Classic Auto Mall - #224 - Stewart Howden with Guests John Doonan, President of IMSA + Keith Martin

This is the Classic Automall Show.

Broadcast from the studios inside the Classic Automall in Morgantown, Pennsylvania.

Just one hour west of Philadelphia at Pennsylvania Turnpike Exit 298.

Featuring nearly 1,000 classic vintage and barred fine vehicles for sale under one climate controlled roof.

Now, here's your host, Classic Automall President and the man with all the toys, Stuart Howden.

Man, welcome, show number 224. Here we are.

Wow.

It's hard to believe, isn't it?

There I am.

And 7 million, well, we just went over 7 million views.

7 million, well, just went over 7 million 306,000 views on YouTube.

147,000 subscribers.

This time last year, 6,600.

Wow.

So.

Picking up the pace.

Meteoric rise.

So, how many cars in inventory right now, JR?

937.

That's pretty good.

A little higher, 960.

977, Steve, wins again.

Boy, you know, he's really.

Boom.

He's killing it now.

60 to 1.

Yes.

Well, I'm not sure quite that's God's, but any who, as my grandmother used to say.

My grandmother also used to say that boy has the peculiar's.

So, where that came from.

She's the Southern Belle.

I love it.

Probably came from.

Let's welcome our guest to the show, John Dunan, joining us from, I imagine you in Florida

today.

Well, good morning and then good welcome.

Thank you.

I'm in our home in Chicago this week was at the performance racing industry show in Indian

apolis.

And so beautiful sunny day here, struggling to get out of the 30s.

Well, that's Chicago, right?

That's right.

That's what I grew up in and that's what I actually appreciate my seasons.

Sure.

PRI is a great event.

I looked like the attendant who was well attended and lots of lots of car people there and looked

like a great time.

Incredible.

Michael Good, the new president of PRI has become a great friend.

He and his staff are really kicking butt and it was the largest attended show ever.

And I got to tell you, I was there every day and had a lot of speaking engagements, a

lot of meetings, but the place was jammed.

If you got in the aisles, if you got in the aisles, it was like a restart at an IMSA race.

Right.

And speaking of IMSA, you became the president of IMSA, International Motorsports Association

in 2019.

Is that correct?

That's right.

I had a amazing boyhood dream opportunity to be at Mazda for 19 years and we worked hard

to establish the racing program and grow it when I was there.

And then Jim France and Ed Bennett called from Daytona Beach and asked me to lead IMSA

and I couldn't be more honored and excited to now live a second boyhood dream.

Isn't that crazy?

You know, it's so fun to get to do those kinds of things.

We're doing those kind of things here just because, you know, the more you get involved,

the more people you know and the more opportunities come up for stuff like that and just going

to PRR and being a part of that or going to the muscle car show that they have in Chicago

and McCann that's a huge show now in your part of the world as well too.

Yeah.

You know, growing up around the sport and cars, I do wake up every day getting to live

a boyhood dream.

You mentioned Pennsylvania and I need to get to your place and see the amazing collection

there.

My grandfather was family, mainly my dad's family from Rockville, Maryland and grandpa

raced midgets on the East Coast, Williams Grove.

I don't know exactly how far that is from you all, but that's how it all got started

with grandpa and then dad raced sports cars here in the Midwest after getting out of the

Navy and McCormick Place was it was the site and now it's at the Rosemont Convention Center,

but the world of wheels, I remember those.

Yeah.

Dad had his race car in there and we won the race car division back in 1975 and we haven't

looked back since.

Right.

I loved all the displays.

They had some of the shag car, the white shag carpet that looked like snow and the bubble

top, beatnik bandits and the cars were just, you know, for us as kids, they were out of

this world because we didn't really, we weren't reading car magazines quite yet and there

wasn't the internet, obviously.

No, 100% and you know, as a little, little guy, I was collecting Hot Wheels cars and

like the red, the red Baron hot rod, you know, the car from the Adams family and all those

things were at those shows when they were originally built and so I was in awe.

Yeah.

And probably they're quite valuable these days.

Of course, not as valuable as if we'd have bought some of the cars that we probably passed

on and our parents passed on back in the day.

I know your dad may have had an opportunity on a Cobra.

Yeah.

Yeah, he was in New Orleans after being in the service and the picture behind you, of

course, captivated me as soon as we started the show because he said he had an opportunity

to buy a AC Cobra for $4,900 in New Orleans.

It was sitting in a dealership showroom floor and I think to myself, man, what if he had

done that and then maybe that car would be in our collection now.

Yeah.

You just, and you know, that's the thing.

It's hard to predict what will be valuable in the future, but I think that there was

some back in the day, the GT 40s that they were selling, even through the dealerships

they were selling the street versions and the and the Cobras and all of that.

And of course, the high horsepower stuff, of course, you know, we didn't always understand

collectability and that kind of thing when we were kids buying cars and going through

that process.

So the guys who did understand it, obviously, it paid off for them that could buy a Cobra

and scrape together the money back in the day.

Yeah.

When you think about the auctions, you know, the Barrett Jacksons, the Meekums, you know,

what happens in Monterey all the time, what bring-it trailers done, it's just remarkable.

And just a few years ago, I was so fortunate to acquire my grandfather's 1947 Curtis

Kraft Midget, offie powered.

And so to have that as part of the legacy of our family and racing is, you know, you

can't, it makes my hair stand up.

Yeah.

It's really special.

Mine too.

It's great to be able to reunite with stuff like that because, you know, people that aren't

car people don't necessarily understand how important cars are to a lot of families.

I mean, they are, they're like the family pet.

I mean, you know, dad's collection of cars or dad's single car is part of the family,

just as if it was a living, breathing thing, which does, it is.

Yeah.

And you almost sometimes, obviously there's family milestones that are more important

than cars.

But if you look at the cars of when they came in the family's history, you know, sometimes

for me, it's like, oh, yeah, that's when we had, you know, a Toyota SR5 pickup truck

and that's when we had a, you know, a Buick Century station wagon.

It was our tow vehicle to the racetrack or a 71 Chevy Van.

Like all these things, you know, make markers for me across history.

Well, we have that every day and here where people come to our place and people, they'll

tell you, oh, I'm not a car person and they come in and when they leave, they got a big

smile on their face and because they saw dad's car and their uncle's car and their

boyfriend's first car and the car that they, you know, got married in and all these people

don't, people don't always realize that cars is not just a car thing.

It's a culture thing.

It's what we are as a society, especially in the United States.

Yeah.

You know what?

We're seeing that in them.

So, you know, we're so fortunate right now to have 18 auto manufacturers racing with

us.

I saw that.

And, you know, there's not many that aren't there.

But what we're seeing is, and I saw this at Mazda with my colleagues, we were all concerned

about the number of 16 year olds getting their driver's license.

I got to tell you, what we're seeing at IMSA events is the opposite and it gives me great

hope because you're seeing a lot of young families, a lot of young kids and they're

running up to these cars and looking in the cockpit like we all did as kids.

And, and dreaming.

And I remember that Porsche ad where the little boy rides his bike up to the Porsche

dealership and he's, you know, I don't know, seven, eight, nine years old.

And he's walking around the showroom and the sales guy says, well, can I help you?

And he's not today, but in 25, but in 25 years.

Yes, I'll be back.

You know, that was the, there was a lot of in this car hobby in the 70s and 80s.

There was a lot of like, I call it the golf course syndrome, where they were kind of

a little standoffish and all that to, to the younger crowd.

And if you were a young kid and you walked into a dealership, they'd hardly give you

the time of day.

We're the exact opposite because we're like, that's a future customer.

That's right.

And we want to perpetuate whether it's racing, whether it's collecting,

whether it's muscle cars, whether it's antique cars, we have to perpetuate this

all, otherwise all of us will be out of a gig.

That's exactly right.

That's what we're seeing.

I mean, at an IMSA race, you know, before the race starts, we have a wide open

grid walk for all the fans.

If you have a general admission ticket, you're welcome to come out.

And that's the kind of spirit I'm seeing the same in HSR, which is our historic

sports car racing group, wide open paddock.

You can go up, watch the mechanics, working on the cars, engage with them.

They want to tell the stories.

They want you to see what they're doing and celebrate the brand, celebrate the cars.

And in the case of HSR, celebrate the history.

Well, drag racing are the ones who really got that ride early on.

They, they said your general mission ticket gets you everywhere.

And I always love that.

And it was, you know, it was, it was funny.

Drag racing is one of those sports that it's hard to watch anywhere, but in person,

because if you watch it on TV, you don't get the feel and the thunder and the

fury and all that.

But, you know, it's, it's one of those things that that interaction with fans.

And, you know, it's a lot like the music business.

The country music stars all signed autographs.

The rock stars all got in their bus and took off.

And, you know, there's a reason that that that is not a good thing.

And it's not a good sustainable business model.

Yeah, I was with Glenn Cromwell from NHRA last week and he re-eherated

while he parks his philosophy that every ticket is a pick and pass.

And we absolutely emulate the same in IMSA and our autograph sessions

with our drivers are wide open to the fans.

And, you know, it just reminds me of how it was when I was a little boy

growing up at the racetrack.

Because there was a number of years in a lot of the different motor sports

factions, whether it was, you know, drag racing or sports cars,

where they weren't really known.

The names weren't known like they were back in the days.

They weren't Andretti and Unser and all those guys that we all grew up knowing.

And then all of a sudden, you know, it's like, who are these guys?

And then that's changing.

You're starting to become more recognizable in the sport,

which is fantastic for the sport.

It is. And, you know, the the 64th running of the Rolex 24 takes place in January.

We're gearing up for that. Wow.

And the whole philosophy that Bill Frantz Sr. had on that event,

which started in 1962 with the Daytona Continental, was the best drivers,

the best cars, the best teams come to Daytona and battle it out.

And you're seeing the top sports car drivers in the world

because that's part of our WeatherTech championship.

But Scott Dixon, Alex Palau, Connor Zillich,

you know, Roman Grosjean, Logan Sargent, you know, Kevin Magnuson,

all these superstars, Scott Dixon, like Will Power is going to be there this year.

All of these champions want that race on their resume.

They want to wear a Rolex Daytona watch after winning that thing on Sunday afternoon.

So I think you're right.

The names, the Andretti's, the Foyts that we grew up with,

you know, we're starting to get that same momentum with with fandom.

Yeah, I think that's ideally the, you know, the way to go.

And that, you know, that is such a prominent event.

I mean, it's one of those ones that it's the to me,

it's more of the Super Bowl of road racing than anything.

And the great thing about it is the variety, you know,

it's like the European sports car races where the slow cars and the fast cars

are all out there mixing it up together.

And I love that.

That to me is part of the allure.

Doesn't get doesn't get much better.

We have 61 cars on the entry list for Daytona.

So for 24 hours, you're going to have almost half and half.

You'll be close to 30 prototypes, certainly 30 GT cars are a little over.

And that's exactly right.

The closing speeds, you know, going into turn one off the tri oval or going

into the Lamar chicane on the back straight.

Sometimes those closing speeds are 50, 60 miles an hour different.

And you see the prototypes weaving through traffic, like, you know,

you're on the turnpike there in Pennsylvania.

It's pretty wild.

We drive just like that here.

So that's a it's fun to watch, though, because it gives you a if you got

into any of the lowest level of IMSA, whatever that car is,

that car would be so fast to you, it would be crazy.

And to go from that to the to the to the prototypes is like, wow,

the disparity is crazy, but it would feel fast.

That was like we asked a drag racer.

Can you feel the difference between 300 and 330?

And and they actually said they can.

So, you know, I give it to those folks, you know, they're they're they're crazy.

Yeah.

So you mentioned the amount of involvement with the OEMs, the manufacturers,

which is staggering.

I mean, and it's interesting because the the racing philosophy and

when on Sunday sell on Monday is not quite the same as it used to be.

However, it's so important for the branding side of it.

Yeah.

So what we're seeing out of those 18 auto manufacturers is not only the

fact that they're racing with us and all of them have in some way,

shape or form a customer racing program.

So you or I could pool our funds and we could we could buy a race car

and go racing either at the entry level series, which we have,

which is the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge or one of the single makes Mazda

MX five cup Ford Mustang Challenge.

We could do that.

But at the same time, besides racing on track, you go to the IMSA weekend

and the Midway is jam packed with a production car display,

which usually has a race car that the kids can get their picture taken in

and things like that.

But the but the manufacturers are using this as a marketing tool in their toolbox.

They're advertising and integrating into their television, advertising,

their social and digital media and which makes me so happy.

They're launching new road cars at our race event.

So some of the unveils of new road car product are happening at IMSA races.

So we like to call it the new the new auto show.

I think you and your team can relate.

I used to go to the auto shows with my dad.

I used to love going into the displays and I for me, I was a bit biased.

I wanted to see what race cars were in the displays.

Exactly.

You know, the tie between road car and race car,

the learnings that happen on the racetrack to what is then maybe applied

to a road car or vice versa, testing road car componentry

in one of the toughest environments is really what we become.

And the next step is technology.

The cars are so technologically advanced

that we're now a test bed for the technology and innovation industry.

Sure. Look at the GTD Mustang, the new Mustang that just came out.

That thing is just that's as radical as they come.

And I guess can cost as much as four hundred thousand dollars.

I think we're one of the versions of it, which is crazy for a Mustang.

But if you look at the technology, it's it's all racing inspired.

It is. And last summer when we raced at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park,

I got the chance with the folks, Rick Chapka, Peter Chapka's son

and my friends at Multimatic led by Larry Holt.

I got to go to the factory up just north of Toronto and see the GTDs being built.

I'll tell you what.

First of all, the work they're doing is amazing, but it does.

It feels like you're in a race shop, but they're producing road cars.

I mean, it's and they're taking it real serious.

They're not they're not just dinking around up there.

No, they're taking it.

The fact that it's called the GTD for GT Daytona,

yeah, which is what our class is called.

That's obviously special in my heart.

Yeah, absolutely.

So and, you know, not only to having the manufacturers involved,

but the sponsorship and WeatherTech has been a huge sponsor.

I mean, what would this world?

I don't know what the racing world would look like if WeatherTech hadn't come along.

I mean, it's yeah, what would David McNeil and his family have done

for automotive accessories, but for motorsport across so many different

series is remarkable.

They're an absolutely tremendous partner to us.

We're with them till 2030, which is really special.

So long term and same with Michelin.

We just announced the 10 year extension with Michelin,

you know, number one tire brand in the world.

We're with them till 2035.

You know, we have a real stable platform in Imsen.

We're just going to keep polishing on it, as you guys would say.

Absolutely, your place and and keep trying to grow at the best we can to get

a sponsorship and with that length of time, that almost seems improbable today.

That not many places or even stadiums getting named aren't that long.

Are they? That's that's amazing testament to you and your staff.

Well, I appreciate that.

I think our goal has been to create value for everybody involved for a race team

to know that Imsen is going to be on NBC and NBC sports platforms until into the

2030s, you know, 2031, 2032, they can go out and sell partnerships

on the fact that there's going to be a broadcast network covering this for that

long or a growing audience on YouTube that's now 1.2 million subscribers.

That helps the teams on the partnership side, putting a fan base in front of

Weathertech and Michelin and VP racing fuels and Rolex, all companies that have

said, you know what, we're going to commit to the long term.

We're going to stabilize this platform.

And then we're going to have a set of race events that are pretty consistent

throughout the year that fans and racetrack promoters know that Imsen is

coming to town and they want to be there.

Yes, they want to be a part of it because, you know, that's their audience.

And of course, Weathertech is an amazing company that they don't even sell

that many products.

You know, they, I mean, when you add up all the different configurations of a

floor mat, yeah, that's different.

But I mean, they've got five or six products and everybody's just, they

say, oh my God, how did they do so well?

But they did because they're, you know, for their American company, American

made products, you know, and all of that matters to people.

People don't realize truthfully how much that matters until you see a success

story like theirs.

Yeah.

You know, when I was at Mazda, we used to say it was a group of racers running

a car company, Robert Davis, Jim Jordan, Steve Sanders, Jeremy Barnes, all my

buddies there, we were just a bunch of racers running a car company.

And a lot of times back to your cell, a race on Sunday, Sunday, Monday, our

belief was, you know, we sold cars to be able to afford to go racing.

Right.

Had to fuel that somehow, right?

Yeah.

And David McNeil started that company out of the trunk of his car selling, you

know, floor liners and with, with the spirit of a racer and David has raced

and Cooper, his son has raced and many of their employees over time are racers.

And I think that spirit of racing or car enthusiasts, like all the folks that

walk through your doors, there's a certain spirit and a certain energy that

we carry.

And it's hard to explain to other people, as you said, until they get in there

and they, they smell it and they see it, we get them, we get sprinkle some of

that magic dust.

Well, it's a camaraderie.

It's a camaraderie as well, too.

I always say it's interesting.

I can be sitting at an auction at one of them, like you said, Barrett or Meakham

or one of these auction houses, Gooding, R.M.

And I can be sitting next to a guy who's a janitor and next to a guy who's a CEO.

And we're all on the same page.

We're all having fun and we're all having a conversation about cars.

And there is no class warfare.

There is no nothing.

We're just all car guys.

That's right.

And we love that.

I love that.

And that's the spirit of which we, we try to operate at IMSA and as well as

HSR, which has been a really nice addition to our portfolio, all the history

of IMSA and including NASCAR.

We're, we're taking some of the NASCAR classic cars to law next July.

It's going to be really remarkable.

That's going to be, here come the Dukes of Hazard.

I love it.

Well, you know, it's funny because if you take cars over there, most of those

people over there haven't seen these type of cars racing.

So they're going to get a new appreciation and a new fan base for that,

which is obviously important as the loyalty of the brand and fan.

And I mean, I've been a IMSA fan since the Camel GT days and wrote Atlanta at

turn five, and which was the greatest place to watch a race, in my opinion.

They come down and then up and gone and they're on the throttle up through there.

And that was the great, and the, you know, the cars and the liveries and the

characters from the sport back in the day.

I mean, it was, it was a melting pot of everything.

And it was so cool to watch as a kid from East Tennessee.

Because John Pirro, you know, what's his name?

Yeah, I'm already, I had no idea who this guy was, but he was cool and Italian

and handsome and was cooking spaghetti in the pit.

It was a lot of fun.

Well, just down the road from you was, you know, Holber, Holber racing and Al

was a hero.

I'm still in touch with his son, Todd, who works for TRD.

But you're exactly right.

Seeing the cars and hearing them, the European fans, especially I had the

opportunity to lead the garage 56 project where we took a NASCAR stock car to

Le Mans in 2023.

And as soon as we fired that car up, the fans were going crazy.

They love the thunder of a V8.

And if people haven't seen it, American Thunder on Amazon Prime is the

documentary on that project.

Yeah, I've watched little bits and pieces of it.

It's on my list.

I've just got to make sure my wife falls asleep on the couch before I start that.

But, you know, it's interesting.

I mean, back in the day, you know, you had the variety was still the same

back in the days of the 70s and 80s.

You know, you had the 935s and before the 962s and 956s.

But you had the 935s, which were some of them, in my opinion, and people

argue with me on this, that the 935s are the coolest race cars ever.

I don't care.

I don't care if they're not purpose built.

They are cool.

And the Moby Dick, the further the Moby, the better the car.

I love that.

And you're right.

Those things I can only refer to them as is absolute monsters when you see

them fire up and you see them sliding out of a corner, belching flames.

That's proper.

Right.

Well, you know, interscope racing, their livery that Danny

and Gaius who raced from them, who raced at Indian, raced Mza.

And, you know, they just released those 935s that they made again.

And one of them was in the interscope.

And I think it sold for like 1.8 million or 2.8.

I don't remember those numbers start getting a little jumbled when

they get into that millions category.

Exactly.

Right.

So, but, but, you know, watching Bob Aiken back in the day.

And so I noticed that you guys have, and maybe I'm wrong, but did you start

your Hall of Fame in 2023?

Is that when the first?

Yeah, so we just inducted the third class.

And, you know, for me, now we're into this era of when I was sitting on the

hill at Road America or Reynard or mid Ohio where Rob Dyson, you know, a

businessman by day, a racer by weekend and Bob Aiken, the same thing.

And his son, Bobby, was there to welcome Bob into the Hall of Fame, Dan

Gurney, Elliot Forbes Robinson.

That guy has driven everything on the planet from Formula Vs to Can-Am cars

to NASCAR stock cars.

He named it.

He's like Bob Seeger.

He opened, Bob Seeger opened for everybody, you know.

But, uh, yeah, I mean, those, those cars and those drivers are absolutely

iconic and we're currently in a virtual Hall of Fame, but I would, you know,

one of my dreams is a bricks and mortar building to do what you all are

doing every, every day at your place and that's welcoming in fans and telling

them the stories behind the people in the cars.

That's the greatest thing about what we do is explaining to somebody who's

really interested in learning more about what a 69 Camaro was or what a 72

this was or, you know, any of the different cars that we have in here.

And from, watch my guys out there giving an education to somebody, knowing

probably that they're not going to sell them a car and that's not the exact

best use of their time, but it doesn't matter to me because I, I want them to

perpetuate the hobby in that form and fashion.

Yeah.

For me, it's a word of mouth and I've always said, you know, our community,

whether it's car enthusiasts, racers, we're the biggest advocates and most

likely in our neighborhood where we live, we're probably the most educated

on what the best vehicle is, what the platform is.

We can answer questions by our neighbors, our co-workers, our people at

church or the golf club and we are the best advertising for some of these

brands and we're the go-to people and that has to continue.

I love that.

I never really thought of it in that perspective that we are the guys that

the neighbors ask and that, if that doesn't perpetuate it, I don't know

what does because I guarantee you, when I start talking about a car, they

can see my passion immediately.

It's not hard to, it's not a, I'm not a, you know, a blank slate here.

Yeah.

I mean, I got a neighbor who's the heating and air conditioning guy.

I got a neighbor who's a contractor.

I get a neighbor who's an IT guy, one who works for the railroad, one who's

a paramedic, but when it comes to the auto industry, I'm the go-to.

Sure.

Well, and I mean, if you look, the thing I like about your hall of fame also is

the fact that not only do you include drivers or people that were involved in

the sport, you also include the cars.

The cars are actually members of the hall of fame, like the 3.0, 3.0 CSL BMW,

which is one of my second favorite car.

Yeah.

That thing is special.

We got that car at Motul, Petit Le Mans, our season finale, and Frank Van

Meel, the head of BMW M globally drove it in front of the field before we went

to Green Flag.

But the cars in sports car racing, much like the drivers are also the cars

of the stars.

Right.

And that's what I appreciate.

Our fans come as fans of certain drivers and teams, but most of them are

wearing some manufacturer hat, Corvette Racing, Cadillac Racing, Acura Honda,

BMW, you name it, Porsche, of course, Mercedes, Ford, they're all Lexus.

They're all there and the fans are coming to see their favorite brand win.

Most likely they're driving that car on the street or they're aspiring to.

Right.

And if I could sell a car to everybody that aspired to have a classic car, I

would I'd never have any inventory because everybody wants one.

Your six hundred and seventy cars would be down in the single digits.

Yeah, and we can't have that.

We can't run out of inventory.

So so any odds on favorites who's looking really good this year and the

prototypes and the Pinsky and the Porsches, obviously, that's a hell of a car.

I'll tell you, the competition level in Imsa right now is at the highest

that's ever been and I sat and watched all the greats of the sport battle it out.

Sure. Right now, we are in a moment where the parody is is insane with 18

OEMs, 17 of them won a race last year.

So we've got this crazy balance where you got front engine, rear engine, turbo,

non-turbo, you know, a sleek Ferrari 296 versus a, you know, Lexus RCF.

So we've seen a variety in the victory lane, but you mentioned Porsche

Penske, two time champions of the series, two time Rolex 24 in a row.

You know, so two in a row for them.

They are certainly the team to beat.

I can I can promise you Cadillac wheeling racing.

They won the last two races last year.

They're coming for the fight.

Sure.

Michael Shank racing, who represents Acura, WRT and BMWs.

They're going to all be tough.

So what I love is the fans are treated to a nobody knows who who's going to win.

Right. Right.

And that's the problem that some racing, you know, for me,

the ones got that problem right now.

And they've got this great push and momentum going on, but it's the same

people winning every week and the guy takes off and he's gone 45 seconds away.

And it doesn't sit well with American fans, unfortunately.

And I don't know how they're going to fix that.

Not so sure.

I mean, we're focused on putting on these massively well attended events

for a great audience on broadcast.

And I'm banking on the fact that we're going to continue this idea

that nobody knows who's going to win every weekend.

And that's, you know, and what's crazy is, and I know you've watched,

after 24 hours, it comes down to the last 30 minutes and they're all battling.

I can't you can't script that.

No, I'm sitting there.

Like a little boy up in the race control, just like with my hands on my head,

like, I can't believe it moves right as I'm making and restarts.

And it's it's really a special moment for all of motorsport right now.

But endurance sports car racing is is is really in a in a great place.

And my teammates and I at M.

Sarge is going to continue to take really good care of it. Sure.

Is it hard to sleep during that 24 hours?

You get a nap at all?

No, no, I equinize at Mazda.

You know, you're on the pit box on the headset the whole time.

And you have to be on your A game to make decisions

at, you know, three o'clock in the afternoon or three o'clock in the morning.

Exactly. The same goes for now.

I stay up with my staff.

I believe that they're executing the event.

I should be there with them.

It's hard to, you know, wave goodbye to them at midnight and say, I'll see you in the morning.

Right. Exactly.

Well, you know, it's it's one of those things

that it's I imagine it's your super bowl of the Daytona races has to be.

And of course, then you race at Sebring all races.

Still it rode Atlanta Long Beach, which I love that race.

I've been going to that race.

I went to the first time in 1981 when F1 was there.

Yeah, that was that's great.

I love that that environment was really cool.

Yeah, you know, one of the things that I think has been most intriguing

and you mentioned, you know, partners coming and staying for the long term

is the variety of our calendar.

You write about the Rolex 24.

It is our super bowl.

But then, you know, 30 days later, you get on to Sebring

and you're at the mobile one, 12 hours of Sebring, the longest running endurance race

in North America, where a lot of Cobra is raced, by the way.

And, you know, Long Beach, you go from 24, 12 to 100 minutes.

A whole different mindset, yeah.

Yeah, we have the sale in six hours at the Glen.

We're going to be at the Motul Sports Car Weekend at Road America,

which is now a six hour.

You go to Indianapolis and then, of course, we finish up with

Petite Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

So there's a lot of variety there and the teams can, you know,

if you if you have consistency, you are in the hunt for the championship.

That's that's really the key.

Well, that's, you know, so wonderful having you on the show today.

We really appreciate it.

This is a lot of fun talking about racing and just what's going on at IMSA.

I know that there's a lot of people that are fans that watch and listen to us

and glad that you could be here today.

My last question that I always like to ask, though, is, you know,

arguably the most important question, and that is, what is your daily driver?

Well, currently, and we're fortunate to have these OEMs as part of the partnerships.

We have a fleet of vehicles.

I'm currently driving a BMW XM, which is the most insane hybrid vehicle I've ever driven.

But I've had a Lexus since I've been there.

A lot of Chevrolets, another Porsche.

And so I'm really fortunate.

I think the most exciting for me is what's in the garage and, you know,

the Mazda RX7, the first gen is really a special car that really put me in love

with with, you know, the Mazda brand, but sports car racing.

My dad raced some Volkswagen, some Porsche 914.

So I'm a fan of them all.

Yeah, that's my problem, too.

Yeah, yeah, you can't get enough of them. Exactly.

So well, again, such a pleasure to have you on the show today.

I know you're busy and got lots going on.

And good luck at the 24 hour will be interested to see how that all goes.

And we will talk to you soon.

I'm certain.

Thank you. And you're welcome at any IMSA race.

You all come when I knock on the door at your place.

I'm going to come and see the collection.

The nickel tour in the golf cart will be ready and waiting for you.

John Dunant, president of IMSA, everybody.

Thanks again, John. We'll catch you next time.

Thanks. We'll be back in just a couple of minutes

with the classic automobile show. We'll see you then.

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And we're back with the classic automobile show from the classic

automobile studio, Morgantown, P.A.

I guess if you haven't heard the news, the NHRA event at Maple Grove is no longer.

Speaking of racing, speaking of racing, the track was bought out by IHRA,

which is kind of like Coke and Pepsi.

So it'll be interesting to see what happens at Maple Grove moving forward.

Right, right.

You know, did not have that large event kind of might be a little frustrating.

Isn't it funny?

John Doonan, what a great guess.

Great guess.

Isn't it funny how often Al Hober's name still comes up?

Unbelievable.

How long has he been gone?

Yeah, he died in 88.

88.

So.

Long time.

37 years ago.

40.

37 years ago.

40.

88.

37.

37 years.

Math is not our number.

No.

Four names of celebrities.

It was a lot of dead air, it was a lot of dead air.

Yeah, more names of celebrities.

We are all D minus math, for sure.

Yeah, no, it's amazing.

Yeah.

The legend lives on and it comes up all the time.

All the time.

Any time we talk to anybody who has anything to do with road racing,

it always comes up.

He's a special person.

Yeah, how good he was and, you know, could have been, even more.

I mean, you know, no talent would have gotten.

So where do we sell cars this past week, you ask?

Just where?

St. James.

Where?

St. James, New York.

Tampa, Florida.

Torrance, California.

Scottsdale, Arizona.

Georgetown, Texas.

I just spelled Texas.

Uh-huh.

DCAS.

Edgewater, New Jersey.

Me, I'm going to know I'm going to get this wrong.

Me, Hoopany.

No clue.

Pennsylvania.

El Monte, California.

Chester Springs, Pennsylvania.

Fresno, California.

London, Kentucky.

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Media, Pennsylvania.

East Earl, Pennsylvania.

Hamilton, New Jersey.

Elkton, Maryland.

Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Harrison, Idaho.

And Marshall, Illinois.

Quite a variety.

I just say in my head, I just like, which places have I been to?

When you go through those lists.

Chester Springs, I go through every day.

Not many, though.

Not many.

Anywhere in Idaho?

That's right.

No, I've not been to Idaho.

Well, neither have I.

It's on my bucket list.

Yeah, certain.

It is.

New inventory and arrivals this week.

How about the 1996 Chevrolet S10 4x4 short bed pickup?

That's an odd choice, but guess what?

Blackover gray, 33,311 actual miles.

Wow.

It's amazing.

I mean, most trucks were used up.

Yeah.

We know that because we see them come in here

and they've been completely restored because they used them

until they were no good anymore.

And this is a real-time capsule.

This is amazing.

It is amazing.

4.3-liter EFI V6, four-speed automatic transmission.

They were efficient.

They were thrifty.

They were practical.

Reliable.

They did a lot of things right.

No rust on this one.

No.

And the next was the 1934 Ford 40 Deluxe Roadster.

This thing is spectacular.

Coach Maroon Oversaddle, almost flawless nut bolt restoration.

Two AACA senior awards this car has.

Yes.

It scored 994 out of 1,000 at the Dearburn Award.

Yeah.

So you know if you take it to your small town show, you're sure.

You ought to do OK.

Sure.

We can't guarantee that.

Can't guarantee that.

Nor do we guarantee anything like that.

But the chances are pretty good.

Pretty good.

It's a rebuilt flathead VA with a rebuilt three-speed manual

transmission.

Model A's are from this era.

Model A's and Ford 40s and all that are really simple cars

and easy to drive and easy to work on.

And a great way to get into the hobby.

This one is probably a little bit over the level of most people.

This is really very collectible for a early 30s Ford.

Very collectible, very valuable still.

So might not be the one you'd want to get into for that.

But if you're looking for one of the best probably on the planet,

this is it right here.

Another new arrival, the 1967 Chevrolet Nova hardtop.

But these things are so popular.

People love this body style.

These little Akano box looking kind of plain Jane Novas

that people just go gaga over.

They don't last long.

This one's Tuxedo Blackover Red with a date code correct 327.

So it means it was built around the same time

that the original motor would.

That's right.

It was actually a slant six, I think, in this one.

Originally, it was a slant six.

And this one was and when we say date code correct,

that just means that it was built within the window of when

this car was manufactured.

That's right.

And so it's better that way.

I don't really.

I think I said in the description this could have been in an SS car.

Right.

The 327.

It's the same period and everything.

And somehow got pulled out of the car, got wrecked or something along.

They didn't want to fix it or whatever.

Stunning deep pain on this car.

This thing is really beautiful.

The Tuxedo Black just gorgeous.

Also, the 2011 Ford Mustang GT 500 Super Snake Coop

Inget silver metallic over black and silver.

Sixty six hundred and eighty three extra miles.

Seven hundred and fifty horsepower.

Top of the food chain.

Five point four liter supercharged V8, which is basically the same

architecture for the Ford GT when it came back out in 2005.

Right.

And this thing is a six speed manual.

It's got a whipple supercharger.

Bear Shelby Big Brake kit.

This thing is unbelievable.

Beast.

Absolutely.

If you if you if you use a fear of driving cars, this is not for you.

This is not for your teenage son who's, you know, graduating college.

Don't bring your sixteen seventeen eight.

He needs a big Pontiac Bonneville four door sedan to start out with.

Not a toy.

Then we'll work him into something a little bit better as we go.

And last but not least, the nineteen seventy seven Ford Bronco.

Matt Green over black.

Three oh two cubic inch V8.

They all had a three oh two.

And they are most of them.

Most most of them at three fifty one.

Yeah.

Some of them at six.

Slant. Yeah.

There's some sick.

Yeah.

But this one's got a little some mods to it.

The pro comp six inch lift.

C four automatic transmission and a Dana forty four.

Oh yeah, it's cool.

If you get a chance, check out these and all the other cars we have in an

inventory at classicautomall.com when we return, we'll be joined with our

buddy Keith Martin, publisher of Sports Car Market Magazine.

We'll be back in just a couple of minutes.

See then here's a special offer from Sports Car Market Magazine.

Get a six month subscription for just nineteen ninety five by going to sportscarmarket.com.

Slash test drive and the number six that sports car market.com slash test drive six.

If you're a buyer, a seller or just general classic car enthusiast,

publisher Keith Martin says we've been around almost 40 years.

This is the Wall Street Journal of the collector car world.

Activate your six month trial of Sports Car Market Magazine by going to sportscarmarket.com

slash test drive six that sports car market.com slash test drive and the number six

offers for a limited time be in the know with Sports Car Market.

And we're back with a classic automobile show from the classic

automobile studio in Morgantown, Pennsylvania with a crunchy guitar sound.

I like that. Find more of that, JR. All right.

Joining us via Zoom, Mr. Keith Martin, publisher of Sports Car Market Magazine.

Good morning, afternoon, evening, sir.

And I'm excited to be here.

I'm excited to have you here.

We've got two weeks to talk about and they kind of funny.

You did a part two on your on your blog post this week.

So before we even talk about part one, exactly.

So let's talk about part one, which is titled Charges, Flushes and Loops.

Is that a no, I'm not going to even go there.

Don't go there.

So it's not stopping right now.

So the Hollywood, what's your holiday wish list for your car, Keith?

I'd like to get the things done that I put in my blog.

You'd like to practice what you preach is like what you're saying, right?

Yeah. You know, the things that are the most important in that blog that we never do.

It's flushing the brake fluid and fresh flushing the clutch fluid on the cars

that are hydraulics. We never do it.

Brake fluid is hygroscopic so it collects water.

The water gets into your braking system.

It runs downhill till it gets to your wheel cylinders and then it rests.

All right, lovely, which is exactly what you don't want.

Well, and we just don't do it, you know, you just don't pay attention to it

because there's really no warning that it's going bad until it's bad.

Yeah, it's not acting up.

It's not shifting erratically. It's not breaking erratically.

It's everything is just kind of status quo until you dive in there

and realize that there's more problems than you realized.

Yeah, and not fun problems.

No, and and flushing fluids out of a car is not, you know, the easiest task.

Hard to do in the in your parking lot on the if you park on the street.

No, you know, I a friend of mine said,

why don't we start a small business where we offer to go around

and and flush the braking systems in people's cars?

And I said, why don't you start that business?

And I'll be your backer and I'll be your customer, too. Right.

And it's just like porta pots.

You just have one of those big hoses and you somehow run it into there

and you drain it all out and flush it all out because I know that if you go to,

I don't know, one of the whatever Jiffy lubes or whatever they're called today,

it's not cheap to flush a transmission or a brake system or any of that.

It's quite expensive, a couple of hundred dollars per per instance, right?

Well, and the problem there is if you have a classic car or a foreign car,

you can't take it to a Jiffy lube.

Right, right, because it's not on their sheet.

It's not on their computer.

No, and they they go to school in your car then. Right.

Which, yeah, you'd like to be, you know,

you like the veteran guided to go to school in your car,

not the kid who's been there for a couple of weeks who may or may not be there next week.

Yeah, I that's, you know, that's another problem we can talk about some days.

What's happening is all these older mechanics retire.

I know. Like with the guy, Nazco, who's in his 70s,

who's always taken care of my office for 50 years.

You know, I had a broken window winder and to Nazco, it was just, oh, yeah,

it's a broken window winder. I know how to fix that. Right.

Didn't that explain it? Yeah.

But to another shop, it's, oh, well, we got to take the door apart

and see what's going on in there.

And I'm not sure this part's available anymore.

I mean, it's just because they just don't know.

Right, right. And they don't want to tell you they don't know

because then they're you're not a car guy.

If you say you can't say you work on cars if you don't know something.

You can't say, oh, I don't know that.

So that's really well said, Stuart, because I think the biggest problem

with the what I want to say this with the shop,

the thing that's the saddest about a shop is one that won't admit

that it doesn't know how to do something. Right, exactly.

Yeah, we can't take that because that doesn't we don't know how to do that.

They never tell you that.

I don't do that.

They never do that.

And that and that just leads to catastrophe. Right.

And I don't think it's I don't think it's intentional as much as it's like

we can fix anything. We're car guys and we know how to fix anything.

And we're we can we'll dive in there and figure it out.

And diving in there and figuring it out is not what you'd like.

You don't want to be the guinea pig with this guy.

You want to be the guy who's done it.

If you and same with the auto parts store,

what we always say about the guy who works behind the counter

when the kid says, we don't have that part.

And the old guy says, give me a second.

And he goes in the back and pulls out a dusty box

and blows the dust off and brings it up to you and he's got the part you need.

Yeah, I agree. I agree.

So, you know, one of the things that practice what you preach

is taking your car out and running it on a regular basis.

And we're all guilty of letting that kind of fall by the wayside

from time to time, especially when you have multiples of cars.

Well, you know, I've got a very good friend of mine.

And what we've made an arrangement is every Tuesday, he's going to he's got

keys to my condo to the garage and he's got keys to the four cars I store here.

Every Tuesday, he's going to come over and drive a different car for half an hour.

I love that. That's brilliant.

He's excited because he gets to drive a Porsche.

He gets to drive a Lotus.

He gets the fun of it.

Yeah. But they need a good half hour warm up.

Right. Yeah.

And it's it's bad for an exhaust system to run a car for less than 15 minutes.

It's bad for almost every part of the car to run it for a short period of time.

It's it needs to be fully up at operational temperature.

That's right. So I'm I'm we haven't the other problem we have here, of course,

is that you want that day to be a sunny day.

Perfect day, actually, is what we're looking for.

You know, just taking a car out in the rain for 20 minutes does not help it either.

No. And I don't want I can't bring myself to do it.

I'm sorry. It's as I always say, it's like suede shoes.

If there's one percent chance of rain, these bad boys ain't coming out, you know?

And and and it's wrong.

There's nothing. Listen, we don't obviously it's not good to drive a car

that's got salt on the ground and mud and dirt.

But if it's just water, it's probably not the end of the world for 20 minutes or so.

But I'm such a stickler.

I'd want to put it on the lift.

I'd want to clean it, wipe it down.

I'd want to do all this.

And then then a 20 minute drive would turn into four days.

I just I just the purpose of my blog was really to get people, you know,

it's the old 20 minutes of of preemptive action can save you hours of problems.

Right. Well, like you wrote in your blog about the we here's to hear the tick

tick from the speedometer, you know, you know, that thing is getting ready to go

bad. And if you if you ignore it, you're going to regret it.

Yeah. Yeah.

This is this is not a bad time of year to make a little list

and take your car to the shop and say, can you just attend to these things?

Right. And then part two of your two part blog is winter storage part two.

And interesting that you and I had never really thought of this,

that you talk about having storing convertibles with the top up, not down.

Yeah, I, you know, I'm I'm just making my best guess at that.

But I would rather see my top stretched out.

Right. Then see the folds in it.

And especially with the rear plastic window.

Right. Even you still put a towel in that window when you fold your top down.

Right. Of course.

But but I I just think it makes sense to have that fabric stretched out rather than collapsed.

Sure. Well, I think that a lot of people, you know, there's there's always schools

of thought of people thinking there's one way to do something or another way to do

something. And but I think that, you know, if you've got your car stored in an area

that there's any kind of moisture, it could be bad for the top, especially if it was

pushed together and wouldn't have a chance to maybe air out and dry out like it should.

But there's a lot of other things that moisture can cause problems with.

There's two interiors and electronics and all of that.

Right. I agree.

So the most important thing in that blog actually was my statement

that you should have your seat cushion recovered.

Right. I hadn't thought of that one.

But you think about it, especially if it's like an MGB or something

where the seat cushion will just lift out. Right. Right.

It's not difficult and doesn't work.

You will be stunned at the difference it makes when you have a new phone put

in the driver side seat cushion, because that is the one that has always broken

down over time. And it's when you don't realize what you don't realize

until you have it, until you don't have it.

And all of a sudden you get that better seat cushion and you realize,

well, I'm in a more comfortable position with the car.

It's more enjoyable to drive.

It's it's there's a lot of things that go hand in hand with that.

I had about 10 years ago, there was an MGB convention in Reno.

And so I decided we'd have an S.C.M. team and we took I bought three

MGBs for five thousand dollars each.

It's a quarter of the market.

Yeah, two convertibles and a GT pretty and spent about two grand

having the front suspensions rebuilt and then having the seat cushions

redone on the driver side only.

And I'll never forget the difference.

I thought I had a new car when I got into it.

Not crazy.

You you're so used to something not being right that you've you know,

you don't you don't it doesn't feel abnormal until you it's like wearing glasses

and you don't wear glasses for a number of years and then you put them on.

You go, oh, I've been missing a lot.

The other thing that you recommend to everybody and this is something

that we try to recommend to everybody here.

Put a battery disconnect switch on your car.

It's so much easier to turn that switch off than to undo the battery every time.

You'll end up not doing it because I'm in a hurry.

I don't have time to do that.

Just a little switch that you can turn or toggle switch is just the greatest.

And it's it costs you next to nothing.

Yeah, yeah, I agree 100 percent.

Now, as you know, with my condo, I'm not allowed to have a trickle charger.

Right. So which which makes me crazy.

But that means I need to disconnect.

Yes, absolutely.

And the battery will sit and last for a long time.

You know, the other thing I learned, Stuart, which is I've got a two thousand

and twenty Hyundai Elantra and the battery went dead in the car when it was

sitting for a while, and I found out that just setting the alarm on that car

creates a parasitic draw. Oh, I didn't know that.

So no, I have to add that to my list.

And I leave the car parked down down in the garage unlocked

and with the alarm not sesh, I'd rather have somebody open my door

and rifle through my glove box than break my window.

Or remember, they used to bust out the bottom of your glove box

if you had a lot, if you actually locked the glove box.

And you know, I leave the glove box laying open.

So they can see what they're not going to get.

Yeah, you know, and then there's nothing in it.

Do you add do you put fuel out of stable in your cars?

I should, but I don't.

What I do do is every time a classic car goes out, I top off the tank.

I fill the tank with non ethanol fuel. Right.

Yeah, that's a great thing to do.

No water in it. So that helps with the parts and all that stuff.

But I should put I should put start putting a stable into it.

And stable, if you're listening, we are looking for sponsorship.

So anyway, well, that sounds like all sage advice.

And hopefully you're not having too bad of a winter out there.

And we're we got a little snow here about five inches the other day.

So we're going to what the next week, Stuart,

you can talk about the car and I bought myself for my birthday.

Oh, I can't wait to hear all about that.

We will definitely so tune in next week to find out

on this edition of the classic automobile show.

Keith, we'll catch you next week.

Thanks so much for being on.

Take care. See you later.

And we'll catch you next week on the classic automobile show. See you then.

The classic automobile show with their host, Stuart Howden,

executive producer, Steve Sefair, produced and engineered by your truly J.R.

Russ, video editor, Randy Lambie, available on classicautomall.com,

YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts, music,

courtesy of the Pat Travers Band for tour dates, contact and stuff.

Sometimes life changes and the house you once loved becomes a burden.

Too many repairs, too many memories, too much to handle on your own.

If you'd like to sell your home fast, we can help at the home buyers hotline.

We can help you sell your home as is no cleaning, no showings.

And there are absolutely no hidden fees or real estate commissions

will pay you a fair price for your home in cash.

Whether you're downsizing, handling an estate or just ready for peace of mind,

call us. Call 800-378-3502-800-378-3502.

We'll help you walk away from your problem property in no time at all

and get you the cash in your bank account with little hassles.

If you'd like to sell your home fast, as is, we can help at the home buyers hotline.

Call what to sell your home now for a free quote to sell your home in any condition.

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Classic Auto Mall - #224 - Stewart Howden with Guests John Doonan, President of IMSA + Keith Martin

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