We’re getting pumped up for our LIVE streaming broadcast of the 2014 California Hot Rod Reunion from Bakersfield, California next weekend. To get you all up on the chip we decided to grab some of our best action photos from 2013 and stick them all up in your grill! This is going to be an awesome race and we cannot wait to go live on Friday with all the action!

While Chad spent the entirety of his 2013 California Hot Rod Reunion weekend high above the famed asphalt (concrete) aisle at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California, most of mine was spent on ground level shooting the still photos you have been checking out over the course of the event and today. It was a great weekend all around with hundreds of killer race cars getting after it in qualifying and eliminations. One of my favorite classes at this event was the A/FX category. There was an awesome array of vehicles in A/FX, including some straight axle, altered wheelbase machines built to honor the wild “match bash” days of the early/middle 1960s before the flip top funny cars arrived on the scene.

While there were wheelstands abounding in A/FX, two stood out to me. The first sequence you’ll see features the AWB “Miner Threat” Plymouth. With relocated front and rear axles, a big hemi making the horsepower, and an expertly prepped Famoso track, the car was a consistent wheels up runner. Things got a little too wild with the car on Saturday morning when the driver hammered the throttle and the car climbed higher than it ever had, got up on one wheel, tried to change lanes, and then came back to Earth with a front end wrecking THUD. Roll through the photo sequence to see the wheelie and continue on to see the end results to the front end.

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Here’s the second awesome wheelie. This AWB 1964 Tempest didn’t suffer the same dink-toed fate as the Plymouth but it did provide me with a “fight or flight” moment when it started to climb up into the atmosphere and then head in the direction where I was standing to shoot the photos. As the car was heading my way, I decided to put my faith in the driver and the strength of the concrete wall I was standing beside. As I stood there blasting photos, my good faith was rewarded by a driver who caught the car and got it rolling in the right direction before making any contact with my concrete friend. This car is totally awesome and it went a few rounds hiking the nose pass after pass. I want this Poncho bad!