More car shows and over 200 mph in a '57 Chevy?

My First Ride Podcast

Now that we’re in early spring of 2022, local car shows are running full blast.

April 30th and May 1st it was car shows galore with two on Saturday and one Sunday afternoon.

The first show I attended was at Dickie’s BBQ in Rowlett, TX. This was the first time to go to this show and was pleased with the cars and trucks on display. I talked with the owner of a 1955 Ford truck, which was a great looking vehicle. He had one when his kids were little but sold it. Here's where the story is really cool. Years later, his kids pitched in and bought him a truck similar to the one he sold years ago. I’m sure you can imagine how this made the truck all the more special to him.

The next show on Saturday was a real treat. Not because of the cars, there were some nice ones there, but people.

The shows was in Murphy, Texas at the PSA parking lot. Just like the one in Rowlett, the Murphy car show had a lot of great looking cars and trucks. But, what made this show special was running into some friends I’ve not seen in quite a while. I enjoyed visiting with them and looking over their C8 Corvette. Of course, it’s a beautiful vehicle and sounds fantastic.

When I attend the car shows, I’m always looking to interesting cars that I can photograph. I especially look for interesting angles and close ups. And, at this show in Murphy, like most other car shows, I was able to take several photos of great looking vehicles.

Sunday afternoon, I wrapped the weekend up with another show in Murphy, TX at Country Burger. This is one of many shows that Mustang Sally Productions puts on in the Dallas/North Dallas area.

Be sure to check out their website, mustangsallyproductions.com, for a full calendar of shows that run through December 2022.

Not long ago, I had to go my local Kroger to do some shopping. As I was looking for a parking spot, I noticed the back of a t-shirt with “mooneyes” on the back.

If you’re not familiar with “mooneyes”, it’s a hot rod cultural icon created by Dean Moon, which was big into racing during the late 60’s and early 70’s. I’ll talk more about him on a future episode.

Well, as I was walking through the store, I saw the guy with the mooneyes t-shirt. I told him that I liked his shirt, because of the mooneyes. We started talking and had a great conversation.

Turns out, he races at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. With a 57 Chevy. With a recorded top speed of 217 MPH and an average of 209 MPH during the 2018 Bonneville Speed week in Utah. His name is Tom Hurley.

After we talked for a few minutes, I had to get going. But before moving on to get my groceries, he invited me to his shop to see his car.

A week or so goes by and I called Tom to see about going by to look at his car.

Once I get there, Tom showed me the car and talked about how it had been modified to run at Bonneville. Very cool.

Then he began to show me the photos on his walls. Talk about a guy that’s lived a full life! He helped bring what is now Autorama to Dallas in the early 60’s. Tom started racing in top fuel rails when the driver sat behind the engine and rear axle. He then got the 57 and raced it as a dragster. He promoted a lot of VW events and off-road events during the 80’s. Then a few years ago, he turned the 57 into a Bonneville racer. Did I mention Tom has lived a full life?

My time visiting with Tom was a real treat listening to the stories of him being involved in motorsports for all these years.

I found an article written about Tom called: WHY THE UNDERDOG ALWAYS WINS: A SPEEDWEEK STORY. Kristin Kline wrote the article in 2016 which was in DrivingLine.com Go check out the article to find out more about Tom’s Speedweek story and more details about how he started racing at Bonneville. (This will be posted in the show notes) Tom Hurley’s Speedweek story

A side note this the story…. Tom took me down the street to introduce me to Steve which is the guy that does paint and body work on the ’57 Chevy. Turns out Steve still has his first ride. How cool is that!

My thanks to Tom for giving me the tour of his shop, introducing me to Steve and sharing some great motor sports history.

Hope to see you at one of the shows in Murphy, Wylie or Bass Pro Shop in Garland.