Tick Tock - The Crashing Sun



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Road Trips

We’ve had lots of fun going to some S.F. Bay Area and Monterey Bay Area car events, too.  We’ve met some fun and interesting folks and have seen some wild cars.  


Joining me along on this fun ride is Mike Malament of FISH EYE FILMS who is my co-producer and production manager, Mark Blaskovich who is my technical advisor and the entire math team, and Susan Hennessy who is my production assistant and keeper of the websites.  Together we have a great time at the events and bring them right to you.  There is nothing sacred, here. We take a look at the cars and tell
you just what we think.  We interview the car guys and just have an all around good time.

Thanks to FISH EYE FILMS our filming and editing wizard we now have a whole bunch of clips of THE CAR GUY CHANNEL from YouTube.  Click on the links and see what you think. 

  On Thursday, November 20, 2008 hit the road! Destination: Canepa Design in Scotts Valley.  "WOW!" That just about sums up what we saw!  You name it they do it!  Lots of fun, a great group of guys, and cars to die for!  But....you'll have to wait for CAR GUY CHANNEL episode 22 to see what we mean!

  









On Thursday November 6, 2008 we went over to Club Auto Sport for their Club Auto Sport Rocks the Clubhouse with Black Pearl party.  Great venue, music, food, fun, people, and cars!  And what is a party anyway with out the Mike Hennessy free giveaway?
















August 13, 2008 we took the crew on a field trip to the Brizio Street Rods shop in South San Francisco.  We had a great time meeting the guys and interviewing them.  They took the time to tell us about the cars that they were working on and giving us an idea of what it takes and what goes into making those spectacular Brizio Street Rods!  Thanks, guys!

American Metal 2008 on Sunday, July 20 over at San Jose Harley-Davidson proved to be another blockbuster car and bike event!  The weather was perfect, the two bands and teh barbecue were terrific and the cars and bikes were completely AWESOME!

We appreciate everyone who entered a car or bike and just came out that day to look and be a part of it all!  We had over 20 awards for the bikes and cars and even crowned Miss San Jose Harley-Davidson.  Thanks to our buddy Sean from ODC Magazine for the nice pictures and to Rich Sieve, too.
                                  
                        
                       
               
  



We had a hot time at The Monterey Festival of Speed May 16,17,and 18, 2008.  We set up camp with Greg Dunham and his Dream Big Monster Cycle, Sean and the group from Off Da Chain Magazinee, Bubba from San Jose Harley-Davidson, The Raiderettes Meena Serena, and  and the guys representing the US Army!  What fun we had!

The weather was great, the races were fantastic and we even sold a few cars with the Kruse Auction!  We saw some great vintage race boats, filmed some events and gave the old slingshot a work out all while listening to Burning Rose.

Not bad for a first year, next year should prove to be bigger and better.

Once again it was a Car Guy Channel road trip and  time for the GOODGUYS SHOW in Pleasanton.  We headed out there on Saturday, March 29, 2008.  We were greeted by our good buddy, John Drummond.

We had a great time meeting up with lots of car guys
showing off their Street Rods in the building.  All of the
colors of the rainbow were there, it was like looking at  car guy candy!  A real treat for the eyes!

We stopped and chatted with Bernadette from Arlen Ness Motorcycles and she graciously showed us around the
bikes on display.  You just gotta love the innovativness of these bikes!

We stopped by Roy Brizio Street Rods and Dave gave us the tour around their latest creation.  They do some great rods!  They are always fun and always different.

Then it was lunch time and we ran into Jason at Bud's Fat Burgers!  That burger is a meal in itself!  We were fat and happy after that.  If you have never had one, you absolutely must!  Yeah, the line is long, but there is a good reason why!  You could always grab a beer for your wait in line - kind of like the cocktail hour, but you better finish up before you get your burger because you will definitely need both hands for that monster!

Time for shopping at the swap meet.    It is always aisles and aisles of all kinds of stuff!  Some new, some used, sometimes just what you are looking for!  We are always on the look out for those illusive parts to finish up our own cars.  We had some good luck and found some needed parts.  We always bring a shopping cart or wagon, it is the only way to shop!

Off to look at the cars for sale.  They had quite a selection if you were in the market that day, you might find what you are looking for.  If you were not in the market, then you had a great time just admiring each one.  There was something to suit everyone, and everything on sale if the price is right!

We love the Goodguys!  Can't wait to go back again. 

On February 23, 2008 we took the crew up to Altamont Motorsports Park.  We had heard about a very worthwhile
and interesting safe-driving program for teens that they put on there and we wanted to go and check it out for ourselves. The monthly class is presented in collaboration with the Tracy chapter of the national Get Real Behind the Wheel organization, which is dedicated to promoting parent and teen driving accountability and community awareness
of safe driving technologies designed to save lives.  The class is free and definitely "worth the drive"!

First there is a moving film presentation for both the parents and the teens.  It shows the unfortunate consequences that can happen to anyone who drives but does not keep full attention on the road.  It was a very sobering presentation.  We then met the man responsible for the
Tracy chapter of Get Real Behind the Wheel, Ken Ucci.  Ken lost his teen-aged son, Mike, who was a passenger in an automobile accident.

Deputy Scott Sylvester of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office along with another officer gave valuable input telling us all what is new regarding the law and driving and then they followed up with a question and answer period until all questions were answered.  We learned that it is now against the law for any passenger or driver to be smoking in a car with any passenger or driver under the age of 18! You won't get pulled over for it, but you will get cited if you happen to be pulled over for another reason.

Then there is the fun part that everyone came for - driving on a racetrack! Now don't think the kids  are going to be driving racecars!  No, mom or dad brings family car for the teen to drive.  Nevertheless, driving on a racetrack IS COOL!  The teen drives and Mom or Dad can be the passenger.  It is just
a controlled situation and they have the  good sports from Altamont Motorsports Park out there holding up the STOP signs to practice stopping and yielding to traffic.  They have cones set up so they can practice some tight steering maneuvers.  We actually thought it might be cancelled to to the horrendous rain and wind storm that was supposedly coming our way.  Nope!  The driving school happens rain or shine.  They, at Altamont were actually exited because the track would have big puddles and the track could be slippery.  These are some real life situations that are better felt on the racetrack under controlled circumstances than met with surprise on the highway.

Of course, what is Car Guy Channel without Mike getting into the act, himself!  We had great cooperation with Deputy Sylvester who was more than happy to play along.  He cleared the track for us for a few minutes and had some fun....you'll see!

Thanks to everyone at Altamont Motorsports Park for being more than hospitable to Car Guy Channel and our antics!  We haven't met nicer people! It is really a great place and they have lots of fun events lined up.  Check out the teen driving school.  The teen doesn't even need a driver's permit and the class is free!  You can't beat that price!  Check out www.altamontracing.com



On January 11, 2008 we went over to the San Jose Auto Show right in our own backyard!  We had a fun time there and met some great folks and saw some fun new cars.  We also got to give a Toyota Tundra a run for its money on its own 4WD course climbing rocks, moguls, and all.  Mike tried to tip it over, but the Toyota prevailed!  I'd say it passed the torture test with flying colors.

We also got up close and personal with the Bugatti Veyron. 
If you have the need for speed and $1,700,000.00 plus burning a hole in your pocket, you may just want to consider this baby.  

Then it was back on the road and up to the Cow Palace for the San Francisco Rod, Custom, & Motorcycle Show courtesy of George Hague.  They put on one heck of a show with something for everyone there.  The beautiful show cars and bikes were really something to see and we ran into our old buddy Greg Dunham who owns that crazy Dream Big motorcycle which is the largest in the world.