Carstories by The Petersen Automotive Museum

Born in Southern California, Wayne Rainey started his dirt racing career in 1977, when clinched the AMA Superbike Championship (Kawasaki) in 1983 after a fierce battle with Kenny Roberts and Freddie Spencer. Rainey was introduced to GP racing by Roberts who had only recently retired at the time, and began competing full-time in World GP from the 1984 season (250cc). Rainey then returned to the AMA Superbike and won the series again in 1987 (on a Honda). He then got a regular seat in the GP500 with Team Roberts.

Over the next three years Rainey worked at refining his racing technique with amazing level headedness and a great fighting spirit. A "Rainey Pattern," where he would take the lead and stay ahead all the way to the finish, was established after some intense battles with Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz, who had been Rainey's former rival in his AMA years. From 1990 through 1992 he was able to match with Roberts' achievement by winning three consecutive championships in the 500cc class. However, a sudden accident in 1993 with his fourth victory in sight ended his racing career. Thankfully, Rainey's passion for racing did not end there, and he returned as the team manager the following year. This team consisted of Tetsuya Harada, Kenny Roberts Jr. and Norifumi Abe. Wayne was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

Randy Nonnenberg is the Co-founder and President of Bring a Trailer, an online auction marketplace for collectible vehicles and more. He is from Northern California and worked in engineering and production at Audi and BMW for 10 years before taking the leap and working at Bring a Trailer full time starting in 2010. He got the car bug from his dad while living in Stuttgart, Germany at a very early age. BaT, as we regulars call it, brings automotive enthusiasts a daily dose of automobiles that are available for sale from around the world

Vin Di Bona is the chief executive officer of Vin Di Bona Productions and chairman of his new enterprise, FishBowl Worldwide Media.

A four-time Emmy award-winning producer and eight-time Emmy nominee, Di Bona is the recipient of the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for his work in documentary programming. However, it is as a pioneer in comedic reality television for which Di Bona is recognized worldwide. As the creator of America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFV), Di Bona has the distinction of executive producing the longest-running primetime entertainment show on ABC. AFV is seen in 33 countries.

During his forty-two year career in television, Di Bona’s diversified experience in producing and directing includes television movies, broadcast and cable series, network specials, music award shows, and variety programming. In 1981 Di Bona became the producer of a new, fledgling show called Entertainment Tonight, which like AFV, is still on the air. Following that success, he was supervising producer and second unit director on MacGyver. Di Bona was truly honored when asked to produce Papal Spacebridge ’87, which documented Pope John Paul II’s visit to the United States and his two-way satellite discussions with young adults across the country.

As a testament to Di Bona’s contribution to the television community, he received a “Star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007. Two years later AFV became part of history when the Smithsonian Institution selected the show for inclusion in their permanent entertainment collections. The camcorder used to shoot the first winning video is on display in the lobby of the National Museum of American History.

Jeff Zwart is a commercial film director, racer, photographer, cameraman, and author. He’s shot commercials for Porsche, BMW, Cadillac, GM, Hyundai, Ford, and many others. He’s collaborated with David Bull Publishing on many automotive books. He has driven in numerous races and rallies including 7 championships at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the Panama-Alaska Rally, the Baja 1000, and the TransSyberia Rally.

With a lifetime of experience in automobile restoration under his belt, master car restorer Wayne Carini has a resume that includes body and paint work on rare car collections owned by the likes of David Letterman, tennis great Ivan Lendl and the DuPont family. He's been featured in the New York Times as well as numerous automobile magazines, and starred in two one-hour television specials.

Now, Chasing Classic Cars gives viewers a true insider's look into Wayne's inner circle as he embarks on his personal mission to uncover the world's most rare and exotic cars. Filmed entirely in high definition, Chasing Classic Cars welcomes you into the elite club of car restorers and collectors as Wayne buys, restores and sells vintage rides, and the owners of the most exclusive and secret garages open up their doors only to Wayne.

Wayne's passion for cars started when he was a child, working alongside his father on such classics as Duesenbergs, Lincolns, Packards and Ford Model As. Then, at just 9 years of age, he experienced a life altering event: he went for a ride in his first Ferrari, a 1960 Rosso Chiaro 250 SWB to be exact.

Wayne has been the owner and operator of three companies in Portland, Conn.: F40 Motorsports , Continental Auto Ltd. and Carini Carozzeria.

F40 Motorsports buys and sells vintage and classic automobiles. Continental Auto Ltd. is a collision shop specializing in high-end and exotic automobile repair. Carini Carozzeria is the restoration shop where Wayne spends most of his time. And while Wayne loves restoring cars to perfection, his personal preference is for unrestored, original cars. Often shown in the elite "preservation class" at concourses nationwide, these increasingly rare cars are the focus of Wayne's private collection.

Spike Feresten is a television writer, screenwriter, comedian and television personality, who is best known for his work on Seinfeld, writing for David Letterman, and hosting the late night Talkshow with Spike Feresten from 2006 to 2009 on Fox. He is the former host of Esquire Network's series Car Matchmaker with Spike Feresten. He currently hosts the podcast Spike's Car Radio with Paul Zuckerman. He was also a screenwriter for the 2007 animated film Bee Movie.

His career took on a Hollywood fable quality when his job as the receptionist for "Saturday Night Live" led him to pass jokes he had written to "Weekend Update's" Dennis Miller. Eventually, Feresten's full-time job at SNL led to a staff-writing position in 1990 at "Late Night with David Letterman," where he wrote for five years and earned five Emmy nominations. 

Zak Brown was born and raised in Southern California. He raced professionally around the world for 10 years before developing his skills in motorsport’s business and commercial worlds. In 1995, he founded JMI, which grew to become the largest and most successful motorsport marketing agency in the world. When JMI was acquired by CSM, a division of Chime Communications, in 2013, Brown became the company’s Chief Executive Officer. In 2016, Brown was announced as executive director of McLaren Technology Group. In 2018, Brown became the chief executive officer of McLaren Racing as part of an operational restructure of the McLaren Group.

Velocity Invitational Founder Jeff O’Neill Wants To Build A Goodwood For The United States. O’Neill founded Velocity Invitational as an alternative to park-and-show gatherings on golf club fairways.

An expanding slate of automotive events serves as outlets for today’s growing enthusiast community, combining genuine fun with marketing opportunities for brands to increase public visibility. But many gatherings that end up in the “park and show” category tend to get old pretty quickly, leaving much of the real fun to collectors, owners, and fans willing to actually take their cars out for drives on public roads. And don’t even ask about the aggressive “street takeover” phenomenon that focuses more on disruption than actual appreciation for real cars, new or old.

Ray Evernham has more than four decades of experience in the automotive and racing industries. He has worked with the biggest names in motorsport history, including Gordon, Andretti, Foyt and Earnhardt, was a vital force in resurrecting the International Race of Champions (IROC) series, won three NASCAR Sprint Cup championships as a crew chief for Jeff Gordon, and partnered with Dodge to build Evernham Motorsports into one of the most successful teams in NASCAR. Evernham has also held many roles in the television industry, including serving as a NASCAR analyst for SPEED, ESPN, ABC, FOX and NBC and hosting his own television series, AmeriCarna, on the Velocity channel. He also served as voice talent and a consultant for Pixar’s Cars 3. In January of 2018, Ray received the most significant honor of his career when he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

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Currently, Evernham hosts the television series Glory Road on NBCSN, participates in several racing events as a driver, restores classic cars and vintage race cars through his company Big Iron Garage, and is the CEO and majority owner of JRi Shocks. Two of Ray's most notable accomplishments of recent include winning his class in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with his custom-built race car nicknamed "The Ghost" and claiming Best in Class at the historic Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance with his 1965 Brawner Hawk IndyCar, which Mario Andretti drove to his first IndyCar race and championship wins.

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In addition, Ray is very active with his foundation, Evernham Family – Racing for a Reason, which funds a community center in Davidson, NC for young adults with high-functioning Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome called IGNITE.

McKeel Hagerty is the Chief Executive Officer and driving force behind Hagerty, an automotive enthusiast brand offering integrated membership products and programs as well as a specialty insurance provider focused on the global automotive enthusiast market. Based in Traverse City, Michigan, the company has more than 1,600 employees in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Germany. Hagerty’s purpose is to save driving and preserve car culture for future generations and its mission is to build a global business to fund that purpose. In December, 2021, Hagerty Inc. joined the New York Stock Exchange as a publicly traded company under the ticker symbol HGTY.