I can’t believe what people do for their kids these days! Last weekend I took my daughter to a Birthday party for one of her pre-school buddies – it was at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park – the first thing you see at the entrance is a real SR71 Blackbird (pictured above) – more on that later.

Our private guided tour included a rocket making class, and each child got to fire their Alka Seltzer powered paper rockets! It was bitchen.
(more…)

I love motorcycles and if you do too, check out this event:
The Biggest & Best Custom & High Performance Street & Sportbike Event in America!

Performance Machine presents the 17th Annual
2008 LA Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend
& Calendar Girl Music Festival
July 12-13th 2008, Queen Mary Event Park, Long Beach
America’s Premier Custom & Performance Motorcycle Show
(more…)

Don’t miss out on this event coming up at the Ventura Raceway next weekend:

Saturday June 28th at 5:00pm (first heat)

18 Events and Hot Rod Jalopies!
Special Autograph session (at 4 pm) with Grand Marshall
MERT LAWWILL,
star of On Any Sunday and 1969 AMA Grand National Champion.

RACE CLASSIFICATIONS
Hand Shift/Harley Davidson & Indians - No Brakes
Kids 50cc
Kids 80cc
Speedway 2 Valve
Speedway 4 Valve
Choppers / Hooligans
Vintage 500cc
Vintage 750cc
Amateur 450cc Modern*
Pro 450cc Modern*
New Zealand Sidecars
Hot Rod Jalopies

*We will allow up to 650cc singles to compete in these classes.

For Hot Rod Jalopies rules visit: www.okiebowlhardtops.com

Sometimes things happen around you and you may not realize the significance and the long-term effects. I think about things more now that I have a five year old daughter.

Take some of the changes apparent in the world of racing. I remember my Dad telling me that my Mom was not allowed in the pits when they went racing - she had to wait outside the pit gate — now women are winning races!

As an early teenager I remember racing AMA district 37 TT motorcycles at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. The track was yards from the beautiful Pacific Ocean. I lined up for the qualifying heat and next to me was a young (girl) women with long blonde hair hanging out of her helmet — she had bitchen’ white riding leathers with purple lettering “T&O Yamaha” which was her sponsor — I remember thinking to myself, What is she doing here?

My dad told me, “You better pay attention. I watched her practice and she is fast”

Dad was right. I ran second that day. I don’t remember who came in first, but she came in a very respectable fourth.

Here are some facts on some women pioneers in racing:

Shirley Muldowney broke the glass ceiling in the NHRA in the 70’s and now Ashley Force and Hillary Will are winners….

First World of Outlaws Sprint Car Race winner — 2004 Erin Crocker

Indy 500 Firsts: 1977 first women in the Indy 500 Janet Guthrie — 1992, First Rookie of the Year Lyn St. James and 2005, first women race leader Danica Patrick.

Though it is still very early in the season, 2008 is quickly becoming the year of the woman. Following historic wins by Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel, Hillary Will added her name to the short list of female Professional winners when she defeated Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX at Heartland Park Topeka. Will is the 11th woman to win in the Pro categories. 2008 we had the first major open wheel race win by a woman– Danica Patrick.

And as I watch my five-year-old daughter tearin’ it up around the neighborhood on her bicycle– without training wheels, I might add– I wonder what the world of racing will be like when she grows up.

This is a nice looking bike, and best of all proceeds support the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
The raffle winner will be chosen in a random drawing during AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, in July of 2008.

Proceeds from the drawing benefit the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio.
Full details on the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum website–>

The Lincoln Electric® Welding School — an industry leader in welding education– offers courses on the various types of arc welding methods to educate and train students in arc welding safety, processes, techniques and Lincoln® products as well as qualification and certification programs.

Courses cover basics in: plate and sheet metal, pipe welding, plasma, TIG, MIG and Flux Cored Arc Welding…. and advanced courses are offered as well. Check out the full line up of welding classes at the Lincoln Electric website.

They even offer a special Motorsports Welding School, a five day technical program focusing on basic motorsports materials (aluminum and stainless steel) and applications (GMAW, GTAW, Oxy fuel, and plasma cutting). A basic and an advanced course is offered.

The newest addition to the welding school is a welding and safety maintenance course for repair welding applications.

Designed to instruct welders in the automotive repair, construction and maintenance fields, the course demonstrates and instructs students in various welding processes including stick (SMAW), MIG (GMAW) and TIG (GTAW) welding, as well as oxyfuel cutting.
(more…)

If the upcoming American Welding Society conference isn’t your cup of Joe, maybe the Ink-N-Iron Festival is for you:

June 6-8 aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif.

The best tattoo artists in the world and a series of additional events will make this 2008 edition a hit. There will be 280 artists from 30 States and 25 Countries representing all the tattoo styles pricking away with their machines in an exciting atmosphere, where a car show and music become an integral part of the event, mingling with the artistic expressions of the artists at work. This convention will be both a sort of art gallery and community festival.

Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder will be heading up to check out the Car Show.

The car show is for Pre-63 hot rods, kustoms, classics and vintage motorcycles– vehicles that are nostalgic in appearance. ABSOLUTELY NO high tech street rods, tubbed rear ends, fiberglass, billet aluminum, mini or monster trucks, muscle cars,or foreign cars allowed.

Check out last year’s show online –>

You may have read previous posts about my “early” motorcycle racing days (more posts coming with some really neat bikes and personalities). I grew up in SO Cal riding motorcycles most every day and racing at least 2 days a week when I was in my teens. If you have ever heard of or seen the movie “On Any Sunday” you know what I’m talking about — if not rent it — it’s awesome!

I bring that up because there is a terrific motorcycle event coming up on the first weekend in May. Here’s the 411:

Legend Of The Motorcycle International Concours D’Elegance is a celebration of the art of motorcycling, past, present and future.

The event takes place Saturday May 3rd at the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, CA (just south of San Francisco). It’s the 3rd edition and this year MV Agusta & Norton are the featured brands. Over 30 MV’s of various models will be presented, including an Agostini TT winner and a 2004 Bonneville speed record holder. Special Norton models featured to include a JPN, a Cosworth Challenge, a Ron Wood, a Monocoque, a Rotary, etc. More than 200 vintage bikes will be exhibited including the only known 1914 Ixion, U-frame Merkel racer, and oldest production 1902 Indian in existence. Among other attractions, there will be a special photo exhibit of Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman’s “Long Way Down” trek curated by celeb photographer Timothy White exclusively for Legend of the Motorcycle. Also an exhibit of artwork by renowned graphic artist Conrad Leach.

Info and tickets ($50) at Legend Of The Motorcycle.

We here at JoeWelder.com wanted to take a minute to make note of the passing of a pioneer in the So Cal hot rod lifestyle, Boyd Coddington. I first heard about Boyd when my good friend Randy Haberman was building his ‘32 Ford 3 window coupe… that was back in the ’70s. Before T.V. when Boyd had more of a cult following, based on his ‘32 track roadsters. He and L’il John would come out to the races where they’d watch master sheet metal fabricator Steve Davis’ beautiful CRA Sprint Car run at Ascot Park.

Boyd Coddington was at the forefront of the whole “SoCal lifestyle” of fabricating and customizing hot rods, and he will be missed in the hot rod and metalworking communities.

Anaheim, CA (PRWEB) February 28, 2008 — Boyd Coddington, the creative visionary who took hot rodding to an art form and custom wheels to a new level dies at 63. Coddington who was a long-time diabetic died from complications that were brought on from a recent surgery. It was Coddington’s ever forward-looking view at the design of the hot rod and his unconditional desire to create the finest quality cars that became the “Boyd Look”.

“It is a major loss for the automotive enthusiasts and hot rod aficionados around the world. Boyd Coddington did so much more than create automotive trends, he also built the finest hot rods. He was entertaining on his TV Show (TLC’s- American Hot Rod) and an ambassador who educated,” said Harry Hibler, former publisher of Hot Rod Magazine.

(more…)

I got a call the other day from a prospect who was researching the benefits of using a tungsten grinder verses a wheel grinder. He came across our site, read our tech articles and then called.

He said “We’re a couple of farmers that have been trying to do TIG welding for a couple years and have never gotten good at it.”

A friend told them about Arc-Zone.com and the Sharpie Tungsten Grinder.

He told me they had a little fabshop and a small dirt track in southern Indiana.

“What’s the name of the track?” I asked.

“You probably never heard of it– TriState Speedway,” he said.

(more…)