Cars Yeah With Mark Greene

The name “Big Daddy” Don Garlits is synonymous with drag racing. Don’s been dubbed the “King of the Dragsters” and is the patriarch of Top Fuel Drag Racing. His 17 World Championship titles and racing milestones are so numerous it would take me this entire show to list them all. Don’s won the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals a record 8 times and he’s raced for over four decades. His famous Swamp Rat series of 34 hand fabricated black race cars carried him to 144 national event wins. Today Don is the CEO of the Garlits Auto Museum in Ocala, Florida. The museum is a treasure trove of drag racing history and a destination for every fan to experience. The fastest Don's ever gone in a dragster? 323.04 mph in Swamp Rat 34 at the 2003 Gator Nationals. That's a quarter mile in 4.72 seconds!

John Wright is from Waterloo, Ontario. He is a journalist who writes stories about cars, racing, and people in racing. He writes for Vintage Race Cars, Victory Lane, and the Canadian publication Old Autos. He did some racing in a Formula Vee and then a race prepared MGB.  

Danny Thompson comes from a family whose name is synonymous with speed. His father, Micky Thompson, is the famed driver and innovator of the Challenger, a man who broke land speed records on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Step by step, Danny Thompson has maintained and expanded his family’s celebrated history in motor sports. Danny raced motocross winning his first 18 races. He then moved on to raing cars in the Formula Atlantic Series, Supervees, and CRA Sprint Cars. He won the opening night of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Grand Prix and drove for Chevrolet as a factory driver. He’s served as the President of the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group and later as a consultant to entertainment, promotional, and safety firms.

Jim Kearney operates KDD, Kearney Driver Development. He is a driving coach who’s mission is to help drivers become faster, more consistent, and competitive. He spent 32 years racing in Formula Vee, Formula ford, F2000 and SSC. He is a four-time SCCA Northeast Division FVee Champion with numerous top ten finishes. He’s a published writer with his words appearing in Sports Car magazine and Speed Secrets Weekly to name a few. Jim’s Napkin Manifesto, “Little Things Do Add Up.” Is a testament to Jim’s philosophy about driving fast and tuning the helmet, not engineering the race car. As drivers gain confidence, performance rises and happy drivers go faster.

Ian James is an ex Pat Brit who moved to America from England in 1999 after a successful open wheel career racing junior open wheel formulas. He has been racing successfully ever since in the United States. He is a race winner in the former American LeMans and Grand Am series and well as the continental sports car series. Ian has a truly diversified career and a keen ability to adapt to all types of vehicles. He  currently races for Alex Job Racing in the Tudor Sportscar series driving the heart of Racing 991 GT America Porsche where he's been a drive for the past four years. Team Seattle is a group known by their Racing for the Heart program where they have raised over five million dollars for Seattle Children's Hospital.

John Dagys is an international motorsports journalist and photographer who specializes in the coverage of sports car and endurance racing. For the past ten years, he's traveled the globe reporting on professional auto racing series including the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship and pinnacle events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. John founded Sportscar365.com in 2013 that is an independent news source for sports car racing. He also serves as a corespondene for FOXSports.com.

Adam Martin is the Vice President of The Hagerty Institute for Collector Vehicles, Business Development, and Automotive Data & Intelligence. He’s an overachieving classic car enthusiast affectionately known as enthuse-i-Adam. He’s an executive Committee member of the Checkered Flag 200 Club at the Petersen Museum. Recently Adam and Lucy, his 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Sport Coupe were featured in a video on Petrolicious where you can enjoy Adam’s long time passion and enthusiasm for the collector car hobby. Adam always brings Enthuse-i-Adam to everything he does.

David Ray is the founder and group leader at Hooked on Driving. It is a community of enthusiasts who share a passion for driving and they operate in 7 key regions of the U.S. Their focus is providing high performance driver training in the controlled environment of a race course – with NO competition or training for competition. It is all about providing drivers with coaching so they are better and safer drivers. David’s competed in the SCCA regional racing program and the NASA 25 Hour Thunderhill 5 times. He won two Regional Championships in T2 and the Illgen Enduro in two different classes. He’s an SCCA instructor, a driving coach and he was Chair of the new track committee of the San Francisco Region of the SCCA.

Emme is a driver, racer, reviewer, and rabble-rouser. She is the principle driver and trophy winner for the Mega Monkey Motorsports 2 seat 1600 desert racecar, where she has podium finished in class 5U, class 11, and ultra-4. She is one of fewer than 20 American women to participate in the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, a 9-day, all female off road rally in Morocco where they use no GPS. Emme reviews cars with the guys at the Fast Lane Car, one of the top automotive channels on YouTube. She holds an MFA in Costume Technology from North Carolina School of the Arts and she is a graduate of Yale School of Drama.  She lives in Washington DC and works at a well-known regional theatre. Emme also autocrosses her Mazdaspeed Miata whenever she can.

Mackena Bell is the first female owner/driver team in NASCAR history. She runs out of Thomasville, North Carolina and started racing when she was 11 years old in an Outlaw kart. In 2014 she drove the Rick Ware Racing number 23 Chevrolet Camaro. Last year Mackena made her debut in one of NASCAR’s premier touring series at Phoenix International Raceway and she is one of only a few women to compete in the Nationwide series. She is the only woman to graduate from NASCARS’s Drive for Diversity Program who races in the Nationwide series.

Chris Sneed owns and operates Sneed Speed Shop in Pfafftown, North Carolina and Sneed 4 Speed, an on line performance parts store. At his shop he and his team focus on helping clients win championships in their racecars. The shop’s services include a body shop, mechanical support, dyno tuning, and parts manufacturing. One of their specialties is the Mini Cooper and they race their own Mini. Chris and his brother have won 25 out of 29 races and 3 regional championships along with multiple endurance races. He won 3 NASA championships in 2010 and 2011 and raced in the World Challenge in 2013 and 2014 where he won the Hard Charger award in his first race on the streets of Houston

Stephen Hackett is a Porsche Sales and Leasing Consultant at Bellevue Porsche in Bellevue, Washington. Last year he was awarded one of the top 100 sales people worldwide at Porsche and he got to enjoy a week in Cannes France where he met the Porsche factory driver Walter Rohr. Stephen spent and drive Porsches. Stephen is one of those unique sales people who’s passion for what he sells is as impressive as his authenticity.

Bob Hatch is the owner of Hatch & Sons in Hudson Massachusetts. He’s been buying, selling, restoring, and trading fine motorcars since 1970. After selling his company in 2005 he grew restless and he purchased the original building he started his company in, refurbished it and started anew with his son Jimmy and grandson Chris. Today they buy and sell the finest European automobiles in the world while focusing on excellence in quality and perfection. Bob has owned more than 125 230, 250, and 280 SL Mercedes Benz automobiles and Hatch & Sons are known as the authority on these beautiful classic cars. I’ve been fortunate to have seen their work and it is absolutely incredible.

Lisa Smith is the Managing Partner of Suixtil-USA, an international brand of stylish menswear with a vintage look and feel built on the 1950s car racing heritage. The Suixtil logo was seen on many of the great drivers including Juan Manuel Fangio, Jose Froilan Gonzales, Jean Behra, Jo Bonnier and Sir Stirling Moss. Lisa has been an automotive enthusiast, especially vintage cars, her entire life and she was often found in her father’s restoration shop with a wire brush in hand helping dad. She is the well traveled blog editor of DecorGirl.net and she’s an interior designer and leaves tomorrow for the Cavallino Classic to spend some time with a whole bunch of Ferraris.

Michael Allen earned his Ph.D. in Psychology in 1986. But the title Michael is most proud of is “Car Nut.” He has been an automotive enthusiast his entire life. After purchasing a Porsche Boxster he attended his first track day and was hooked. Through the years Michael found himself frustrated with the lack of non-competitive High Performance Drivers Education content in car magazines. In December of 2013, Michael and his wife Ziva decided there was a missing niche for like-minded driving enthusiasts and decided to take on the challenge of filling that gap. They launched Auto Track Monthly, an on line magazine that is your one-stop-click source for track day and high performance driving information.

Nathan Adlen is the Co-Host and Senior Editor for The Fast Lane Car and The Fast Lane Truck. Born into a wrecking yard family in Los Angeles, Nathan has been connected to the automotive industry throughout his life. Nathan evaluates and reviews vehicles from the cheapest to the most prestigious with equal enthusiasm.

Chris Erickson founded the Secret Car Club in Rancho Santa Fe California, just north of San Diego. This is a private car club that was created with the intent to remove all of the less attractive aspects of a traditional club. There are no meetings, no elections, no dues, nor the drudgery and politics prevalent in most organizations. So, do you need to know the secret handshake or password to get in? Listen to find out. Chris grew up in a family that restored and enjoyed British cars. He is a real estate broker for Willis Allen Real Estate in Rancho Santa Fe California and a board member of the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance. His passion for British cars and trucks continues with a preference for MGB, Triumph, Land Rover and Jaguar.

Glenn Vaugn has been in the automotive restoration business for decades. He’s worked with thousands of clients on a wide variety of automobiles and much of his work has been displayed on concours lawns around the world. You’ll recognize his name from the famous Hill & Vaugn restoration business and a partnership and friendship his father Ken had with Phil Hill. Yes, that Phil Hill, the F1 Champion.

Rich Fowler operates the website MotorSportRetro.com. It is a celebration of Motorsport from the 1950s to the recent past. His content entertains and informs with a unique collection of stories, videos, and images covering Formula One to Motocross. Rich lives in Sydney, Australia and has been a motor racing fan forever. He races in vintage motocross and enjoys track days in his Porsche 911 and vintage racing events. When he's not at the track he spends his spare time in the garage. Rich and his talented team provide his followers with a rich assortment of motorsport retro on a daily basis.

Jimbo Balaam is the owner and operator of Jimbo’s Auto Detailing in Southern California. Over the past 7 years he has successfully built his business by providing his clients with exacting care and attention for their special vehicles. When he started his business he found plenty of on line information about detailing but very little about how to run a proper detailing business. Those skills he learned through hard work and effort. In addition to detailing Jimbo created The Auto Detailing Podcast podcast where he interviews successful detailers and business owners along with providing product information for other professionals in his field of automotive care.