The 13th annual weekend of vintage racing featured more than 250 cars competing in nine race groups on a 1.7-mile course on the runways of North Island Naval Air Station, Coronado. It’s the only auto racing venue in the world held on an active U.S. Navy runway. Combined with a huge car corral, a car show, military displays, Maynard’s Garage, drifting demos, vendor booths, flyovers, Leap Frog performances, new-car test drives, food and live music—it’s a must-see San Diego tradition. And the event is a fund raiser for the Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation Fund for family support! 

J. Bittle brought out his historic 1968 Trans Am Mustang to race in Group 9 and what a weekend. J sat on the pole for the Saturday Trans Am race and went on to win the race! On Sunday, he sat on the pole again and finished half-a-car-length out of first place in one of the most exciting finishes in Coronado’s 13-year race history.  JBA also served a few hundred hot dogs each day in our pit area and co-hosted a booth with our buddies from Custom Auto Body and San Diego BMW Motorcycles. All in all, a great weekend of racing with friends and family.

The attached pictures run through the weekend with shots taken in the pits, a little racing action and quite a few shots from the Car Corral. If you didn’t make it this year, be sure to join us next year!

Barona Drag Strip hosted the 39th Antique Drags Sunday, September 19th at their 1/8-mile facility. The Antique Drags lost access to a quarter-mile drag strip years ago when Carlsbad closed and recently the event changed “management”. But fortunately, the Antique Drags continues to survive due to strong support from drag race fans in San Diego County. A good crowd turned out again today and were rewarded with sunny skies and side-by-side drag race action, not to mention the Mr. Frosty truck. JBA continues to support drag racing in San Diego as an annual sponsor of Barona Drag Strip. See the attached pictures for a sampling of burnouts and cars in the pits and staging lanes. -bt

A great Southern California tradition continued today with the 31st annual Woodie meet known as Wavecrest held at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The sun burnt off the marine layer in the morning as visitors wandered through row after row of Woodies…everything from vintage rolling stock and restored classics to highly modified hot rods…with wood as the common denominator.  JBA has worked on a bunch of different Woodies over the years and it was nice to see most of them in one place. The attached images include some random shots followed by a series that highlights the clever license plates found on many Woodies. We’ve also included a large batch of “window art” pictures showcasing Woodie window decals. The granddaddy of all Woodie shows, Wavecrest is hosted by a dedicated group of volunteers from San Diego Woodies. For more info, go to http://www.nationalwoodieclub.com/chapter_sdiego.htm.  -bt

Sunday September 12th kicked off the first Coffee and Cars event at JBA Performance Center in Kearny Mesa. Coffee, tea, donuts and breakfast burritos arrived at dawn and folks cruised in for a cup of joe, to hang out, share war stories (“tp parties” and “lawn jobs”) and watch racing events on a big screen tv. Scheduled for the 2nd Sunday of each month, be sure to join us for round 2 on Sunday October 10th from dawn until 10am. See the pictures for a sampling of the cars that came by. -bt

JBA cruised over to the swap meet/car show this morning at Qualcomm. Cool stuff to look at, cool stuff to buy, cool cars to check out. Lots of familiar faces. For more info on Ray Taylor’s events, go to www.sandiegoautoswap.com. Random images follow. -bt