October 2023 Members of the Month - American Hot Rod Foundation

Our Member of the Month series will be a little different this time around, as we would like to take this opportunity to applaud all of our AHRF-supporting members that we’ve spotted using their hot rods “as intended” at the various nostalgia drag racing events this year. We are all lucky to be living in a time when events like the Antique Nationals, RPM Nationals, TROG/Flabob runway drags, and the Pinetree Jamboree, just to name a few, are an annual occurrence. We thank the organizers of these events for providing a portal to go back in time so we can all experience early hot rodding just as our heroes and pioneers did. It is a tremendously important aspect of what some folks call “traditional hot rodding”, as it makes our favorite pastime a living thing.

Of course, we’d also like to point out that these events wouldn’t exist without the support of enthusiasts who are willing to try their luck and test their machines on a race track. It is a great thing to see so many car owners letting it all hang out in their period-correct machines so that folks can see and hear real hot rods being driven in anger and we’re proud to say that this includes many of our supporting members. We’d like to name and thank just a few – Rob Manson, Augie Esposito, Mike Williams, Lou Stands, Russ Hare, Justin Baas, Mike Detwiler, Ron Cooper, Scott McCann, Bob Kenz, JD Massey, Tom and Diana Branch, Chris Eichert, Seth Hammond, Willy Wilcox, and Eli English.

Again, this is just a sampling of the many AHRF members that we’ve seen out on the track this year and we have a feeling we’ll see even more in 2024. Now enjoy some photos from these great events of 2023!

01 Mike Williams — Mike Williams, heating up the slicks on his ’29 Model A “Faruga Pickup” at the 2023 Barona “You Asked For It” drags. A painstaking recreation of the truck built and raced in the mid and late ‘50s by western New York hot rodder Pete Faruga, Mike’s fast and beautiful closed cab truck won our Hot Rod of the Month award in March of this year.

02 Lou Stands — We love seeing our AHRF Membership tags attached to a cool hot rod, especially when that hot rod is an 11-second deuce roadster with a blown sbc, five-spokes and big fat slicks! Longtime AHRF supporter, Lou Stands, is the proud owner of this green monster that was most recently seen ripping up the full quarter mile at the historic Pomona Drag Strip. Yup, 11.60s in a street driven deuce high-boy is our kinda cool.

03 Ron Cooper — Ron Cooper is one of our favorite hot rodders and racers. We’ve watched Ron compete at nearly every nostalgia drag racing event we’ve listed, as well as running with “the big boys” out at El Mirage and Bonneville. Ron is a dedicated racer who never lost his love for the hot rodding that he grew up with as a kid in Ojai, California. This photo may depict a racer’s attitude but it belies a gentle nature, as Ron is a sweet soul who has dedicated his life to the arts, but … when it comes time to put the hammer down, it ain’t no game for our man RC! Oh, and we sure do like the placement of that AHRF Membership tag on the firewall of Ron’s ’23 T-roadster.

04 Unknown — Speaking of AHRF membership tag sightings, how about this way-cool stake bed display right along with one of our AHRF decals in the neighboring window? This cool rig was spotted in the pit area of the Barona “You asked for it” drags earlier this year. We thank the owner of this modern machine for not only flying our flag but for giving a nod to such historic car clubs as the legendary Bean Bandits.

05 Geoff Stilwell — Speaking of “the big boys”, you won’t find dedication on a larger scale than with the 7707 racing team’s fuel-modified-roadster of England’s Geoff Stilwell. Geoff is chasing a 300mph record and we only hope that our humble AHRF decal doesn’t somehow get sucked into that bug-catcher!

06 Rob Manson — AHRF supporting member Rob Manson is the best kind of hot rod preservationist that we can think of. Not only is Rob the steward of some of our absolute favorite immediate post-war hot rod sports-racing specials, but he uses them as intended almost nonstop. From road racing at Sonoma and Laguna Seca to drag racing them at multiple RPM Nationals events, you can always spot Rob by the cloud of red mist around him! We first got to know Rob when he brought out the incredible Baldwin Specials #1 and #2 to the Santa Margarita Ranch event a few years ago. Not only did Rob show up with both cars but he showed up to win, running both cars as hard as one could. We greatly admired the spirit that Rob was displaying while piloting such priceless machinery but we also recognized a level of familiarity and driving technique that told us the machines were in particularly good hands. Most recently, Rob brought out his flathead V8 powered Manning / Streets Special to this year’s RPM Nationals ( see photo above ) and his enthusiasm for hammering these great old cars was, once again, on full display and to the delight of all.

AHRF Supporting member Rick Hall may not have been making passes down the dragstrip in his wonderful, survivor, deuce roadster at this year’s RPM Nationals, but he definitely made the staging lanes look that much cooler by having his period-perfect bit of history right at track’s edge. We were pleased to be able to present our AHRF Team Choice award to Rick on that day and we thank him for being an early supporter of our work.

08 Ed Gilbertson — We had the great fortune of getting to walk the grounds of this year’s RPM Nationals with our friend and life-long hot rodder, Ed Gilbertson, seen here flying one of our AHRF membership Ts and capturing some great moments. It was Ed’s first time attending the event and the sight, sounds and smells of what was happening that day truly brought him back to his earliest days in hot rodding. While standing near the starting line, watching cars being flagged off, Ed turned to us at one point and said,”I can’t believe it. This is exactly how it was. Exactly. I promise. I was there in the mid 1950s and I can promise you that every bit of this is exactly how it was. I never believed in time travel until now.” I guess you could say that that is a pretty damn good endorsement. Once again, we have to thank AHRF members Russ Hare and Justin Baas for putting on such a fantastic event. It is an honor for us to be part of it and to get to support their efforts. We only hope that this wonderful event never changes and continues on for years to come!

09 Mike Detwiler — Did we mention that some folks don’t come to play, they come to win? That is definitely the case with AHRF supporting member Mike Detwiler. Mike is well known to many of the events written about here and has made the trek from his home in Colorado to nearly every RPM Nationals event with his blown ARDUN powered ’32 roadster. To hear the over-500hp, Ferguson-built, flathead scream is a thing to behold, but, sometimes a monster like that will also help you find your weak link. On Mike’s most recent outing to Santa Margarita it was the clutch and flywheel assembly that decided it was all done feeding the power of that beast into the ’37 LaSalle trans that Mike’s roadster is equipped with. Thanks to our friend, Tony Thacker, we have this gruesome photo of some of the shrapnel that was picked up off the track after Mike’s last pass of the day. Although disappointed, Mike’s comment was,”That’s racing. We’ll be back next year.” We only hope so, as it isn’t everyday that you hear a flathead Ford V8 at 7,000 rpm!

10 Bob Kenz — Another frequent flyer to these events is our friend and AHRF member, Bob Kenz. If his last name sounds familiar, it should. Yup, it was Bob’s uncle who was the Kenz of Kenz and Leslie fame. Carrying on the hot rod family tradition seems to be a natural one for Bob, as we see him here in his flathead V8 powered RPU in the near lane at this year’s RPM Nationals. Bob is also a member of the legendary Pasadena Roadster Club and has a small stable of other cool old hot rods to help keep his RPU company when back home.

One of our favorite hot rodders and supporters of the AHRF is our good pal, Augie Esposito, seen here in the far lane at a recent TROG/Flabob airstrip event in his super cool, Cad-powered, ’40 Ford coupe. As Bruce Meyer once said about Augie,” He has the most impeccable taste.” We couldn’t have said it better, Big Bruce! Augie is one of those guys who was a hot rodder from birth and simply never stopped. This is one of the reasons we chose Mr Esposito as our AHRF Member of the Month back in August of 2021 ( click here to read Augie’s profile – https://ahrf.com/augie-esposito-august-2021-member-of-the-month/ ) . From his perfect ’32 roadster or ’32 3-window, to his stunning Vincent drag bike, Augie’s stuff is always “bitchin.” When we heard that Augie was taking his ‘50s Cad powered ’40 coupe out to the recent Pomona drag event to run the quarter, we were all ears to hear how the old girl would do. See, in classic Augie fashion, his Cadillac mill ain’t no run-of-the-mill mill. His is a mothballed relic from the 1950s that was intended for a full-race application that was never completed. So, it sat, wrapped in plastic, for decades until Augie came along and brought it to life. Topped with two fours, a lot of cylinder head work, and running a period Isky roller cam, the old Cad definitely makes a healthy sound. When unleashed, we were pleased to find that the old girl was knocking on the 13s at Pomona in the same state that Augie drives the car on any other day. That’s a damn respectable time and one that is as period-correct as any other aspect of what Augie does. Here we see him choosing off the Faruga pickup in his “Fordillac” at the inaugural TROG/Flabob airstrip drags back in late 2022.

Why stop now? Here are a few more things you might like:

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Check out our friends and partners over at the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada!

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