2022 It sounds weird to say, but here we are. The tradition at Roddin’ & Racin’ for at least the last 20 years, has been to come out with the January issue early in the month and R&R publisher Jeff Nagy liked the idea, which gives all of us a few extra days of holiday relaxation at the end of December. Jeff is excited about how 2021 went for Roddin’ & Racin’ and 2022 for the newspaper, as well as the RoddinAZ.com website and other web related platforms that they use to promote it each week. January in Arizona means so much, including hundreds of thousands of out-of-towners, here to enjoy our fantastic winter weather, which finally arrived in early December. For Car Guys and Car Gals, it means Collector Car Auctions will turn metro Phoenix into the mecca of old car buying and selling as millions and millions of dollars will soon pass-through the half dozen auction companies holding their auctions here. There’s no question that the Barrett Jackson Collector Car Auction held at the sprawling Westworld complex in Scottsdale is the star attraction. Their auction features well over 2000 vehicles, plus many hundreds of collectible Automobilia items, such as vintage automotive-related signs, gas pumps, oil cans, pedal cars, and much more. In recent years there were also well over 200,000 spectators and several thousands of official bidders on site, plus, the thousands of others bidding by phone or through the internet. The February issue will feature more auction coverage.
Now onto my Car-Nut-Ball life, which continues unabated, l wrote last month about my weeks of searching with no luck, for an early Mustang, that ended with me buying a 1966 Mercury Comet near San Francisco. I still have the Comet, but then l found a really nice very straight RUST FREE 1971 Mustang coupe in Winslow Arizona. When l first saw it, l said darn, where were you three weeks ago. That was the exact type of early Mustang l was looking for. This one even has the original 302 V-8 with a two-barrel carburetor and 210 horsepower, factory A/C and the C-4 three-speed automatic transmission. The A/C doesn’t work, but everything is there. The original 1971 white vinyl interior is in amazingly good condition, with only a few blemishes on the driver’s seat. There is definitely something wrong with the carburetor and or fuel system. It stumbles and stalls when driving, but hopefully, l will have it all repaired very soon. The 14″ tires are only two years old and have lots of tread remaining. The 400 mile round trip to Winslow, was a full day of driving, but my oldest friend in the world Terry Joy came with me and we had a great time reminiscing about the old days in Oregon and of course tried to make sense of all that’s happening in America today. We had no luck with that last one.
A brand new racing season gets started pretty soon in NASCAR and NHRA and for me, it’s a new Bracket Racing season that gets started in mid-January at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler. I haven’t won a race since 2013, but as always I’m excited about a new season getting started. My current race car is the 2013 Chevrolet Caprice PPV. I hope to have it painted before that first Summit Racing Series race.
We at Roddin’ & Racin’ hope everyone had a safe and happy Christmas season.
