend of the show, former guest of Break/Fix podcast, and author J.K. Kelly reached out recently with some great news… Just in time to add one more thing to your Christmas list.

“The Deadly Driver sequel is titled Switchback and launches at Daytona in January. With any luck, we’ll have much to talk about again soon.”

The Lost Bird – New Crime Thriller

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (November 30, 2023)  Novelist Jim “JK” Kelly today announced the launch of his latest book, The Lost Bird, a crime thriller novella about a World War II B-17 that’s been taken.

“From the first time I watched the film Memphis Belle, I was hooked,” said Kelly. “I love writing thrillers, and I chose to use a vintage B-17 as the centerpiece in this one to honor the brave souls who manned them and to introduce readers who might not know anything about them to what was a vital part of winning World War II.”

Tune in everywhere you stream, download or listen!

The Lost Bird is Kelly’s seventh work of fiction, and it is the story of two modern-day families, criminals without conscience, and an awkward partnership formed in an attempt to find the missing plane. Kelly’s past works include the Formula One/CIA spy thriller Deadly Driver, The Export Series, Found In Time, The Lost Pulse, and the autobiography Fuelin’ Around.

“I believe readers will get caught up in this story and its characters,” Kelly continued. “Even before today’s official release, two Hollywood film producers requested the screenplay we’ve developed.”

For more information, to request a review copy or an interview with the author, please write to Info@JKKelly.com. To order a print or Kindle version of THE LOST BIRD on Amazon click here.

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Executive Producer Tania: [00:00:00] The Drive Thru is GTM’s monthly news episode and is sponsored in part by organizations like HPTEjunkie. com, Hooked on Driving, AmericanMuscle. com, CollectorCarGuide. net, Project Motoring, Garage Style Magazine, and many others. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the Drive Thru, look no further than www.

gtmotorsports. org. Click about, and then advertising. Thank you again to everyone that supports Grand Touring Motorsports, our podcast, Brake Fix, and all the other services we provide.

Don Weberg: Ho, ho, ho! Welcome to Drive Thru episode number 39. This is our monthly recap, where we put together a menu of automotive, motorsport, and random car adjacent news. Now let’s pull up to window number one for more automotive news.

Crew Chief Eric: Look at that. Don Wieberg has graced us with his presence for the first time on a drive thru, and it’s an extra special [00:01:00] one because this is our Holiday Shopping Guide.

Well, you know what, guys? We are going to be visited by three ghosts tonight. We’re going to be visited by the ghosts of drive thrus past, the ghost of Christmas presents. And the ghost of break fix guests yet to come. For our Patreons, we’re going to do a little show and tell on this episode. So this is some incentive for y’all to check out the behind the scenes video, all the craziness that happens on a drive thru episode.

So let’s kick it off. With some general gift ideas. You know, we’re having discussions around the writer’s room. What should be in the holiday guide? What do you buy for your petrolhead, your loved one in your life? Dire Gal that’s got all their toys. Well, this one from five years ago resurrected itself.

What about the Honda Type R lawnmower?

Executive Producer Tania: This could be a winner. This

Crew Chief Eric: is a contender right here.

Executive Producer Tania: Save yourself the heartburn and go to Honda, get some decal stickers, and strap it onto your existing lawnmower.

Crew Chief Eric: It sort of looks like a Roomba.

Executive Producer Tania: I think it is. I [00:02:00] think it’s one of those electric autonomous lawnmower things.

They have those, the robotic lawnmowers. I’ve seen them. They’re basically a Roomba with a blade underneath the

William Ross: mask. I would buy that lawnmower. That thing looks cool. I mean, you’d be the talk of the neighborhood.

Crew Chief Eric: I want the Porsche version of that. I want like the RS GT4, only charcoal gray.

William Ross: The Momo.

Crew Chief Eric: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Bigger weighing, fatter. You get the hippie 917 livery on that thing. That would look good going around your yard, yeah. Or the pink pig. The pink pig would work. Oh,

William Ross: that’d look cool. Oh, yeah.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s what we buy for the holidays. Racing livery kits for our robotic vacuums. And autonomous lawnmowers, somebody make that, somebody start marketing that.

William Ross: Oh, that would be awesome.

Crew Chief Eric: So Don, you and I, last year, we talked about the Pilate shoe company. And I said, I’m such a fan boy. I have a bunch of Pilates stuff. I love their shoes. My daughters have bought shoes for me over the years. And you mentioned to me that [00:03:00] they started making. Coffee last year and a last minute haste.

We actually ordered some. We have the V8, the V10 and the V12 coffees.

Don Weberg: Oh, you got all three of them.

Crew Chief Eric: Yeah, they’re excellent. And you know what? They’re not just a shoe company. They have tons of other accessories from phone cases made of DuPont blast resistant Kevlar to shirts, to hoodies, you know, the normal apparel, the coffees and other things.

But more importantly. They’ve done a deep discount on their shoes this year. I got a hold of a pair that I want to show off.

Don Weberg: You actually bought a pair?

Crew Chief Eric: Yeah, why wouldn’t I? Shoes? Come on. Oh my, the ultimate fashion statement. So they come in this delightful black box. It’s an unboxing. Yeah. The Dodge stripes on it, you know, the black over black.

Very cool. So you open this thing up, right? And you pull out the Le Mans driving shoes. Check these out. These were discounted at over 50 [00:04:00] percent off clocking in still under 100 after the discount. So these were a really, really good deal. Super comfortable. I love their everyday driving shoes. I think these are fantastic and tons of their styles of shoes are on sale right now from the Prototipo RS’s to more of like a Samba style driving shoe called the Midnight.

To include the LeMans shoes. So if you haven’t checked them out yet, visit www. piloti. com for shoes and other cool car inspired accessories.

Don Weberg: My wife and I would just, I need new shoes. We’re going to Vegas tomorrow. So she said, do you want to go get new shoes tonight? Or do you want me to pick you up some new shoes?

I said, no, that’s fine. I’ll just get them in Vegas. I think I’m going to go back to the New Balance brand.

Crew Chief Eric: Oh, you’re going to be a Corvette owner soon.

Don Weberg: Well, the sad thing about it was I was always a New Balance guy way back in the day. Like, here’s a weird thing. No kidding. At Motor Trend, everyone wore New Balance.

Really weird. It’s like the car guy’s shoe. We ought to be doing a plug for a New Balance cause we all wear them. [00:05:00] Your Corvette club membership has just been accepted, Don. That’s right. I know I’m a, I’m a closet Corvette guy, but you, you are a closet New Balance guy. You just haven’t

Crew Chief Eric: embraced it yet. Uh huh.

Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got something to show you guys. I thought this was super cool. I found this at Petit Le Mans. So you guys know what this is? Filter box.

Don Weberg: An oil filter.

Crew Chief Eric: And I said the same thing. It’s red and it has Motul written all over it. And you open it up and inside is this. A can of Motul 300V.

But not just any 300V. A 300V. The handle! Yeah. And it’s made from Motul 300V. Does

Executive Producer Tania: it smell like burnt oil?

Crew Chief Eric: It actually smells quite nice. If you like the smell of Motul 300V, it’s ester based. It’s kind of got that sickly sweet smell to it. They have other versions of this, and this is actually made by a company in St.

Louis called Flying Tiger Motorcycles in partnership with Motul. And I’ll let Adam and Ryan tell you more about this really unique. [00:06:00]

Adam Reed: And that’s kind of where this product lies is like in that blurred space between, Oh yeah, you know, my so and so rides a motorcycle, but I don’t, and I don’t really understand, or I love it, but I don’t have a motorcycle and, you know, you see this a lot at racetracks, you know, it’s the reason people buy the t shirt, they like that feeling of wonderment that they get from it, you know, everything that’s going on around them, and they want to take a piece of that home with them and, you know, an event t shirt is one thing, but this is something a little more.

Sure. interactive. Motul

Ryan Harrison: 300v candles. We made them so you can come inside from the garage and be with your family. Let them smell how you smell.

Adam Reed: Let them smell how you feel.

Ryan Harrison: Let them know where your mind’s at. Motul 800v for when you absolutely You just need to smell the racetrack.

Crew Chief Eric: So what do these candles cost if somebody does want to pick one up?

Ryan Harrison: Currently they are at 40.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s a bargain.

Ryan Harrison: Especially if your [00:07:00] significant other shops a Yankee candle.

Crew Chief Eric: And if you know how much a liter of 300V costs, it’s a good deal.

Ryan Harrison: Everybody listening that has one, if you could please light them. We’re getting ready to make more batches as winter comes, so we got to keep that money machine going.

Adam Reed: Yes, please burn your candles.

Don Weberg: I think that’d be kind of cool to have a candle that smells like motor oil. If for no other reason, but every now and then I get moody. So I want to burn something that really offends people to make them go away. I love going to tire shops. I think that’s the coolest smell in the world, but my wife can’t stand it.

So it’s one of those things where if you want to get rid of people, you just burn some tires and it’s good.

Crew Chief Eric: I mean, what’s wrong with the smell of castor oil in the morning? Right.

Don Weberg: Especially when it’s on fire.

Crew Chief Eric: And these are for the petrol head in your life. So if you’re interested in checking them out and seeing the other varieties of candles that they have available, hop on over to flying tiger, moto.

com. All right. I got another one for you guys. [00:08:00] This one’s a stocking stuffer and then some. These are made by a young lady in Pennsylvania named Cheryl Taylor. And she has a bunch of different motorsport and other inspired drinking tumblers. This one happens to be a can of WD 40. I’ve taken this to meetings.

I’ve actually forgotten it in the garage because it blends in with everything else. She’s got cans of Ford motor oil, Rust Oleum, other kinds of things. These are a lot of fun. They come in at 19 bucks. She does have them in different widths, heights. Diameters, et cetera, but you can also get them for an upcharge with a speaker built into them.

Don Weberg: That’s actually really awesome. You know, the first time I saw something like that was in the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. Angelina Jolie. She is at the Ferrari dealership. Nicolas Cage comes to ask her to help him. And she’s just about to get off work. And she grabs this gas can, just starts tugging whatever’s in there.

And at first, it kind of shocked me. I thought, what the hell is she doing? It’s just water. You sounded so

Executive Producer Tania: disappointed.

Don Weberg: It was just [00:09:00] water. But remember, like she said, you gotta work twice as hard when it’s legal.

Crew Chief Eric: I think these are really, really cool. And you can check those out at Pretty Ginger Crafts on Facebook or email PrettyGingerCrafts.

com. Pretty ginger crafts at gmail. com and look at Cheryl’s catalog. She says she has over 400 different designs that she can make on these aluminum tumblers.

Lydia Fenet: Hi, I’m Lydia Finette, and I’m so excited to announce the launch of my first ever, the strike method necklace. Those of you who’ve seen me on stage at broad arrow know that I always come with a gavel.

I feel like it brings me confidence and power anywhere I go, and I want you to feel the same. So. You can pick up this limited edition gavel charm necklace at www. lydiafenet. com or on Instagram. And I hope that you will buy it for yourself, your daughter, your granddaughter, anyone who needs that little extra confidence boost.

The power is within us, but it never hurts to have a charm as well.[00:10:00]

Don Weberg: I think everybody ought to get out there and consider an auction. Now, as crazy as that might sound, yes, we all have eBay, and that’s a terrific resource, too. But for the motor enthusiasts, it’s a little bit vanilla. So, what I’m thinking is Mecham. Because Mecham has their new product, Mecham On Time. And that’s literally very much like eBay.

You get up there, it’s on a computer, it’s entirely computer. And you just… Start doing your bidding. That’s a nice thing. It’s entirely automotive. If I remember correctly, there’s 1200 items that are available on Meekum on time, including fine art, Dale Earnhardt collectibles, 60 micro cars, buddy L’s and gas and oil collectibles.

The registration is free. Bidding is easy. You can shop for your favorite road art gifts now at ontime. meekum. com. And receive the gift just in time for the holidays. Was that a pun? That’s right. So I think an auction might be fun. [00:11:00] It’s something different for people. And you never know what’s going to pop up.

Crew Chief Eric: Speaking of auctions and collectibles and memorabilia, near and dear to all of our hearts on this episode are things like model cars. Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and especially Legos. I have to say that maybe it’s somebody’s at Lego. Our generation is in charge at Lego. There is a lot of car stuff going on, as evidenced by the Speed Champions, the Technic stuff, all the things you can buy on the shelf here in the U.

S. There’s some really cool stuff. All petrolheads, we’re all just doing the church nod right now. Because the Speed Champions series has really been ramping up. We’ve mentioned it before. This year I found one that I especially liked. And it’s the Ferrari 330 P4, Le Mans edition. This thing is fantastic for the bargain price of like 20 bucks.

You can have this basically 1 18th scale size model on your shelf made of Legos. And I learned about a website maybe in more detail than I knew before. And that’s rebrickable. com. And that [00:12:00] allows you to take some Lego sets and turn them into some other really cool things without having to buy new parts.

And I mentioned before that, you know, under some rich people things, there was some kits that you could get from like the block zone to build different kinds of automotive models that are out. I found the best of the best, at least in my opinion, you take Dom Toretto’s charger from fast and furious. And did you know, you can turn it into the 1989 Batmobile, the Michael Keaton Batmobile.

It is the hotness. I have some pictures on doing the conversion. A lot of fun. It’s a good way to spend time with the kids. They’re interested in, you know, building their little towns, but also in the engineering side with the cars and stuff. So that’s been a lot of fun. So if you’re out there looking for maybe a different hobby, something new, don’t discount Lego.

Executive Producer Tania: If you’re a fan of Audi. And the late Ken Block, there is a Ken Block edition Audi e tron set that is available.

Crew Chief Eric: That is my number one pick. That’s actually on my Lego wishlist this year. I want that thing really bad. [00:13:00] It looks really cool. And interestingly enough, Lego has also started to incorporate remote control options and the Ken Block Audi e tron, which clocks in at about 179 bucks, comes with the RC option.

I think that’s super cool.

Executive Producer Tania: Did you know that there is a NASCAR Lego? You can get the next gen Chevy Camaro ZL1. Is

Crew Chief Eric: it the garage 56 one?

Executive Producer Tania: I don’t think so because it says number 75 on it.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s a missed opportunity.

Executive Producer Tania: Right. But it could be yours for the low, low price of 49. 99.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s not bad. Does it come with vroom vroom sounds or you got to make those yourself?

Executive Producer Tania: Sold separately.

Crew Chief Eric: Vroom vroom

Don Weberg: sounds sold separately.

Executive Producer Tania: Batteries not included.

Don Weberg: But I get the feeling, Eric, that you like to make your own vroom vroom sounds. Only with my Matchbox cars. Okay.

Crew Chief Eric: Yeah. Speaking of Don, you and I got to sit down with a lifelong enthusiast who turned his passions into a career in the model car business.

Your buddy, Patrick Strong.

Don Weberg: Yeah. We ought to do an unboxing. That car has never been out of [00:14:00] the box.

Patrick Strong: Oh

Don Weberg: yeah. I got that beautiful Kuntosh from him. I don’t know who made it. I forgot who made it, but

Patrick Strong: whether you are a veteran collector with very finally home taste or whether you are new to the hobby model, citizen diecast.

com is a. great place to find a very tightly focused selection of exquisite model cars. And if you are new to the hobby, my contact info is readily available there, and I’m always happy to answer any questions you might have. Honestly, I’d rather make a friend than a customer.

Don Weberg: The beautiful thing about Patrick Strong is he represents a whole bunch of different manufacturers.

If you have a dream of a dream car like I did with the Countach and then you woke up one day and realized you’re probably never going to be able to afford the real thing, so he hooked me up with as close as possible of the real thing as I could hope for.

Patrick Strong: I know that we have the holidays coming up. I typically do a kind of a low key Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale in that I just put a lot of stuff on markdown.

I [00:15:00] don’t do a special promotion with, you know, here’s your percentage discount or buy two get one free or anything like that. It’s just. Things get put into the sales section. So week after Thanksgiving, I’d be looking for that to happen. The best way to find out about deals like that is to get on our mailing list.

We’re not spamming. We only send emails out to let people know about new products or events where we’re going to be. Modelsitizendicast. com is a great place to start or continue your journey as a diecast model collector.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, since you mentioned that, Don. We found something in what we would normally showcase in our lost and found section. We found a Lamborghini that maybe you can afford. Have you seen that the Wolf of Wall Street Lamborghini Countach is now available and for sale?

Don Weberg: Yes, yes. And with a little bit of spit and polish, that car will come right back together.

That will buff right out. Absolutely. Yeah. Tell you how stupid we got when we had our meeting up in [00:16:00] Monterey with our Ferrari mechanic, and he basically talked me out of getting a 456 by telling me it was 35, 000 to service it. I got to thinking, you know, we can’t afford the Countach, so why don’t we just go get a 550?

That seems like the next logical step. You know, the Wolf of Wall Street car would be really cool because you’ve seen my house. I have a fairly large front yard and it’s on a corner and I can just imagine building like a nice concrete platform and just placing the Countach like sculpture right there. I think that’d be good.

I think the

Crew Chief Eric: neighbors would like that. So would you venture a guess as to how much you could get that new monument in your yard for? How much?

Executive Producer Tania: A hundred dollars. A

Crew Chief Eric: hundred? I wish for a wrecked Lamborghini. I mean, it’s a legit 25th anniversary Lamborghini.

Executive Producer Tania: How much could I get at the scrap mill yard? I turned it in

Crew Chief Eric: 500.

Executive Producer Tania: All right, Bob,

Crew Chief Eric: the low, low bargain price,

Executive Producer Tania: 100, 000

Crew Chief Eric: million and a half. Million and a half. Million and a half for a wreck to Lamborghini. Can you believe [00:17:00] that?

Don Weberg: No, no, no. That’s insane. Considering you can probably get a mint conditional one for 800. Yeah, but this is the Wolf of Wall Street’s car. The real deal.

Yeah. Well, you know, used as

Crew Chief Eric: a prop in the movie, but still the real deal.

Don Weberg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I have a friend way back when who was so excited he got his first Mercedes and he was so happy with himself and so proud of himself and he didn’t have it a week and it was run into by a big F 150 and he found out very quickly how easily your Mercedes bends.

Ah, that’s Christmas jokes right there.

Crew Chief Eric: Oh, let me

Don Weberg: tell you about the three elves that walked into a pub. No,

Crew Chief Eric: moving along. This year was a good year for authors. Yes, we have a lot of books to cover this year. So let’s start off with one of our guests from upstate Michigan, Larry Jorgensen. Remember when we interviewed Larry?

Don Weberg: I do. He was a very nice man. Very interesting guy. Lots and lots of stories.

Larry Jorgensen: I set out to do a shipwreck book, [00:18:00] okay. I thought it was fascinating. Do you know what’s happened? I’ve got as many people that are interested in vintage cars that have come to me. The book is for sale in numerous vintage car museum gift shops.

Blew me away when I realized that I had created two markets, not just people that like to read about the great lakes and shipwrecks, but all these people that are crazy about vintage cars. It’s amazing. Besides affecting an entire peninsula. It affects so many people in different ways.

Crew Chief Eric: His book Shipwrecked and Rescued is still for sale.

The book includes over 200 1927 Chryslers that are rescued from a Great Lake shipwreck. This is an amazing true story that has been recently revealed. It includes over 50 historic photos showing how the cars and the crew finally rescued all those Chryslers. It explains what happens to the cars after the rescue.

And where one of the remaining cars can still be seen today.

Larry Jorgensen: The [00:19:00] cover on the book, when we decided this is too good a story to not really put some real effort into it, the cover on the book, I hired a artist in the Keweenaw to create that artwork that’s on the cover. I wanted something that would show both the state of the boat and the cars.

And he was able to meld that together into one painting. It’s a fantastic painting.

Crew Chief Eric: This could be a special gift for the holidays. It’s an award-winning book. It’s available at shipwrecked

Larry Jorgensen: and rescued. Make sure you got past tense shipwrecked and rescued.com. If you go to the website, I’ll even sign it to you if you want me to.

Yes, it’s available on Amazon and fortunately it’s available in a lot of places. Michigan bookstores, White House museums that have gift stores. Like I said before, a lot of vintage auto museums have got the book in the gift stores. You never know where you may see it. You know, I’ve heard this and you walk into a [00:20:00] place and there it is.

You know.

Crew Chief Eric: You can also call Larry directly at 3 3 7 5 9 1 1 9 3 7. The book normally retails for 20, but as a special holiday promo, if you reach out to Larry or order it on the website and mention GTM, he will sell you the book for 12 bucks, shipping is free. And all the books are signed by Larry. That’s pretty cool.

Next up our friend and newest panelists on the what should I buy series. Jeff Willis has been on the show several times. Most people might not remember, or maybe you gotta jump back to his episode. He wrote a book called Human in the Machine.

Don Weberg: And there it is.

Crew Chief Eric: A very interesting book. It’s a compilation of different stories, people he’s interviewed, like the founders of Petrolicious, to people like Elspeth Beard, who was also on the show.

Full of pictures, full of interesting stuff. It’s really about car culture in the Pacific Northwest and upper California. Pretty well put together construction wise paper and everything. Yeah. And it’s got color [00:21:00] photos in it. And a lot of these photos were taken by Jeff because he is a photographer. He’s noted for doing events like velocity, Monterey car week, pebble beach, things like that.

So he included a lot of that in the book as well. So really, really great. Stuff in here. You can buy it on Amazon. It’s another 20 book. Great stocking stuffer. Great gift human in the machine by Jeffrey Willis. Speaking of Jeff, I mentioned he hooked us up with Elspeth Beard, who is featured in his book, Human in the Machine.

He actually co hosted that episode with me as we interviewed Elspeth. If you don’t know her story, she’s the first British woman to circumvent the world on a BMW motorcycle. She took this trip in the early eighties and it took her three years to complete. She tells the entire story in her book, Lone Rider, which is available in print or on Audible.

So you can listen to it if you don’t have time to read it. We have a lot of content on Elspeth on our website. Check out the episode, check out the live stream that we did from Bob’s BMW this year when we met her. Her book is absolutely [00:22:00] fantastic. This is a one of a kind story and is well worth reading.

Very inspiring, lots of ups and downs, lots to learn from Lone Rider. So it was an absolute pleasure and an honor to sit down and interview her. But if you haven’t listened to the episode, do so, but also pick up a copy of Lone Rider on Amazon or listen to it on Audible. Don, do you want to talk about parking limits and parking meters and county zoning again?

Don Weberg: It’s what I live for, you know. Paved Paradise, written by Henry Grabar. We had him on the show, what, about a month ago? Mm

Executive Producer Tania: hmm. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot?

Don Weberg: Exactly.

Crew Chief Eric: Joni Mitchell, right? Big yellow taxi.

Don Weberg: Yeah, very interesting guy. Very, very interesting.

Crew Chief Eric: Paved Paradise. is basically a study in how parking has changed the world.

It’s a fascinating book. You’d probably pass this over at your local Barnes and Nobles and not even think about it. Oh, that’s a really interesting cover. Flip it over and be like, wait, what? What is this about exactly? The premise of the book is really to explain [00:23:00] How parking plays such an amazing role in our daily lives in terms of zoning taxes, how they can build an architect, how they can change cities, how restaurants are built.

Like, there’s so many different things involved in just that side of the conversation

Don Weberg: really gives you a different look at parking. I mean, the funny thing is about parking, it’s so boring. I mean, who cares? You put your car in a space, you drop in a quarter, you walk away. But there’s so much more behind it, and you know, Henry really brings that to light, and who knew there was so much fascination about parking?

Crew Chief Eric: And then he talks about the darker side of parking, which I know, Don, you enjoyed, like, the stories about the mobs and the gangsters and how they’re laundering money through parking garages. And then it boils down into a study of economics. How much does parking really cost? You know, is there such thing as free parking?

And it clocks in at about 325 pages. It’s a quick read. So I highly recommend checking it out.

Henry Grabar: Hi there. I’m Henry Grabar. I’m a journalist at Slate. [00:24:00] a past guest and the author of Paved Paradise, How Parking Explains the World. It makes a great gift and you can pick it up at a bookstore near you or get the audio version from Audible.

Thanks for listening.

Crew Chief Eric: Another quick read. Another one I recommend. This is a carryover from last year because we didn’t talk about it due to timing with this episode survival of the fastest, which is Randy Lanier story, the whole thing about weed speed and the 1980s drug scandal that shocked the racing world. You know, as the joke goes, what does IMSA stand for?

The international marijuana smugglers association, not the international motor sports association. It’s Randy’s rise to fame and also his demise. And then what was really cool is we were actually able to sit down with Randy after the book came out. He’s been out of prison for quite a number of years now.

And we did a, where is he now? Talking about all the things that happened after he’s been out, what he’s into, how he’s working with the community, [00:25:00] how he’s giving back. You got to read Survival of the Fastest to understand where the story is. Granted, there’s a Netflix special. The book is awesome. It’s worth reading.

And then, you know, continue that journey with the Break Fix episode surrounding Randy Lanier. So a great stocking stuffer as well. All right. Yeah. Parking.

Adam Reed: There’s some wild

Crew Chief Eric: stuff there, man. Wild stuff, you

Don Weberg: know.

Crew Chief Eric: We gotta park somewhere, right? Well, what did we park in front of?

Don Weberg: The hydrant. That’s how we got that ticket, man.

Some restaurant,

Crew Chief Eric: silly.

Don Weberg: Oh, the restaurant, man. Yeah, the restaurant, man. Sorry, man. I’m looking at you with your little hat and your sweater and your beard. And, man, I’m getting all weird here, you know, man. I think I’m on like Cheech and Chong or something, man. Get the Impala. Let’s go, man. Up in Smole. Now, you know, you say up and smoke down here in Texas, they’re gonna think, Oh, where’s the barbecue?

Crew Chief Eric: Speaking of barbecue, talking about all that parking and pulling up in front of restaurants, we sat down with David Page, author of [00:26:00] Food Americana, who also happens to be the creator of Diners. Drive ins and dives.

Don Weberg: He was a cool guy. He had a lot to offer. He was very insightful. He knew a lot of crazy places that you knew, which I thought was interesting because he’s East Coast.

But then he finally hit this little dive down in, uh, Baker, California on the way to Las Vegas from Los Angeles. And it was a mad Greek. So that was kind of fun. We bonded over that. Let’s hear from David Page about how you can get his book.

David Page: Hi, I’m David Page, creator of Diners, Drive ins and Dives. And now an author.

I’ve written a book called Food Americana. It tells the great stories about the great people behind some of America’s favorite dishes. Please pick up a copy of my book. It’s a great gift for the holidays. It’s all about America’s favorite meals. At Amazon. com or your favorite bookstore.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, Don, you have some friends and authors in the business. What are some of your recommended [00:27:00] reads?

Don Weberg: I have no friends. None. That’s why I burn candles that smell like motor oil to offend them. No, you know, one of my favorite guys in the world is Matt Stone. He was my mentor when I was interning at Motor Trend Magazine and Truck Trend Magazine.

He was one of my many mentors. I had about 40 of them there. But Matt and I bonded over a lot of stuff. We liked a lot of the same cars. Very strange. We had a lot of the same history with cars. And so he’s written good Lord and over 40 books by now in his lifetime. He couldn’t join us on the show today because he’s working on a brand new book, should be out mid 2024, late 2024.

I would imagine. And he didn’t want to talk about that right now. So I’m going to throw him under the bus and talk about one of my favorites. 365 cars you must drive by Matt Stone in it. Matt has gathered a multitude of cars. that have to be experienced to be believed. From the gorgeous to the hideous, to the well built, to the not so well built, the list encourages readers to get out there and have [00:28:00] fun with cars.

It was written in conjunction with John Mattress, Dan Gurney, he wrote the foreword. It’s really, really a fun book because it covers everything from the Model T to the Porsche Carrera GT. So you’re going from one extreme to the other. And what’s really kind of fun about it. I don’t remember if he does it for every car, but he does have suggestions for the perfect passenger for this car and what soundtrack should be played in this car.

It’s really kind of fun. The perfect drive for whichever car you’re talking about. So. Tonya, if you had a Carrera GT, what would be the perfect drive? Where would you want to take it?

Executive Producer Tania: Anywhere where there’s nobody else on the road.

Don Weberg: Sounds like a motorcyclist. It’s actually a place called Baker, California.

You can go to the Mad Greek. There’s nobody else on the road. So you’d be good. There’s so many great roads,

Crew Chief Eric: even in the U S up to the summit of Pikes Peak, tail of the dragon. Somewhere along the Appalachian trail, even Shenandoah through like Skyline Drive would be [00:29:00] great places out West. As well, some of the ones like Angela’s Crest and some of those other places out in the canyons of like Malibu and Santa Monica and stuff.

I mean, there’s so many great roads to take a car like that.

Don Weberg: So yeah, that’s 365 cars you must drive by Matt Stone. Well, what else you got? Another buddy of mine, Lance Lambert. He was a columnist for Garagetown Magazine, so he was our first. And he stayed with us through the last printed edition. And we’re thinking about bringing him back for the digital edition.

So that might be interesting. He too has written a number of different books. One of the most fun ones is Fenders, Fins and Friends. Lance brings together a gaggle of stories from his days gone by in a way that only Lance can tell them. And if you know Lance, he is a consummate storyteller. The guy knows how to wind up a story and deliver it beautifully.

He really does got a real gift for that. And a lot of admissions, admissions of the wheel stands and police sirens and stalls are just a snowflake on the glacier of some of the stories. Lance tells us bringing laughter and tears, but [00:30:00] mostly understanding because car guys all have stories. So that’s Fender’s Fins and Friends by Lance Lambert.

Another one, another columnist I lassoed in for Garage Town Magazine was Phil Berg. Motoring heads will always remember Phil Berg as the godfather of the garage movement with his book Ultimate Garages. Ultimate Garages inspired many to make over their garages and enjoy their space. Having written two Ultimate Garages, the books take readers into a journey into places mere mortals are not allowed to tread.

So you can get inspired to make over your own garage by checking out Ultimate Garages or Ultimate Garages. Two, I feel bird. Both of them are hacked with incredible, incredible garages that we’ll probably never be able to afford, but it’s fun to dream, right?

Crew Chief Eric: Next up I see on your list, you have an author that I

Don Weberg: share

Crew Chief Eric: a

Don Weberg: book with.

Crew Chief Eric: I was at petite Lamont and I almost missed the opportunity. Cause I had it on my list of things to grab before I left. And I stopped by a vintage book stand that was [00:31:00] there and of all things sitting on the shelf, a bargain find the biography of Enzo Ferrari. As written by Brock Yates. Oh, I bought that.

And it was a whopping 10 bucks. 10 bucks, that’s it?

William Ross: With a deal. That’s a steal. Yeah, for 10, that’s big. So I think that mine was 20 something. I bought that one, Brock Yates. The first one I read was more of a love letter to Enzo, the person that wrote it. Kind of glossing over his other stuff. But the one from Brock is supposed to be just like, Hey, he doesn’t hold back.

And that was

Crew Chief Eric: his style. Yep.

William Ross: I’m finishing up that other book that was started on that thing. Cause I’m excited to read it. Cause Brock really, Hey, he tells it like it is. It’s supposed to be really, really good.

Crew Chief Eric: And I gotta give a shout out to Vintage Motor Books for having titles like this available for really cheap prices.

Not only did I pick up the biography of Enzo Ferrari by Brock Yates, I also picked up books like Fast Women, The Legendary Ladies of Racing by Tom McCarthy. I picked up some other Audi histories and chronology books and things like that. [00:32:00] Vintage motor books, you can go check them out online. They’re in Portland, Oregon.

They have a massive collection of books about cars, about racing, service manuals, owner’s manuals, sales brochures. You can reach out to them directly at vintage motor books at comcast. net, or you can call them at 5 0 3 7 0 4 2 9 2 4. Lots of great stuff at vintage motor books. If you want to check out some of these maybe long lost or forgotten stories that are out there.

Don Weberg: You know, one of my favorite books by Brock was Cannonball. Did you ever read that one? I did not, but he’s the founder of One Lap of America. Yeah, that was him. People say he had a little something to do with the Cannonball run too. And if you’re a car guy, you probably know what the Cannonball run is.

It’s not just a movie. It’s actually a real race. From coast to coast back in the 70s, Brock wrote a book called Cannonball to document the actual facts of what happened and what didn’t happen, quote unquote, to kind of break away from a lot of what was happening, which was people spinning a yarn as to this, that, and the other.

And they’re pulling from the movie [00:33:00] as reality when in reality. The movie was far from reality. Great book though. Cannonball by Brock Gates. It really is a terrific book.

Crew Chief Eric: We go back and forth, collector car, motorsport. We’re always debating it on what should I buy? And there’s a huge assortment of different books out there.

There are literally books for every discipline of racing and really every mark. Of manufacturer out there, if that’s what you’re interested in. In this case, I want to highlight Monaco motor racing by Edward Quinn. It focuses on formula one racing from the 1950s and sixties. It brings together portraits and images of the racing action from teams like Ferrari, Jaguar, and Porsche and other exciting brands from one of the most demanding courses in the F1 season.

That’s the Monaco Grand Prix. It’s over 270 illustrated pictures. It’s a fantastic book, a great coffee table addition, or in addition to your den or your garage collection. So I highly recommend Monaco Motor Racing. And you can pick that up on Amazon. Talking of ghosts of break fix guests yet to come, Bryce Kenney, pro [00:34:00] driver of the Great Clips Mohawk Warrior Monster Jam truck, visited us.

He talks about his new book called Geared for Life.

Bryce Kenny: Hey guys, this is Bryce Kenney, driver of the Great Clips Mohawk Warrior Monster Jam truck. And if you’re like me and ever get to that point where your head hits the pillow and you think, is this really all there is to life? Then maybe all you need to do is not be given some secret formula or some secret to success.

Maybe all you need to do is find your next gear. That’s what Geared for Life is all about. I would love and be honored if you would pick up a copy anywhere books are sold. Go on Amazon, pick up your copy, and I’ll see you down the road at Monster Jam. I’m a break fix fan, so let’s keep it rolling. Thanks, guys.

Crew Chief Eric: It’s a bit of a self help, inspirational book. It’s really life lessons from the track. He was a top thrilled dragster driver before he became a [00:35:00] Monster Jam driver. And a lot of tribal knowledge passed down by his grandfather, things that he captured along the way. Life lessons, you know, trials, errors, and failures, and then ultimately success, becoming a monster jam driver.

So he’s got this paradigm of shifting from one gear to another, and when do you have to downshift? And when do you upshift? And when life presents you with challenges, how do you get out of the way? And how do you take those evasive maneuvers and things like that? So it’s a really interesting book. It caters to the petrolhead, the car enthusiast, the motorsports enthusiast.

It’s really written for us. In talking to him, you learn very quickly that sometimes folks in our world, in our sport, we’re reluctant to ask for help. And this way he tries to translate what he’s learned, even from the mental health arena, so that we can digest it in a way that’s palatable. So I would definitely recommend checking out Geared for Life.

And it’s another book that’s available on Amazon, like a lot of these are. And that’s by Monster Jam driver, Bryce Kenney. That’s not a good one. So Don, let’s talk about one of your really close friends, Rodney [00:36:00] Kemmerer. He’s got a new book that just came out.

Don Weberg: Yeah, I brought it with me so you could see it.

I don’t know if you saw it, but I got my copy. So it’s a nice glossy cover and then he’s got some of the quotes from us plebeians in the back. And of course, Jay Leno, he’s up here at the top of the cover. He’s got a lot of terrific stories in here. So the graphics in this book are absolutely phenomenal.

They really are. They were taken from the Garage Style column. But for example, here’s one, one of my favorite stories called Full Serve. That is a picture of a beautiful boogie gas station in Beverly Hills. He did a story on how that gas station came to be, who it was designed by, why it’s so special, really, really bold artwork.

This one’s kind of a good one. It’s called Dorothy, and it’s all about a special Mercedes, which you see here in Rodney’s own garage. It is the Mercedes. I believe the number is one 70. It was one of the first Mercedes actually imported in North America. Then there’s, I mean, this silly little thing here, which when you read the story, what we’re looking at is a picture of a [00:37:00] Honda Accord hatchback special edition from 1978, and he wrote about it in one of his columns for garage style, uh, where he established.

The title of this book, Tales from the Garage, and he literally has a lot of his own original pictures of this Honda that he was writing about. And everybody says, well, why is he writing about a Honda? Well, really the story behind it is pretty fascinating. It is his Honda. He bought it brand new and how he secured the loan was pretty interesting because at the time he had not only the old Mercedes 190, he had some other Mercedes.

So he dressed up in a suit and tie. Went to the bank, applied for the loan, and they asked for what the collateral was, and he put down two Mercedes Benzes. Well, when you see two Mercedes Benzes, a guy in a tie and a suit, you think this guy’s got it going on. He’s a sure bet, you know. So they gave him the loan for the Honda.

He went running off and went to work. So he’s got a lot of really, really cool stories.

Rodney Kemerer: Thanks, Eric and Don, for having me on your BreakPix podcast to talk about my new book, Tales from a Garage. Everyone has a [00:38:00] car story, or two. These just happen to be mine. These are personal stories of mine, mixed with the stories of others.

Part memoir, and part the memory of other people. It’s not a narrative. Each story stands alone. Each chapter has its own graphic language that runs through each story, so that nothing is repeated. It is designed with the shape and the feel of an automotive owner’s book. So it fits into your glove box, so you can take it with you.

And I’m hoping you do take a look. It’s available at talesfromthegarage. com and it’s available on Amazon. Perfect Christmas.

Don Weberg: So really, Tales from the Garage, it is all about tales that guys might tell each other in the garage about things that happen to them. The beautiful thing about this book is how it relates to Anyone, anybody can read this book and enjoy it. They’ll get some nugget of information out of it. So you can find this on Amazon as well.

Tales from the Garage. If you’re

Crew Chief Eric: interested in all the books that we talked [00:39:00] about, be sure to check out our Goodreads list, which is included in the show notes with this episode. We gotta select another gear, and we gotta talk about artwork.

Steve & Izzy: Artwork is good! Hey everybody, are you looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for the holidays?

Do you like supporting the arts? Well then you need to check out UntidyVenus. etsy. com The top one stop shop that always pops her top! Ah!

That’s a wrap!

Steve & Izzy: Are you a fan of dinosaurs? Snacks? Dinosaurs made out of snacks? Movie monsters? Unicorns? Cats? Dogs? Rats? Shrimp? Pokemon? Tie dye? Paracord bracelets, paracord dog leashes, enamel pins, coloring books, block prints, watercolor, pet portraits, buttons, magnets, stickers, bottle openers, artist trading cards, or really anything else that’s awesome?

Then stop on by UntidyVenus. etsy. com. That’s a goddess who’s bad at housekeeping. Etsy. com. New items are popping up all the time, so be sure to follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon at UntidyVenus. Or visit her website at izzycreates. com for the [00:40:00] latest. Did I mention the Snackasaurs? How about Gary the Unicorns?

On TidyVenus. etsy. com, the goddess who’s bad at housekeeping. Check it out now.

Crew Chief Eric: Friend of the show and former guest, Bob Gillespie. If you reach back into the catalog and look at the Green Grand Prix episode, he talks about his past in the motorsport world. He’s a renowned artist based out of the Watkins Glen area of New York.

He’s known for putting together, during the holidays, A beautiful calendar. He self publishes these. They’re all his artwork. And this year he’s featuring Corvettes because it is the 70th birthday of Corvette, which coincides with the 75th birthday of Watkins Glenn. But let’s hear from Bob on how you can get one of these.

Bob Gillespie: Hi everybody. My name is Bob Gillespie. I’m a motor sports artist, 12 lithograph prints of my racing history paintings. illustrate my 2024 desk calendar. This year, there are nine famous Corvettes plus three others. It comes in a [00:41:00] clear plastic CD case together with an artist introduction page. I’m proud to say that I’ve been self publishing this desk calendar for 18 years, featuring different paintings of mine.

The price is 16 each plus 4 shipping. If you’re in the Watkins Glen area, you could stop by the IMRRC and pick up a copy there. You can order by emailing me or calling me at 315 694 2812. And I would like to wish everybody a happy holiday.

Don Weberg: One of the other favorite places to go is a great website called vintageautoposters. com. Now vintageautoposters. com is a wonderful place if you’re interested in getting original artwork from back in the day. These are posters, these are advertising. Pieces. These are some very colorful stuff from way back in the turn of the century.

One piece I was interested in acquiring was an original point of [00:42:00] sale. Weber carburetor counter piece, probably only five inches tall by three inches wide. It’s more like a card, absolutely stunning graphics. One thing you got to remember about this classic vintage art is it’s not like today where we just put it on the computer, fire up a printer and boom, in 30 seconds, it’s done.

Back then they literally had to hand draw this stuff. And then they had to come up with, in some cases, lithographs to put it on the can, to put it on the metal, to put it on wherever there was a lot of work involved, a lot of artistic artisan skills that are lost today. And that is what vintageautoposters.

com will bring to you. And it’s all guaranteed original investment grade. So I think that might be something special for one of those gearheads in your life who really appreciates fine art.

Crew Chief Eric: Speaking of artists, you know who else stopped by the studio? Renowned Porsche artist Kelly Telfer.

Kelly Telfer: Eric just asked me, what are we doing for holiday promotions and sales?

I’m going to double my retail price and give you 50 [00:43:00] percent off everything, including freight. Let’s show a little love to FedEx and the UPS. Those guys don’t mean to lose the packages or drop kick them through the goalposts of life. They don’t do it on purpose. They don’t ever drop an original painting or run over it.

I’m sorry I didn’t say that back up the track. Oh my God. So yes, the week of November 15th, I’m going to put one of my original 000. Every day I’m going to lower the price by 500 until someone buys it. You might get a good painting for 500 bucks. Well, it’s an okay painting. And then the other thing I’m going to do in the week of November 29th, I’m going to offer 25 percent off my entire website, everything, except few things.

I don’t know. You can’t see all the stuff I have. You want artifacts? Come here. I’ll give you a bunch of junk. That’s really cool. But 25 percent off everything. Shipping, packaging, and the artwork as well. Sorry, UPS, FedEx. Love you guys, man. You’ve saved me a million times. You’re the best. Go Raiders. Out.[00:44:00]

Don Weberg: Ah, good old Kelly Telford. Speaking of fine art, another great place to go to. is carartinc. us. Again, we’re dealing with fine art here. Some of the great artists in the automotive industry. It is run by Peter Aylett and Peter is himself a great artist. He used to design for Mazda, Ford, and even DeLorean at one point.

Great guy. He will help you find a commission if you want to put yourself or your loved one or a special car in a. Piece of art that’s very original. He can help you find the artist who can make that happen. Or maybe you just want to find something that puts a certain scene or a certain mood, maybe you’ve got a loved one from New York and there just happened to be a great picture of an old Cadillac at Christmas time, driving down fifth Avenue.

In the snow with old New York in the background. Really cool. Or maybe you have a friend from Malibu and the thing is surfing. Well, there it is. Malibu picture with a beautiful [00:45:00] surf scene. And of course, some sort of Woody in the foreground or maybe some sort of sports convertible

Danny Pilling: fun, fun stuff. Hey, this is Danny P the host of the podcast, Danny P on cars.

I’ve just founded a new company, 077 Media. So if you’re an automotive customer looking for help with things like strategic planning, marketing support, or partnership management, please reach out to my website, www. 077. media. Wishing you and your loved ones a happy holidays from me. There’s so

Executive Producer Tania: many podcasts out there.

Crew Chief Eric: How do I find the one for me?

Steve & Izzy: For so long, I’ve searched for podcasts all over, but none of them seem to fit my needs. Where’s my Nick Cage pissing fire podcast? Where’s my monkey tickling? I couldn’t find it anywhere. Until, I found everything I learned from Louie’s podcast with Steve and Izzy. And now I get to hear about all the monkey tickling I want, baby.[00:46:00]

So many podcasts out there are all talk and no congo. That’s why I listen to everything I learn from movies. Greatest Living Actor? Nicolas Cage, of course. That’s why I listen to everything I learn from movies.

Executive Producer Tania: One liners, plot holes, virtuitous boobies? Fun fact, that’s why I listen to everything I learn from movies.

Steve & Izzy: See if everything I learn from movies is right for you at EILFmovies. com Everything I learned from movies on Twitter, Facebook, or Patreon. Free on all the major podcatchers.

Crew Chief Eric: So since we’re still thinking about the holidays, you know, maybe we’ll flat pack ship some cars to people as a gift this year. We also have some rich people things to talk about.

And William, I specifically pulled this one out for you knowing kind of cars you deal with, the people you deal with. And I want to know about these Bugatti. Sunglasses.

William Ross: I buy my sunglasses at Speedway. Ha ha ha

Crew Chief Eric: ha ha! There you go. That’s the American way. Bought my sunglasses at Buc ee’s.

William Ross: Yeah,

Crew Chief Eric: [00:47:00] exactly. What you’re telling me is, these Bugatti sunglasses are not on your Christmas list.

William Ross: God, no. Some of these things are tacky as hell. I mean, you gotta have just stupid money. Cause I mean, the cost, everything. I mean, I don’t know.

Executive Producer Tania: These have mother of pearl inlays. 18 karat gold, black palladium accents, grade 5 titanium, carbon fiber, macassar ebony wood. Why wouldn’t you want this for 2, 000?

Yes. For you to accidentally sit on and break.

William Ross: Yeah, these things look like glasses that, you know, you’re sitting down at a deli getting yourself a bowl of matzo soup.

Crew Chief Eric: Or you’re in like a lecture hall and your professor flips up as he came in from outside. I mean, they’re just bizarre Oh my god

William Ross: And just imagine what the knockoffs will look like because you know, those are coming right behind it Someone’s gonna change them just a little bit so they don’t get in trouble It’s like

Crew Chief Eric: the rounded corners on the Samsung, right?[00:48:00]

William Ross: Exactly.

Don Weberg: Geez. See the yellow glasses. I’m sorry to say this. They remind me of, you’re going to pick up a rifle and take aim at me. Oh my Lord. Now you’ve got yellow lens glasses too. Oh boy, I’m in trouble. I’m at a Smith and Wesson convention here.

Crew Chief Eric: Yeah, right. But we need to talk about watches. And Don, this is your area of fine expertise.

So what have you brought us to sample and look at?

Don Weberg: Well, starting at number one, YEMA. Y E M A. Not to be confused with the city in Arizona, Yuma. But YEMA has been in business since 1948. And they built watches in France using Swiss made manufactured calibers. However, recently they turned to crowdfunding to finance their own manufacturing of manufactured calibers.

Now, if you don’t know what that is, literally it’s the mechanicals in the watch. It’s the little gears, the little springs, the little tickers that make the watch. Oh, [00:49:00] and once you wind up now, the nice thing about Yema, what I like about them, they have a watch seemingly for every interest. They’ve got a watches for the boating guy to get watches for the airplane guy to get watches for the car guys, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

One of my favorites is the Rallygraph line, which is R A L L Y G R A F. Very, very racy looking. Looks like it might be on a movie in the sixties. Being worn by Steve McQueen or somebody like that. Very, very cool

Crew Chief Eric: stuff. Don, don’t discount this watch. This was done in partnership with Alpine. That’s

Don Weberg: right.

Crew Chief Eric: It was.

They are a formula one team. They are in Le Mans. This is not just any rally graph watch. This is the Alpine rally graph watch. This thing is really cool. And if you’re into French sports cars, if you’re into racing. I think this is a great get.

Don Weberg: It really is a cool watch. The way it’s styled, the way it’s designed, the heritage of it with Alpine really does look like it stepped right out of the sixties racing scene.

Paul Newman could be wearing this thing and it’d be right there. Gmail watches are not all that [00:50:00] much money for what you’re getting. They’re really fantastic watches. I really like them. So I hope somebody will check them out. Maybe use them for a stocking stuffer. If for whatever reason, those. Do not pet your fancy another great company that I really like.

And I’m actually holding one of their time pieces is Fero and company F E R R O and company founded in 2014 by two brothers. The question was. Why do watches with exceptional mechanicals and design need to cost so much? That was literally what those two brothers were talking about one day. To that end, they set out to produce affordable watches that celebrate aviation, fine dress, business, and, of course, motorsport.

With a multitude of chronographs and single hand watches, there seems to be something for Everyone, the one that I’m holding here is kind of interesting because you’ll notice on the top, there is three, five, six, which of course is Porsche 356. It looks like a three 56 speedometer. Yeah, exactly. That was what they designed it for.

And you can look in [00:51:00] the back and you can see the clear casing. So you can see all the mechanicals. Working back there, really a fun watch comes with a perforated strap with either green or red detailing. I have the green one and I really like it. Every one of them is numbered. These were limited edition.

I want to say they made a thousand of them. There are still a few of them that are for sale. Terrific watch again, Pharaoh and Company. Another fun one, a little more serious, called Ernst Benz. Ernst Benz is a real person, or was a real person, if they sold the company ultimately, but what began as a quest to produce the most accurate and legible timepieces in aviation, Ernst Benz has grown into a watchmaker with a multitude of styles, all based off of the original concept.

While flying is in their heart, It is in the art of watchmaking that drives them to produce watches that anyone can appreciate. The reason I bring them up is yes, they have the big pilot watches, which everybody has been into, but they also have a couple of motorsport time pieces that dribble in. [00:52:00] To the mix

Crew Chief Eric: specifically, they have a limited edition 50th anniversary Camaro watch, which is very, very handsome.

So if you’re a General Motors fan, you’re a little off of the Corvette Club and more interested in Camaros. This is a really, really nice piece to commemorate 50 years of the Camaro.

Don Weberg: Now the next one is C-V-S-E-O-S. Vetos, founded by saso S at just 21 years old. CVS TOS watches brings a unique style and flair to the world of watchmaking.

The racing lineup catches the spirit of motorsports through bold design and color usage. One thing that’ll catch your eye about these watches is the shape of them. They’re not your standard issue circle. They’re not your standard issue rectangle oblong

Crew Chief Eric: oblong.

Don Weberg: Yeah. I want to call them coffin shape, but I know that’s a little bit morbid.

You know, if you look at them, they’re very, very, I call it busy design, but you can see you’re through a lot of the [00:53:00] watches, you know, workings of them. Their straps are absolutely fabulous and they do have motorsports

Crew Chief Eric: styling. Your point body wise, they have all very similar design. There are quite a large watch clocking at 41 millimeters.

They’re going to take up a lot of wrist space. Even though they’re a little busy, they’re going to be easier to see at that larger scale. But yeah, I really do like the look of the bronze over gun metal of the Nardo, but there’s some other ones here that are really, really cool as well.

Don Weberg: Yeah. It seems like there’s a little something for everyone.

The next one I like is Tag Heuer or Howard, depending on where you’re from, how you want to say that. Might be impossible to make a list of cool motorsport watches without including the granddaddy of them all, the Monaco. The Monaco was made famous by Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans. The square watch is largely the I Ching of any car guy watches.

I mean, it seems like any time you talk about car guy watches, the Monaco is. Bam. It’s right there at the top of the list for the line. It’s, it is the watch [00:54:00] to gravitate to now. Nicely. You know, if you remember that movie, Steve’s was in Gulf colors. I believe it had a blue strap. Even today you can buy the Monaco in any multitude of different colors.

The Gulf is still available, but you can buy this thing in black. You can buy it in silver. You can buy it in red. You can buy it in all kinds of different things. Really, really a cool watch. And I guess the official name is the Tag Heuer Monaco. Oh, your, Oh, two automatic.

Crew Chief Eric: What I like about this watch, the gulf liveried watch specifically, not just because it’s a throwback to Steve McQueen is how they modernized it for 2023.

Because if you look at it, it’s got little extra touches that wouldn’t have existed on Steve McQueen’s watch. Like the Indiglo for the night stuff, but also the watch band itself. Is dual color, it’s blue leather on top with an burnt orange on the bottom. I’m like, that’s a lot of detail in something that it’s movement, the way it lays out, the way it looks, it is a Swiss made watch, it’s beautiful.

And for the [00:55:00] money, if you want a modernized version of what Steve McQueen had, and you’re that type of collector, I couldn’t see why you shouldn’t have something like this.

Don Weberg: Yeah, they really are a cool watch and you’re right. There’s a lot of details that go into a TAG, especially the Monaco. I may be wrong, but it’s probably the most expensive watch we’ve got on the list here.

But I think as you’re pointing out, it is probably well worth it to a lot of people just for all the details that’s involved in that. Now, the nice thing about TAG, they have a very, very rich history in motors. Or, and one of my favorites is called the Carrera. It’s another classic it’s named for the Carrera Panamericana race of the 1950s.

Another race that’s close to my heart. It was one of my father’s favorite races. And of course, Lincoln dominated it for a long time, but anyway, they developed the Carrera. It’s a terrific watch. It’s a lot more classically styled. It has more of a circular pace to it, but you can have it with chronograph.

You can have it with non chronograph. You can custom tailor this watch pretty much however you want it to. There’s a lot of [00:56:00] motorsport heritage in this watch from Tag Heuer to De Pencel. Depencel is probably the newest company we’re bringing to the program, but it was launched just in 2018. Depencel is the result of one man’s interest in how watches work and blending their unique mechanisms with designs inspired by motorsport.

Unlike so many others, Depencel is rooted literally in motor racing. As such, the company now produces a nice number of racing inspired watches, including one called the CERI R. Which looks shockingly like the TAG Monaco that costs infinitely less. Now, not to go knocking on the TAG, but there is something to be said about for those of us on a budget who would like something similar to the Monaco but can’t quite afford that coin.

One thing I like about Depencel, they come to the market and in typical racing spirit, they are all about competition. They have a very rebellious spirit. If you like cars, and especially if you love [00:57:00] motorsport and racing, you’re probably going to really appreciate that streak in a Depencel.

Crew Chief Eric: Their version of the Steve McQueen is.

Quite nice as well. I like the fact that it comes down in powers of 10. I was jokingly thinking to myself, where’s the fossil version of this so I can knock another 10s place off of the price tag, but for the money, they’re not bad. I actually really liked the series are eighties edition that has that stainless steel with sort of the elastic stretchy band and like that orange over black with almost the interlaced background.

It looks like louvers on the back of a DeLorean or on the back of a Mustang that draws me in. And it almost feels like some Something that Jujaro would have designed. Right. I’ve seen Jujaro’s watches too. They’re quite nice. It has that appeal to me. So that’s really, really interesting. Now it clocks in a little bit more expensive than their version of the Steve McQueen watch and some of the others.

They’re all really pretty cool.

Don Weberg: Yeah. I like the pen cell. I discovered them on Facebook and they were just promoting their watches and I just kind of kept after them. I really liked them. So the [00:58:00] next item on the list is probably the. Youngest watch that we’ve got, which is De Tomaso.

Crew Chief Eric: Wait, wait. Are you talking about De Tomaso like the Pantera?

Don Weberg: Yes. In fact, the watch line was inspired by the De Tomaso

Crew Chief Eric: Pantera. Is it an Italian body with an American innards? Is that how this watch works?

Don Weberg: We gotta have this guy on your show so we can crack that open literally. But yeah, the manufacturing behind them and the man himself is Alejandro de Tomaso. Very, very interesting there.

It said the design of the car is reflected by the watch. So I’m unsure, honestly, looking at some of them. I really don’t see much Pantera in these watches. These watches are very modern, very sharp, very

Crew Chief Eric: clean. I think it might go along with the new De Tomaso supercar that they were building, which we talked about last year on the drive through.

So maybe this isn’t a nod to the seventies Pantera. This is a nod to the new cars that are coming out.

Don Weberg: That could very well be. Yeah, I, I hate to say it, but I [00:59:00] totally forgot about that car regardless. So talk about a watch that is rooted in not so much motor racing, but motor design. Bargain price too. My goodness.

Crew Chief Eric: They’re on sale right now at a 40 percent discount. You can grab one of these. De Tomazo watches, they MSRP at about two 30. They’re coming in at 1 37. Yeah. If you want something a little nicer than a fossil that you can pick up at your local kiosk in the mall, these are really cool. I like the Repaso, the blue watch.

I like that navy blue with the orange. Something draws me in about these pumpkin colored watches for some reason. But the D 10. With the copper over that charcoal, that is a really good looking watch.

Don Weberg: Yeah, they are beautiful. In fact, if you look at some of the outer edges of the cases have little hash marks on some of them and some of them are clean, it’s such a fine, small detail, you either have the hash marks or you don’t have the hash marks.

And I think that’s kind of a cool thing that as a customer, I can decide, do I want more [01:00:00] detail, more eye candy, more visual pop, or do I want it cleaner? Very interesting the way they allowed customers to kind of do that. So fun stuff.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, he also seems to be a big fan of the color yellow because there’s about three or four different designs that feature that old school Pantera yellow.

So that may be a drawback to the old cars, but very, very cool. Really cool. Fine. These are some really interesting pieces.

Don Weberg: Thank you. I try, baby. I try.

Crew Chief Eric: Dude, this is exciting. As we get closer to the holidays, where we’ll probably see more and more rich people, things popping up, Dan, what’s going to be on your holiday shopping list here very soon,

Danny Pilling: but you know what, when I go camping, I want to get away from everything, you know, when I enjoy the wild outside, but LG have made it much more easy for me to catch up with the latest Netflix show, they’ve developed a suitcase.

Which is a 27 inch screen TV that supports airplay, supports screen monitoring. So just when you thought you’ve escaped it all, LG are there to make sure that you stay connected to the real [01:01:00] world.

Crew Chief Eric: What’s the low, low bargain Best Buy price of this particular suitcase television?

Danny Pilling: To you, sir. Just shy of a thousand dollars.

Executive Producer Tania: You know, that’s not unreasonable. That’s expensive for 27 inch.

Danny Pilling: Yeah, but how many 27 inches can you tuck away in a Pelican

Crew Chief Eric: case and carry with you to your next campsite?

Executive Producer Tania: I like the concept of being able to transport the TV, but I wouldn’t be bringing it on my wilderness excursion. I also don’t know where I would need to transport it to in general.

Danny Pilling: It goes landscape and portrait, so I don’t know why you would want, maybe Instagram. I want to watch Instagram at scale. If

Crew Chief Eric: it doubled as a computer monitor, then I could see it being advantageous for like motorsports events, maybe at an autocross, a great way to like tuck it away, have it stored in a trailer.

Executive Producer Tania: Tailgating, tailgating. Yes. It would be useful. Tailgating, you’re in the parking lot of the game and you’re watching pre game coverage in the parking lot.

Crew Chief Eric: How many of these new big SUVs have TVs in them that you could just jack your [01:02:00] Roku into and do

Danny Pilling: the same thing though? They should do a Westphalia edition.

Yes!

Crew Chief Eric: Oh, then it’s okay.

Danny Pilling: Does that justify

Crew Chief Eric: that? 100%, it’s done. If it comes in the Westphalia, I’m all for it. It’s all good.

Executive Producer Tania: That wouldn’t be a bad idea because if you’re taking your Westphalia on a road trip and in some nights you’re not really where you need to be, you would have some form of entertainment.

Crew Chief Eric: You know who’s not going to be able to use this folding suitcase LG television? The gentleman that purchased a Bugatti Bolide. And stripped it down to its carbon fiber monocoque and turned it into an exo car. What compels people to do stuff like this? You spend four and a half million bucks and then you strip your car down?

Danny Pilling: Maybe he wasn’t allowed Hot Wheels as a kid.

Executive Producer Tania: So this thing is stripped down. It weighs 2, 700

Danny Pilling: pounds.

Executive Producer Tania: A full bodied bully day. weighs 3200 pounds, all of that stripping and you only save 500 pounds.

Crew Chief Eric: And you know what else you lost in the process? Aerodynamics.

Executive Producer Tania: Yeah,

Crew Chief Eric: all of that

Executive Producer Tania: is gone. Ground effects.

Danny Pilling: He should have [01:03:00] bought a Lucid Sapphire.

That’s the ticket right there. There we go. Well, you know what they might be buying?

Executive Producer Tania: For their children.

Crew Chief Brad: Oh, tell me there’s a baby three. We talked before about the Bugatti baby twos.

Executive Producer Tania: It was the Chiron. There was a minute. Oh, yes.

Crew Chief Brad: The Bugatti Chiron. Yes. It

Executive Producer Tania: also had the speed key. I think.

Crew Chief Brad: Yes. There is a company called Group Harrington that apparently makes a whole bunch of these cars.

There’s the GB Spirit. There’s the Ferrari Spyder. The Ferris Bueller Ferrari.

Executive Producer Tania: Eric, pick the Ferrari. What would you pick?

Crew Chief Brad: You got to go with the Cobra. The 289 Cobra.

Executive Producer Tania: I’m doing the 300.

Crew Chief Brad: You’re going to go with the 300. Aye. Figured you would’ve went with the F 1 race car.

Executive Producer Tania: Nah, I’m gonna go with the Merc.

Crew Chief Eric: She’s a Benz girl.

Crew Chief Brad: And I probably would’ve, should’ve went with the Jeep. Let’s see how much, let’s see how much is…

Executive Producer Tania: They’re so expensive, they don’t list the price.

Crew Chief Eric: You might as well buy the real thing at that point. Yeah.

Crew Chief Brad: You can design your car. Look at this shit.

Crew Chief Eric: It’s funny, you guys, bring this up. I saw some of these. At some of the auctions in car week, they’re really, really cool.

These are the nicest [01:04:00] go karts you have ever seen.

Executive Producer Tania: I believe it. If only we could afford them, we could each get one and then go.

Crew Chief Eric: We talked about this before the go karts need to look like the race cars, and then you can do a proper Petit Le Mans. Or Petit Le Mans classic, there’ll be

Executive Producer Tania: amazing. Petit Petit Le

Crew Chief Brad: Mans.

Petit Petit. You should be able to get the pricing.

Executive Producer Tania: It says to email for a quote.

Crew Chief Brad: You can add things to your shopping cart.

Executive Producer Tania: I don’t know because when I went into the 300 it says request for quotation, leave your details and request quotation for the car and options you have selected above.

Crew Chief Eric: Yeah, I see that.

When they say that. You can’t afford it

Crew Chief Brad: more than you can afford, pal.

Executive Producer Tania: I can go buy a real one of these,

Crew Chief Brad: maybe two

Executive Producer Tania: or probably less than this mini one costs.

Crew Chief Brad: I do like the little Ferrari, California though. That’s pretty sweet. I’m going to get one for Henry.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, that’s why we call it rich people. Thanks.

Now to

Don Weberg: have the rich people things.

Crew Chief Eric: So Don you’re the garage mahal specialist, and it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t talk about cool things and tools and other items for your garage. So what have [01:05:00] you got for us?

Don Weberg: Yes, Eric, there’s a lot of tools and other garage items that are very exciting. One of my favorites is a wax product and all of us garagephiles know we love to get out there and just polish on the fenders for a little bit.

Zymal, been one of my favorite waxes for a long time. Anybody who’s read Garage Style Magazine has seen it cover to cover on some occasion. Is

Chuck Bennett: car wax the perfect holiday gift? I’ve been asked that many, many times, many years. Somebody wants to give something to someone who loves cars and you don’t know what to give them.

Most holiday gifts say you bought something sophisticated or cool. But do they say, hey, I know what you love and I love that about you. Where cars are concerned, there’s a passion involved. There’s fun, there’s thrills, but we need to remember that loving a car is a big job. So, you’re right, giving somebody a 16 can of everyday chemicals for the holiday can be hard to understand.

Sometimes it’s not the car that you need, it’s the [01:06:00] car that needs you. So let’s talk about a real gift. Scimall was created 44 years ago because of a love for cars and the exciting people who share a passion for them. We strive to make the best products based upon what kind of fresh ingredients we can find available in nature.

This brings to the top of the market the highest quality and absolute best products that any collector or enthusiast could want. We want people to understand that we’re part of that love for the automobile. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s a brass buggy or a brand new Ferrari. It’s the love of the automobile and the reason why we’re here.

So when you think about the holidays, Think about that person that really loves that car. What would bring a smile to their face? It could be something as simple as a card, or it could be some Zymal. So when you go to Zymal. com, enjoy a little gift from us. You’re going to have 35 percent off using the coupon [01:07:00] code HAPPYHOLIDAYS.

We want to wish a happy holiday to everyone from Zymal.

Don Weberg: If you’re looking for a great gift, my personal favorite, they literally have the starter kit. You get a little sampler of whatever wax you want, plus their polish, plus their one particular product from Zymal is literally designed to… feed that flex agent and feed that paint to keep it flexible, keep it rich in color, keep it deep.

Really, really cool stuff. Another one, a newcomer to the block is called Root66. Now Root66 is interesting. They are a one wax pony. They have one type of wax. It’s a spray wax. But the cool thing about it is, at least last time I looked on the website, they were offering customers the opportunity to send in a photograph of their favorite car, and it would be printed on the box and the bottle that the Route 66 wax was delivered in.

[01:08:00] So that’s kind of fun. So if you’ve got a friend or relative out there that’s got a special car, if you can somehow get a picture of it and send it to Route 66. They’ll pop it on that box in that bottle. That’s pretty cool.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s available at root66wax. com.

Don Weberg: Yep, absolutely. And of course, the xymol. com.

Okay. Another good one that you might want to look into, and it’s a little bit more expensive, but it is something maybe you buy for that special someone, that special gearhead in your life who, Oh, I don’t know, they need a little bit of garage organization and let’s face it. Who doesn’t need a little help in that department.

Company out there called C Tech Cabinets. It’s C T E C H Cabinets. C Tech Cabinets, they are all about garage organization. Literally the workbenches, the cabinets, the overheads, beautiful maple workbenches. And they’re all configurable. They’re all completely modular. So you can go on their website, you can design how long you want it, how wide you want it, how thick.

You want to how deep you want it and pick your colors. They literally have hundreds of [01:09:00] color to choose from. I personally like the bright yellow with that silver chim. I think that looks pretty sharp. Again, it’s a bit more expensive for Christmas, but let’s say you’re buying it for a spouse, chances are you both have a house.

This is only really going to enhance not only the value of the house at the end of the day. But it is also going to enhance both of your ability to enjoy that garage, organize that garage, figure out where you keep your tools, where you keep your Zymal. It’s all good stuff. If you’re interested in hitting up the auctions, Mecham has Mecham on time, which is a great place to find different antiques and road art, etc.

Small items, but there’s always a bunch of other auctions.

Crew Chief Eric: You know what, Don? There’s so many things that we could investigate in this category. And I’ve been accused of in previous holiday specials of basically going through my Amazon list from the year prior, pointing out really cool things that I’ve bought or people have inspired me to buy, but we did something even more special this year.

If you visit our show notes, we [01:10:00] have put together a kit sponsored by kit. co. And you can actually see all of our picks and there’s direct links to where you can buy these items for your garage or your collection, et cetera. And by going. through our kit, you can get a discount on those items. Check that out on the show notes that follow this.

You can learn about all sorts of other really cool garage items. They call it the season of giving for a reason. And we have some charities that we want to talk about.

Don Weberg: Yes, you’re right, Eric. There are a lot of charities and tis the season for giving back and supporting those who are looking for a little bit extra love this year and who isn’t.

One of our favorites come from Deb Pollack. She established Drive for a Cure, which is raising lots and lots of money for Parkinson’s research, a disease near and dear to her heart. If you go to her website, she explains all about it. So you can always make a nice donation there, help her and her cause, even get a little tax write off if you want to.

Bill Warner’s book, On the Other [01:11:00] Side of the Fence, it’s a wonderful pictorial of his history running around literally the United States taking pictures at different motorsports events.

Bill Warner: Hi, this is Bill Warner in Jacksonville, Florida, and I want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

And I’m also here to promote a book that I did on six decades of motorsports photography from my first race at Sebring, Florida in 1960 to the present. So if you like photo books, this is it. Each one’s got a little story behind it. To be honest with you, it’s my life. From the time I was 16 years old to today.

This includes a story from when I did a story with Andy Gibb on a Gimbala Avalanche Porsche down at West Palm Beach. Funny story. I have to thank my friends Jokin Moss, David Hobbs, Brian Redman, Hurley Haywood, Roger Pinsky, Mario Andretti, Derek Bell, Peter Brock for the lovely liner notes they did for the book.

They were great to support it and they’re in the book too. Each photo has a story behind it. It’s more than just a photo book. So if you’re interested in me, a nice [01:12:00] Christmas present for anybody who’s into auto racing and into photography, the book is available through Spina Bifida Jacksonville, or you can send an email to me at Bill Warner at bwracing.

net. And I’ll vector it over to them and we can get this book to you by Christmas. The price is a 100 donation to Spina Bifida Jacksonville, so it’s completely tax deductible. All proceeds for the book go to Spina Bifida Jacksonville to take care of those people born with a terrible birth defect called Spina Bifida.

Drop me a note. Have a Merry Christmas, and thank you so much.

Don Weberg: Interesting thing about Bill’s book, he put this all together himself, he got it published himself. 100 percent of the proceeds go for Spina Bifida research and support. Near and dear to Bill’s heart.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, we’ve reached that point of the episode where it’s time to go up north and talk about eggnog and reindeer.[01:13:00]

The

Executive Producer Tania: North is feeling more like beer cans and alligators.

Crew Chief Eric: Is this Holiday Man? Is that what we’re going to talk about?

Executive Producer Tania: Wouldn’t be a drive thru episode unless we went down south to our southern neighbors. The holidays have not happened yet, so we do not have fresh out of the oven holiday stories for you. So we are going to go back in time.

Crew Chief Eric: Hold on, I got to add more rum to my eggnog before we get into this.

Executive Producer Tania: So we’ll start Christmas time and we’ll work our way back to Thanksgiving. So headline alone, like to start with those because they’re always good. Florida woman charged with assaulting sister with Christmas decoration. And I got really excited because I’m thinking there’s lots of kinds of Christmas decorations here.

Are we talking about like the big pieces outside outdoor? I was a [01:14:00] little disappointed when it’s merely. a beaded cone tree. So I guess it’s like a Christmas cone, like a little mini Christmas tree that’s shaped like an ice cream cone. It’s a stabbing device. And she stabbed essentially her sister in the left side of the torso with the Christmas cone due to some sort of altercation that they had.

And there was that, but then further reading through the article, apparently there was another incident in Florida. Fights at Christmas time using Christmas decorations is a big thing. This one’s even better. I think they said a similar incident

Crew Chief Eric: similar. Okay.

Executive Producer Tania: Well, and similar in that it’s a Christmas decoration, but this is the kind of decoration I was looking for.

Florida woman hit her boyfriend with sections of her family’s artificial Christmas tree. It was sections of the Christmas tree. The woman’s last name is Graham told the police the [01:15:00] couple began arguing because her boyfriend had set quote the TV volume on too high while she was sleeping in response. She had quote.

squared up to the victim and was screaming in his face. She admitted to the police that she, quote, took apart an artificial Christmas tree and threw three sections of the tree at the victim.

Crew Chief Eric: Apparently, in Florida, you could weaponize anything.

Executive Producer Tania: I mean, that takes… You had nothing else to go for? I mean, what was that guy

Crew Chief Eric: doing while she’s disassembling the Christmas tree?

Or was it like rapid fire, like the Tasmanian devil? Was he just standing here and he’s watching her take apart the Christmas tree and then he gets chucked in his face? I mean, how much of a dunce can you be?

Executive Producer Tania: I don’t know because regardless of a pre lit tree or not, I’m going to go out on a limb. You have lights strung around it.

And if they’re not pre lit, Well, even if they are, you got to disconnect the strands. If not, the whole tree is still like kind of together by virtue of the lights. And then you got [01:16:00] the balls flying everywhere or whatever other hanging ornaments you have. I mean, what was that dude doing?

Crew Chief Eric: He was, I don’t understand.

Please folks. Don’t let your Christmas turn into this disaster. That’s for sure.

Executive Producer Tania: Please don’t get a misdemeanor jail time on your record for throwing Christmas tree parts at your boyfriend or girlfriend. How does that 9

Crew Chief Eric: 1 1 call

Executive Producer Tania: go?

Crew Chief Eric: Excuse me, Operator Batman, I’ve been assaulted by a Christmas tree. Like, seriously?

Oh, who did it, Santa? Right? I mean, how do they even keep a straight face? Were you

Executive Producer Tania: naughty

Crew Chief Eric: this year?

Patrick Strong: It’s ridiculous.

Executive Producer Tania: But here we go. Also saving the best for last. Let’s move to Thanksgiving. You don’t even need to read the rest of it. There’s not even anything else to the article, honestly, because it’s summed up in its entirety by the title.

Florida man defrosts Thanksgiving turkey in swimming pool.

Steve & Izzy: What?

Executive Producer Tania: Y’all be worried [01:17:00] about, Oh, snap. I haven’t taken my turkey out of the freezer yet. Thanksgiving’s in two days. How will it ever defrost? No. You got a swimming pool in Florida. Throw that sucker in there. It takes just a few hours. Apparently

Crew Chief Eric: the salmonella only takes a couple hours to, I

Executive Producer Tania: mean, add that little extra something, something

Crew Chief Eric: really in the hot tub, but then you’d end up cooking it

Executive Producer Tania: quote.

Turkey in the pool. That’s how you do it. When you live in Florida, I didn’t know that I’ve also never

Crew Chief Eric: lived in Florida. We learned something new every month,

Executive Producer Tania: every year, a different family member throws the turkey into the pool. I mean, that’s tradition. I mean, that’s almost slam dunk. Most people wonder, doesn’t the chlorine get into your Turkey?

Crew Chief Eric: That’s just keeps it moist.

Executive Producer Tania: He says, these bags are sealed by the factories. We’ve never had a leakage yet. Yeah. And no chlorine is in our turkey. All right.

Crew Chief Eric: I mean,

Executive Producer Tania: those turkey bags are pretty thick.

Crew Chief Eric: So is the skull of the person doing this, [01:18:00] but you know, hey, whatever.

Executive Producer Tania: And please, people, before you get any ideas, the United States Department of Agriculture does recommend that there are three ways to safely thaw your turkey.

One, in the refrigerator. Two, in cold water. Or three, apparently in the microwave. That sounds like a lot of work. All right.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, thank goodness I don’t like turkey. Well, now that we’ve spread a little holiday cheer. We wish Florida A very merry and safe holiday season this year. Absolutely. Keep it classy, Florida.

Well, it’s that time we go behind the pit wall and talk about motorsports news, but we’re really not going to. We’re going to talk about motorsports gifts, and we’ve kind of been doing that throughout the episode, but we [01:19:00] forgot. Something special for our younger listeners, for our younger audience. You know what came out just in time for the holidays?

Hopefully you’ve already bought your latest Xbox or upgraded your PC because Forza Motorsport number eight hit the shelves.

Executive Producer Tania: It’s just called Forza Motorsport. I

Crew Chief Eric: know, but it’s still the eighth

Executive Producer Tania: one. Yes,

Crew Chief Eric: it is the latest in the Forza Motorsport series packed with 650 cars, all sorts of new tracks. It has a new kind of career mode, which has more of an RPG style progression system.

Whether you like that or not, I’m a Forza fan. I’m ride or die. I’m getting a copy of it and I’m going to play it. I highly recommend checking it out. And I think it may be the jumping off. point for a GTM virtual racing league coming back. So if you’re interested in partnering up with us or racing with us, give us a shout, but you got to get your copy of Forza Motorsport first, and at least get your licenses and get through, you know, the basic training in the game.

So now that that’s out, check it out. There’s tons of other motors. Sports games out there, especially if you’re in to sim [01:20:00] racing, something else to consider upgrading your gear. What are you using for your pedal set? What do you have for steering wheels? I will say this. We have an upcoming episode where Brock Packard returns to co host with me, where we talked to Trevor Marks.

From K53, who’s partnering with Torque Motorsports in Atlanta to talk about their new sim racing program, what they have to offer and what K53 is doing to revolutionize the e sports world. So look forward to that in the future. Lots of stuff out there going on right now. Lots of great sales in the IT world, checking out websites like Amazon, like Newegg, like Best Buy.

Now’s the time to get your gear upgraded so that you can play and support the latest version of Forza. And don’t forget, if you’re looking to give someone the gift, a gift that will continue to give, think about club memberships. And how about a membership to one of the oldest car clubs in the world? For a whopping 50 euros, you could have become a member of the Automobile Club of the West.

The ACO has started their own U. S. region. [01:21:00] Pretty awesome. You get a 40 percent discount on schwag and other things. And let’s listen to what David Lowe, president of the ACO USA, has to say about their membership package.

David Lowe: You definitely want to. Take advantage of what the members club has to offer. Got a lot to offer.

Like you talked about the, uh, ACO Tribune, 1718. That’s my go to Tribune. Purchase access to La Chapelle, which is incredible, uh, hospitality facility located there, uh, just beyond the Dunlop bridge, which is an incredible, uh, Viewing of Tetra Rouge, you know, cars coming through the Dunlop. It’s a great place to view as well as the hospitality tents area.

Honestly, the big screen TVs give you the best view. They’re just these huge screens and you hear the sound right there and you see them right now on the big screen. So it’s a, it’s a wonderful place. Plan to go for a week. If you only go for the day of the race, you’re going to miss a lot. You need to.

Kind of watch the race come alive. The pits get built out and you want to get a paddock pass. Might cost you a few [01:22:00] extra dollars. You want to do that with the club. So you’ve got access to La Chapelle and the members areas there at T17. So, but in the meantime, throughout the year, as we build up, you’ve got these events that we’re putting together around the country.

Got the zoom meetings each month, evening with a legend, which. Absolutely are incredible. We’re open to suggestions. A lot of the ideas we get come from volunteers that actually set it up for us. We have a lot of past presidents from other car clubs that are members that provide good sound wisdom and guidance for us as we grow our wings, if you will.

Crew Chief Eric: So Reuben, not only are you right hand man to David, part of the board, you know, making all this stuff happen at the ACO USA, you’re also in charge of social media marketing, all that you run the ACO USA Facebook group, which is for members only. And then you have the night with the legends. Do you want to expand upon that and explain to people like what all those different pieces are really about?

Ruben Sanchez: The Facebook group was my idea to get to people that don’t read the newsletter, because a lot of times you get an email, don’t open it, we get so much spam, you know, [01:23:00] just another Avenue, we get the message out, whatever we put in the newsletter, I’ll put on, on the Facebook group, whatever comes from Lamont as well, I’ll put there so we can have a daily reminder of something it keeps.

Lamont’s whack in the people’s mind. I’ll come up with stuff, you know, that I’ll pull up from all over, you know, before the hundred, there was so many events, you know, a chocolate event at Lamont’s that did chocolate, that track and all kinds of unique things. So I’ll put that in there to bring that flavor because our vision is for the people that can never get to Lamont, we want to bring Lamont to them and bring it to them on a daily or weekly basis, you know, and the monthly zoom, you know, again.

Access to a legend. Some of these legends, you know, their days are numbered the ones in the seventies and so forth, you know, the, the bells, the Redmonds and so, you know, dreadies, I mean, they’re in their eighties plus, so it’s building that connection with them. Then, you know, they may like me when I was there, I saw them, but I didn’t get to talk to them, you know, now, later on, I’m, I’m catching up, I guess.

By doing this, and I love it, you know, chasing them [01:24:00] down to do the zoom and really get into their story, how they felt in the car, you know, good or bad because Lamont, you know, you don’t win Lamont, Lamont chooses you. So everybody’s got a story there for sure. And, you know, and I just want to get that out to people that want to hear it from our legends.

So those are the things that we’re planning. You know, bringing people in, access to some of these legends. There might be heroes for them. They know their story, but they never met in person because in a race track, it’s probably won’t ever meet them. So it has to be some of these social events, meetups, and this is what we’re bringing to people.

You know, whatever we can put together.

Mike Carr: That’s good to know. I’ll definitely be getting on board. It sounds like a great. Group of people.

Crew Chief Eric: And they’re still actually running clearance sales on selected sizes and stuff that’s left over from Le Mans. You can actually save a boatload, especially if you’re an ACO member on any of the schwag.

Do we have any Christmas wishes this year? Pipe dream wishes? Yeah, wishes for the world. Puppies, 100 grand. Oh, wishes for

Executive Producer Tania: the world. Oh, yes. Okay. Yes, many. For people to be good. World [01:25:00] peace.

Crew Chief Eric: The world, yeah. You know what I wish for though? This is my Christmas wish. I hope that by the new year. Michael Andretti will be allowed to have his Formula One team.

Executive Producer Tania: You’ve heard that Cadillac is going to be an engine manufacturer in 2028, supposedly the latest rumor or the latest late breaking news. Cadillac Andretti with Cadillac providing motors.

Crew Chief Eric: A wish come true. I wish the best for the Andretti family, and I hope they make their F1 dreams come true. Our motorsports news is brought to us always in partnership with the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen.

And what better gift than the opportunity to win a brand new 2024 Corvette E Ray. The sweepstakes for the Corvette are still happening. They’re continuing through April when the drawing will happen. You can win the Corvette or take home a 50, 000 cash prize. Any proceeds go to help continue supporting the IMRRC and keeping it going.

Thank you for https: otter. ai The archives, everything that goes on, [01:26:00] they’re an invaluable resource in the motorsports community. And they’re heralded for many different things to include their annual art singer symposium in the fall and lots of other events that they put on. But not only do they have all this available for folks.

But the IMRC is a great place to also shop for gifts. They have a lot of stuff in their gift shop, autograph things by professional drivers, memorabilia. They’ve got a couple auction items going on right now, like a Daytona Coop one 18 scale model, a Maserati, a Williams Formula car. A lot of this stuff. We have those listed on garage style magazine’s, auction listing page right now.

You can also check out racing archives for that. You can pick up Bob Gillespie’s art calendar. You can pick up DVDs of earlier center conversations, which are great talks that were given at the center. Again, these are like five, six, seven bucks a piece. Some of them are two parters and you can relive the history, relive the magic of some of these presentations and money goes to support the IMRC.

But more importantly, [01:27:00] one of the. honorary members of the Society of Automotive Historians who partners with the IMRRC, Joe Freeman, who we showcased one of his episodes on the show earlier this year around Indy 500 Time called Second to One All But for Indy. He’s the owner of Racemaker Press. He’s a long time participant and presenter at the Argett Singer Symposium, and he just recently made a donation of books to the IMRRC, 150 new copies of Joel Flynn’s Racing history books that were published from 1995 to 2007.

I have a couple copies myself. One of them is American Road Racing from 1948 to 1950. This is a 425 page book full of black and white color photographs, memorabilia, advertisements from back in the day surrounding sports car from a two year period. I mean, this is a Tome, if there ever was one, an incredible book, beautiful book.

Another one has to do with the history of Bridgehampton. That’s very specific if [01:28:00] you’re from the Northeast. But another one is American Road Racing in the 1930s. Some of the pictures in this have been digitally remastered and recolored. So you can see them as if they were taken in color and not in black and white.

Another gorgeous book, another pictorial book, but lots of history, lots of great stories in here. Again, advertisements and things you just won’t find anywhere else. And a lot of this. Material comes through research and organizations like the SAH and the IMRRC. You can pick up any of these books today.

You’ll reach out to Kip Zeider, so kip at racingarchives. org, and they’re for sale for 20 each. Proceeds of the books go to help support the IMRRC, but what a bargain. These would retail for much, much more if you were to buy them at any other time, but 20 for a book like this, even if you just leave it on your coffee table and somebody thumbs through it, what an amazing, amazing gift to give.

A beautiful looking book. Well, it looks like we have some upcoming holiday events still on the calendar.

Executive Producer Tania: Our upcoming local news and events is brought to us by [01:29:00] collectorcarguide. net, the ultimate reference for car enthusiasts. So let’s see what’s coming up for the holidays. We’ve got Street Survivors of Maryland Christmas Show and Auction, December 17th, Glen Burnie Elks Lodge.

The Simeone Foundation and Museum in Philadelphia is celebrating their 40 years of ATCO racing. It promises to be a drag on December 2nd through the 17th. The East Coast Indoor Nationals returns to the Maryland State Fairgrounds on December 2nd and 3rd. And lastly, Dragfest 2024 will be January 6th and 7th at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center.

Tons more of events like this and all of their details are available over at collectorcarguide. net.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, you would think as we head into the holidays that there wouldn’t be anything to talk about on the HPDE Junkie. com trackside report. But you know what? You’d be wrong. Because Dave Peters and the crew from HPDE Junkie.

com would like to extend some discounts to all their followers. You can use code [01:30:00] HPDEJUNKIE at checkout or call Linda and mention HPDE JUNKIE when you’re buying from Apex Performance to receive 10 percent off your purchase. And you can also save 10 percent with Glock Breaks by mentioning HPD Junkie when you call 1 844 9 BREAKS on your next order.

Bear in mind that there is still a road closure on route 340 to Summit Point that extends through the middle of December. They’re doing a rock slide repair project. So if you are headed out to the famous Turkey Bowl at Summit Point here in the months of December. Be sure to check out us three 40 Harper’s ferry.

com. So you can plan an alternate route, check up on any road openings. Just make sure to stay safe. If you’re going out there. Meanwhile, New Jersey motor sports park is giving away the gift of speed. They have an exclusive gift for the holiday season. They are credit gift cards to be used towards any 2024 NJMP track day, carding event, driver’s club.

Or riders club. So you can purchase the gift of speed now [01:31:00] through motorsports reg they’re available through the 31st of December. So if you’re planning to go to NJMP next year, especially after the new repave of Thunderbolt, you got to get out there, set some new track records, whether it’s in your car or on your bike.

Get those gift cards, get that advanced access to NJMP now. And here are some other promos from some leading high performance driver’s education providers.

Mike Arrigo: Every year for a week in December, this year it’ll be the 9th through the 16th. And one week in January, we have our frequent driver program where you can buy a hooked on driving credit that adds.

A good percentage to what you’re purchasing on that never expires. So if you have money left over in your budget from work and you need that advertising money, put it towards the end of the day. If you want to spend it at the beginning of the year, buy it in January. We’re all good

Jason Kennedy: with that. Thank you.

Every year Auto Interest sells promotional value gift cards for Black Friday. So if you check out our website in the weeks… Leading up to and right through Black Friday, you can buy a gift card and pay less [01:32:00] than face value for it. So that’s our annual promotion to check out for the holidays and that’s auto interest with the nas.

com.

Chris Cobetto: Well, the other thing from NAS is I would say that at Hyper Fest, if you want to come out, if you’re not exactly sure whether you want to get on track, it’s something that you just want to try. We have something called. Hyperdrives, which is basically a single session HPD E because we start with HPD one right from the very beginning and have a ladder up through time trials and racing.

And if you just not sure if you want to get out, but you want to try out for a low impact time, but with one of our certified instructors. For 80 bucks, you can get on the track and do a 20 minute session. And it’s a taste test of what we do. And it’s very low impact. So if somebody wanted to check that out, they would just need to come to any one of the NASA events, actually in mid Atlantic run hyperdrive sessions, but we have a lot of them at hyperfest May 17th, the 19th at VIR.

Executive Producer Tania: In case you missed out, check out the other podcast episodes that aired this month. Race to the sky in a semi with [01:33:00] Carrie Weishar from Trophy Girl Designs, and learn about her epic journey to the top of Pike’s Peak. We go deep into the auction world with the voice of Mecham, John Kramen, along with pro buying tips for upcoming On Time and Road Art auctions this holiday season and beyond.

We serve up a delicious episode of Food Americana with David Page, the creator of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, as we discuss the influence of food on the automotive industry. Ever gone somewhere and asked, what’s the parking situation like? We discuss how parking has changed the way we look at the world with Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise.

And then we triple down with history of motorsports episodes from our friends at the IMRRC, with Caesar Palace Grand Prix by Randy Cannon, Pursuing Excellence in Racing by Dr. Mario Tecce, and a panel discussion about the environmental impact of motorsports and its future by three members of the SAH.

This is the last official drive thru of 2023. This month showcases our [01:34:00] holiday shopping guide, December brings us our best of episode, and we’ll catch back up with all of the industry news starting again in January. Thank you to all the guests that came on the show this month. We have some really exciting episodes lined up for the rest of season four.

Don’t forget, this season ends at the end of February. Right before the racing season kicks off, tons of episodes still to come. So stay tuned throughout those holiday months.

Crew Chief Eric: And don’t forget for everything we talked about on this episode and more, be sure to check the follow on notes on gtmotorsports.

org. We’d like to give a shout out. To our Patreon supporters. And if you are interested in giving the gift this year and helping to continue break fix to grow and bring you quality content, please sign up at patreon. com forward slash GT motor sports, but we do want to recognize all of our supporters on Patreon.

So thank you to Bob Barr,

Executive Producer Tania: Chris Waite.

Crew Chief Eric: Marissa Cannon,

Executive Producer Tania: Mark Shank,

Crew Chief Eric: Mark

Executive Producer Tania: Hewitt, Jason Seymour,

Crew Chief Eric: The Green Grand Prix Corporation,

Executive Producer Tania: Romano Conti,

Crew Chief Eric: Nicholas Matthews, [01:35:00]

Executive Producer Tania: Janet and Brian Warstel,

Crew Chief Eric: Andrew Mulrean,

Executive Producer Tania: Michael Brett, and Max Sonderby,

Crew Chief Eric: AmericanMuscle. com,

Executive Producer Tania: Brian Young,

Crew Chief Eric: David Scherf,

Executive Producer Tania: Mike and Mona Arrigo,

Crew Chief Eric: John Caffeese,

Executive Producer Tania: BJ Harrington,

Crew Chief Eric: Sean Roberts,

Executive Producer Tania: Harry Brill,

Crew Chief Eric: Rebecca Griffith,

Executive Producer Tania: Ryan Compton,

Crew Chief Eric: Leonardo Jambi,

Executive Producer Tania: John Richter,

Crew Chief Eric: Dr.

Gordon Bell,

Executive Producer Tania: Brad Novak,

Crew Chief Eric: Ron Shuri,

Executive Producer Tania: Mike and Chrissy Crutchfield,

Crew Chief Eric: and the one and only Kerwin Webb.

Executive Producer Tania: Was good.

Crew Chief Eric: Was good, baby. So if you’d like to support GTM and BrakeFix. be sure to check out www. patreon. com forward slash GT Motorsports. Additionally, we’d like to thank all of our sponsors who helped us this season.

AmericanMuscle.

Executive Producer Tania: com.

Crew Chief Eric: A nod to Don over at Garage Dial Magazine.

Executive Producer Tania: CollectorCarGuide. net.

Crew Chief Eric: HPDEJunkie. com.

Executive Producer Tania: The International Motor Racing Research Center.

Crew Chief Eric: Hooked on Driving Northeast.

Executive Producer Tania: Project Motoring.

Crew Chief Eric: SRO World Challenge and GT America.

Executive Producer Tania: With special thanks to. Garage Riot.

Crew Chief Eric: Collector Part Exchange.

Executive Producer Tania: Late Model Mafia.

Crew Chief Eric: A Girl’s Guide [01:36:00] to Cars.

Executive Producer Tania: The Exotic Car Marketplace.

Crew Chief Eric: And many, many others. So if you’d like to learn how to become a sponsor of Brake Fix, GTM, or The Drive Thru, look no further than gtmotorsports. org under About and then Advertise to look at our Plans and our rates. We’d like to thank everyone that has supported us throughout the year.

This is not possible without you guys, the love and support of friends, family, fans, and everybody in between. And to Tanya for putting up with all this nonsense that we call the drive thru every month. Don, thank you so much for stopping by and helping us with our holiday special, contributing some awesome gifts and filling in for Brad while he’s out this month.

Absolutely. So we wish you the best.

Don Weberg: Wishing you the best too. Thanks very much for having me. It’s always fun to be here. I always enjoy a little break from garage style to come up here. And play around with you guys on the break, fix podcast, especially the holiday one. This is a really fun one. This is a lot of fun putting all this stuff together and learning about what’s out there.

And of course, you know, warming up my credit card [01:37:00] and making sure it’ll max out. Well, with that, happy holidays, Don. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. All y’all. Bye. The following episode is brought to us in part by Garage Style Magazine. Since 2007, garage Style Magazine has been the definitive source for car collectors, continually delivering information about Automobilia Petroliana events and more.

To learn more about the annual publication and its new website, be sure to follow them on social media at Garage Style Magazine or log onto www.garagestylemagazine.com because after all. What doesn’t belong in your garage? Oh, all

Crew Chief Eric: right. Do we forget anything, anything else? Are we

Don Weberg: out?

I

Don Weberg: love this little warning that this thing sends up.

Meeting is being recorded. Got it. Leave meeting. You have two choices.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s it. Bail now. Get out. If nothing

Don Weberg: else,

Crew Chief Eric: you know. It was shorter than a regular drive thru episode. Thank goodness.

Mike Carr: I was worried.

Don Weberg: Merry Christmas, ya [01:38:00] filthy animal. Ya filthy animal. That sits like right… Ya filthy animal. Ya filthy animal.

Yeah, he did have kind of a twist to his voice, didn’t he? Ya filthy animal. It’s almost like a John Wayne thing with a grit. Thank you so very much for joining us today, folks.

Bob Gillespie: Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal! And a Happy New Year!

Here we are

in front of us, cars in back of us, all just waiting to order. There’s some idiot in a Volvo with his bright son behind me. I lean out the window and scream, hey, whatcha tryna do, blind me? My wife says maybe we should…

Crew Chief Eric: We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Brake Fix Podcast brought to you by Grand Touring Motorsports. If you’d like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure to follow us on all social media [01:39:00] platforms at GrandTouringMotorsports. And if you’d like to learn more about the content of this episode, be sure to check out the follow on article at GTMotorsports.

org. We remain a commercial free and no annual fees organization through our sponsors, but also through the generous support of our fans, families, and friends through Patreon. For as little as 2. 50 a month, you can get access to more behind the scenes action, additional Pit Stop minisodes, and other VIP goodies, as well as keeping our team of creators Fed on their strict diet of Fig Newtons, Gumby Bears, and Monster.

So consider signing up for Patreon today at www. patreon. com forward slash GT Motorsports. And remember, without you, none of this would be possible.

Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.