Car shows are fun and it’s certainly a great place to take the family and see some great pieces of automotive engineering. I’m glad they exists because it’s important to have these shiny pristine examples for the world to see. However I’d trade ten car shows for one day of cruising. Today was that day. The day started off very wet and while some spirits were dampened and some owners decided to keep their cars in the garage a small but mighty crew turned out to hit the open road in the name of American muscle.
I would get the luxury of riding shot gun in one bad ass fifth gen Camaro that I’ve showed you before here on IG. The pilot on our rocket ship Brenton and I have more in common then just a love for cars. Both of us are also bass guitarist and farmers. Needless today there was no lack of good conversation in our car. Mainly though it was about cars and I was fortunate enough to spend the day in his 500+hp rocket ship. LS3 powered, cammed, and a mean exhaust meant when we rolled into a little town everyone took notice.
Aug 17
2014 Pike County Muscle Car Tour
Aug 15
Pike County Muscle Car Cruise is this weekend!
Tomorrow morning around 9am a whole bunch of muscle cars and one supercharged Chevy Cobalt SS will meet up at Halpin Autoparts for the annual Pike County Muscle Car Cruise. A gathering of friends and fans of all things Murican Muscle will set out on the open road just as it is supposed to be.
As you can see from the picture IG mobile command center is just about ready to roll. I’ll be doing some video, lots of photos, and hopefully just capturing the fun of it all. The forecast is for a little rain in the morning but then a nice break around cruise time. So hopefully it all goes off without a hitch. If you are in the area come join us. Registration starts at 9am at Halpin Autoparts in Pittsfield, IL.
Hope to see you there.
Aug 13
The 2015 Dodge Charger Hellcat
Sometimes life requires four doors. If your life falls into that catagory don’t panic and go buy some damned minivan because Dodge has you covered. Not to long ago the Dodge Challenger Hellcat was born it was inevitable that soon it’s four door brother the Charger would get the monster 707hp Supercharged 8 cylinders of kickass too. That day is here.
The Charger is stuffed with the same goodies you get in the Challenger and of course two extra doors. I’m sure a lot of die hard Mopar guys are still a bit sore that the Charger got four doors in the first place but surely the fact that it is now the fastest production sedan…..in the world makes up for it right?
Aug 12
McLaren gets it’s freak on at Pebble Beach
McLaren GT has today confirmed that it will premiere its latest model at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, with the wraps set to come off the track-only 650S Sprint. The stripped-out racer will make its global debut alongside a number of other models from McLaren Automotive, and completes the brand’s display with four global debuts planned for the Californian event, including the McLaren P1™ GTR.
Based on the recently launched McLaren 650S Coupe, the track-focused 650S Sprint is fitted with developments to the Brake Steer system, even more refined active aerodynamics and a race set-up for the ProActive Chassis Control (PCC). These upgrades deliver a more engaging GT racing experience, without losing any of the refinement and balance found in the road car.
Aug 11
The Tony Stewart Incident
I was having a discussion today with someone about the Tony Stewart incident and I wished I had a place to vent about it. Turns out I do still own this website so I can do it here. I find it interesting that most racing fans and racers seem to side with Tony. Meaning there is no way he intentionally hit that guy. Of course he didn’t, no decent human would. However, I’m hearing a lot of none race fans saying things like “he has a reputation for being aggressive,” and “he does intentionally wreck people.” Of course he does. He’s a race car driver. That’s what race car drivers do. Well at least the good ones. All the greats, #3, Schumi, Senna, etc all were known to be giant assholes on the track. That’s how you win races, by showing no mercy and taking any advantage you can get.
I guess I could post the video, but you’ve seen it at this point and I’m not going to post a video of some guy getting killed. That’s not my thing. It’s a very sad that Ward was killed. Clearly he was a talented young driver but he made a very big mistake and it cost him his life. I hate that it happened but to blame anyone but Ward is just looking for someone to blame. We learn at a very young age not to go out into traffic. The race track certainly is no exception. It’s possible this young driver learned that behavior from Smoke himself seeing as Stewart has been known to throw a massive conniption fit after being wrecked. This has led to him going on track and throwing his helmet at passing drivers. No matter how Ward learned the behavior a young driver is needlessly dead, but let’s not rush to blame Tony Stewart.