Cars Yeah With Mark Greene

Jeff Koch has been the West Coast Editor for Hemmings Motor News for over ten years. He has been a professional automotive writer and photographer for more than 20 years and has written and taken photographs for magazines as divers as Hot Rod and Super Street. Jeff worked for the Johnny Lightning die cast car company, and he’s an avid collector of die cast cars himself and has collected for over 20 years. Which ties in with today because it happens to be Christmas 2014! So pour yourself some eggnog, sit down next to the fireplace and we’ll have some fun talking and playing with cars.

Seattle resident and racecar driver Don Kitch Jr. has been involved in motorsports for over 25 years. He is a veteran of over 200 professional and amateur racing starts. In 1987 Don and his wife Donna founded ProFormance Racing School at Pacific Raceway where he is the Chief Instructor. In 1997 Don founded Team Seattle focusing on the 24-Hours of Daytona Sports Car Race as a fundraiser for Children’s Hospital of Seattle and in the past 12 years they have raised nearly $6.5 million for the hospital. In 2009 Don teamed up with Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster at Dempsey Racing in a Ferrari 430 GT2 at the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans. Don is always looking ahead down the road as Pacific Raceway expands and grows and he enjoys his involvement in Sports Television Color Commentary and the creation of Motorsports Videos.

Eric Cook, is the face and voice behind Eric The Car Guy. He’s created a website filled with massive information, detailed instruction, and fact filled answers for all things automotive. His videos will help you with all your automotive repairs and service needs. Not only does he cover basic service issues but Eric goes in-depth in his instructional videos on repairs, diagnostics, frequently asked questions, tools, what it’s like to work in the automotive repair field, and he has a cool forum. He’ll even show you what to look for when you’re shopping for used car. Eric’s motto” Stay Dirty” is all about learning how to have fun under the hood of your vehicle.

Jeff Zwart is a commercial film director, racer, photographer, cameraman, and author. He’s shot commercials for Porsche, BMW, Cadillac, GM, Huyndai, Ford, and many others. He’s a graduate of the Art Center of Design and has enjoyed an exceptionsl life and career around automobiles. He’s traveled all over the world shooting, directing, racing, and photographing cars. He’s collaborated with David Bull Publishing on many automotive books. He speaks and lectures and has driven in numerous races and rallies including 7 championships at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the Panama-Alaska Rally, the Baja 1000, and the TransSyberia Rally, to name just a few. I like to think of Jeff as the ultimate car guy with a keen eye in the camera.

Mike Renner is a professional driver for BMW and is responsible for corporate sales and the BMW Performance Center in Greenville South Carolina. He began racing in 1983 and Mike has competed in a variety of classes including GT, showroom stock, improved touring and sports racers for the past 27 years. He started instructing at the BMW Performance Center just after it’s opening in the fall of 1999 and his list of trainees includes new drivers, racers, F.B.I agents and Secret Service members who are assigned the task of presidential protection. Mike received international instructor certification in basic, advanced, advanced M vehicles, intensive, perfection, and racetrack. Included in Mike’s duties as a driver for BMW is the opportunity to drive BMW racecars from their historic fleet.

Traci Hrudka’s name is synonymous with drag racing and the Mr. Gasket Company that was founded by her father Tom Hrudka and Uncle Joe Hrudka. She’s started working in the company in 1982 and after the company was sold in 1997 she moved to Intermec Technologies. Today she operates the Quarter Mile Foundation along with Project 1320. Traci has set out to preserve drag racing’s history from the views of its pioneers and legends. Traci epitomizes the term “Life in the fast lane”.

Ross Bentley is a racecar driver, a driving coach and high performance driving instructor. His website Speed Secrets, is a landing page for anyone wanting to learn how to be a better and faster driver. He’s raced against Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr, Bobby Rahal, Emerson Fittipaldi, Paul Tracy, Rick Mears, and many others. Ross has driven Indy cars, GT sports cars, and he won the 1998 U.S. Road Racing Championship and the 2003 Daytona 24-Hour race. He’s passionate about helping others perform better in a car and on the track. He’s written nine books under the Speed Secrets title and all focus on how to be a better driver. Ross’s passion is to share with others what he does best.

J.G. Francis is the owner of Mercedes Motoring in Glendale California. He fell in love with Mercedes-Benz living next door to a Mercedes mechanic who taught him how strong and enduring the marque was. His passion for well-built and well engineered cars combined with his entrepreneurial spirit drove him to launch a business where he takes well loved old Mercedes-Benz cars produced between 1968 and 1985. He carefully and lovingly restores them to their original grandeur. Driving one of his comfortably worn-in beauties is like going back in time. I’ve seen his work, driven in his cars, and they are absolutely wonderful.

Sandra Button has been the Chairman of the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance since 2002. She was the Executive Director for decades prior and has helped to inspire and guide the growth of the collector car hobby in to a truly global celebration of the automobile. Sandra participates and officiates automotive events from Asia and the Middle East to South America. She and her husband Martin have an eclectic collection of automobiles that they drive in events including the Mille Miglia, the 1000 Millas Sport Argentina, the London to Brighten Veteran Car Run and others. She’s a member of the Royal Automobile Club, the Classic Car Club of America and the Motor Press Guild along with the Society of Automotive Historians

Peter Bodensteiner is the Founder of Stance & Speed (third from the left above), a company that publishes and sells books for automotive enthusiasts. He is a 14-year veteran of automotive publishing and is an avid enthusiast, racing fan and driver. Peter has edited or published over 200 books and calendars, 14 of which have earned the International Automotive Media Award and the International Motor Press Association’s Ken W. Purdy award. The publishing house is also the home of the Stance & Speed Monograph Series of books, created in collaboration with Peter Harholdt Photographic Arts and a guest on Cars Yeah, which now numbers 5 volumes.

Jason Fenske produces and creates the YouTube channel Engineering Explained. His video lessons focus on automotive engineering topics and provide the viewer with a clear and concise description of how things work. His passion to teach people through his video had generated a loyal following. Want to know how a V12 engine works, or how the clutches and torque converters operate? Jason’s your guy. Engineering Explained is a wonderful go-to site for quick, clear, and thoughtful explanations of everything automotive. Jason graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from North Carolina State University.

Russell Byrnes is the founder of Linear Edge, a global motorsport lifestyle company. He designs and develops innovative and unique wall sculptures for motorsport enthusiasts. Prior to Linear Edge, Russell was an architect at Fusch Architects, where he designed upscale, luxury residential properties. Additionally, Russell spent time in Chile participating in the Start-Up Chile program for entrepreneurs and interned for the Editor-in-Chief of Jalopnik, an online media community for automotive enthusiasts. One of Russell’s Linear Edge tracks of Monaco hangs on my wall here at Cars Yeah.

Gunther Raupp has been a professional photographer for over 30 years. He shoots campaigns for Audi, Buick, Fiat, Ford, Jaguar, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo and others. His work has been displayed in museums around the world and hangs in private collections as well. Back in 1984 he fulfilled his dream of owning a Ferrari and photographed his Dino 246 Spider creating his own Ferrari calendar. He sent one to Enzo Ferrari and that began an unparalleled history of photographing Ferrari calendars. Today he is the only photographer to be sanctioned by Ferrari to shoot their annual calendar. It is produced in a limited number and has become a sought after prize by automotive enthusiasts around the world.  

Darwin Holmstrom is the (acquisitions) senior editor for Motorbooks, a wonderful source for the worlds best transportation books for almost 50 years. He’s been a part of the team for the past fourteen years. Darwin has written or co-written over two-dozen books on motorcycles and muscle cars, including the best-selling books Top Muscle, Lucifer’s Sword MC, Let’s Ride, Camaro: Five Generations of Performance, BMW Motorcycles, The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection, GTO, Camaro, Billy Lane Chop Fiction, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Motorcycles, and many others.

Kenny Welch is the owner of Kenny's Rod Shop in Boise Idaho. He’s been playing with cars and building hot rods for over 25 years. His focus is on cars from the 30s, 40s and 50s and as long as he and his talented crew are cutting and modifying vehicles they are happy. Their complete fabrication shop can handle chassis, body, paint and complete assembly projects. Kenny really loves designing and building wild and crazy suspensions and he’s owned over 300 VW bugs and cut up more of them than he can remember. His shop takes great pride in taking the time to build the right car for his customer that can be enjoyed, driven, used. Kenny’s true passion is the art of the hot rod.

Jim Simpson is the owner of Contemporary Classics of WA in Clinton, Washington and Simpson Design. At his companies he oversees the restoration of interesting, older European cars and special design projects. Jim’s history with cars goes back to 1975 when he started his business and along the way he’s been involved in numerous custom autmotive ventures. He designed and built the Blue Ray 3 for the Nardi Company in Italy. That vehicle was displayed at Concorso Italiano in 1992. He’s worked with Kevin Hines and Chuck Beck where he built the Miami Roadster. He continues to design and build unique automobiles and projects while restoring European vehicles.

Geoff Hacker has been called “Captain Curiosity” and the author and Cars Yeah guest Tom Cotter titled him “The Snipe Hunter” in his book Corvette in the Barn. Geoff’s a college professor, automotive historian, researcher, and adventurer. He’s the king of automotive barn finds and he’ll go anywhere to uncover and bring back to life vehicles many of us never knew existed or thought were long gone. Along with his friend of 30 plus years Rick D’Louhy they co-produce the website Forgotten Fiberglass where you can find them and the treasures they uncover. And now they are working on a book to share with the world under the same titles.

Imagine growing up with a grandfather who holds the Guiness Book of World Records for owning the most cars. Eric LeMay was that boy. He is the Founding Director of the Harold E. LeMay Museum which grew in to the LeMay, America’s Car Museum in 1997. He now works as a consultant, to the LeMay Family Collection Foundation at Marymount in Tacoma Washington, a second automotive museum he has helped develop. After spending some time as a sports journalist he worked in communications for the government and then in marketing for one of the largest architectural firms in the world. Eric combined these skills to create a world-class automobile collection to honor his grandfather. This has turned in to a nearly two-decades long passion about teaching history through the automobile.

Peter Harholdt is both a museum photographer and a veteran racer. He is a partner with Stance & Speed in the Monograph Series, where they publish automotive books. His clients have included the Smithsonian, the Louvre, MoMA, and the White House. He has raced in IMSA and the SCCA and has had podium finishes in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Can-Am. He’s also run at Bonneville. Among Peter’s recent automotive books are: Can-Am Cars in Detail, the Stance & Speed Monograph Series, and The Allure of the Automobile, and The Art of the Hot Rod, both with Ken Gross who has also been a guest here on Cars Yeah.

Mike Cardenas is the Master Detailer for SweetCars,  in addition to being a nationally recognized automotive detailer. He is recognized as one of the top 20 detailers in North America by Dupont Registry Magazine. He is also a contributing writer for various forums, blogs, and detailing websites. Mike was the first student of famed detailer Todd Cooperider, and the Esoteric Elite Detailer Academy. He’s a certified trainer and conducts workshops and clinics for both the public and professionals alike and he assists car care manufacturers with development and testing for new products. Mike also serves as a technical car care consultant for clubs including Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.