NHRA Museum Unveils New Interactive Web SiteThe Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum has a spiffy new home on the World Wide Web at www.museum.nhra.com. The site is designed to make it easy for museum visitors and others interested in the history of motorsports to navigate and learn about museum events and programs. The information-laden site features a virtual tour of the museum, the latest news from museum-produced events, including the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion and the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion, plus a photo gallery and a museum store.
Named for the founder of the National Hot Rod Association, the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum houses the very roots of hot rodding. Scores of famous vehicles spanning American motorsports history are on display, including winning cars representing 50 years of drag racing, dry lakes and salt-flat racers, oval track challengers and exhibits describing their colorful backgrounds.
The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Current NHRA members are admitted free. Admission for non-members is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors 60 and older, $3 for juniors 6 through 15, and free for children under the age of 5. The museum is also available for private parties, meetings, corporate events, weddings, and special group tours. The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is located at Fairplex Gate 1, 1101 W. McKinley Ave. in Pomona, California. For further information on special exhibits, museum events or directions, call (909) 622-2133 or visit the Web site.
Total TV ExpansionMove over, American Chopper! Total Performance is collaborating with the National Cable Network on a new TV pilot called Homemade Hot Rods. Total Performance, based in Wallingford, Connecticut, manufacturers of T-bucket and hot rod parts for more than three decades, is involved with this cable show, which is different from any of the custom-built shows before it, as Homemade Hot Rods gets the customer actually involved in the building of his own Hot Rod.
The first episodes of the show will feature Total's Mini-Me T, a car influenced by John Rivek, a Total Performance customer who has fulfilled his fantasy of owning a red and white mini coupe and a matching Total T. The Mini-Me T showcases Total's latest feature for their Model T, now with a passenger-side door. The "filming" for the final assembly of the Mini-Me T will take place at the New England Summer Nationals in Greenhill Park in Worcester, Massachusetts, over the fourth of July weekend.
It's been a busy time for Total Performance, as they've also recently added 4,200 square feet of warehouse space (two levels plus an employee dining area) to nearly double the previous shop's footprint. Plans for another addition to house a research and development area are already underway. See www.tperformance.com for more on Total Performance.
ArachnamaniaReplicar manufacturer Thunder Ranch, located in El Cajon, California, sponsored the first annual "Arachnamania" Rally in late August in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Porsche Spyder and Speedster owners from as far west as Santa Barbara, California, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the south, and as far east as Cincinnati attended the three-day event. Drivers and rally enthusiasts gathered early each morning at The Vintage Restoration Shop, a Prescott Valley business owned and operated by George Bland.
Each attendee was treated to being able to view many of the outstanding pieces of hot rod memorabilia George Bland has collected over the years covering what Thunder Ranch's owner, Tom McBurnie, called "an impressive array of hot rod goodies from the '40s, '50s, and '60s-hot rodding's golden years."