Brian and Chad promised that 2016 would be one hell of a year, and they delivered in mass amounts. From shows and events to race coverage and even test-drives, 2016 will go down as the year I truly got to experience what “busy” could really mean in the operations that make up BangShift. Make no mistake, there was still plenty of time sitting behind the desk, typing away on a computer, but there was a lot more to cover as well. To put it into perspective, I put over 15,000 work-related miles on the Angry Grandpa Chrysler, the majority of which was recorded from late-summer forward. That doesn’t count flights, that doesn’t count hotel rooms, that doesn’t count for a lot of hours spent beating a keyboard into submission, or fighting to make sure the Livestream footage was the best I could make it. It’s been a hell of a year, alright, and I’m looking forward to what 2017 brings while I plan on what I bring to you, but as the year comes to a close, it seems only fair to take a look back on 2016 and pick out some favorites of mine to look back on. Enjoy!
Favorite Event: BF Goodrich Tire Test in Newry, Maine
Starting the new year off right, I learned just after Christmas that I’d be heading up to Maine to shoot the Red Bull Frozen Rush and had been invited by BF Goodrich to test drive their new All-Terrarin T/A KO2 tires on slightly modified Jeep Wrangler Rubicons in the woods near the ski resort town of Newry. Frozen Rush itself was awesome, but it was the Jeep drive that sold me: Lohnes and Nutting had gone in 2015, so I was more than anxious to get my shot at four-wheeling in the ice and snow like they did. Fortunately for me, the weather wasn’t anywhere near as arctic as the previous year (not a fan of cold weather), but that meant that instead of ice and snow trails, we got a healthy mix of mud and rocky debris added to the menu. With Lohnes playing both spotter and photographer, we made great work of those trails and managed to not sink a Jeep up to the rockers, get stuck or lose parts off of a truck. That’s a win!
Wildest Race: Redemption 6.0 at Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park
If I’m gonna give up a turkey coma and pecan pie on Thanksgiving, this is as good a reason as any to go. The Redemption 6.0 race at TRP was a strong lesson in no-prep racing that went surprisingly well, considering how cold the temperatures were and how few incidents there were. I learned later from “Doc” Love at the PRI show that the track was hooking way too well for most racers’ taste and that a lot of the cars were suffering from tire shake. Those that could take advantage of it, however, did…take note of Andy Reynolds’ Malibu wagon, one of many cars that took a good, long look at the Oklahoma sky that weekend. After the main event ended, though, the real fun began, including sixty-foot foot races between folks for small bets as the real cash started trading hands in the back for callouts. And that doesn’t count the races that were spooled up after TRP shut down for the night…
Best Show: Spring Redneck Rumble in Lebanon, Tennessee
I hit this show in May simply because it was going on and I was curious to see what a “hot rod lifestyle” show could actually be. I wasn’t digging the rockabilly role-players, but where the rolling stock was concerned, I was in love. Name your poison: do you like hot rods, muscle cars, diesels, nitro, vans or bikes? It doesn’t matter what your answer is, it was all there, along with some neat memoribilia, along with many neat and rare items up for sale in any of the many swap-meet tables. I wanted to hit the fall show this year as well, but unfortunately some events out of my control caused me to miss it. No worries, though…I’ll be going to the next Spring event, camera in hand.
Favorite Feature Car: Mike Slaverio’s 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix
Chad’s eyes might have rolled far enough into the back of his head to see his brain when he saw what I went absolutely stupid for, but I’m not bothered: Mike’s Pontiac has to be my favorite feature car of the year. It’s got many things going for it that I couldn’t ignore: it’s an otherwise unloved 1970s barge that when properly motivated and modified, becomes something wicked. It’s a full-interior car that is simply a rolling stock swap away from cruising the streets, and it’s a dead ringer for my father’s old 1977 Grand Prix, a car I got busted laying rubber in when I was a teenager. Mike himself is a pretty cool cat as well. Who else would be standing in under the arch at Joliet in pajama pants, watching as Chad is getting dressed down by security? Well, besides me, of course. As I’m to understand it, the Grand Prix is getting some major revisions over the winter, so we will be watching and waiting to see what comes out of it!
Most Inspirational Story: Kevin Crofts and his 1999 Pontiac Firehawk
It isn’t everyday that I have people telling me to hunt one specific car down at a show. It happens, but not every time. What doesn’t happen is when people tell me to hunt down one specific man and to ask him about why he is present in the first place, and that is what I got at this year’s LS Fest. Kevin Crofts got the ultimate bad news from the doctor regarding his health, but instead of waiting for the end in a hospital room, he decided to take the 1999 Pontiac Firehawk he’d been babying since the day he bought it and instead decided to go for broke. He threw speed parts at the car, filled the tank with race fuel and at at the Fest, was racing just about everything there was to race. Last I knew, he was on his way to a bourbon tasting event and then was going to hit some curving roads on the way to his next adventure, all while wearing his yellow sunglasses and doing his best to make other people smile.
Favorite on-line car find: 1967 OSI 20M, found August 5th
Over the course of the year, I spend plenty of time on Craigslist and eBay hunting down cool cars…and some that kind of suck that I find cool. Not all of what I dig up can be winners to everybody, and to be fair, sometimes I pick a car more out of the necessity for a story than for any other reason. Not this beauty. This 1967 OSI 20M grabbed my attention like a doctor asking me to turn my head and cough. I had never heard of the company before, didn’t know a thing about this car before, but damn if I didn’t want this beauty sitting in my driveway. With the low-horsepower Ford V6 in the bin and a small-block Ford V8 with four Webers sitting in the engine bay, an interior that rivaled just about any other period super-luxury sedan, and a shape that looked part Aston, part Ford and completely Italian, the only thing that stopped me from hitting the “BUY IT NOW” button was the fact that there was no way I could swing the cost. Travis Escalante is the man that made the car the way it is, and from myself to you personally, sir: Damn. Good. Job.
Favorite story: The Final Farewell For The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior
Most of what I write is for you, the reader. Either I’m trying to share knowledge (what little I may have), offer up a point of discussion, or present on behalf of someone, like a driver or builder. The piece I wrote in honor of the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter was not for you, readers, it was purely for me. So, why then did it end up on BangShift, you may ask? A few reasons. First, this was effectively my “past life”…I spent nearly a decade working on these birds while I served in the Army. Second, what a hot-rodded and overworked Bell JetRanger can do when good people work on it and fly it is stunning, and I still to this day can’t fully realize what was accomplished. And finally, because it needed to be said, on behalf of the many, many people who I worked with over the years who poured everything they had into keeping these little helicopters in the air.
