Month: November 2025

I took my ’91 Corvette ZR1 to a very nice car show on Saturday, September 20, 2025 called the 20th Annual Arnold Classic Car Show. It took place on the shores of beautiful White Pines Lake. The location was further enhanced by tall redwood and pine trees that provided ample shade.

The 100-or-so cars ran the gamut, antiques, 50s classics, lead sleds, low riders, Jeeps, trucks, hot rods, pro streets, and muscle cars, lots and lots of muscle cars.

I arrived a little late at almost 9:00 am, but as luck would have it there was one open space left and it was right in front of the band stand. That’s right, there was going to be a live band! Now, that’s my kind of car show. Of course, the cars are always the stars of the show at these things, but the people are a huge part of it. Both the car owners and the spectators,
although I have a particular fondness for classic car owners, especially the ones who work on their own cars.

The three food vendors there had it covered, with hot dogs, BBQ and burgers. There was even a full bar! Again, my kind of car show.

After a perfect morning of looking at cars and talking to friendly folks, then enjoying some fine barbecue, the band opened up with a wicked rendition of ‘Take Me to the River’ that morphed into few bars of ‘Victim of Love’ then back again. I was hooked. I opened by folding chair, had my drink and thoroughly enjoyed the show. And my car was parked right there so it was perfect.

Jill and the Giants are a local band (Arnold and Avery) with a female lead singer who really belts out the tunes. And she’s an awesome guitarist in her own right. They played a wide variety of classic rock tunes all with their own unique flavor, and they were tasty. With breaks they played for almost three hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.

A total of 13 trophies were given out in a mix of categories. 102 registered entries showed up, so that’s a pretty good ratio. If you want to up your odds of getting a trophy, enter your car in small, local shows.

The Arnold Classic Car Show started in 2005 when car enthusiast Don Shinn proposed a car show to the local town council. For the first several years it was held at another location but in around 2015 the show was moved to White Pines Lake.

White Pines Lake is on private property, owned by the local Water District, so it receives no support from the County, the City or the Water District. So, the local town folk formed the White Pines Park Committee, and it is supported entirely through private donations, volunteers and events like this one.

I was very impressed with the spunk of the local community to pick up the ball and run with it. The lake is beautiful, but had fallen into disrepair and neglect. Today it’s clean, well-run and lovingly manicured. I was quite impressed with the spotless condition of the park and its facilities.

Alas my car didn’t win anything, but I had an excellent time, meeting wonderful people, having a fantastic meal and rocking out to one of the best bands I’ve heard in a while. So, a day well spent, I’d say. But, that wasn’t all. I got to drive that awesome 1991 Corvette ZR1 home on those curvy Gold Country roads. What a drive!

 

Lando Norris of the McLaren F-1 team is now leading that series point championship over teammate Oscar Piastri by one point. Third place driver Max Verstappen is thirty-six points behind. There are four races to go in the only global auto racing series for the rich and famous. In case you were wondering if I am the only one who thinks that McLaren is orchestrating the 2025 championship battle outcome, Norris, who is a good guy, was resoundingly booed when he led every lap and won the Mexico F-1 race from the pole last weekend. Contrary to critics of season-long point tabulation being the basis for determining who is the champion driver, this year’s F-1 battle is a three-way battle where any one of these drivers can claim the title in Abu Dhabi in December. Stay tuned.

The NASCAR final, winner-take-the championship title fields are set for this weekend’s closing event in Phoenix Arizona. In the CUP, top series, the four finalists are Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, and Kyle Larson. There will be two Toyota drivers racing for Joe Gibbs and two Chevrolet drivers racing for Rick Hendrick. There will be no Fords or Roger Penske drivers in this face-off for the title. Penske and his Ford drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney have won the NASCAR championship for the last three years at Phoenix where everyone feels they have a distinct advantage and would have won again had they made the final four. Hamlin, Briscoe, and Byron earned their spots by winning in the last segment of the three-stages that make up the qualifying races. Only Larson got in this final contest based on points. He beat fifth place and first non-qualifier Christopher Bell by six points in the final race last weekend at Martinsville. Byron won at Martinsville by qualifying number one, leading the most laps, winning both stages and the race. He even scored the fastest lap of the race. One might think that Byron is the favorite to win the title by beating the other three finalists in a race that will be won by a Penske Ford driver. Maybe. Larson is the only driver in the final who has won the CUP Series title before. This should provide some advantage. Maybe. Byron has been in the last three finals and enters the race with the most momentum. He and Larson drive Chevrolets for the most powerful team in this series. Hendrick Motorsports is seeking his fifteenth Cup series title. Rick Hendrick helped get Joe Gibbs into NASCAR CUP series racing. Gibbs Racing is now the second-best team in that series and has veteran Hamlin seeking his first CUP series title to go with his sixty CUP wins. He is overdue and a sentimental favorite as was Dale Earnhardt Sr., when seeking his first Daytona 500 win for decades before finally adding that goal to his list of achievements. Briscoe is new to the playoffs driving a Gibbs Toyota. His crew chief is also new to this final contest. If it were not for luck playing such a significant role in the outcome, I would mark Briscoe as the least likely to win this Sunday. The other three drivers have equal chances. The pundits are picking Byron. Second seems to be Larson with the Hamlin camp split with wanting him to win and hoping he does not due to the lawsuit that he is part of against NASCAR for restraint of trade law violations. The one given is that we will all see this play out amidst a thirty-six-car cluster of drivers who all want to win and stay out of the way of the four whose race performance equates to millions of dollars and the highest status in American stock car racing.

The Xfinity series has Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil as the final four. Kvapil has one Xfinity series wins, and it occurred last weekend at Martinsville. Zilisch has ten wins, eighteen top five finishes and has totally dominated the class. There are strong opinions that if Zilisch does not win the Xfinity series championship, the system for determining that outcome is fatally flawed. Most everyone agrees and that is why the one-race winner take all at the hands of lady luck will not return in 2026. Among the four final contenders are three drivers racing for Kelly Earnhardt-Miller [Dale Jr.] and one, Jesse Love, who drives for Richard Childress.

The Craftsman truck series has the same problem. Cory Heim has dominated that program and has eleven wins. Finalist Tyler Ankrum has one win. Ty Majeski and Kayden Honeycutt have no wins in the 24-race contest, which is the truck series. All four drivers will start even and race for the championship. One bit of bad luck could replace a real 2025 driver champion with another driver who, at best, scored one win. Not a good measure of a season-long sporting competition. Let us hope that Zilisch and Heim win in Phoenix and that NASCAR produces a three-race face-off for the final four contenders and that the stages, winner take all and the playoff format for twelve, not sixteen, drivers is the 2026 format. Stay tuned.