Pomona – Timing Tower

THE 74th GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, FAIRPLEX IN POMONA, FEB. 2-4, 2024

admin — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 04:43:12 +0000

The 74th Grand National Roadster (GNRS) Show opened at noon Friday, Feb. 2, 2024 and the winners were announced on Sunday night. AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER Beth Meyers’ 1932 Ford Phaeton took home the trophy for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 2024. The winning roadster was built by Roy Brizio Street Rods. THE AL SLONAKER MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER David Rush’s 1959 Chevrolet Impala “Bespoke” is the winner of the Al Slonaker Memorial Award for 2024. “Bespoke” was built by Steve Cook Creations and has a 518 ci LS3 engine built by Don Hardy. Below are the contenders for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and the Slonaker Memorial Award. Following the photos of the contenders is compete coverage of the show. This year there were nine contenders for the title of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) – 8 Fords, 1 Chevrolet; 8 ’32’s and 1 ’34. DUECES RULED THIS YEAR! Four of this year’s contenders were owner-built – James Butler’s 1932 Ford; Bob Mansonen’s 1932 Ford; Ken Thurm’s 1932 Ford; and, Ramin Younessi’s 1934 Ford. This 1932 Ford Phaeton belongs to Ken Reister of Littleton, CO. A 1932 Ford Phaeton belonging to Beth Meyers from Skippak, PA. Mekenzie Murphy of Loveland, OH owns this 1932 Ford Roadster. This 1932 Ford Roadster belongs to Bob Mansonen of Auburn, CA. A 1934 Ford Roadster owned by Ramin Younessi from Fort Collins, CO. A 1932 Ford Roadster owned by Ken Thurm of Orange, CA. A 1932 Ford Roadster Pickup owned by Gary Holyoak of Cedar City, UT. James Butler of Prescott, AZ owns this 1932 Ford Roadster. Dale Short of Henderson, CO owns this 1932 Chevrolet Roadster. The eleven contenders for the Al Slonaker Memorial Award are shown below. Clifford Mattis from Vacaville, CA owns this 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible. This 1961 Ford Unibody Pickup is owned by John Lamb from Seneca, IL. Ed Ganzinotti owns this 1956 Ford F-100 pickup. Ryan Vicklund of Anderson, CA owns this 1967 Chevrolet C10 pickup. Rod Pearce of Granite Bay, CA owns this 1957 Chevrolet convertible. This 1972 Chevrolet C10 pickup is owned by Mark DeAtley from Phoenix, AZ. Arno Aldhoch of Chatsworth, CA owns this 1968 Dodge Charger. David Rush from Oklahoma City, OK owns this 1959 Chevrolet Impala. This 1934 Pickup built by Pete and Jakes is owned by Bill Paul of Bucyrus, KS. Ed Ganzinotti owns this 1969 Dodge Charger. Steve Rajcic of LaHabra, CA owns this 1931 Ford Victoria. It was partly sunny throughout the week-end and a number of cars showed up for the drive-in. As usual there were some very interesting cars in The Suede Palace. The GNRS was host to some long lost cars such as the Cop Shop Coupe, a 1934 Ford built by Tom Prufer, unseen for 15 years. The Uncertain T disappeared in the mid-70’s and stayed under cover for nearly 50 years. It was originally built by Steve Scott and is now owned by Galpin’s Beau Boeckmann. This car was displayed in it’s barn-find state before it is restored. These two vehicles represent 50’s and 60’s style hot rods that graced the pages of magazines such as Rod and Custom. Pete and Jake’s Hot Rod Parts brought the original California Kid ’34 Ford coupe built by Pete Chapouris and Jake’s original ’34 Ford Coupe built by Jim Jacobs. Both cars were built in the early ’70’s and were featured in Rod and Custom magazine. This year Pete and Jake’s celebrated it’s 50th year in business. The theme of the GNRS this year was Street Machines Then and Now. There were several buildings featuring a variety of unique cars and motorcycles such as the Renteria Bros. Pro-Mod dragster. There were 20 Lincoln Zephyrs and they varied from completely stock to radically customised. The red Zephyr below was brought to the GNRS by the Peterson Automotive Museum. As in past years, over 30 artists participated in the Pinstripers’ Gathering. A Pinstripers’ Auction was held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday where the art created by these talented individuals went up for auction. The proceeds from their work generated $56,000 for the charity Teen Challenge of Southern California. Even though the forecasters threatened rain for the week-end, many people came to the Fairplex and were rewarded with a great show. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) will be held February 2-4, 2024 at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. The GNRS has announced the inductees into the Hall of Fame. The photo below shows the 2023 Slonaker Award winner. HERE’S THE LATEST INFO ON THE UPCOMING GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW. timingtower.com WILL BE AT THE GNRS THROUGHOUT THE WEEK-END AND WILL HAVE FREQUENT UPDATES, INCLUDING PHOTOS OF AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER ON SUNDAY NIGHT. WHAT: Hundreds of the country’s finest hot rods, customs, lowriders, muscle cars, trucks and motorcycles will take center stage at the 74th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Grand National Roadster Show, presented by Meguiar’s. More than 500 hot rods will fill the Fairplex buildings, while another 500-800 vehicles will join the event each day for the annual Grand Daddy Drive-In. The legendary show will be highlighted by the debut of dozens of incredible custom cars competing for two of the industry’s most coveted and competitive awards: America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) and the Al Slonaker Memorial Award. And you don’t want to miss the high-horsepower salute to “Street Machines: Then & Now” in the feature building. WHEN: Feb. 2-4. The Grand National Roadster Show opens to the public Friday, Feb. 2, from noon-8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 3, from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 4, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. WHERE: Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W McKinley Ave. Pomona, CA 91768 WHAT TO EXPECT: America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) Award Contenders: Nine roadsters will compete for one of the most coveted awards in hot-rodding history, […]

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THE GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, Pomona, CA

admin — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 04:37:15 +0000

THE GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, Pomona, CA AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER 2020 A 1932 Ford Roadster owned by Monte Belsham! There were 10 contenders for the title of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR). All of the contenders can be seen on Friday’s post (below). THE SLONAKER AWARD 2020 As we explained below, this year, the Slonaker Award became a competition judged by a panel for best overall engineering, craftmanship and originality. Ten cars vied to take home the Slonaker Award along with a check for $12,500. All of the contenders for the Slonaker Award can be seen on Friday’s post (below). A 1936 Willys Model 77 owned Ron and Vicki Ernsberger! The 71st Grand National Roadster Show, January 24-26 at the Fairplex in Pomona was full of cars, trucks, dragsters, vendors and spectators. The Model T above is known as the Kookie Car. It was originally built by Norm Grabowski and driven by Ed Burns in the early 1960’s TV show 77 Sunset Strip. The feature building contained over 100 vintage drag racing vehicles, from the 50’s era to current cars. This included short wheelbase “bare bones” rails to current 200 mph, nitro-burning funny cars and included many historic and iconic cars. Drag racing protective gear has come a long way as evidenced by the difference between the 60’s era aluminized coat and pants and the modern fire suit. Note the modern full-face helmet. Drag Racing Then and Now was the theme for this year’s feature building. The photos above show Rich Guasco’s AA/FA Pure Hell sitting next to Ron Hope’s AA/FA Rat Trap. Seeing these two Fuel Altereds side-by-side again brings back memories of the days these two altereds sat together at the start line. Fireups of nostalgia nitro dragsters occurred during the three days of the show. The fireups were in memory of long time drag racer John Ewald. Big Red, the world’s fastest 1969 Camaro was on display. The car owned by Dan Gottlieb and driven by RJ Gottlieb has been setting records and winning races ever since it won the La Carrera road race in 1988. The legendary Camaro has recorded a top speed of over 266 mph on a 1 1/2 mile course…incredible. Big Red will continue to scorch the asphalt at a meet in New Mexico this February and continue competing in Vintage Road Races. The 15th Annual Grand Daddy Drive –in was held on Saturday and Sunday. More than 700 cars were seen between the buildings and around the show. Drive-in cars are shown below. There were a lot of interesting and unique cars in the various buildings. Below are just a few. This Model T, known as Uncertain T, traveled to the show from New Zealand. The LAPD Racing Team A/Gas Camaro, Tony Foti driver. This 1958 Chevrolet Impala was brought to the show by Mackey’s Hot Rods of Huntington Beach, CA. Hemi Under glass, now owned and driven by Mike Mantel. “The Suede Palace” was filled with traditional Rods and Customs. The cars varied from rusty patina to shiny new paint. This building also featured some 50’s and 60’s race cars. Rockabilly bands played all weekend. Over 30 artists came together for the Pinstriper’s Gathering. Their creations were auctioned during the three-day course of the show to benefit Teen Challenge. They set a goal of $100,000 to help those struggling with problems of addiction and self—destructive behaviors. Plans for future Grand National Roadster Shows are underway. Next year the feature building will invite VWs and other air-cooled cars. For the 2022 show the featured cars will be 1932 Fords. The year 2024 will be the 75th anniversary of the Grand National Roadster Show and will feature a building filled with past Americas Most Beautiful Roadster award winners. Friday 1/24/20 Grand National Roadster Show AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER CONTENDERS 2020 This is the 71st year of the Grand National Roadster Show. The winner of the coveted title of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) not only takes home a trophy but also a check for $12,500. The 10 contenders to be the 2020 AMBR are shown below. Tom Fifth’s 1932 Roadster Gary DeVine’s 1932 Ford Roadster Pick Up Ken Katashino’s 1932 Ford Roadster Walter Sigsby’s 1915 Ford Roadster Brandi Laird’s 1934 Ford Roadster Gary Mower’s 1932 Ford Roadster Dustin Smith’s 1927 Ford Roadster Monte Belsham’s 1932 Ford Roadster Mike Dwight’s 1932 Ford Roadster John Ivy’s 1927 Ford Roadster AL SLONAKER MEMORIAL AWARD 2020 CONTENDERS Al Slonaker founded the Grand National Roadster Show. In past years one car or truck was selected to receive the Slonaker Award. The criteria for the winning car or truck, was that it not be an AMBR contender. This year, the Slonaker Award will become a competition judged by a panel for best overall engineering, craftmanship and originality. Ten cars are vying to take home the Slonaker Award along with a check for $12,500. The Slonaker Award is one of the most coveted trophies for non-roadsters. The 10 contenders are pictured below. Will Sanders’ 1968 Camaro Lane Folliott’s 1956 Chevrolet 210 Wes Dokter’s 1956 Chevrolet Pick Up Bill Strunk’s 1950 Jaguar Mark V Richard Hammer’s 1965 Pontiac Acadian Joe Scheck’s 1957 Lincoln Mark II Bob Cummings’ 1955 Ford 2 Door Wagon Kent Matranga’s 1971 Plymouth Baracuda Ron Ernsberger’s 1936 Willys Pick Up Ralph Holguin’s 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Check back here throughout the week-end to see some of the other fine cars at the show. Sunday evening we’ll post the winner of the AMBR 2020 and the Slonaker Award 2020 winner. Monday evening we’ll post a complete article with photos of the show. Below is the 2019 AMBR winner.

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THE 69TH GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, POMONA, CA, January 26-28, 2018

admin — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 19:55:57 +0000

The 2018 Grand National Roadster Show ended Sunday evening January 28 when America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 2018 was named. AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER – 2018 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster is the Martin Special – a 1931 Ford Roadster owned by Dave Martin of Signal Hill, CA. This year the theme of the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) was “A Pirate’s Life”. A hot rod shop from New York called Rolling Bones created a 24-car diorama depicting racing at Bonneville, El Mirage. etc. This was a unique exhibit featuring racing styled hot rods. The buildings at the Fairplex in Pomona were full of cars. As always Building 10 held the Suede Palace, Building 9 was the Muscle Car Gathering, Building 6 included the Rolling Bones exhibit as well as motorcycles, bicycles, and specialty cars. One collection of specialty cars on exhibit in Building 6 were many small, gas-thrifty cars. The exhibit also included many BMW Isetta’s. These were great little cars and it was nice to see so many of them. There were also many bicycles on exhibit. A lot of work and talent went into creating these bicycles. There were also other creative vehicles on exhibit in building six. Building 9 included a whole lot of American Muscle Cars – all of which were exceptional. Of course there were cars outside all over the Fairplex grounds including this one (below) which was in keeping with the show theme. This 1935 Chevrolet Phaeton was the 2014 AMBR winner. This year an outdoor area was set aside to highlight an icon of the hot rodding era – the 1955, 1956 and 1957 Chevrolet. The Suede Palace is also a favorite with it’s custom and unique cars. Yet another building held a lot of nice cars including a couple nostolgia dragsters. The duel engine flathead dragster shown below was very successfully raced by “the Sheriff” Jack Harris and his posse. The Snap-on Tool mechanic was there with his van ready to supply tools as needed. One interesting vehicle we saw was this Budweiser themed Chevy panel – couldn’t help but notice the air cleaner and the antenna. After a full week-end – as the sun set on Sunday – it was time to head through the tunnel to the parking lot – however, one more photo — ________________________________________________________ The 69th Grand National Roadster Show opened Friday, January 27, 2018 at the Fairplex in Pomona. As always the contenders to become America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) were front and center in the main building. This year there are 15 cars in the running. As you can see from the photos below any one of these cars could be the next AMBR. As in past years pinstripers are on hand creating masterpieces for the pinstriper’s charity auction. Auctions are held throughout the week-end. This year more than 30 artists are gathered raising money to benefit Camp Conrad Chinook for JR Diabetes. The outstanding diorama below includes a 1966 Volkswagen 21 window microbus and was built and displayed by Sergio Prado of Temecula. We will continue to post photos and info throughout the week-end. The show runs through Sunday with the awards ceremony starting around 6:00 p.m. Sunday night. The 69th Grand National Roadster Show will be held in the Fairplex in Pomona, California January 26, 27 and 28, 2018. Below is the 1936 Packard that was the 2017 America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR). On Sunday evening January 28, 2018 another AMBR will be announced. No doubt this year the AMBR contenders will be as fantastic as in past years. We will be at the event and will post updates as the week-end goes on. Check back here throughout the week-end to see the beautiful cars gathered at the Fairplex.

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THE 66TH ANNUAL GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW

admin — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 07:06:42 +0000

2015 AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER. A 1933 Ford Roadster owned by Larry Olson built by Bobby Alloway. The Grand National Roadster Show opened Friday, January 23, 2015 and ran through Sunday, January 25 at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. This year eighteen cars, up from the usual 10-12, vied to be America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR). 2015 AMBR winner Larry Olson’s name will be added to the base of this 9 foot tall trophy. Below is a gallery of 12 of the contenders for AMBR and below that is a gallery of an additional 6 contenders. Because of the greater than usual number of AMBR contenders, all of the cars could not be placed together. The cars in the gallery above were placed together in the center of the main building. Those below were in separate locations. The theme of the 66th Grand National Roadster Show was the Great Gatsby. The car below, although not built in the 1920’s, is classy enough to be from the Great Gatsby era. About 560 cars were on display in 6 of the Fairplex buildings and nearly 750 cars participated in the drive-ins on Saturday and Sunday. More than 250 vendors were on hand offering products and advice. As in past years the pinstriper auction was held and Friday, Saturday and Sunday and many pinstripers were kept busy striping panels, skateboards and other memorabilia which were auctioned off on each evening. The proceeds of the auction went to The Gavin R. Stevens Foundation to help find a cure for blindness. Last time more than $110,000 was raised for the Foundation and hopefully that amount will be topped this year. This year is the 75th anniversary of the 1940 Ford – its art deco styling made it one of the most iconic hotrods ever. Some of the most exceptional ’40 Fords were on display including the ’40 coupe built by Bob McCoy in 1956. The car is now owned by Richard Munz. Also on display was a ’40 coupe owned by Rich Guasco. Like Guasco’s infamous AA Fuel Altered, his ’40 Ford is titled Pure Hell. The #992 American Eagle streamliner was on hand. Driven by Skip Hedrich, The American Eagle set the B/GS World Land Speed Record at 331.178 mph at Bonneville in 2009. This is one awesome streamliner. There were a lot of customs including one outstanding ’59 Chevy El Camino. The bed cover for this El Camino was crafted from a trunk lid donated by a ’59 Impala sedan. Another fine custom was a 1949 Merc brought by Gary Chopit (Chopit was also the builder of one of the AMBR contenders). The Suede Palace was a great place to roam around. And there were motorcycles too! The drive-ins brought in a large number of cars which were parked throughout the Fairplex. One person who has been involved with the Grand National Roadster Show and the car scene since he took home the AMBR award in 1955 is Blackie Gejeian. Blackie hosted his own popular indoor car show, the Fresno Autorama, for 51 years. Now he sponsors the Blackie Gejeian Award at the GNRS. This award is presented by Bones Noteboom of Bones Concept Cars. Below are photos of some of the other cars at the GNRS. After seeing all of the GNRS a handy bench was a welcome sight. This bench offered by Lockjaw Garage provided the perfect place to sit for awhile. The Grand National Roadster Show is tentatively scheduled for January 29-31, 2016.

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