Taylor Jones/Spike

Jesse James is an American television personality and CEO of West Coast Choppers, a manufacturer of custom-made motorcycles.This Summer,the daredevil is at it again with his new show Jesse James Is A Dead Man. In this adrenaline-pumped show, viewers are pushed to the edge of their seats while Jesse performs dangerous challenges using everything from cars, motorcycles and trucks to planes, weapons and mega-machines. The showed premiered Sunday, May 31 on Spike TV.

Joseph Hudak,with TV Guide magazine, interviewed the star last week. You can read the interview here.Enjoy!

Recently I headed up the road to the Tulare Fairgrounds for the World-of-Outlaws Sprint Car Race!

Tulare is located in the Central Valley of California, “the nation’s bread basket”. They call it that because of all the agribusiness. And I have some history in Tulare, my family farmed in the valley for generations — they had several big ranches and dairy barns, that’s where I learned to love the dirt.

I know it sounds strange, but growing up I always looked forward to going to dirt race tracks with my family. I began amateur motorcycle racing and that passion for competition ultimately lead me to build my own cars and form a Sprint Car Team. I still love the dirt and I ride my mountain bike at least 3-days a week in the local mountains.

I took Matt with me — he’s Arc-Zone’s Director of Video and Graphics. We brought all the gear to video the action. I wanted to share some of the things I love about motor racing and show how it relates to the welding/metal fabrication market.

At the track we met up with “Hollywood” Mike Sweeney my friend and former driver in the CRA Sprint Car Series (I talked about him on a previous post). We also met long time friend World of Outlaw driver Jac Haudenschild a superstar in the dirt racing world. Picture below: That’s me with Jac– Driver of the City Wide Insulation # R19 Owens-Corning Outlaw Sprint Car in front of his transporter (nice toolbox!)

We talked about the new cars and old friends. Jac told me he is putting a winged Sprint Car team together for his son Sheldon and he has been fabricating some of the parts needed to get him on the road.

Jac mentioned our mutual friend and former driver– now TV personality (and part time welder) Brad Doty (also a Hall of Famer) was having trouble finding the right remote amp control for his Lincoln TIG machine. Jac suggested I contact Brad and get him dialed in… That will be another post!

And if you like fast cars look for the video of our trip– we’ll have that ready soon…

Our very own Joe Welder can boast one very unique claim to fame.  He grew up down the street from Eddie Lawson!  They raced motorcycles together in AMA district 37 when they were little!  (Okay, perhaps not so little…)

And now, they still remain connected, although in a different way: they help to keep each other in business.

In dirt-track racing (how Eddie got started in his career), you need something called a “hot shoe”.  No, they’re not hot.  And no, they’re not really shoes.  They are actually the antithesis of their name – they keep your shoes from getting hot.

On a dirt racetrack, as the rider leans the bike into the turns, he has to stick out his left foot to keep balance and direct the bike through the corner.  And, as you can imagine, direct contact with hard-packed dirt going over a hundred miles an hour might hurt your foot just a little bit.

That’s where the hot shoes come in.  Hot shoes are metal casings that are formed around the bottom of your riding boot.  They are perfectly shaped so that they don’t fall off or let dirt in when you use them to turn that corner at speed.

Iron Cobbler Hot Shoes is a company out of Salinas, Ca that custom makes hot shoes for riders in AMA district 36.  They use the best tungsten carbide hardfacing available to make them and let me tell you, this material is not for the faint of heart.  It’s the same stuff used for mining equipment.  If it can dig into rocks, it can certainly protect your feet from a little wear and tear.

So where do Joe Welder and Arc-Zone.com come into this?  Well, in order to create great hot shoes, you need the proper welding equipment by your side.  And what better place to find it at than Arc-Zone.com?  If you’re interested in welding hot shoes, check out our TIG section, especially the Tungsten Grinders…

Good welding. In Nascar, and all forms of racing, it’s essential, especially if you want to walk out of a crash with your limbs intact. At Kevin Harvink Inc. (KHI) the Team Fabricators make sure of that by using MIG and TIG welding techniques to reinforce the cars’ roll cages, wheel spindles, and sheet metal bodies to make sure that the drivers (and cars) don’t take too much of a beating in a collision.

WELDING ESSENTIALS FOR RACING
Beefed up spindles, roll cages & precision bodywork

Punishment. At 200 mph, it’s the best way to describe the beating that multiple left-handed turns can put on a car or truck. Then there’s the competition to keep a close eye on as drivers aggressively fight for the lead. Team Fabricators with Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) know a thing or two about punishment as they teardown, and rebuild the trucks and cars that Harvick races in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series. The speed and g-forces placed on these cars and trucks is tremendous – but they’re nothing when compared to the energy the vehicles must absorb if they collide with the wall or take a 180 mph (unintentional) shot from another racer. In these cases, NASCAR drivers place their safety, even their lives, on their vehicles’ integrated safety measures and also on the structural toughness of their cars and trucks. Since no metal-to-metal bond is stronger than fusion, MIG and TIG welding techniques are essential among NASCAR team fabricators.
CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

EDITORS NOTE: Joe Welder highly recommends these TIG torches if you’re in the business of welding race cars and related parts.  Check out Arc-Zone.com’s selection of WP-125 Micro TIG torches and WP-225 and WP-150 Modular TIG torch packages.

If you’re into automotive fabrication and want to improve your skills, then take a look into Lincoln’s Motorsports Welding School, which hosted an Advanced Motorsports Welding seminar this past December.  In attendance were some of the best team fabricators in the racing industry, representing NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA (National Hot Rod Association), USAC (United States Auto Club), World of Outlaws and several others.  Lincoln’s comprehensive welding knowledge benefits the industry by helping teams, sanctions and manufacturers make their cars more competitive and safer to drive.

Welding schools like Lincoln’s did not exist in 1979, when Arc-Zone.com owner and founder Jim Watson was a member of the World of Outlaws Sprint Race Car Team.  Though based in Los Angeles, California, the team raced in 22 states and Canada. Jim was the Chief Mechanic for the team, which competed under the name James Gang #15. The car was a kit car that Jim assembled and it was accompanied by a transport trailer that Jim and the team also built.

The James Gang #15 Team pioneered the large custom transporter; until the completion and arrival of the team’s transporter, competitors used small open trailers.  The transporter that Jim and his team constructed was completely enclosed, contained a fully functional workshop, and contained all the necessary spare parts required to run the entire 80 race series.  The transporter that Jim and his team built was truly years ahead of its time and the application of welding was instrumental in its construction, as well as the construction of the team’s sprint car. (more…)

For years– maybe since 1992 when Al Gore “invented” the internet by sponsoring the Information Infrastructure and Technology Act which allowed commercial traffic on the internet– Weldcraft’s website has been pretty much the same.

We’ve heard rumors. There have been rumblings. Whispers in the hallway. I’ll be honest, we made jokes about the old Weldcraft website. But all that has changed…

Weldcraft has launched a new website, and we here at JoeWelder.com are the first to break the news (pictured right)…. And we’re sharing it with you.

We’re actually very excited to see the direction they are going. For years we’ve been hesitant to direct any of our customers to the Weldcraft website, even though at Arc-Zone.com we proudly sell the Weldcraft line of TIG Torches. The graphics on their new site are nice and clean, the product looks great, and I see a link to a Help Me Choose A TIG Torch page that we’re hoping is a great interactive tool for TIG welders. Perhaps akin to the Miller Electric SmartSelector™.

You can read the official press release here….

Do you think Weldcraft is heading in the right direction? What information would you like to see about TIG Torches that you haven’t been able to find elsewhere?

You may wonder what a motorcycle exhibition has to do with President Clinton. Or Joe Welder for that matter. But we came across this news item and thought we’d share it. The custom chopper has been instrumental in showcasing the art of welding in recent years, and sparked (no pun intended) renewed interest in metal fabrication, especially TIG welding, a refined skill that produces the beautiful welds that hold these custom fabricated bikes together.

Art of the Chopper

September 20, 2008 | Little Rock, AR | Clinton Foundation

Rolling sculptures that capture the American spirit—not to be missed! On September 20, 2008, the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, unveiled one of the most amazing motorcycle exhibitions ever presented…with the world premiere of Art of the Chopper. This exhibition will be displayed through Feb 8, 2009, and will feature 30 of the finest, most exceptional, custom motorcycles ever built.

Art of the Chopper is the first comprehensive collection of custom motorcycles created explicitly for contemporary art and curated for exhibition. The Clinton Center is proud to host this extraordinary exhibit, based on the best-selling books, “Art of the Chopper” and “Art of the Chopper II,” by Tom Zimberoff,

The “chopper” is a uniquely American icon, a creation that demands remarkable design and engineering while clearly expressing the artistry and personalities of their builders and owners. The exhibition will also include an extensive photo gallery of each builder’s creations and will provide an in-depth analysis of their design philosophies and unique style.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Center & Park, located on the banks of the Arkansas River in Little Rock, Arkansas, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world to its grounds each year.

Opened in 2004, the Center is home to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, and the Little Rock offices of the Clinton Foundation.

Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. To learn more about our presidential libraries, visit the National Archives website.

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.
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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
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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