Top 5 Children's Car Movies

Recently I did a post on the Top 10 Car Movies of all time according to Andy and I. While I was making this list I desperately wanted to include movies that wouldn't necessarily fare well with a die hard "car guy." But it got me thinking, what about "car kids?" I'm at an age where a good bit of my friends have kids, I have a niece and a nephew (and a few new ones on the way!) and kids movies are better than adult movies 9 times out of 10...

 

So I decided to do a list of Top Children's Car Movies! While I was sad to see there just wasn't too many to choose from, the ones I did find are sure to not disappoint, so here they are:

 

5. Herbie Fully Loaded

This movie gave the old Herbie movie new life, and even made the driver a girl. A great inspiration for little girls everywhere!

 

4. Speed Racer

While the old cartoons are awesome, the recent movie is great for this generations kids. The futuristic cars and colorful scenery is exciting and entertaining for children

 

3. Cars

Disney hit the nail on the head with Cars, from the design to storyline, Cars is perfect for children and adults alike with the accurate representation of real cars coupled with their personalities. It all just fits.

 

2. Turbo

Even though he is a snail and not a car, "no dream is too big, no dreamer too small!" Turbo is an inspirational movie showing kids to follow their dreams, as little Turbo works his way into competing in the Indy 500. A cute and amusing film for children who don't necessarily have to like cars or racing, but may after seeing this film!

 

1. Cars 2

Disney followed up on the blockbuster "Cars," and knocked it out of the park. Lightning McQueen and his friends go on yet another amazing racing adventure in this movie. Teaching kids the value of friendship and hard work, you just can't go wrong with a movie titled Cars!

 

So there they are. While I wish there were more, I personally feel these are the 5 best car movies to show your kids or nieces/nephews. Think I am missing any? Let me know!



Starlight Car Cruise

Last night despite the chance of rain Andy and I ventured out to the Starlight Car Cruise in Wexford, Pa. Even though it sprinkled some, and the car turnout wasn't too high, it was still a nice evening especially because it was Mopar night! 

 

If you haven't been to the Starlight Car Cruise yet, then you are a poor excuse for a car guy (or girl)! Setting aside that this is a weekly (every Friday) car show, it is HUGE. They can hold up to 1200 cars in the parking lot of the North Way Christian Community Church and not surprisingly when the weather is nice, it fills up quickly. Each week they do a "feature row," this week being Mopars. They also have Camaro night, Corvette night, and Mustang night, amongst others coming up. But don't worry, all kinds of cars are welcome every week, they just don't get the prime location of parking right in front of the church...

 

On top of the great selection of cars, they have a DJ, raffle prizes, and food vendors. The food never enticed me though because right behind the car show is my brothers bar, Dive Bar and Grille. That is where we had our delicious dinner (no bias here, I swear). 

 

So, if you haven't checked either of those places out in the charming town of Wexford, GO! It is a Friday evening well spent! 

 

Top 10 Car Movies

 

 

So with yet another weekend of racing off for us, as we prepare for the Monster Mopar race at Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia, Ohio I decided a fun post to do would be a compilation of "essential car-guy movies."

 

What exactly makes a good car movie? Besides the obvious of badass cars, you also need a half decent plot and some good old action scenes. So, as according to Andy and I: here are our Top 10 Car Movies all "car guys" should see:

 

10. The Love Bug

 Setting aside that it's a Disney movie, this cute comedy movie featuring "Herbie the Love Bug" makes any race car driver wish their cars had a mind of their own! Illustrating an exaggerated view of drivers and their relationships with their cars, Herbie's dedication to racing is what we all want our cars to have.

 

9. Grease

While Sandy and Danny's love story is all well and good in this movie, we can't forget the badass cars this movie is centered around either. Even though it's a musical and has a slightly cheesy drag racing scene in it, even if you won't admit it you probably know most of the lines to "Greased Lightning"...

 

8. Bullitt

Not just a cop movie, but an underlying Ford vs. Dodge battle ensues in an intense car chase featuring a 68 Mustang GT and a 68 Charger RT. Can't really go wrong in any muscle car lovers eyes!

 

7.Gone in 60 Seconds

The most epic car heist movie of all time, Gone in 60 Seconds coined every man's dream car "Eleanor." The film is famous for having wrecked and destroyed 93 cars in a 40-minute car chase scene...if you can bear the thought. 

 

6. Two Lane Blacktop

This movie features two men living out every car guys dream life: two street racers who live on the road in their highly-modified, grey primer, 55 Chevy drag car drift from town to town, making their income by challenging local residents to impromptu drag races. What a life!

 

5. Smokey and the Bandit

 While delivering beer from Texas to Georgia, the adventure really focuses around Smokey after he picks up "Frog" in his Pontiac Trans Am in a cross-country car chase.

 

4. Le Mans

 Another Steve McQueen movie, this one is an intense Porsche vs. Ferrari in the 24-hour-long Le Mans race.

 

3. American Graffiti

Where were you in 62? Following a group of recent high school graduates during the "greaser" era, this movie has tons of old first generation muscle cars.

 

2. Vanishing Point

A car delivery man on speed being chased across the country in a 1970 Dodge Challenger RT while being broadcast on the radio. Will they catch him? Watch the ending carefully...

1. Christine

Okay, so we are a little biased with the Mopars in this countdown, but who wouldn't want a car that loves you so much it would kill for you? Not to mention the regenerating wrecked parts sure would save you a ton of money...

 

 

So that's it, the 10 best car movies that we suggest you watch during a weekend you're not racing! Got a favorite car movie not listed here? Leave a comment!

For Dad

With Father's Day coming up tomorrow, coupled with the fact that we didn't race today and I have nothing else to blog about, on top of the fact that I did a blog post for my mom for Mother's Day, I figured it would be nice today to make a post in honor of my "first love," my dad.

 

So, setting run-on sentences and other poor grammatical choices aside, let me talk (or type...whatever) a little about my dad...

 

Sometimes I wonder how people become the way they are; how you can have family members who, despite coming from the same gene pool, are totally opposite, and then some who are so alike there is only the question of in what way they are related...

But I would imagine a big part of what shapes us as people is what and who we allow to influence us and in what ways. A lot of people have considered me a "mini Craig," because in most ways, I am a smaller, female version of him (which has its pros and cons). According to my theory, that would make perfect sense given the fact that my dad has been, and continues to be, a huge influence on me. And to be honest, there is no one else on this earth who I would want to impact my life the way he did.

 

My dad has truly showed me the value of hard work. He built his business up from nothing (I mean literally, he and his dad built his garage from scratch). He showed me how to make sacrifices to take care of bigger responsibilities when I learned he quit drag racing for an entire decade so he could provide for my brothers and I. My dad taught me you can express love in all kinds of ways, like always being aware of his actions because it sets an example for my brothers and I. And most of all, every single day my dad shows me what strength truly looks like.

 

My dad brought drag racing into my life. Before he did, he showed me just how much work goes into something like drag racing. From building a car, to maintaining it, to simple tasks during race day, he gave me a full understanding of how much he (and my father in law now) puts into giving me just a few seconds of fun.

Racing is where my dad and I truly connect. He is the only person who understands me and my racing style. The only person who can calm me down after a tough loss. He is my biggest fan.

With racing, I learned focus (and just how hard it is to do this), I learned precision (and how much it matters), and I learned patience.

Racing and my dad have taught me hard work pays off. He taught me how to win and (mostly) lose gracefully, and how important being a good sport is. He taught me your actions have lasting impressions on many people. And the biggest lesson he taught me is that without having faith in myself, I will never be able to succeed.

 

Without my dad's love and encouragement, I would not only have quit racing a long time ago, but I also would never have felt I was worth the love of someone else. He has helped me get past my lowest points in life by never giving up on me and always staying by my side. His faith that I could end up somewhere better, and that I deserved it, is why I have come to where I am now.

 

I know I would need an entire blog dedicated to my dad to tell all the stories of how great he is. But, since I don't, you all will just have to take my word for it.

My dad is pretty damn great.

 

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

 

 

 



Back to the strip...

It's been a nice couple of weekends off, but Saturday we hit the pavement, or at least I did. I drove solo at Quaker City Motorsports Park with Andy sitting in as crew chief.

A few weeks off can do you some good, sometimes. After the beatings I have been taking, it was nice to take some time to decompress, figure out what I did wrong, pick up the pieces and move forward. 

Well the past few weeks off didn't do much good in the winning department, but it was enjoyable taking a smaller setup and one car out to a track and just enjoying the day.

The events turned a little strange once people from Pittsburgh Raceway started coming through the gates around 6PM, telling us PRP had closed due to the track surface being damaged to the point that racing on it was unsafe. While there are rumors going about on the condition of the track and how long it will take to repair, I will be blogging only strictly facts...

The only fact I know for certain right now is the surface cannot be repaired in time for the Bob George Racing Championship Series that was to take place this coming weekend. This is unfortunate for the Mopar racing community (as well as us as sponsors) because so many look forward to these Mopar-only races. However, I know the race promoters and sponsors are working hard to make the Quaker City BGR race a huge success in August.

So now that our Maryland trip is off the books for this weekend, and the Mopar race was cancelled, it's kind of up in the air where/if we will race this weekend. We will just have to stay tuned for more updates to find out...