of the 201 1970 Ranchero GTs made with the 429CJ, 60 were Drag Pack, and only 2 were Twister Specials
the original owner parked it in 1977, and sold the engine in 1979. The car sat around his place for nearly 40 years until he decided to sell it. That's sort of unusual.
I'm up late til midnight, regularly... and do not like waking up before sunrise.
So when I hear about cars and coffee events where the parking is all taken up before 7 am, well, good for them, I'll sleep on instead.
But this past weekend, In and Out and Hot Rod Magazine joined up for a car show at AAA Speedway in Fontana. Now that makes sense. They didn't get the word out ahead of time very well though.
It was Hot Rods way of celebrating their 70th anniversary... but by the looks of it, they didn't make any effort to advertise it 1/100th as much as they advertise Roadkill.
It's on the Hot Rod Facebook page though, for anyone who can find time to track everything that pops up on Facebook.
When you live in a village at the edge of the no-go desert, you need to make your own fun. That's when you and your brothers get inventive and build a bike from scratch, using everyday items like an old milk pot (maybe Mum is still using it, maybe not) and a used flour sack. You can even make a license plate from bark if you want. The end result is a spectacular bike, perfect for whooping and laughing as you bumpetty bump over sand hills, past your fed-up mum and right through your mud-for-walls home.
It has a bent bucket seat, bashed tin-can handlebars, and wood-cut wheels — and riding the patchwork bike that you and your crazy brothers made is the best fun in the whole village.
It doesn't hurt that she's a good looking young woman, and that she's haafu... so, making huge headlines and tons of free publicity (like the article you are reading right now)
Naomi Osaka, who was born in Japan to a Haitian-born father and Japanese mother and raised in the United States since age 3, now has a GTR of her own, and a 3 year contract.
Nissan is putting a lot of weight on there never being a tennis player from Japan to reach international stardom, and, well, there still isn't from what I just typed. Maybe this shows that very conservative country is loosening up a bit, or, just pouncing to try and get the next Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Micheal Jordan, Lewis Hamilton, etc as their brand ambassador before anyone else does.
Publicly at least – Japan is changing.
In 2015, Ariana Miyamoto became the first biracial woman crowned Miss Japan.
Then Priyanka Yoshikawa, who has Indian heritage, won Miss World Japan in 2016.
The mega star level of brand ambassador identity seems to have worked out pretty damn well for Nike, and a mega star would help Nissan out... I can't recall them ever having one before. Why they didn't choose someone in the vehicular field? Like some one who created, designed, or raced the GTR? I'll guess the language issue... maybe it's not going to work internationally without a fluent English and Japanese speaker. There are 4 takumi in Nissan... why can't they get the spokesman position? Perhaps it's youth, sports achievement's free publicity, and being female.
Must suck to be Jann Mardenborough right now, he was dropped from the 50 Most Marketable althletes list after 2016, and Naomi Osaka was number 27 for 2018 http://www.sportspromedia.com/most-marketable
Why wasn't 23 time grand slam winner Serena Williams ever approached for the job? Probably her attitude, and ugly public use of it, where as Naomi Osaka is a clean slate. Ironically Williams match with Osaka was the most recent of her public tantrums. And the reputation of the Japanese is well known for respecting decorum...
Osaka turned pro in 2013 and qualified for the Women's Tennis Association tour championship at age 16, debuting at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Calif.
In 2016, Osaka qualified to enter her first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, and made it into the third round. The same season, she also reached the third round of the French Open and the U.S. Open.
In October 2016, she was the runner-up at the Toray Pan Pacific Open. The performance earned her the title of "WTA Newcomer of the Year."
In March 2018, she became the first half Japanese woman to win a Premier Mandatory event, at the WTA Indian Wells tour.
On Sept. 8, 2018, Osaka became the first half Japanese player to win a women's singles Grand Slam.
World rank: 7th (as of Sept. 10, 2018)
Although the money involved in this contract was not announced, the deal comes a week after Osaka’s rumored $8.5 million partnership with Adidas, the biggest endorsement deal of any female athlete at the apparel company.
“With a combination of grit and grace, Naomi Osaka is not afraid to take on the best tennis players of our time and win,” said Asako Hoshino, svp at Nissan, in a statement. “This is the same spirit of performance that Nissan has embodied throughout our history.”
Maybe I'm simply ignorant (after all, I'm just a car guy) of the way the world describes people now, mixed race people seem to be referred to whichever race they find most useful? Pres Obama is half, Naomi Osaka is half, but they are referred to by the opposite race. Anyone else find that odd? If Pres Obama is the first black president, because he appears so, then how does Naomi Osaka find her self referred to as Japanese, when she doesn't appear to be Japanese, and has lived in Florida for the past 6/7ths of her life?
Damned if I know. I'm just glad she was who Nissan turned to, and not Serena.
Tim McCreadie showed up at Eldora Speedway with a beat up 1996 box trailer pulled by a 2001 duallie. He parked it next to the shiny million dollar double decker rigs and unloaded for the World 100.
Following advice from Tony Stewart, McCreadie went on to claim the $53,000 winners check that night on Tony’s half mile dirt track. It was his first win in several months after a year of ups and downs for McCreadie and his Longhorn team.
The World 100 winner’s car wasn’t hauled to the track in a half-million-dollar toterhome and stacker trailer is worth celebrating. It gives a lot of small-budget racers a little hope.
In the Saturday afternoon make-up portion of the show, McCreadie finished 4th in his heat race. However, the top-three are required to stop in the tech area after the race. Both Billy Moyer and Scott Bloomquist accidentally drove right past the tech area. Both of those drivers were disqualified and McCreadie was moved from 4th to 2nd.
Tim McCreadie has retired the Sweeteners Plus double decker hauler. That box is owned by the Sweeteners company. Due to stricter laws, the company is now requiring that one of their own employees drive the truck or for Tim himself to drive it. But, Tim doesn’t have a CDL nor does he have time to get one.
Additionally, no Sweetners employee is interested in taking a pay cut to hit the road with a national dirt late model team. As a result, Justin Labonte has pulled out his own trailer and hit the road with Tim in their tiny enclosed trailer.
“There’s no quit with us,” McCreadie said. "I don’t mean to be mean to the other teams out there, but I don’t think a lot of people would have kept going if they were going to do it the way we’ve been doing it… to do it the way we’ve done it for probably five months is hell.”
Weekly racers try to learn everything they can from the pros, mostly it’s setup stuff or driving techniques, but a lot of times it can be something as simple as keeping your head up when things aren’t going your way.
Sophia Floersch - with 'Dare to be Different' on the side of her vehicle goes over Sho Tsuboi while flying off the track at 172 mph
'Sophia was really close to Jehan, so when Jehan braked early she had no time to react.
'She hit Jehan's right-rear, and that spun her around straight into Lisboa, and she flew into the other car. I just hope she's OK.'
The initial crash that sent Floersch into the barrier also led to damage that rendered her brakes useless as she hurtled towards the following right hand turn.
Once at the turn she was catapulted into the air by a curb, that is designed to stop drivers cutting the corner and looking to gain an advantage.
above are many camera angles, real time and slo mo
Below, a single slow mo
