John “Gunner” Gunnell has been writing about cars since ‘72. As a kid in Staten Island, N.Y., he played with a tin Marx “Service Garage” loaded with toy vehicles, his favorite being a Hubley hot rod. In 2010, he opened Gunner’s Great Garage, in Manawa, Wis., a shop that helps enthusiasts restore cars. To no one’s surprise, he decorated 3G’s with tin gas stations and car toys.
Gunner started writing for two car club magazines. In 1978, publisher Chet Krause hired him at Old Cars Weekly, where he worked from 1978-2008. Hot rodding legend LeRoi “Tex” Smith was his boss for a while. Gunner had no formal journalism training, but working at a weekly quickly taught him the trade. Over three decades, he’s met famous collectors, penned thousands of articles and written over 85 books. He lives in Iola, Wis., with his nine old cars, three trucks and seven motorcycles.
Driving a big ‘53 Olds Super 88 sedan over Mexican roads at speeds up to 138 mph is no picnic, but Ed Gut’s car completed the LaCarrera Panamericana – an epic Mexican road race – revival four consecutive times between 1994 and 1997.
“Big Daddy” Don Garlits, the legendary drag racer, came to the Iola Car Show with a trailer loaded with books, T-shirts and other items to sell. He also brought along one of his famous “Swamp Rat” dragsters.
This 1984 March Indy Cosworth 84C is in the Volo Auto Museum (www.volocars.com in Volo, Ill. It is one of the cars raced by Michael Andretti in his 1984 rookie year.
Dana Highland, Dave Beimfohr and Bob Churchill were at the Race & Performance Expo (www.raceperformanceexpo.com) because they are kids at heart. Actually, all three of these spark plugs in the Junior Drag Racing sport are adults who have the future of young drag racers in their hearts.
Bruce Boyle of Manhattan, Ill., is a firefighter by day and a drag racer “by weekend.” His current racing car is a muscular Chevy Monza with a Dart 400 engine.
Tim Arfons has recreated one of the famous Green Monster front-engine dragsters and is using it as a high-speed history lesson for today’s drag racing fans.