Don’t let the patina fool you. Underneath the perfectly weathered paint of Sean James’ 1969 Pontiac Firebird lies a 600HP LS, a T56 transmission, and some serious suspension upgrades. I was able to check out this awesome hotrod and meet Sean and his son (who was co-driving) at the St. Louis CAM Challenge. In this episode we briefly talk about our experience at the CAM Challenge and Sean shares the history of the car and the events he’s participated in over the years.

Justin Peachey is likely the most decorated guest I’ve had on the show so far. He’s the Holley Grand Champion triple Crown winner, 3x SCCA Pro Solo National Champion, 3x SCCA TT National Max1 Champion and holds the Gridlife NCM lap record. Besides these notable trophies, he’s had a slew of FTDs at his local autocross days. In this episode we learn more about his driving history and the C6 Corvette he uses to destroy his competition.

Nearly everyone has a dream car, but how often do people get to own their dream car? For Eric Peachey, his dream car was a Dodge Viper. Who could blame him for loving the raw V10 power and sleek bodylines of this American supercar? After selling his first autocross car, Eric was able to find the car of his dreams, a 2008 Dodge Viper. Don’t be fooled by the garage queen stereotype, Eric has driven his Viper to many autocross class wins over the years with only a few performance modifications. While Eric isn’t collecting trophies, he’s sharing his performance driving knowledge with others. Find out more about Eric and his beautiful Dodge Viper in this episode.

Finally, a guest with an early Mustang!  Dan Hipskind has only been into autocross for a few years but has had some great success so far. In this episode, we learn how Dan transformed his run of the mill restomod1966 Mustang into corner carving animal with help of a Detroit Speed aluma-frame front suspension, Steet or Track watts link, and a Ford Performance Coyote crate motor for more than enough horsepower. The power and grip is put to the ground with some Forgestar wheels wrapped in sticky Bridgestones.

If you were to say a Jeep CJ7 doesn’t have a place in autocross, Gary Hebert would say you were wrong. However, his CJ7 isn’t an ordinary Jeep, it was hand built by Gary himself to beat up on Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, and Miatas on the autocross. In this episode, we discuss the well thought out features that make this Jeep CJ7 brutally fast around the cones. We also discuss his motivation behind becoming the Regional Executive for the Delta Region SCCA

Arnie Gonzales is the owner and founder of OBS Chevy Racing and the Pro Touring Truck Shootout. In this episode, we discuss the history of Arnie’s racing career and what led him to racing an OBS Chevy truck and eventually designing parts to increase the truck’s handling performance. With the Pro Touring Truck shootout coming up next month, we talk about the different classes and how the shootout portion of the event work.

TCI Engineering has manufactured chassis and suspension components for a wide variety of cars and trucks since 1974. In this episode I talk with Jason Wilcox, the marketing Manager for TCI Engineering.  We discussed the history of TCI and how the products have changed over the years. Likely the best part of Jason’s role at TCI is helping his customers fine tune their suspension, often driving their vehicles to event or class wins. Some of the amazing vehicles we talk about are Wally Logan’s 1970 C10 built by Barry’s Speed Shop, Alfredo Rios’s K5 Blazer known as banana hammock built by his shop Auto Drive Collision, and lastly, the Race Deuce owned by Tanya Toothman built by James Crosby.

Emery Seaton won CAM-T nationals in 2022 at 17 years old and came in 2nd in 2023 driving a Fox Body Mustang his grandpa built. I’m joined by Emery and his father Brent, and we learn the history of the car Grandpa Seaton built. While Emery is in college, the Mustang is getting a coyote swap and he’s keeping his driving skills sharp driving for the Formula SAE team at his school.

Nick McCrabb has owned his 1979 Camaro for 20 years and just recently decided to change the car from the stereotypical hotrod with 15” Cragars and ¾ race cam to a pro touring, autocross capable car.  Being active-duty US Airforce, Nick has had limited seat time but really enjoys the sport and plans to continuously improve the car when his time allows. We discuss the history of the car and the improvements he’s made so far. I’m excited to see another classic muscle car not only convert to a pro-touring build but also get used on an autocross. Thank you for your service, Nick!

Tim Beechuck is the SCCA Street Survival National Program Manager and Sean Connell is the St. Louis Region Street Survival Regional Chair. Tim and Sean provide an overview of the program and how beneficial it can be for new, teen drivers.  This episode is off topic from my normal content, so I’m releasing it as a bonus episode to help promote the program. I’m sure many of my listeners are either parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles and can appreciate how dangerous the road can be for new drivers.