April showers bring May flowers… or something like that… not that it matters in the midst of what they’re saying is the worst drought the Southwestern United States has seen in 1200 years. The lack of precipitation has left the lake bed in a bit of a rough condition, but that didn’t stop the competition. Records were made on both days of the event with plenty of 200 plus mile per hour passes in both the car and motorcycle classes, the highlight for many being the first 300 mile per hour pass on the dirt in many years, congratulations to the #77 team for capturing the top speed of the meet with a 303 mph pass!
Brian Devincenzi and Ken Larson from the Route 66 Street Drags stop in to tell us about the event coming up in Kingman October 22, 2021. Sit in with us and get excited for this unique event! Listen in below or search us up on spotify…
When it comes to podcasts, we have little to no idea what we’re doing. When it comes to calling our buddies and making them come down to Crackville for a visit, we are the Champions of the World… lol
You think you know speed??? Whatchu’ know about 340mph in a top fuel car? Probably jack… Lucky for us we have NHRA Top Fuel Pilot and team owner Jim Maroney to give us the lowdown on what it’s like pushing ten thousand horsepower down the quarter mile, just don’t ask about that time in Vegas. Dean Livermore of Hot Rods by Dean fame is also here along with his son, Zach, who has some pretty good news for some of you grumpy old keyboard warriors about high school shop class. Click the link and have a listen…
We sit down with Don Hollywood Yates and talk bull fighting, Professional wrestling and American Gladiators. Welcome to The Church of Speed podcast number the fourth… click the link below or search for us on spotify.
For some reason people seem to think we’re interesting. We’re not… out friends however are pretty damn cool and have the stories to prove it. Tune in and have a listen to the new Church of Speed podcast, downloadable from spotify (click the link below) or libsyn…
I was properly stressed out. Moving into the new shop… trying to get settled in a maybe think about making a few dollars…. I hadn’t stopped for a minute since blasting back from Speed Week. A break was called for and when Wendell Burns called and asked what my plans were for World Finals my response was “Smoking cigars with you and taking pictures, sir.” I was so excited to go I tried to leave a week early…
Grand Avenue is the spot Saturday night in downtown Phoenix…. It also just happens to be basically in my backyard so I’ve sneak out and have some fun with the camera when I can.
The long awaited release of our line of shoes is over!!! Hit our web-store to reserve yourself a pair (or four) of our new kicks!!! https://church-of-speed.com/store/
What happens when 2020 comes around and shuts all the local shows down? You drive 1689 miles across the country to spend the day someplace new….
I spent 2 days behind the wheel to spend a day partying down Iowa style with the guys from Torque Fest and The Rod Tossers CC. I won’t lie, this ‘coverage’ is lacking in the ‘coverage’ department and is more of a showcase of the action going on and around the dirt track at the Dubuque County Fairgrounds. And there is plenty of action… from the minute I pulled up to the back gate, until I had to split on Sunday, there was somebody, running something around the track; dirt bikes, mini-bikes, vintage dirt track bikes and hot rods. There were a few sessions of ‘run what you brung’ style grudge racing and the Summit Dirt Drags on the front stretch. The ‘main-event’ went down on Saturday night. Chain racing was new to me but an absolute hoot, two cars are chained together, front car has an engine and no brakes, rear car has no engine and may or may not have brakes. It’s a shit show like none other and we will be back to participate. Bet.
“I ain’t never seen anything like this…”-pretty much ‘erebody
Earlier last week, management at the Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix announced their decision to pull the plug and shutter the nearly vacant shopping center. What came next was a flood of nostalgia and reminiscing from disappointed locals, many of whom spent countless evenings circling the property in their youth, a time long before pop up meets and two way communication apps for your phone, you just went and cruised Metro. A simple idea, “let’s go cruise the mall one last time” exploded into an unbelievable send off that nobody expected, turning out to be what will be remembered as one of the largest cruise nights in Arizona history….
As happy as I am to have something to point cameras at, you could feel the excitement as these drivers were finally able to make some road course laps on the west track at Wildhorse Pass Motorsports Park. Congratulations to Bobby Tanner making the show in his first road racing event, you can check out Bobby’s #198 Miata mixed in with the rest of the group in the gallery below. Don’t see your car? Shoot us a message, I shot a few thousand pics and just didn’t have room to post them all here.
It was one of those weird Arizona days where it’s about a hundred and ten degrees out, yet a ‘cool’ northbound breeze threaten to drag in a sky high wall of dust followed by flash flood warnings and gully washers. It was actually two days like that. Luckily the wind merely threatened, leaving behind two pleasant evenings to kick off the West Coast Hot Rod Association’s 2020 season.
As the sun crept below the horizon we were treated to some phenomenal sunsets setting the scene for some great racing action on the Tucson Dragway. We’ll get the official results posted once Danny and crew have a chance to get those over to us but for now enjoy some shots from the event.
Disclaimer; I crashed this party and didn’t really stick around for much of it… definitely not our best event coverage… I was feeling the need for speed so I treated it a bit like a chase, got some live video on the Facebook page, hauled ass ahead, got a few shots, hauled ass ahead again, got some shots on the mountain and then spent the rest of the day driving aimlessly around the backroads of Yavapai county.
“Dude…. I got to talk to Don Prudome!” Jessie was on another planet…. I mean, he kinda always is, but this time the galaxy he was orbiting around was the Wildhorse Pass Motorsports Park dragstrip and he had an all access press credential hanging around his neck. “Should’a asked him for an interview bud,” I suggested, giving his media bling a tug, “It’s your fault we’re even here!” And it really was his fault… or… idea to come here. About then, a pair of top fuel cars pull up about nine feet from us as they roll out of their burnout, Jessie, suddenly transported to planet focus and intensity aiming that two hundred millimeter glass towards the track, “I wanna see the whites in their eyes….”
It’s mind bending. I swear you go blind for a split second as the cars go by… eyeballs overcome by the pressure of twenty thousand horsepower exploding, visible shockwaves punching their way through you, leaving behind a nitromethane and tire smoke cocktail for the sinuses. Eyes burn… noses run… mind how you and when you breathe. Be ready in case one of these suckers makes a break for the wall….
Ground zero for incredible speed, the fuel fed blower cars are celebrities of the day, and fans follow them around the track from pit to staging lane, some spending big money on seats in stands that they never see, choosing instead to stand along the fence truly getting the maximum possible bang for their buck.
After hours at the track is where the similarities to celebrity athletes ends however as many of the drivers and crews can be found interacting with fans and sharing the cars, answering questions and occasionally offering up some 330mph souvenirs.
*insert text message notifications noise*… it’s from Kevin and it’s just a link to the re-opened Adobe Mountain Speedway which says racing is over in 90 minutes. What the hell… I jump in the car and head north making it in time for the final rounds of racing and talked my way into the infield.
There was a quite a bit more than the advertised 90 minutes worth of racing left, I was able to settle in, find a few good angles, catch a few cool shots until racing was done and I was sufficiently dust and racing fuel scented. It wasn’t even 9:30 yet which meant my favorite taco cart wouldn’t be serving up that delicious barbacoa so I split down to the weekly Grand Avenue cruise downtown…
You cannot and will not be able to see everything…
-everyone
Everyone was one hundred percent correct too… We ‘snuck in’ a the day before the show and ran around the Fairplex for two and a half solid days trying to prove them wrong. We didn’t stand a chance. Not even close….
After having taken a Saturday afternoon siesta. we noticed a bunch of folks headed out of the show and the sunset to our backs had us pulled over to the side of the road like paparazzi for some random rollers. Goodtimes….
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Four thirty in the morning… I am wide awake and wired like a jackrabbit. So I hopped in the opulente ente…. Hot coffee and a full tank of the ‘hoods finest later, I hit the highway headed towards the farmland and McMansions in the suburbs to see what could be seen.
First light makes for great photos. There were a handful of shutterbugs scurrying around…
Still dark and my arrival premature, having beaten the drivetime estimation by a considerable factor… I hunkered down in a end spot, cranked the heat up and started in on the coffee. It wasn’t long until I was flanked by a jet boat and another form of yacht in a Hellcat Charger… they started rolling in and soon enough we had a car show on our hands. And so began our day at Chandler Cars and Coffee…
“I can still see my breath…”
-me
By Arizona standards it was a bit chilly out. I offered the jet boat fellow a towel to wipe off the red gel coat but it wasn’t morning dew… it was last nights frost. Stuffing my hands deeper into my pockets as the sun crept over the horizon offering much less warmth than us thin blooded desert dwellers had been craving the parking lot was starting to fill up with an interesting assortment of machinery. I grabbed the camera and a few shots before splitting to the next spot…
This puppers came to the meet in an R8… I was slightly jealous.
I jammed out from Chandler and hit the highway again… bound for east Mesa and another Cars and Coffee event taking place at Power and McDowell, a 20 mile cruise across town. With what could be considered “no” traffic, the Duck of Opulence made short work of the trip and in a few short minutes we were arriving at meet number two…
YOHB?
The Mesa meet was a little more low key… more of a small town feel, no crazy wide body kits or wrapped cars, more hot rods and street rods even a deuce and a half military truck. It seemed like we missed out for making this stop number two as it seemed many participants had already broken camp.
And as it goes, that was pretty much that… I got a few shots in and people started clearing out. I’ll make this the first stop next time and see how that works out but I imagine it will be another relaxing morning filled with great cars to see and a nice drive to go see them.
Welcome to Gila Bend…. or…. well, their airport anyhow. We spent the morning track side with Omega Motorsports and can’t wait to get our junk back on the road, ripping some half mile passes. The laid back format makes for an enjoyable day of pushing your machine to the limits without the pressure or structure of a ‘race’. Ready to make a pass? Simply pull onto the taxiway and wait for clearance… No Fly Zone is not merely a speed trial but a diverse display of machinery being put to the test, from BMW’s and Mustang’s, to Lamborghini’s and Hayabusa’s, Viper’s, Porsche’s, GTR’s…. and they’re all here to put the hammer down. While the paddock and spectator parking is full of rare, exotic and modified cars, the real show is out on the tarmac….
My favorite day of the year. And not because I like turkey or sweet potato’s but because we gather up a bunch of cars and friends and make some noise. This run is a yearly tradition going back over 20 years and with it’s close proximity to the city, this 20-ish mile run is a nice way to kill a few hours on the road instead of riding the couch watching that same old boring parade while you wait to stuff your gut.
I’d been hearing rumors that the lowriders have been showing up in full force. I now consider myself a bit more well informed about what somebody means when they say “them dudes are showing up FULL FORCE!”. This isn’t an advertised deal with shirt vendors and kettle korn… this is cruising, with the occasional hopper standing up on the rear bumper in the middle of the street. Goodtimes.
Time is money they say, and nowhere will you be reminded about that more often than in a machine shop. Turning handles for a living isn’t what most people expect, as a fair portion of your time is planning, setting-up, double checking your plan and set up, eventually firing up the machine to make some chips. And then there’s times when you just need to haul ass to rough in a part to help get the job moving along. This is one of those times… most everyone had gone home for the night so we had some fun making some big noise with a monster of an old Axleson lathe.
I found myself free for the evening last Saturday night, so I booked it down to Wild Horse Motorsports Park in Chandler, AZ to catch the last few rounds of the Shutdown Showdown event. I saw one round of small tire class before the weather turned. So that’s that and here are a few photos I managed to shoot before the showdown was shutdown…
It’s a damn good time when you’ve got an airport and a bunch of horsepower on hand. @webm0nk cruised down to Gila Bend, Arizona to catch up with the Omega Motorsports team for another day of half mile speed trials and to take advantage of being the only thing allowed in the sky….
By now Seth had said that about forty three times and considering that this particular time we were passing through San Quintin, about 175 miles south of Tijuana, I had to laugh. It was at this point I had to remind him of his “sales pitch”…
“I have some buddies that have a trophy truck and they have this place we can camp out and we can spend a few days eating tacos up and down the Pacific coast.” There may also have been mention of a donkey we could put ducky stickers on…
For the past nine years, The Hell City Saints car club has thrown one Hell of a party in support of the American Legion Post 1 located in downtown Phoenix. Gathering many local hot rods, customs, lowriders and cruisers, the Blessing of The Rods was the place to be early each November. We say ‘was’ due to this ninth show being the last and final hurrah for the event. Spend a few minutes with us to have a look at some of the rides, people and bands at this years “Blessing”…. with appearances including The Octanes, The Roadkill Wranglers and headlined by The Paladins!
In typical fashion, we showed up late, ran out of memory card and had to leave early….
But we were there…. and took advantage of access to the starting line to test out some new some new camera gear on some of the fastest street cars in the southwest. This video is really just a highlight reel and a few passes shot from trackside. A few of our buddies were running and I hammered this together really just to share the footage with them… there’s still ten solid minutes of great motor noise to crank up if anything. Next time I’ll be on time and have my shit together boys, I promise.
We headed over to the Arizona State Fair for a little mid-week dirt karting action and to get our fill of some deep fried junk food. Have a little look at the action….
All I wanted was to fill up the F100 and get these motors out
I’m starting to think that “bus pass” is some new code for drugs as this sloppy shirtless smelly fuck surely wasn’t going to be allowed on public transport. I told him he was welcome to a few random cans in the bed of the truck but that’s where the charity would end. He expressed his displeasure of me not wanting to fund his next fix and moved off in a direction quite the opposite of the bus stop. Ya just gotta love downtown….
And here I was, the steel booted meathead behind the wheel. This was not an enjoyable conclusion to my first (and thus far, only) time actually hot footing the racecar. I was just getting a feel for things when with a flash of orange and the blast of a fire bottle we were hustling to get it back in the trailer, back to the shop and torn apart to see just how bad it was. This was Tuesday… we rolled onto the dyno at 0900 and this picture was taken at noon. I remember because we were on the clock, big time. Speedweek was set to kick off Friday and we weren’t planning on missing out….
Pin-up girls? Check. Tattoo contest? Check. Mini bike action on the dirt track? Check. Bands? Tons. Tire smoke? More than plenty…. this is the AZ Rockabilly Bash 2019 hosted on the shores of Lake Pleasant, just a few minutes north of Phoenix. The Bash is a 3 day festival style event with camping/RV parking, a 300 foot “hole shot contest”, tons of great bands and a highly competitive burnout competition. With a variety of on-site activities and the events proximity to town you will have the choice to fully relax or wear yourself out behind the wheel on some scenic backroads in the area. A super fun event with a small town, family friendly feel… thanks to the small group of enthusiasts that put on the show. Whatever your plans are for next March, we suggest you change them and plan to attend the Rockabilly Bash! In the meantime enjoy this little teaser video or check our youtube channel for coverage of 2018’s event!
Living in Arizona we are privileged beyond belief. What better state to be a car enthusiast and collector? Seriously our dry heat is a “barn finders” dream! If you can find that barn. However if you’re in north Scottsdale.. drop on into Penske’s Barn. Penske Racing Museum. You won’t be disappointed.
You can usually find me here 1st Sat of the month. Ask me for a Ducky sticker!
A look back to some of the things we’ve done and pointed cameras at…. the end of an era. Now that we’re joined forces with Tyler and TxP Media the days of the oil on the lens, low-res video, are over. Mostly over… I’ll still share those cell phone videos from around the shop, don’t worry. So here it is, the last, Church of Speed, edited in the bathroom on cell phone movie…… -nick
Had a fun time running an old Knight mill the other day. Shot a little video with my phone and it’s more fun to watch than to read about. Have a looksie….
This was originally some random test footage that I had jammed together and called The Sticker Run. It needed some trimming so I cleaned it up a bit and re-released it as the second video in our Two Minute Cruise Night series.
During WWII, some sensitive tasks were given directly to a worker, and his supervisor might not be authorized to know exactly what it was. Thus the response when the supervisor questions what appears to be personal work done on company time: “it’s government work.”….
That’s not what’s happening in this video at all….
Flashback thirty-some years. As I remember it, my Dad had told a caller that the shop was closed for the day but “we” were there finishing up some “government work”. We… Ha! I don’t think I had even started school yet, but I do remember asking him what our shitty little canoe trailer had to do with the government. Back to present day and you can find me after hours and weekends making those federal dollars. Like these secret things that are a…. big secret. We’ll show you where they’re going to end up in a coming feature, but for now enjoy a peek into the process of trimming a bit of fat and fixing up an old set of (secret things; ed.)…
“Pull in there dude,” I told my buddy, “park this sum-bitch in the show….”
There was an expression of hesitation on his face as we noticed the looks on the faces of the fellas guarding the premier parking situation, armored in day-glo vests, armed with orange construction flags… ready to send these greasers in a flat black ’40 Ford pickup down the road to park like suckers amongst the mini vans and rental cars. It’s just so much more fun to fall into the line up of Ferraris, 911’s… let’s just say the spectator parking was as nearly as good as the big show.
Inside the stadium, the variety of cars about to depart for a thousand mile tour of the The Grand Canyon State is impressive and quite interesting. From the Lamborghini Islero to the many 356’s to the Dino’s and Split window’s and racecars and even a Tatra 87…. google that…. the attitude on the field is quite casual and quite frankly made me quite jealous that I didn’t get to tag along to see these cars on the open road.
Here’s a little video we threw together high lighting a few of our favorite cars in the show and a few as they pulled off the grass and onto the highway….
