Happy birthday to David Hobbs! He started racing in 1959 in his mom's Morris Oxford. Within three years, he was at Daytona driving someone else's Jaguar and lending his own Lotus Elite to Jimmy Clark.

The career that followed touched every corner of motorsport. 

Formula 1 for Honda, McLaren, and BRM. 

Sports cars in the Ford GT40, the Mirage, the Ferrari 512M, and Porsche 917s and 956/962s. 

IMSA Camel GT for BMW. 

Fifth place at the Indianapolis 500 in a McLaren. 

Championships in Formula 5000 and Trans-Am. 

He even led the Daytona 500 in a NASCAR stock car. 

A British driver leading the biggest stock car race in America. In the same career where he raced a Porsche 917 and a Ferrari 512M. 

 Twenty starts at Le Mans. Two third-place finishes. 

Two decades of returning to the same race, in different cars, for different teams, across different eras of the sport. 

After the driving Hobbs joined CBS in the early 1970s and became one of the most recognizable voices in American motorsport television, eventually working with SPEED.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122180997194890603&set=a.122095424960890603

sign painters van, 1964

https://bl.ag/what-a-ride-the-wonderful-world-of-sign-painter-vehicles/

Parnelli Jones Mustang, Trans Am 1970

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227046150019944&set=gm.3121837301342832&idorvanity=527146584145263

1975 F1 at Anderstorp, Fire marshalls waiting behind the armco barrier.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1580626460425182&set=a.565232475297924

Mike Parkes Labrador Federica in the cockpit of his Ferrrari 512 during the shooting of the movie "Le Mans".

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227081652547485&set=gm.3126082747584954&idorvanity=527146584145263

North Rose depot

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4302361473410501&set=pcb.27741491122124373

1st world problem

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10237505772655360&set=gm.850829864318289&idorvanity=717844027616874

Chaplain Meeus using the cowling salvaged from the crash site of the P-40K flown by Raymond Kaiser, 25th FS, 51st FG

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=26703057539377468&set=gm.10163693083976785&idorvanity=57402936784

LAPD impounded 72 vehicles and issued trespassing citations after responding to a car meetup inside the Los Angeles River

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1553982759484885

high-resolution images and transcriptions of nearly 1,200 sheets of the original Leonardo Da Vinci manuscript collection, the Leonardotheka 2.0, ( but it's a very slow website to load)

https://teche.museogalileo.it/leonardo/home/index_en.html

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/leonardotheka-da-vinci-codex-2779022

Fire departments across the U.S. and Canada are waiting years — sometimes four and a half — for new fire trucks, and paying double or triple what those trucks cost five years ago. What is the cause?

just three manufacturers control more than 70% of the market

wait times that once ran about 18 months now stretch up to four and a half years.

https://www.iaff.org/news/what-to-know-about-the-fire-truck-crisis

The preservation of steam locomotives in Britain was largely due to a scrap yards decision to prioritize scrapping the railcars first... 213 locomotives were saved from scrapping at just one yard, Barry in South Wales (thank you Paul!)

At the end of steam in the 1960s, Dai Woodham bought hundreds of withdrawn steam engines from British railways for his scrap business at Barry Island. He intended to scrap them but delayed doing so while he focused on scrapping redundant railway wagons. 

As a result, railway preservation societies flocked to Barry to select locomotives to restore to operate their lines. Out of almost 300 engines sent to Barry, almost three quarters were rescued from the graveyard, and over half lived to steam again.

The single act of not scrapping these engines helped create the Heritage Railway movement that exists in the UK today.

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/the-barry-story/

https://robskinner.net/2022/03/30/steams-graveyard-barry-island-memories/

Today, let's remember that a bridge was measured in Smoots!

In 1958, as a freshman at MIT and Lambda Chi Alpha pledge, the fraternity pledgemaster hatched the idea to use the shortest — and most scientifically named pledge — to measure the bridge from Boston to Cambridge.

 Little did they know, however, that their activity would make its way into MIT, Boston and even Google lore. 

They also underestimated how difficult getting up and down 364.4 times (plus or minus an ear) would be. "I don't think any of us had the slightest idea how much work was involved with lying down, getting up," he said. "They had to help me a great way across the bridge. I started by doing a push-up, and then I couldn't even do that. It deteriorated from there."

In 1958, a group of MIT students measured the Massachusetts Ave. Bridge in “smoots,” a now accepted unit of measurement named for the 5-foot, 7-inch Oliver R. Smoot Jr. ’62, who famously laid down hundreds of times across the span one storied night as his peers painted markers across the bridge, totaling 364.4 smoots

On April 4, an MIT team set out on a similar journey across the Charles River to pull off a new “hack,” this time measuring the Longfellow Bridge in “kleins.” This new measurement is named after Smoot’s classmate Martin Klein ’62. One klein (4 feet, 9.5 inches) is equal to 0.85820896 smoots. 

The expedition was undertaken in honor of both Smoot and the 85th birthday of Klein. 

Known as the father of commercial side-scan sonar, Klein serves on the MIT Sea Grant Advisory Board and the MIT Museum Collections Committee. His sonar technology has been used worldwide to help locate countless famous shipwrecks, including the Titanic, the World War I ocean liner RMS Lusitania, and the treasure-laden Nuestra Señora de Atocha. 

Appropriately, the MIT team used a “side-scan” method to survey the Longfellow Bridge.

Reclined on a custom-engineered wooden cart topped with a mission-specific chaise lounge pillow, Klein himself acted as the official observation device — by looking to the sides — as the team pulled him along the bridge.

https://www.facebook.com/MITSchoolofEngineering/posts/pfbid02xaTkxMpjVgn4jqE1FthcgZmY8aAbxJMKwqJyPZBxZ1eD2nd5rjauE1Hc9P1gpwVYl

https://news.mit.edu/2026/new-unit-of-measurement-honors-influential-mit-alumnus-0512

https://news.mit.edu/2014/smoot-lighting-to-set-mood-on-harvard-bridge-1028

this post brought to you because of bridges, humor, and the cart they thoughtfully used so 82 year old Martin Klein did not have to move and lay down and move 400 times... 

We can all benefit from some light humor about bridges, goody characters, and carts

Did you see the preview for Supergirl, and that Jason Momoa is in the movie as a bounty hunter biker?

Of course, I had no idea who "Lobo" is, I had to look it up: 

Lobo is a cosmic bounty hunter whose goals align with Supergirl's during her space-faring revenge quest.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8814476/?ref_=mv_close

https://comicbookmovie.com/supergirl/supergirl-teaser-spotlights-jason-momoa-as-lobo-i-kill-for-money-not-sport-a228218

https://theplaylist.net/jason-momoa-teases-lobo-superman-crossover-20260608/

California, and taking a moment to rock with the RHCP in one of the cool videos - taking a shot at all the iconic looks of 80s and 90s videos

comparative sizes

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122126164119226390&set=pcb.122126164239226390

the muscular little 0-4-0 steam locomotive known as “Standard Oil No. 1” that once chugged along the miles of rails at the Standard Oil Refinery starting in 1920 will soon be on display at the Fort Caspar Museum (Thanks George!)

The Standard Oil Refinery in Casper was the largest in the world for a time and had a lot of track for its engine to cover.

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/07/standard-oil-no-1-steam-locomotive-coming-back-to-casper-after-64-years-away/

A Pennsylvania man faces felony fraud, theft, and deception charges after state police discovered he disguised a NASCAR race truck as street legal. Photos show the truck when it ran at the NASCAR Bristol dirt race in 2023. It looks almost identical now,

https://www.thedrive.com/news/police-arrest-man-for-trying-to-pass-off-nascar-race-truck-as-street-legal-chevy-s10

Only about 150 were ever made, only 9 are still known to exist. Made by an almost all women production line.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/141738879854904/permalink/1912877902740984

vintage cool stuff

https://www.facebook.com/groups/49655829434/permalink/10163800277539435

Dennis goes to an auction, and is the only bidder on this Econoline

It was $5, and he gets the engine, a 24,000 mile 1972 302 in a lovely carrying case.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10242538786156801&set=gm.10164581329291251&idorvanity=2356741250

the Mercury Quicksilver Ride Guide steering for outboard boats

https://dorsettbelmont.blogspot.com/2015/06/vintage-mercury-quick-silver-ride-guide.html

new to me Big Deal poster art of Grumpy Jenkins

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10202081940468065&set=pcb.4680414775569097

a tractor driven road roller...

an 18-year-old kid who worked at a dealership ordered his first car, a 69 Corvette 427/435. His mom paid half of the cost of the car as a high school graduation gift.

The wrecked pics are from a telephone pole on a snowy winter day. soon after purchase. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1441597534663652&set=pcb.1441597944663611

last week I posted about San Diego losing a class action suit over ticket revenue, now someone found a illegal procedure with Denver's tickets

 https://www.denverpost.com/2026/06/05/aurora-photo-radar-speed-cameras-response-time/

Car and Driver's picks for the 16 best car stunts of all time in chronological order.

 https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g31978859/wildest-car-stunts-in-film-history

Americans are keeping their cars longer than ever. Automakers, dealers and repair shops are changing business practices to adapt to a new normal: the 13-year-old car

 https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/americans-are-keeping-their-cars-longer-than-ever-and-remaking-the-auto-industry-c169e494\

Hidden behind a paywall though. 

once again, it's the time for the annual auction for a tour of Jay Leno's garage and car collection to benefit the UMass Lowell scholarship named after his Andover gym teacher

The winning bidder will get to meet Leno and tour his "Big Dog Garage" in Burbank, California, which is home to more than 250 rare and specialty cars and over 150 motorcycles.

All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Professor Joseph Dorsey Memorial Scholarship, supporting UMass Lowell physical therapy students "who demonstrate strong academic performance, leadership and dedication to serving others."

Dorsey, who founded the college's physical therapy program, was Leno's gym teacher at Andover High School.

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/jay-leno-garage-umass-lowell-auction/

Kenworth’s fairly extensive bus manufacturing history has been forgotten, but buses were part of its portfolio from its beginning as the Gerlinger Motors Co. in 1912, and at one point were its most profitable product line.

The Model T was built from 1949 to 1957. 

The engine was the sturdy International-Harvester “Red Diamond” – a 450 cu. in. version for the 35 footer and a 503 cu. in. one for the longer model.

While smaller and less powerful than the Hall-Scott 590 and 779 cu. in. engines used in Crown school buses, they were no doubt more fuel efficient.

Shifting was through a Spicer 5-speed manual. 

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/bus-stop-classic/1949-57-kenworth-model-t-series-pacific-school-coach-the-bifocal-bus