Smiles like these are what it’s all about. Ray Evernham, championship crew chief and former NASCAR team owner, rides along with Oilers Car Club member Travis “Tuki” Hess at the third-annual Race of Gentlemen. Photograph courtesy of Thomas Rowe.
As editors of automotive publications, we naturally tend to focus our attentions solely on wheeled vehicles and not so much on human beings and their faces, but the other day online I came across Thomas Rowe’s photograph of Ray Evernham and Tuki Hess, and the sheer, unbridled joy their smiles communicate really got my attention. Anything that can make grown men grin like children has gotta be worthy of looking into, so I dropped into the Hemmings Internet servers and began sifting through the thousands of photographs that our team snapped at this year’s Race of Gentlemen (“TROG”) on the beaches of Wildwood, New Jersey.
Turns out, Hemmings Daily Editor Kurt Ernst has a great eye for interesting mugs, and unless indicated otherwise, the pictures below were taken by him.
A cracked head necessitates last year’s race winner, Mike Santiago, rebuild his engine in the parking lot of his hotel with help from fellow racer Clayton Paddison. A wrench or two may have been thrown at some point in the dark of the night, but no picture I’ve come across can prove it. These guys always seem to be working hard, and often, smiling and joking. Photograph by the author.
Oiler Jason Elrod is smiling… Well, he is inside anyway. His mirrored sunglasses reflect what he’s up against: an eighth mile of sandy beach track and the steering wheel of destiny in his hands.
Okay, okay. I admit, not all these guys are grinning like Cheshire cats. Ryan Mackey, seen here on his 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA, takes his turn at bat seriously. And who wouldn’t? Racing on the beach in New Jersey is a rare opportunity that, before three years ago, hadn’t happened in perhaps a hundred years or more.
Richie Whalen gives his friend, young Corey Kwapich, the chance of a lifetime by loaning him his 1932 Ford three-window Coupe to drive at the race. These guys are all about using their equipment while generating the greatest amount of fun for the largest number of enthusiasts.
‘Sure do get the sense that behind these eyes there are hundreds of past races running, and he’s figuring on the countless ways he’s going to get the drop on you. This is race organizer Mel Stultz III’s dad, Meldon Jr., in his flatty-powered ’29 Roadster.
Lars Mapstead is having the time of his life racing the legendary record-setting (215 MPH at Bonneville) Morris Brothers SoCal Speed Shop roadster on the beach.
“Pardon me. Do you have any Grey Poupon?” Cory Ketterhagen seems to say from the bucket of his ’30 A/V-8. Actually, no, he doesn’t seem to say that, but these folks have a great sense of humor. I’m sure right now he’s plotting just how he’s going to get back at me.
Bryan McCann, the fourth generation of a dynasty of automotive enthusiasts and owner, along with his dad, Scott, of DeLuxe Speed Shop based in Commerce City, Colorado, in his early dry lakes-style A/V-8 that he constructed from period parts. His dad also raced at TROG.
Jim Pardi, rolling back after a run with his buddy Dave Singleton, gives the crowd the thumbs-up. Jim worked with 1945 Speed & Custom in Troy, New York, to build this Merc-powered ’32 Roadster, learning the ropes along the way.
Promoter, prankster and priest of prewar speed, race organizer Mel Stultz spends a year to set up each TROG and manages to keep everything running smoothly, while at the same time having some fun himself along the way. And he never forgets to show some love to his friends and sponsors.
Staging boss, Joe Oz, vigilant in top hat and tails, controls the lanes during the race, and here shepherds Eli English in his 1925 Model T to the starting line.
Flag girl, Sara Francello, perhaps works harder than anyone else at TROG and still manages to maintain her good nature and dramatic three-foot-high flag drops like this one hundreds and hundreds of times throughout the weekend. Photograph courtesy of Andrew Beaudry.
Interesting people abound at TROG. This is Jimmy Leslie of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, resident artist for Winsor & Newton, an international art supply company. Jimmy’s work, he tells us, tends toward landscapes but often ends up having cars in it. Like a moth to a flame, he set up on the gravel of the ad hoc corral outside the Starlux Hotel in Wildwood, and captured the character and latent energy of some of the great cars there in pen and watercolors. Photograph courtesy of the author.
Rex Jolles, eight, of Philadelphia is an “old soul” his mom, Lisa Solis, tells us. For Christmas last year, he asked for wing tip shoes, a plaid Jeff Cap and button-fastening suspenders, and he loves to tinker with mechanical things. Here, HMN publisher Jim Menneto lets him see the world from the driver’s seat before giving him a ride. Photograph courtesy of the author.
But Rex isn’t just an old soul, he’s also a little boy and not beyond grinning his face off as he gets ready to blow donuts on the beach with Ken Oyler, a friend of ours who didn’t think twice about giving the next generation a ride when we asked him if he would. Photograph courtesy of the author.
In front of our 1934 Ford one-ton wrecker, the Hemmings crew at TROG: (left to right) Jim O’Clair, Steve Berry, Terry McGean, Daniel Beaudry, Matt Williams (standing in the bed), Kurt Ernst, Jim Menneto and Dan Stoner. Photograph courtesy of Andrew Beaudry.