A Big Thank You-
In looking at the picture above, we really had some great cars and we would like to thank everyone who participated in this year's show. Most of these cars are local and it proves that the valley has some of the best rods found any where! We hope you all will return next year!
Photo by Mark Sharley.

Show Staff

 

Winter Rod and Speed Photos Now Up!

Thanks to our friends George and Karen Adams of NorthwestDRAGRACING.com, tons of great photos from the Winter Rod and Speed Show are now up at www.nwdragracing.com

Order a Cool Poster From the Winter Rod and Speed Show!

To order a poster featuring some of the beautiful cars that were at the 2010 Winter Rod and Speed Show go to Rick Prints at: http://www.ricksprints.com/carshows.html

 

Winter Rod and Speed Show is a Success

Stacy Pizano, just learns that she has been given a car donated by Affordable Towing and reconditioned by Maaco, Bob’s OK Tires, MV Mobile Detail and The Stereo Store. Surrounding her are promoters Rich Bailey, Jim Billings, and Mike Duvall from Maaco. Stacy did not own a car up until the show.

Photos by George and Karen Adams of nwdragracing.com

The 2010 automotive show season kicked off in Albany with the Winter Rod and Speed Show held at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center. The 2010 show was as big as promised and likely the largest indoor car show ever held in the area. The event expanded to two buildings tripling in size over the first year and attracted over 2,500 spectators. Over 140 beautiful vehicles were on display for the one day show held on January 23.

The event raised funds to help Stacy Pizano get into an apartment of her own as she has been living with friends and relatives in recent months. The show's organizers Mike Adams, Rich Bailey, Jim Billings and Lee Morgan vowed not to end their involvement with just the fund raising as they will also help Stacy get moved into an apartment and will get home furnishings for the apartment through a local ministry. Stacy had just lost her 14 year old daughter Cherokee to cancer, and the event was originally planned to get them both a place to live.

An unsuspected surprise was unveiled to Stacy as she was given a teal colored Pontiac Grand Am during the event as she had no wheels of her own prior to the show. The show had its emotional moments such as the car give-away and the auctioning of a basketball with Cherokee's number on it. There was also a well crafted display of pictures documenting Cherokee's life.



New this year was a "Motorsports Expo" in the second building that included the legendary Veney's Vega Funny car owned by Vic Miller (pictured below) and the new Ashwell racing Mustang funny car (pictured above). Besides the floppers and dragsters, there were 4X4 trucks and all kinds of interesting motorized vehicles not often seen at car shows.



The show also included a popular World of Wheels style autograph session that included Laura Morett from the CBS show Survivor Somoa and popular NHRA drag racing figure "240 Gordie" Bonin (pictured below) Bonin came in a couple of days early from Seattle and now has even more friends than he had before coming to town. They also stayed through the entire show as demand for autographs was strong. Both Laura and Gordie had a great time meeting the fans and it showed.

Bonin was surprised to see his original Bubble Up Firebird Funny Car on display and got in it as did Laura. Bonin reported that the car still fits him after all of these years and would like to find a way to buy it from it's current owner, Donn Hosford. The car is currently for sale. At one point Bonin was spotted popping up from inside the car through the escape hatch. Also on hand was 6 time IHRA Top Fuel crew chief Mike Klober.

240 Gordie Bonin just might have a new driver for his old Firebird!

Also new in 2010 was a chainsaw cutting demonstration (below) that attracted quite a crowd through out the day headed by Bill Pellham who also announces Monster Truck events. The Seattle based group utilizes a V-8 powered chain saw and a V-6 chain saw on nitrous. The saws cut a log in two in just a few seconds and are like drag racers with a different kind of track.

The model car contest also increased in size with well over 100 model car entries coming as far away as the Puget sound area. The models attracted a consistent crowd all day.

As usual the event had all the trademarks of one a Bailey and Billings Circus Act including silent auctions, face painting for the kids and a "Let's Make a Deal" give-away that was popular with people who had winning raffle tickets. There was a lot of authentic racing memorabilia that was auctioned off made possible by Jim Rockstad.

All of the cars earned rave reviews from spectators and most were local. Cars came from as far north as Washington to as far south as Medford. The headling American Graffiti cars (below) were a big hit with those who had seen the popular film about the cruising scene of the 60's. Some cars such as "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" had exotic displays while most were stantionless. Winning the club participation award was the Albany Street Masters who brought in 21 car entries.

The show was successful enough that a date has already been set with the Linn County Fair and Expo Center for a show in 2011. A big thanks to all of the participants, vendors, volunteers, donors, sponsors and spectators that supported the 3rd annual Winter Rod and Speed show in 2010. We hope to see everyone back in 2011! Next year's show is booked for January 15. More photos will be available on www.nwdragracing.com soon!

 

Sterling Productions, Marriott Residence Inn Among Businesses that Help with Show

The Winter Rod and Speed Show received quite a few items as donations including the Gordie Bonin picture (pictured) produced by Sterling Production of Charlotte NC that produces printed promotion items for race teams. The Marriott Residence Inn also provided a couple of rooms for our out of town guests including Bonin who loved his digs so much he didn't want to leave.

Other donations came in via Jim Rockstad from Jegs Mail Order Parts, Alan Johnson Racing, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kenny Bernstein Racing, Don Schumacher Racing, Ed "the Ace" McCulloch, IHRA, John Force Racing, NGK, Edlebrock, Bristol International Speedway, Bandimier Speedway, Woodburn Dragstrip, IHRA, Maingate, RFC, Kevin Stith, Brian Bianco, Carl Olson, Image Actionwear, Rapid Refill Ink, NAPA Auto Parts, Anderson McIllnay Florist, Rob Geiger, Macco, Car Quest, our friend Steve at NAPA, Wilson's NAPA, Affordable Towing, Salem Blue, Salem-News, 1430 KYKN, 106.3 KLOO, 99.9 KRKT and the Stereo Store.

A big thanks to all of these great organizations!