After a 20 year break from racing dirt and asphalt ovals, Charles Utts decided to turn his very first truck into a very capable autocross racer. Charles blew the dust off the stalled restoration of his 1977 Dodge Power Wagon and sent it to Brian Finch at Finch Performance for one of his custom-built pro-touring chassis. While Finch was at it, he convinced Charles the only option for an engine would be a Hellcat. The enthusiasm and passion Charles has for this truck is contagious and he also proves that you’re never to old to get started in autocross!

In this episode I talk with Randy Johnson who is the owner of D&Z Customs who has built several high-end pro touring cars and trucks. Don’t be fooled by the show-car appearance of these hotrods, they were built to perform on the autocross and track at a high level. Randy brings us back to the beginning of D&Z Customs and we discuss several of his personal cars and customer cars.

Johnny Cichowski is the owner of Nine Lives Racing, who specializes in designing and manufacturing aerodynamic components for a variety of cars. Johnny shares his journey from the US Army to professional motorsports to owning a business in a very niche market. We discuss his approach to designing wings and splitters and how they can affect the performance of your race car.

In this episode I’m joined by Pat Gorman, the owner of a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 known as the Oldsmobeast. Pat is also the owner of Gorman Performance Engineering who specialized in the design and manufacture of high-end GM A,F, & X  body suspension components. We discuss the current setup of the 442 consisting of a big HP LS, BMW DCT transmission, and the full catalog of GPE suspension parts.

Doug McIndoe is a rookie auto crosser with only one event under his belt at the time we recorded. The skyrocketing costs of muscle cars forced Doug to take a different path for his corner carver and chose a 2003 Chevy Silverado. In this episode, Doug shares his motivation for getting into auto cross along with details of the truck. I love the enthusiasm Doug has after such a short amount of time participating and I think you will too.

Don’t let the patina fool you. Underneath the perfectly weathered paint of Sean James’ 1969 Pontiac Firebird lies a 600HP LS, a T56 transmission, and some serious suspension upgrades. I was able to check out this awesome hotrod and meet Sean and his son (who was co-driving) at the St. Louis CAM Challenge. In this episode we briefly talk about our experience at the CAM Challenge and Sean shares the history of the car and the events he’s participated in over the years.

Justin Peachey is likely the most decorated guest I’ve had on the show so far. He’s the Holley Grand Champion triple Crown winner, 3x SCCA Pro Solo National Champion, 3x SCCA TT National Max1 Champion and holds the Gridlife NCM lap record. Besides these notable trophies, he’s had a slew of FTDs at his local autocross days. In this episode we learn more about his driving history and the C6 Corvette he uses to destroy his competition.

Nearly everyone has a dream car, but how often do people get to own their dream car? For Eric Peachey, his dream car was a Dodge Viper. Who could blame him for loving the raw V10 power and sleek bodylines of this American supercar? After selling his first autocross car, Eric was able to find the car of his dreams, a 2008 Dodge Viper. Don’t be fooled by the garage queen stereotype, Eric has driven his Viper to many autocross class wins over the years with only a few performance modifications. While Eric isn’t collecting trophies, he’s sharing his performance driving knowledge with others. Find out more about Eric and his beautiful Dodge Viper in this episode.

Finally, a guest with an early Mustang!  Dan Hipskind has only been into autocross for a few years but has had some great success so far. In this episode, we learn how Dan transformed his run of the mill restomod1966 Mustang into corner carving animal with help of a Detroit Speed aluma-frame front suspension, Steet or Track watts link, and a Ford Performance Coyote crate motor for more than enough horsepower. The power and grip is put to the ground with some Forgestar wheels wrapped in sticky Bridgestones.

If you were to say a Jeep CJ7 doesn’t have a place in autocross, Gary Hebert would say you were wrong. However, his CJ7 isn’t an ordinary Jeep, it was hand built by Gary himself to beat up on Corvettes, Camaros, Mustangs, and Miatas on the autocross. In this episode, we discuss the well thought out features that make this Jeep CJ7 brutally fast around the cones. We also discuss his motivation behind becoming the Regional Executive for the Delta Region SCCA

Arnie Gonzales is the owner and founder of OBS Chevy Racing and the Pro Touring Truck Shootout. In this episode, we discuss the history of Arnie’s racing career and what led him to racing an OBS Chevy truck and eventually designing parts to increase the truck’s handling performance. With the Pro Touring Truck shootout coming up next month, we talk about the different classes and how the shootout portion of the event work.

TCI Engineering has manufactured chassis and suspension components for a wide variety of cars and trucks since 1974. In this episode I talk with Jason Wilcox, the marketing Manager for TCI Engineering.  We discussed the history of TCI and how the products have changed over the years. Likely the best part of Jason’s role at TCI is helping his customers fine tune their suspension, often driving their vehicles to event or class wins. Some of the amazing vehicles we talk about are Wally Logan’s 1970 C10 built by Barry’s Speed Shop, Alfredo Rios’s K5 Blazer known as banana hammock built by his shop Auto Drive Collision, and lastly, the Race Deuce owned by Tanya Toothman built by James Crosby.

Emery Seaton won CAM-T nationals in 2022 at 17 years old and came in 2nd in 2023 driving a Fox Body Mustang his grandpa built. I’m joined by Emery and his father Brent, and we learn the history of the car Grandpa Seaton built. While Emery is in college, the Mustang is getting a coyote swap and he’s keeping his driving skills sharp driving for the Formula SAE team at his school.

Nick McCrabb has owned his 1979 Camaro for 20 years and just recently decided to change the car from the stereotypical hotrod with 15” Cragars and ¾ race cam to a pro touring, autocross capable car.  Being active-duty US Airforce, Nick has had limited seat time but really enjoys the sport and plans to continuously improve the car when his time allows. We discuss the history of the car and the improvements he’s made so far. I’m excited to see another classic muscle car not only convert to a pro-touring build but also get used on an autocross. Thank you for your service, Nick!

Tim Beechuck is the SCCA Street Survival National Program Manager and Sean Connell is the St. Louis Region Street Survival Regional Chair. Tim and Sean provide an overview of the program and how beneficial it can be for new, teen drivers.  This episode is off topic from my normal content, so I’m releasing it as a bonus episode to help promote the program. I’m sure many of my listeners are either parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles and can appreciate how dangerous the road can be for new drivers.

In this episode, I’m joined by SUPER Dave Schotz and we discuss his successful 2024 racing season in his 2022 Camaro. Dave won CAM-C at the SCCA Nationals in Lincoln, NE followed with a GT Class win and 2nd overall at Optima’s Search for the Ultimate Streetcar Invitation in Las Vegas. We discuss some challenges with modifying a modern car, so it appeals to the Design and Engineering judges at OUSCI along with competing across multiple series that have different rule sets. IT’S A PILE OF TROPHIES…. IT’S AN ORANGE CAMARO….. IT’S SUPER DAAAAAVVVVVE!

Peter Bergman has dedicated much of his professional career to developing and selling high quality suspension components for torsion bar based Mopar suspension through his business, Bergman Autocraft. Peter’s 1971 Dodge Dart serves as a test bed for all the parts he sells. He has owned the Dart for 40 years and has put nearly 200,000 miles on the car during this time. Although the Dart may look like a trailer queen show car, Peter has used the Dart for Optima events, open track days, Moparty Grand Champion, SCCA autocross, and Power Tour.

Stephen Riner’s 1994 Ford Mustang has undergone constant improvement over the past several  years with unique engineered parts designed by Stephen himself. Many of the modifications and technical discussions behind the modifications are documented on his YouTube channel, Riner Automotive. Stephen’s driving capabilities have been rewarded with podium finishes at his local SCCA autocross events and Autocross Week.  Find out more in this episode of Talbot’s Turn Fast Podcast.

Zach Sawyer is a 3-time Autocross Week winner and has been known to do some stunt driving with his 2003 Chevy S10. Zach also participates in the UMI Autocross series and his events local to his hometown. Find out more about Zach and his S10 in this episode of Talbot’s Turn Fast Podcast.

Todd Farris is a long-term CP class racer and has driven several cars at the national level, proving a small budget doesn’t have to be a limiting factor. For an interesting twist, Todd stepped up his racing career in 2001 and started late model stock car racing. Check out the rest of Todd’s story in this episode of Talbot’s Turn Fast Podcast.