Tim Newey, Author at NorCal Car Culture

Joey Hand From Sacramento Nearly Wins the Triple Crown

Sacramento native Joey Hand nearly became the first driver to win the triple crown of sports car racing in the same year. Earlier this year Joey teamed with fellow Sacramentan Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Graham Rahal to win the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Later, with his BMW Team Rahal Letterman Lanigan teammates Dirk Müller and Andy Priaulx, he won the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring. Then a week ago, at the world-famous Circuit de la Sarthe in Northwest France, Joey Hand with BMW Team RLL finished third in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was his first time at the track and he was a quick learner as he drove the final stint and crossed the finish line securing a podium finish for his team. Joey is the current points leader in the American Le Mans Series GT Class. Next on the schedule is the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut on July 8-9.

Joey talks a little about racing at Le Mans and the rest of season in the following short interview:

Northern California Car Shows & Swap Meets: June 18-19, 2011

Auburn

The Townsmen 8th Annual Poker Run and Car Show begins Saturday, June 18th at Taylors Hamburgers in Loomis at 8am and continues to the Auburn Fairgrounds for the Car Show.

Castro Valley
Castro Valley Moose Lodge Car Show & Chili Cook Off is Saturday, June 18th from 9am to 4pm at 20835 Rutledge Road in Castro Valley.

Citrus Heights
The Kapital Kreations Truck Club Cruise Night on Sunrise Blvd. is Friday night, June 17th in Citrus Heights.

Coarsegold

The 4th Annual Coarsegold Classic Car Show is Saturday June 18th from 7am to 2pm on the Green at Historic Coarsegold Village.

Cupertino

The 34th Annual Vintage Mustang Owners Association Car Show is Saturday, June 18th at De Anza College at Stevens Creek Blvd. & Stelling Road in Cupertino.

Danville
EuroSunday is June 19th at 4000 Blackhawk Plaza Circle, Danville from 8:00am till 10:30am. Will move over to the Blackhawk Auto Museum Father’s Day Car Show. Father’s have free admission to the Blackhawk Auto Museum for the entire day as long as they show up with a vehicle and $5 registration fee to be a part of their Car Show.

Dixon

The 11th Annual Fort Sutter Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America’s National Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet is Friday, June 17th and Saturday June 18th at the Dixon Fairgrounds. This year celebrating the “Knucklehead’s” 75th birthday.

Elk Grove
HANDS helping HAND Kustom Car and Bicycle Show to benefit Autumn Hand is Saturday, June 18 from 10:00am – 1:00pm at Big Al’s BBQ
8976 Grant Line Rd in Elk Grove.

Fresno
EuroSunday Show n’ Shine is at the Target parking lot in Riverpark Shopping Center, 7600 North Blackstone Avenue in Fresno, at 9am.

Lakeport

The 6th Annual Kulture Shock Car Show at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport is Saturday, June 18th from 8am to 4pm.

Loomis
Cruisin’ Loomis is Saturday Night, June 18th from 4 – 8pm hosted by the Cappuccino Cruisers Car Club.

Orangevale
Picnic in the Park XIV, a Pre 1974 Classic Car Show, is Father’s Day June 19th at the Orangevale Community Center from 10am to 3pm.

Red Bluff
R Wild Horse Ranch Crawdad Festival’s Secnd Annual CRAWDAD CAR & BIKE SHOW is June 18th from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM at the Tehama District Fairgrounds in Red Bluff.

Redding

Hot-ORama Show & Shine at the Vistas is Friday from 11am to 3pm at 3030 Heritagetown in Redding.
Hot-ORama Show & Shine at Crown Motors is Saturday, June 18th from 10am to 3pm at 555 Cypress in Redding.

Sacramento
Show n Shine Classics/ Lowriders /Muscle Cars is Saturday June 18th At Hiram Johnson High School, 6879 14th Ave. in Sacramento from 11:00am – 4:00pm.

Champions Revved Up Car & Bike Show is Saturday, June 18th from 9am – 1pm at the Capital Christian Center East parking lot at 9470 Micron Ave in Sacramento.

San Jose

It’s Meet Up Saturday! This Friday, June 18th is the monthly Cars & Caffeine event. This month Dave Graff of Borelli Motor Sports will be conducting a suspension and alignment overview.

Santa Rosa
The Engineering Contractors Association’s FATHER’S DAY 17th Annual
“Show N Shine” CAR SHOW is Sunday, June 19, at Juilliard Park in Santa Rosa from 9 am—4 pm.

Stockton
The First Baptist 12th Annual Father’s Day Car Show is Sunday, June 19th at 3535 N. El Dorado St. in Stockton from 7:30 am to 2:00pm to benefit youth summer camps.

Yreka
The Contemporary Historical Vehicle Association Pancake Breakfast and Show & Shine is Sunday, June 19th from 8:00am—2:00pm, at the Siskiyou Golden Fairgrounds.

Terry Labonte Wins the Southern 500! (in 1980)

How many of you use twitter? I, like many old guys, didn’t think I’d have much use for it. I wasn’t even on facebook except for the NorCal Car Culture page. But it is, supposedly, a good way to promote your website, so I though I’d give it a try. Boy, was I wrong. It’s great! I am always finding interesting bits of news and information to write about. When the Kings were about to leave Sacramento, it was easy to keep up on the latest developments on twitter. A lot of times I would read it on twitter several hours or even days before it made the regular news. It is also a great way to keep up on favorite race car drivers and car events. Many race teams will “tweet” the progress of their cars during the race, which is great for the races that aren’t televised like most from Northern California tracks. The “tweets” go by fast so you can follow a lot of different people or organizations, most have links to articles or pictures.

Now, here is a perfect example of why I’m on Twitter. I have mentioned in the past that I am a big Terry Labonte fan. He is a 2-time Champion in NASCAR and one of the classiest guys in sports. He is older than me and doesn’t tweet much but I also follow his little brother Bobby who is a former champion and currently drives the No. 47 for former NBA star Brad Daugherty. Last week, he retweeted a tweet from Terry’s daughter Kristy that said: “This is a video of my dads first win. Gave me chill bumps while I watched. Enjoy”. It included a link to the following video on You Tube.

What a great video! It was interesting to see who Terry raced against back then, David Pearson, Benny Parsons, Dale Earnhardt and Neil Bonnett. All but David Pearson have passed away, and he was just inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Terry still races a few times a year against a whole new generation of drivers. Terry was the champion in 1984 and 1996 and this was his first win. I became a fan after the 1996 season and haven’t seen many races from early in his career. I really enjoyed this chance to see him race and listen to his post race interview from 31 years ago.

My conclusion is, that I need to keep a more open mind. I didn’t expect much from twitter and I’m still not much into texting or facebook, but there are a lot of great uses for modern technology and I should be smart enough to take advantage of them.

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