Cars Yeah With Mark Greene

Martin Port has worked in automotive publishing for 18 years and is an author, art editor, freelance writer, and photographer. He is the Art Editor for Classic & Sports Car Magazine, writes and shoots photography for Classic Land Rover magazine, and is the editor for Built 2 Last Magazine. Martin also writes for the Land Rover Series 2 Club magazine. His latest book is Mini Scrapbook – 60 Years of a British Icon published by Porter Press International in the U.K. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Mini, a little car that made a big impact. This is the latest in a Scrapbook Series from Philip and Julie Porter at Porter Press. Martin has also worked as the Art Editor for Liverpool Football Club Matchday magazine and the official McLaren F1 team magazine as well. 

Eric ‘Spook’ LeClair is what happens when you cross an Engineer with an Artist.  A vintage steel restoration guru with a passion for paint, Spook dreamed of Airkooled Kustoms long before opening the shop, located in Hazel Green, in 2004. The mastermind behind the proprietary processes that yield Darkside dubs that Volkswagen and Porsche enthusiasts drool over, Spook doesn’t do anything halfway. Raised in California and transplanted to Alabama; he doesn't exactly blend in, but he's an adaptable fellow. He also has a new book out, How To Restore Your Volkswagen Beetle.

Cara Adams is the Chief Engineer and Manager of Race Tire Engineering at Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. She has over a decade of race tire engineering and development experience. Today she is responsible for overseeing all design, development, and track-side support of Firestone race tires used in the NTT IndyCar® Series. Cara also serves on the boards of several community organizations as Secretary for the Akron section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a board member of Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Services and with Akron Public School’s Project Lead the Way, a pre-Engineering program for high school students. She has earned multiple awards and was recently selected to be in the Inaugural Akron Urban League’s Academy of Leaders. As if she’s not busy enough, Cara also competes in triathlons and marathons.

David Rose has spent his career in the fashion industry, successful as a designer, merchandiser, and company principle. All else that followed with his passion for cars and racing began in a Cinerama theater in Boston, in 1988 with the viewing of the film “Grand Prix”. Formula 1 racing became a prime focus for his future aspirations. David loves British sports cars and purchased an MGA when he was young, but the east coast winters were harsh so he switched to a 289 Mustang. David is a long time vintage racer having run many cars including formula cars with SCCA in a Formula Ford, Formula Atlantic, Formula 5000 Le Grand, and Grahm Hills Formula 1, Shadow DN1-3A. He is also a writer who has written for magazines including Rewind and some others. 

Kristen Krissy Wells is the Membership & Development Manager, better described as the “FUN” in Fundraising at LeMay America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington. Krissy oversees membership, member events, driving tours, and development planning for this great museum. In September Kristen will be celebrating 5 years with LeMay-America’s Car Museum and plans to continue sharing ACM’s mission; Preserving the Past, Celebrating the Present, and Driving the Future.  Kristen has discovered that her true calling, her passion, is her love for people and cars.  She grew up out on the race track, raced go-karts, and has a love for wake surfing in her spare time.

Eric Keller has transformed his hobby and passion for all things BMW into Enthusiasts Auto Group (EAG), a specialized business known for quality preservation of the most significant BMWs produced over the past four decades. Started in a college dorm room, he surrounded himself with talented BMW experts including his brother Evan Keller. At EAG they source, rehabilitate, and find top-level BMWs for fellow enthusiasts all over the globe. They manage all functions of BMW preservation in-house from mechanical service and repairs to complete restoration work in their paint and body department.  Focusing primarily on BMW M-Cars, thousands of cars have gone through their rejuvenation program.  

Gary and Monika Wescott have spent the last 45 years globetrotting around the world, from the deserts of Turkmenistan, following the Silk Road, to the jungles of the Amazon and across Siberia in the dead of winter. This couples’ travel adventures have been published in ten countries and eight languages. They travel in their meticulously prepared research trucks, from the original Land Rover to the current Ford F550 they named The Turtle V. The Turtle Expedition’s popular blogs are currently describing details of their fifth truck which they are preparing to ship to South America for another extensive exploration. Their last expedition took them 40,000 miles through 26 countries for 2 years following the Silk Road and around the world. You can follow them at www.turtleexpedition.com. 

Chris Nunes is known as the ‘California Kid’. He is a 17 year old senior at Steel Canyon High School in San Diego, California. His scholastic interests include engineering when he’s not racing, and he hopes to one day design the world’s fastest Electric Formula E race car. Chris has raced competitively since he was 4 years old and has won numerous national and regional motocross titles and in 2014, he started racing off-road modified karts. He is the only youth racer to win championship titles in both Motocross and Off-Road Racing Trucks. In 2018 he turned pro, racing a Pro Buggy in Lucas Oil's Off-Road Short Course and this season, he won the Race Series opener on the CBS Sports Network. In his spare time, he trains younger off-road racers and he trains the all-girl Athena Racing Team, run by past Cars Yeah guest, Loxley Brown.

Richard Francis has been producing his blog, Motor Sport for Mental Health since 2015. He created the blog to raise awareness for mental health issues within the automotive community to help others who are going through a difficult time within the automotive community and motorsports. Having suffered himself with a mental breakdown at age 19 in January of 2013, he discovered that pursuing motorsport encouraged him to push through his challenges, fears, and insecurities and as a result he started his own business, traveled around the world, expanded his social relationships, and became a better and stronger version of himself.

Curt Hooker recently retired after 50 years of helping build the Edelbrock company, in Los Angeles, California. I had the pleasure of meeting Curt while shooting an episode of Cars Yeah TV at the Edelbrock headquarters. Curt was in charge of developing and testing performance products for the company. A life-long automotive enthusiast who loves wrenching on cars and going fast, for six years Curt raced his 1968 Chevelle Super Stock Racer winning numerous bracket races on Wednesday and Saturday nights. From there he ran an A/ED front engine dragster and set a national record at 7.8 at 180 mph back in 1977 and 1978. Curt and his wife Theresa have been married for 41 years and their two sons have followed in their dad’s footsteps, loving cars and his 11-year-old grandson races a Mini Hydro boat.

Matthew Field is the world's leading authority on The Italian Job. In 2009 he co-produced and directed a feature-length documentary about the film for Paramount Pictures. He has written numerous books on cinema including the best selling Some Kind Of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films. Matthew has worked on feature films around the world producing behind the scenes marketing materials and most recently completed work on Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again for Universal Pictures. Matthew s has directed a number of documentaries including a one-hour retrospective to accompany the 3D re-release of James Cameron’s Terminator 2 in 2018. He was the editorial consultant on the official MGM film Everything or Nothing, which marked the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series. He currently serves on the board of The Ian Fleming Foundation that owns over 20 vehicles used in the popular series.

Loxley Browne is the driving force and Executive Director behind Athena Racing. She has taken her love for the automobile and combined it with her business acumen, marketing skills, and intense devotion to create Athena Racing. It is a serious platform from which to learn STEM principles that helps open young minds to all the possibilities that lay before them. She works with young women who are primed to race towards the finish line and demolish the status quo.   Loxley is a member of the San Diego Women in STEM ecosystem. She volunteers with the Veterans Museum to chair the kidFUNfest and volunteers with the La Jolla Concours as well as TEDx in Southern California.

Rob Sass is Editor-in-Chief of Porsche Panorama, the official publication of the Porsche Club of America, also known as the PCA. He is also the PCA’s Director of Content, and his role was recently responsible for the launch of Rennbow, the Porsche Color Wiki which is the largest collection of Porsche car color images on the Web, all organized by color. Rob started his career as a lawyer; a prosecutor with the Missouri Attorney General’s office. He transitioned to automotive publishing over 15 years ago, first as a freelancer. His work appeared in Car and Driver, Sports Car Market, Classic and Sports Car, The New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune. He spent six years at Hagerty Insurance and was Editor-in-Chief of Chevrolet’s official brand publication New Roads.

Danny Baker is a diehard automotive enthusiast, driver, and a Partner at Marshal Goldman Motor Sales in Cleveland, Ohio where for over 40 years they have offered pre-owned collectibles and high-end automobiles. He is just as passionate about business as he is collecting and racing his Ferrari 488 Challenge car. He competes in numerous motorsports events around the world for the last four years including the Ferrari Challenge Series. When not on the track, Danny guides the day-to-day operations of Marshall Goldman Motor Sales and their sales and marketing efforts. He’s spent nearly 20 years in dealership sales and marketing building strong and long-standing relationships with customers, friends, and his team.

Gunner Mench is the President of the Porsche Club of America chapter on the Big Island of Hawaii. He and wife Elli own Harbor Gallery, an island fixture that's been there for 30 years, where they support over 200 local Island artists and their creations. Born in Germany, Gunner immigrated to the US with his parents when he was just 2 years old. His father had a ’59 1600 Super 356 Porsche that instilled his passion for air-cooled German cars. His father was a Porsche Club of America member and that legacy was handed down to Gunner who worked to create the PCA Club on the island of Hawaii after purchasing a Porsche 356. Gunner was an ASC Certified Mechanic and today he is an avid air-cooled Porsche collector. Shout out to past Cars Yeah Podcast and TV guest Sara Dakarmen for introducing me to Gunner.

Kathryn Reinhardt is a 17-year veteran of the aftermarket automotive industry. She started in Atlanta, GA as a street racer, drag racer, road racer and then a car builder. She relocated to California to pursue her automotive dreams and has worked for some powerful automotive companies including CEC Wheels, Spectre Intakes, Dirt Sports Magazine, Go Rhino! Truck accessories, MagnaFlow Exhaust, and today she is with Pilot Automotive. Kathryn is the current Chairwoman of TORA, SEMA’s Truck and Off Road council, she is a newly-elected member of the SEMA Board of Directors, and she’s the Chair of the SEMA Pinewood Derby committee.

Billy Baugus is the owner of American Detailer Garage. His company provides car care cleaning products that improve efficiency providing the user with the simplicity of use. Billy is a veteran in the car care industry and a proud American Patriot who began his career in his late teens. He was first a DIY guy, a weekend warrior in detailing Marines vehicles during his time in the service. From there he grew his detailing business to service production shops, auction houses, and body shops. For over two decades he has turned his methods and processes into a car care brand through his training classes and US made products. Billy won the Supplier of the Year award from the IDA in 2018.

Dr. Tom Matano is the Executive Director at the School of Industrial Design, at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. He has over thirty years of experience in the automotive design industry. He has held design positions at General Motors Design in Michigan, GM Holden’s in Australia, and with BMW in Germany. Tom was a Chief Designer at Mazda North America and worked at the Mazda Headquarters in Japan where he managed the Chief Designers group that creates the entire Mazda car line. His accomplishments there include the MPV, MX 5, RX7, Miata “M-Coupe” and the “M-Speedster” concept cars. Dr. Matano has been enhancing the Industrial Design department at the Academy of Art University since 2002.

Stephanie Ray is an automotive artist who finds inspiration from her childhood memories. Her father always had a classic car in the garage he was restoring and it was those cars that she chooses as subjects for her art today. A majority of her recent art has been classic cars reimagined in psychedelic colors. As inspiration Stephanie wanders through junkyards with camera in hand looking for the next work of art she can bring to life. Her goal is to provoke thought, document history, and inspire conversation. Her latest series documents the muscle car drive-in era and evokes that nostalgia.

J.D. Wyczalek (why-zall-ick) is the founder of A.Z. College Planning, a college-consulting firm that helps students get admitted to schools and get high dollar scholarships. J.D. is also an automotive entrepreneur, a business owner, philanthropist, inventor, husband, father, and a racecar driver. After competing in several amateur endurance road races, he noticed there was a need for better safety products and he couldn’t find anything on the market that met his wishes, so he invented one. He came up with FireSack, a simple idea where a wearable bag drapes over the head and shoulders with a large, kangaroo-style pocket that holds a fire extinguisher. It provides quick access to fire suppression and reduces fatigue while cutting down the time it takes a safety worker to engage the extinguisher.