Mopar Muscle Feature

We're pretty honored to get a feature article in the November issue of Mopar Muscle mag. This spread was shot on location in the Las Vegas desert by the very talented photographer John Machaquiero. He is a master at his trade and gave me a new respect for the profession as he "light painted" the shots after dark. The article was penned by our altered wheelbase mentor Steve Magnante and it was fun being able to chat with him about the build and general bullshit. He's a pretty great guy and doesn't give off any celebrity vibe whatsoever, which is good. When it comes down to it he is just a hot rodder like us who happens to be in the lime light. Anyways, he did the article justice and although we aren't the the type of guys who chase fame, we'll take it where we can get it if it inspires other people to built cool and interesting rides based on an idea and not a lot of cash.

Tens At Last!!

Last weekend we ventured down to Mission Raceway for the annual Langley Loafers Old Time Drags. (There's actually one in June at Ashcroft Raceway as well)In preparation for this and many races to come, Chris and I decided that it was time to get our shit together and have a torque converter built that suits our combo. So we set the team at TCS to work and they came up with something designed for our horsepower, weight and over-all strangeness of an altered wheelbase wagon. While we had the transmission out we decided to freshen up the old pushbutton 727 since it rarely get's treated very nice. Our class in Mission is based on Gasser and straight axle cars called "Nostalgia Gas" and over the past few years it has been pretty spotty at best with really low car counts. This year we were happy to see 17 cars in the field which really made for some exciting and competitive racing. We bounced around the 11.00 mark for all of Saturdays qualifying rounds but Sunday was another story. With a cool air first (and only) qualifying pass of the morning I nailed a good light and sent the front of the car skyward, hitting buttons on the money for a really clean, solid pass. The end result was a 10.98 @ 119mph!!! our first ever time slip with a ten on it and thank Christ since we were really getting sick of telling people that we race in the 11s. We dialed a 10.99 for the day and ran consistent 11.02 and 11.03s to get us handily through the pack of "Nostalgia Gas" only to get "tree'd" in the final round by Randy (?) in his (set-to-kill) '55 Chevy. That's how it goes and we we're happy to get runner up with a trophy and a cheque to put towards the diesel bill for hauling home. Another phenomenal weekend at the track with good friends, old records and Swing Bike rodeo with a dash of drag racing thrown in for good measure.

Couldn't Be Cooler

Here's a sneak peak at the Mopar Muscle article penned by our Altered wheelbase mentor, Steve Magnante. The photo shoot took place in Vegas this year at the 2015 Mopars at the Strip event and the evening desert shots were done with a process called light painting. Very cool to watch that process go down. Check this out and buy a copy of Mopar Muscle to prove that you actually know some famous hot rodders. Heh heh http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/1505-altered-wheelbase-tribute-flashpoint-for-a-new-hot-rodding-generation/

We'll Take Some Fame

It always surprises me when something goes to print without doing at least some fact checking with the people to whom the article is about. Case in point. The people from Mopar Collectors Guide did a 15 minute photo shoot on the car while we were in Vegas followed up by a 20 minute phone interview and we never heard from them again. Consequently, the article on our team and car in this month's MCG is peppered with a the odd inaccuracies. Oh well, we'll take the free press where we can get it, who am I to complain. In comparison Mopar Muscle magazine did a 6 1/2 hour photo shoot that same weekend with a photographer that was specifically flown in from Philly to shoot our car and there was a six page info sheet that we needed to fill out as well as several back and forth emails and phone conversations with Steve Magnante who is penning the article. He then sent me a rough draft to proof and correct as needed. Now that's pro and that feature will be kick-ass. This one is pretty good.

Vegas Action!!!

I like to call this little video clip "Hats".

Lil' Chupacabra Shirts

These little cuties couldn't get their new lil' Chupacabra shirts on fast enough so they could pose by the race car in Vegas. It's been a long time coming but we finally went to print with these tiny Ts. Available in 6-12month, 18-24 month and child sizes four and ten while supplies last. $20.00 plus shipping.

Mad Fame

Here's a little interview that Chris and I did with the ambassador of all things altered wheelbase, Steve Magnante. Steve literally wrote the book on how to build an altered wheelbase and we followed pretty closely while building El Chupacabra. It turns out that he is not only a real human being but also comes across as just another gear head like us who loves to talk about obscure drag racing history (among other things).

Vegas Baby

And without further adieu, It's the "Vegas Baby". Our chief maniac of the WOSN team (Chris) is heading to Vegas in the middle of March for a family wedding and since the "oh so famous Mopars at the Strip" race is happening a few short days later; he decided that it would be a brilliant plan to trailer the race car the scant 1250 mile journey so we can represent. This is where the whole "Vegas baby" thing comes into play. Chris and Ronni recently made themselves a cute little rug-rat and thought it would be important for the child's future to be exposed to a high profile drag race weekend before reaching 5 months of age. New parents rock. I decided that we would all continue to be friends if I flew down. I also decided to recruit a few friend to take the trek as well and help fly the banner of Wagons of Steel. I'm thinking that this will shape up to be an epic event and I'll try to post more once the cover comes off the car.