The 65th Grand National Roadster Show kicked off on Friday January 24, 2014 at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA and ended on January 26, 2014.
SUNDAY – AND THE WINNERS ARE …..
AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER 2014 OWNED BY WES RYDELL
AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE 2014 OWNED BY FABIAN BECASSE
Being in competition for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) means climbing to the top ranks of car building. This year the students of the Roseville High School Auto Shop, Roseville, Michigan built a 1931 Ford roadster pickup that sat proudly on the floor with the other AMBR contenders at the Grand National Roadster Show. This AMBR contender was built entirely by the students in Paul Tregembo’s auto shop class at Roseville High School. These kids didn’t take home the AMBR award but they did collect the Rising Star award.
Photos of all of the AMBR contenders can be seen below in our FRIDAY reporting section.
The theme of this year’s GNRS was Century of Speed and one entire building was devoted to Bonneville cars. On display was the Blitzen Benz which set a land speed record of 142.8 mph in 1914. Many other notable cars were also on display such as: the Kugel & LeFevers 1992 Pontiac Trans Am which in 1999 was the first passenger car to exceed 300 mph with a speed of 307.468 and a round trip speed of 300.788; Al Lamb’s 2012 Honda Motorcycle at 262.4 was the fastest sit on motorcycle; and, the fastest motorcycle on earth ridden by Chris Carr at 367.382 mph. There were also some long-time Bonneville cars such as: Vesco Racing’s Little Giant 444 built by John Vesco in 1957 which is the holder of four current land speed records; the Paramount Forge, built by the Fergurson family, set 16 Bonneville records and 7 LaMirage records, 10 drivers joined the 200 mph club in this car and 2 went into the 300 mph Club at Bonneville with 6 drivers joining the 200 mph Club at El Mirage; the Daytona Charger, owned and driven by Lee Sicillio, has raced at Speed Week continuously since 1999 and has broken 11 land speed records. There were also some iconic cars such as: Golden Rod built in 1952 by Tommy Thompson; and the Pierson Bros. 2D coupe now owned by Bruce Meyer.
The book “Bonneville a Century of Speed” was being sold as a fundraiser for Save the Salt and raised $40,000.
Also this year was a separate Gasser exhibit which occupied its own building. Stan Johnson’s slingshot dragster Silver Bullet, took home the Best Slingshot award. Representative of the modern Gasser movement is Stan Chersky’s ’55 Chevy Quicksilver, Joe Hickenbottom’s ’41 Willys pickup Blue Thunder, and Glen Krapff’s ’40 Ford Coupe, Flip Front Forty. Also on hand was the Copperhead a 364” Nailhead Buick dragster owned by Bob DeBurn. In the past couple of years, the Famoso Speed Shop dragster, a 1965 competition coupe owned by Randy Winkle, Roy Pool’s 1965 D/Gas Mercury Comet, and Don Lindfors’ Blair Speed Shop ’48 Anglia have raced on the drag strip at Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield.
One feature of the GNRS is the pinstriper’s charity auction. Every day several pinstripers pick up their brushes to stripe everything from panels to chairs to helmets which are then auctioned off. The proceeds of this year’s auction will go to the Ronald McDonald House. A whopping $38,198 was raised.
Herb Martinez at the stripers’ table
Like Saturday, Sunday included a drive-in during which cars of all kinds drove in for the day and parked in the alleys and streets around the buildings.
The awards ceremony was held at the end of the day on Sunday. Participants and class winners were awarded trophies and several special awards were given out by notables such as Penny Pichette, Roy Brizio, Blackie Gejeian and George Barris. The Von Dutch Pinstriping award was given out by Herb “The line Dr.” Martinez. Von Dutch was a famous and infamous pinstripper in the 1950’s. This award was originated by St. John Morton in 1994. The trophy is a copy of Von Dutch’s paint box. This year the winner was Willis Dormer. The Al Slonaker Memorial, the ABMB and the AMBR awards were given out last to close the show.
John Buck, Herb Martinez, Von Hot Rod and one of this year’s trophy girls with the Von Dutch Award
Next year the 66th Annual Grand National Roadster Show will be held January 23-25 2015.
You can see more photos from the event on our SmugMug site at timingtower.smugmug.com
Saturday
Not only will the AMBR (America’s Most Beautiful Roadster) award given away this week-end but the AMBM (America’s Most Beautiful Motorcycle) award as well. Below is a look at the contenders.
Lee Smith from Roswell, GA put a big smile on a lot of faces when he put every kid around on his AMBM contender.
Today the drive-in started and a lot of nice cars were lining the alleyways between the buildings.
The Suede Palace held a lot of nice cars and it was easy to spend a lot of time in this building..
Tomorrow is the last day of the GNRS. We will have a more coverage including the winners of the AMBR and the AMBM.
Friday
Below are photos of the 11 cars competing to be America’s Most Beautiful Roadster for 2014. Which one will become America’s Most Beautiful Roadster?
The Show will continue through Sunday. This year the theme is Quest for Speed and the Century of Speed exhibit features many streamliners and other salt flat racers. Saturday and Sunday will include an outside drive-in where hot rods, customs, classics, etc. will be on display in the areas between the buildings.
Keep checking timingtower.com. We’ll continue to post with a final article and photos posted by Monday evening.
