STORY LINE: A PHOTO TRIBUTE-THE ONES WHO STARTED IT ALL

Throughout my automotive life, I have had the good fortune-albeit personally sometimes engineered or maybe just being at the right place at the right time-to meet and be friends and/or acquaintance’s with the movers and shakers of the vast automotive world … performance and otherwise. While attending the Performance Racing Industries Show in Indianapolis last December, these photos were taken with some of those who were pioneers and or have contributed greatly to making, molding and favored the continued building of the automotive performance world as we know it today.                               

1. Linda Vaughn - The ‘First Lady’ of  MotorSports and an automotive ambassador who to this day is still as vivacious and active as she was in the ‘60s while hawking the Hurst line of  performance products

2. Lou Senter - Cane in hand, Mr. Senter-who with onetime partner Jack Andrews-was the guiding force and engineering genius of Ansen Automotive,  talking history with L. Wayne Henegar former CFO of GM/Dynamax

3. Ed Iskenderian - Isky, the legendary ‘Camfather’ began grinding racing camshafts in 1939 with a secondhand cylindrical grinder. Isky gave names to his cams like the Polydyne 505 Magnum, Superleggera and Mileamore. Standing next to Mr. Isky is Wayne Landon of  Freeport, Mi. who builds race engines/cars and has   raced open wheel cars for 50 years … and still does

4. Vic Edelbrock Jr. - The name that is synonymous with aluminum intake manifolds and high performance products the world over-and now listed on the NASDAQ.  Vic Sr. Started the business in 1936 … Jr. just made it bigger. Flanked by GM performance guru Mark McPhail                                         

5. Dave Lyall - Famed ‘60s Ford drag racer, with Livernois Vehicle Development President Norma Wallis. Dave is now Director of Sales/Marketing for Livernois  

6. Jack McCormack - McCormack Racing/Chrysler racing with the HEMI 528CID crate engine.

7. Angelo Giampetroni - Gratiot Auto Supply ‘The world’s Largest HOT ROD SHOP’ is where Angelo cut his teeth. Today he is the Ford Racing National Sales Manager. Jim Spaulding of GM Performance Parts and another GM ‘soldier’ are actually checking out the Ford armament display.

8. Pat Musi - Famed drag race driver, car/engine builder

9. Roger Rosebush - Roger (standing) owns Be Cool of Essexville, Michigan. The background mural covered the wall of the Be Cool display. Mike Kunzman) owns a distributor/sales company of high performance products in Walled Lake.

10. Bill Ford - Hails from Mt. Clemens … drives a Chevy.

  THJ and Wayne Henegar fine dining at ‘Bullwinkles TOP HAT Bistro’ in Ohio

TOP HAT JOHN can be contacted for story leads, vehicle appraisals, or questions at: P.O. Box 46024, Mt. Clemens, MI., 48046-6024; or call 586-465-1933