2010
MOONEYES Christmas at Irwindale
December 12, 2010: After rain
washed out the 2009 annual Mooneyes Xmas Show, in 2010 Chico
Kodama and Shige Suganuma, owners of the Mooneyes stores here
and in Japan, hosted their Christmas Party in July at Irwindale
Raceway. The event included drag racing, live music, cacklecars
and a hot rod/custom car show. Many of the attendees arrived
Friday afternoon to set up and that was a good plan, because
by 7:00 A. M. on Saturday there were already 3,000 cars in the
grounds. About half of them were car show participants and the
rest were spectator cars in the parking lot.
The July event was so successful
they rolled the dice again in December and do it all over again.
The results were the same... tons of race cars, show cars and
fans. Here is the day in photos. Enjoy.
Shige Suganuma and Chico
Kodama, the brothers behind Moon.
Ron Johnson's Tommy Ivo
"Barnstormer" and Chris Karamesines "ChiZler".
Mousie Marcellis had
the fabled Winged Express on display.
Along with Johnson's ChiZler
and Barnstormer, Jake McCloud had the McCloud Bros. Dean Engineering
top fuel dragster on hand and ready for action.
John Ewald was present
with his Mastercar and the Ewald Bros. BankAmeicar.
If you saw American Graffiti
(and who hasn't) you surely remember Candy Clark who these days
is doing special appearances and nostalgia and other car events.
One of the local "pinup"
girls got a static fire up in the McCloud car.
Bob Hirsch warmed up
his Marvin Schwartz "Anaconda" AA/FD.
Bobby Hanson filling
up the tank in his Wynns Spoiler with 92%.
Ron Stearns put another
of the "pinup" girls in his Fiat for the warm up.
Bob Muraves in the BankAmericar.
Ron Johnson, Bobby Hansen,
Chico and Dave Mandella
at the Johnson pit.
Ron Johnson's Tommy Ivo
"Barnstormer".
Ron Johnson's ChiZler V originally
campaigned by the legendary Greek - Chris Karamesines.
Rod Hynes brought out his "Addict"
to make some noise and he put Shige Suganuma in the seat for
its warm-up.
The recently restored
Masters Dragliner was also on display.
Nobody has more fun taking out
his "toy" than Ron Stearns. His restored Ratican-Jackson-Stearns
A/FA.
John Ewald's BankAmericar
and Mastercar ready for some push start action.
Rod Hynes going to the
lanes.
John Ewald, Chico Kodama
and Bob Muravez.
Wife Sharon helps Bob
get his gear on.
Walt Stevens got the
seat in the Barnstormer.
The McCloud Bros car
heading onto the push road.
Bobby Hansen strapped
into his Wynns Spoiler.
Hynes getting ready.
Muravez, in the BankAmerica,
was in the first pair to push start.
Stearn was right behind.
After firing up, the
cars drove down the return road with a fence lined with fans.
Down next was the Addict.
Following Hynes was Bob
Hirsch and John Ewald.
The cars stopped side
by side and simultaneously whacked the throttle. The fans loved
it.
With cars car still running
the first cars were stopped and getting out.
Then back to the pits.
The show continued with the final
pair with Walt Stevens in the Barnstormer first down.
Hansen was right behind
Stevens.
The Barnstormer one-upped everybody
by going all the way down the return road and back onto the track
as if to make a pass. Kol Johnson was on hand to help like getting
Walt's fogged up goggles off his eyes.
Although it didn't run,
the Winged Express did make its presence known.
The last fire-up of the
day was Chico Kodama in the ultra loud Addict.
Another fun event in the books
and it was time to load up, go home and wait to do it all again.
A big thanks to the Moon
people who have done so much for drag racing over the decades.
Merry Chirstmas until
next year... |