Hot Rods and Kustom Cars
Still waiting for the track to be prepped for the 2015 HAMB Drags, I wandered around the preferred parking area. Normally it takes a day for the track to get cleaned up after a rain storm, the track crew had it ready to run in about 5 hours. Kudos to everyone on staff for getting things going! The photos you see here take you through the preferred parking area and right up into the action!
As you can see in the photos it was wet at MO-Kan Dragway for the 2015 HAMB Drags. That slowed the show down but didn’t stop it! By 3pm the cars were lined up and the tree was lit. I continued in the pits and car show area for awhile and finally made my way over to the sidelines to take some photos of the action.
The 2015 HAMB Drags got off to a wet start, but went pretty darn well. Again cars from around the country converged on Joplin, MO for the 1 day event put on by the folks behind the JalopyJournal.com infamous H.A.M.B. (Hokey Ass Message Board). The event is open to pre-64 vehicles and there were a bunch! The coverage starts with some night shots from the Friday night hang out in the host hotel parking lot.
One of the great things of this event is how many cars come just to park in the “cool kids” parking lot. This post finishes off my trip through the preferred lot and heads back over to the drag racing action!
The temps were up as was the humidity. The only thing making the weather bearable was a breeze and some killer rides running down the track. The 2014 HAMB Drags was a blast all around.
Saturday Morning it was time to head off to Ryno’s place for donuts and b.s. sessions with friends. Some damn cool cars showed up!
The 2014 HAMB Drags weekend is done! Folks from all over the country, and a couple from the UK all came to Joplin, MO to hang out at the H.A.M.B. Drags out at Mo-Kan Dragway just outside of Asbury, MO right on the Kansas-Missouri State Line.
Well it’s almost that time again. August 16th at the Mo-Kan Dragway in Asbury, MO folks from across the country will gather for the H.A.M.B. Drags. I’ve been going for years and it’s become a family affair with about 20 family and friends going as a group.
The phrase “Built, Not Bought” gets ballied about quite a bit these days. Not all of us feel up to the task of building our rides, yet. So when you see a guy at a show that isn’t advertising that it’s “Built, Not Bought” you find yourself assuming that maybe it was bought or at least paid for and shop built. Not the case with this 1926 Ford RPU.
Continue reading “Feature Friday: Built, Not Bought 1926 RPU”
Listen Here:
Episode 7 Synopsis
See you at a show,
Royboy
The easiest way (which costs you nothing) is to share this post! IF you like this post, share it with your car friends using the social media sharing buttons below or just by sending them the link to this page. Every set of eyeballs on the site helps!
Or if there’s something you need to buy from Amazon
, click here to go there. Drag that link to your menu bar for quick and easy access. It costs you nothing extra and Royboy earns a small commission.
Don’t forget the Royboy Merch!!!! I have keychains, coozies, stickers & hats for sale. Every piece you buy gets me further down the road to bring more show coverage and podcasts to you.
All Royboy photos on this site are available as prints up to poster sizes. Buying them not only makes your walls cooler it puts gas in the tank to get me to another car show or feature shoot. Please consider buying a print, if you can’t do that, I understand. Or just hit the Store page and buy something or make a donation!
[jetpack_subscription_form]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Lots of photos in this one! I posted about the 2013 Hot Rod Revolution when I heard the new date of November 23rd. Here’s another reminder for ya! If you have a 48 and older hot rod that’s traditionally styled (pre-63 style) this is one of the best shows in the country for you to hit. I’m planning on heading down for a 21 hour round trip even though I don’t have any cars that fit the criteria, this show impressed me that much the first two times I went. Go to the HRR website for more info.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Use the Subscribe box at the top right corner of the page to receive the latest posts via email each day
Don’t forget to get your 2014 Calendar for Charity order in ASAP! They’re already going fast, once they’re gone they’re gone!
After a quick run out to Russell, KS to check out the Flatland Car Show earlier in the day I headed 90 miles east to Abilene, KS to see friends and family at the Chisholm Trail Days event. This is a small event as far as the car show goes, I didn’t have time to cover the Antique Tractor show but it looked well packed with restored tractors of yesteryear.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Use the Subscribe box on the right to receive the latest posts via email each day—————————–>
Don’t forget to get your 2014 Calendar for Charity order in ASAP! They’re already going fast!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
The beautiful blue Kansas sky and the big trees of Forest Park combined to make lots and lots of harsh shadows. If I had more time at the show I would have used an off camera flash to fill in a bit, but I had 3 hours to cover a park with about 2000 cars in it… So yeah I didn’t do that 🙂
That’s it folks, that’s what I saw in my whirlwind 2013 Ol Marais River Run trip. I only had time for 1 pass around the park, so if I missed your ride, I apologize.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
See you at a show,
Royboy
One of my favorite’s from the Greaserama was also in Ottawa.
Beautiful truck, the suicide hood being open is less visually offensive than if it was a regular style.
My dad’s 59 Thunderbird and our extended “family’s” cars behind it.
Frank’s beautiful 56 Chevy took home an award for best Home Built I believe. Congrats Frank! I know you’ve put a lot of time and effort into your ride!
Rick’s 57 has every option that you might want for a kool road trip cruiser and will look good while doing it.
Roger Ward’s car has looked this good for a long long time and gets driven.
Feed us, feeeeeeed ussss, feeeeeeeeeeeeeed ussssssssssss!
Pretty good stance on this shoebox
You don’t see these done up nice too often, if you’re going to take the whole tribe across country, this is the car for you.
too bad about the hood.
3rd or 4th show this summer I’ve run across this group.
Not normally my style but something about it I liked.
Keith Bright’s beautiful roadster.
Some of my Nebraska/Kansas line friends
I’ve shot Bill’s “Sledsel” for a magazine feature.
A nice adaptation of an American Graffiti style build.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
See you down the road my friends!
Dave, she’s looking good! Can’t wait to see it all done, thanks for bringing her down for us to see the progress.
Safe travels to my friends the Jetters!
Better late than never ya hippie!
Voodoo Jim hinted that he might want to sell this hotrod. I want it.
Jeff Myers is a good friend and a hell of a kustom man. Have him make your car kool like he did mine, get ahold of him at Premier Body & Paint in Arkansas City, KS.
One of my talented upholsterer friends, Johnny Torres. Contact him at his shop here.
The Lonely Knights have to be the koolest kats on the road when they roll together.
Even more McGregors!
Aaron of Fast A.L.’s Upholstery.
After dinner a big group of us rolled to the Go Away Garage to check out the gallery.
That’s pretty much it folks! We had a fantastic time and I wish you could have been there too! Make plans to be there next year!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
Click here for the entire gallery.
See you at a show,
Royboy
LOTS of photos in this one folks!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
The family that hangs out at the cars show together…is kool.
Mickey’s Merc
15 shot HDR Panoramic of the show
One of the stars of the show. Micheal’s newly finished 34 5 Window Ford, done in an East Coast style. The 59 Olds steering wheel is the only part on the car newer than 53.
I love it!
Lonely Knights
Larry Wolfe recently brought this late 60’s Dave Stuckey creation back home to Wichita. Plans are to return it to it’s 1967 state. Back in the day Stuckey used this wild sectioned 1965 Pontiac Catalina to tow his Top Fuel Drag car. I reallly wish I could have been around to see that rolling down the road.
Clean.
The good tunes all day were provided by my buddy Everett.
Some of my favorite cars all in the same shot.
I love it Neal! Thanks for bringing it out!
Dad’s 59 Thunderbird and Ron’s Chevy Truck
Voodoo Jim’s Corn Cobb Coupe
Doc Parsons’ T is purrrrfect.
Yeah yeah yeah it’s for your wife, we know we know.
The Lonely Knights’ Big Rich awarding Mickey with their award.
Mickey and one of Wichita’s Godfathers of kool, Johnny Hammann
Roger Jetter and his award 🙂
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
Click here for the entire gallery.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
For Part 4 we’re still at the show, and we start with Aaron of Fast A.L.’s Upholstery’s Ford and Mickey’s (StrayKatKustoms’) 60 Chevrolet flattop with 60 Merc Grille and Pontiac taillights.
Joe brought this beauty out for us all to drool over.
I caught Jack unloading some chairs out of the trunk of his new 51 Ford. Body, Paint and a bunch more stuff by Chaotic Customs.
One of my favorite new rides of 2013 is Butch’s 40 Sedan.
It still rocks a straight 6 but Steve’s 58 Ford moves on down the road and looks good doing it.
All the way from Omaha, NE to Wichita to hang with us. Thanks for coming down!
The Merc grille looks good with the 51 Ford turn signal housings.
If you don’t know Gears and Gals Magazine, you need to go to their site and order an issue. You should then buy a subscription.
Good to see you again my friend, 2 weeks in a row even!
Mickey’s Merc always looks good at the Starliner.
Joe’s Caddy is a ton of fun, maybe 2 tons looking at her…
Don’s Buick is probably one of the finest anywhere.
Some of my favorite Kansas City area folks.
Jeff and Verna brought this killer Plymouth hot rod up from Texas. I am planning on shooting this car this fall. If no magazines bite on the article, I’ll post it here for all of you to see.
One of the koolest places ever to hold a car show, even though this year it was quite hot.
Another shot of Steve’s chopped 40 Ford. Again, 300,000 miles on it and he’s owned it since 1969.
Friends and family.
I’ve seen this truck in Austin and a bunch of other places, I dig it every time.
Normally not my style but the nose art on the truck matches in with the location.
The McGregors, an American Car Family.
Hub and Gloria’s “Cinnamon” is my favorite kustom ever. It’s been together since the late 80’s. It’s been in magazines before but would you like to see a full feature on it here?
McGregor cars.
U.S. Mule even came out to play.
Jeff Myers of Premier Body & Paint brought out the 59 El Camino, Johnny Torres brought out his 41 Plymouth, and you can’t see it here, but Jim Allen brought out his “Corn Cobb Coupe”
Roy brought out this beautiful shoebox. The flathead is one of the cleanest ever.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
Click here for the entire gallery.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
So here we are on Saturday morning at the Kansas Aviation Museum.
I backed the Galaxie up under the wing of the KC135 as far as I could to keep in the shade.
300,000 miles and still looking good.
Butch M’s 56 Chevy
Doc Parson’s T. It’s perfect in every way.
Here’s the unedited version of Danny’s El Dorado in the morning. Check back later in the week for the full edit.
The Lonely Knights show up in force! and they park under the bomber wing for morning shade and a kool look.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
Click here for the entire gallery.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
The 2nd stop on the Garage Krawl for our group was my friend Roger’s house. Due to it being a private property I will not mention his last name or where it is. Roger has a fantastic collection of Fords mostly 40’s of various types and a couple of Falcons and more, but his automobilia collection is equally as impressive.
Great old signs
Extra parts
Some grilles in the background behind this great plane
Dashes, grilles, and beauty rings
So the power company puts in an ugly power station behind your house and keeps building it bigger… well you’d better find a cool way to hide it from your view. This works
Everyone’s backyard should be so kool.
More yard art, some of it I might have a need for, I may have to come back and make an offer…
The chain was just laying there, but I couldn’t help shooting a pic of the cool wheel and tire.
pretty kool mag.
One wall of the garage featured license plates staring in 1913 I believe, and sequentially going up from there.
Another wall featured only 1940 Kansas plates, from 99 of the 105 Kansas counties, that’s an impressive collection.
Some great car club plaques.
Great taillight lens display
What to do with your extra plates? Why not make an American Flag? 🙂
Then it was off to Chaotic Customs in Mulvane, KS for a shop visit and some lunch. Giant hot dogs, soda, chips and some homemade cookies really hit the spot. Here’s Mike Young’s 40 Ford pickup which is being built for SEMA this year.
Some of the projects under construction at Chaotic.
Then it was off to my buddy Jack’s place for a visit. Here’s a lineup of Jack’s rides. He has a 30 year head start on me but I hope to catch up one day.
Then it was off to Big Joe’s for an air conditioned shop visit (it was a hot one that day!) Here’s a “gas station” that Joe built to hold his compressor and welders and such when not in use.
Some of the art inside the main shop building.
Then I hopped in my buddy’s Galaxie for a ride to Rocky’s shop, we had a good line of 10 or so rides on the way there.
Rocky has a pretty kool collection of Wichita area club plaques too.
and the best chandelier around.
Then it was back to the hotel for some fajitas courtesy of the Lonely Knights. Thanks for the good eats folks!
The 100 or so people in the parking lot stayed out and socialized until around midnight. So many good friends that are all really more like family than friends. This is a big reason why this show is one of my favorites of the year.
Tomorrow starts the show coverage. Click here for the entire gallery.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
As I did last year, I got to the Host Hotel on Thursday evening about 7pm so that I could wake up ready to go on the Garage Krawl on Friday morning. After dinner with some friends I shot some night shots in the parking lot.
One of my favorite Mercs around.
Mickey’s Merc
Love that hood ornament
More of our friends from the Lonely Knights in Colorado
So clean, so simple
Aaron of Fast A.L.’s Upholstery’s Ford.
All the way from California to Kansas just for the Starliner!
My ride
The next morning it was up bright and early to get ready for the Garage Krawl
Hub & Gloria’s beautiful roadster
The first stop on the tour was United Engine. Lots of kool stuff to see.
Damn good looking flathead
Tomorrow we continue the Garage Krawl for the 2013 Stray Kat Kustoms Starliner
Click here for the entire gallery.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 | Part 6 | Art 1
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
Proof that HDR doesn’t have to be wild, this is the style I prefer for most shots, just making the photo look more like what your eye sees (with a little extra something).
Then there are times when I pump up the volume a bit.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
A couple of my friends from The Dirty Martinis showed up Sunday and added some purdy to the event.
The girls were popular subjects
Yes I shot a bunch of this car but hey when do you see 4 doors that look this cool?
Ben Dragdaddys is inside says his lil friend.
Chad rolling out of the show.
FarmTruck giving a high speed ride through the fairgrounds.
The first 20 miles of the drive home I got the pleasure of being caboose in a 3 car train with some friends.
Kevin’s Galaxie looks sooooo good. Damn mine needs to be lower!
A bug collection on the windshield and chasing the sun back home after the event.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
To see the entire gallery click here.
That’s it for the regular coverage of the show, tomorrow I’ll feature some that I’ve spent a little more time on. Since I was shooting this show for magazine show coverage I didn’t spend much time working on artsy photos, it was more about getting the needed photos for the article.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
I love, love, love this ride.
And this one.
Cos on patrol, making sure that everyone is having the required amount of good times.
Chad’s Buick looking bad bad badass.
Sooner or later we’ll cross paths and not just your truck and I.
While I was getting my hair cut, I warned Cos he may need one, this was the response.
I dig that truck.
Denny’s Sedan looks good in any light.
Sonny’s truck is sick.
Nice work Ben Dragdaddy! Looks just like PR Eric.
Another of Chad’s Kustom 1947 Buick.
FarmTruck made the trip up to the Greaserama from OKC again.
This bad lil ride is for sale.
Moody’s Garage booth at the Greaserama
Shane Z’s booth
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
To see the entire gallery click here.
See you at a show,
Royboy
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
I’ve seen this car for years and it floors me every time.
Good to see you my friend, and I still say using air to be able to clean your entire whitewall at once is cheating…
Good looking Chevy
The owner said it’s not finished but it looked damn good to me!
Punk Rod Eric surveying all that was 2013 Greaserama.
Lots of good looking shoeboxes at the show this year.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Art
To see the entire gallery click here.
See you at a show,
Royboy
