Here is a partial write up by Dave Bertino:

Friday night was setup as a freebee. If you like Friday night you would pay for Saturday and Sunday. It worked! It was a blast.

We came a long way from P.V.C. banner stands to bike rail. The first time we set up the P.V.C. stands and put the sponsor banners on them the wind came up and we had a hell of a rodeo. Everybody scrambled to lay them down before they hit any cars. They were like guideless sailboats going down the street. We acquired some sand bags off a job site at first and main to cure our problem and yes we returned them to their proper owner. We finally made the switch to bike rail. A lot better.

Saturday, Bill Wasson and crew judging and Old Farts monitoring cross walks. See, we did not have Teen Challenge when we started. We had 10 crews with 5 – 6 on a crew. We were very lucky to get Teen Challenge to monitor those cross walks.

A first trophy presentation was on the stage of Ninth and Main. That was before they opened Ninth Street to drive through. There was DJ Bob Cuthbert, Uncle Larry and myself on stage. George Mazzacane won the Best of Show and as he heard his name he was to drive up (well if you are a Hot Rodder you know shit happens) His 40 would not start but the good family that George has, they all pushed his car to the stage.

Friday closing off the streets. There were about 6 or 8 of us working with Bud Stone. It would take us about 1 hour to get the biggest part of the streets closed off. Today we have 20 people and we get those streets closed in 20 minutes.

I remember one Friday night R.C. was not feeling good so he told Uncle Larry & myself that he was going home and that we were in charge. (What could possibly go wrong?) Everything was going good until Riverside’s finest R.P.D. said, this is your show and if you want Kenny Asche to do a burnout, have at it (do you remember the first part of this article about Rules?) So what could possibly go wrong to have Kenny do a burn out in the middle of the cruise route at Market & Fifth? Well, he did one of his signature figure 8’s. It was bad ass. Now how do you put the toothpaste back in the tube? Every car that was in a 1/8 mile had to spin his tires. Larry and I looked at each other and said, did we do this? We both looked at the Riverside Finest that did not have a care in the world and we said you need to stop this. There was about 8 moto cops that drove down the street 2 at a time until they all stopped spinning their tires. The next morning R.C. was at the drags asking us what the hell happened last night? We blamed the cops.

There was a trophy presentation that we did on University & Market where I had a great idea, so I thought. Was going to have a Butt that would open up and as it opened a puff of smoke and a car would come out to receive their trophy. You might ask “why would you?” Answer is “Just because”. Well, we could not find a Butt so we used a tent. We would close the tent with the car coming in from the back, charge it with smoke from two smoke machines as soon as the trophy winner’s name was announced the front of the tent would open up the car would drive out in a plume of smoke. Does this sound like something that the old farts would do?

When the trophy presentation was over we would pick up all the barricades and delineators and head to the drag strip (Riverside Airport). Dave Barnekow and crew worked all day setting up the K Rail on both sides of the track then when we showed up we would set the 3 staging lanes. Fast 16, Pre 1948 and Post 1948. That made a long day. We would finish at 11:00 or 12:00 then back the next morning.

Sunday Morning Buck was the guy with the 1/8 mile timing lights, they were very out dated. R.C. made a comment that the squirrel died turning the wheel but Buck always made them work. I was able to get an announcer booth from Mobile Modular where Bruce Flanders & Lindsay Godfrey could see the whole track with air-conditioning. Bruce was the perfect announcer. Lindsay was sharp with the timing slips & brackets, see, her Dad is a drag racer. Dave Barnekow worked the starting line. Sometimes we would have a little down time so Danny (asshole) Hensley and I would race our Indian Motor bikes. Bruce would get the crowd going by saying who wants the Yellow Indian to win. The crowd would go wild. Then he’d say who wants the Red Indian to win the crowd would go wild. The Red Indian always won. One time we raced the Mayor of Riverside Ron Loveridge against the Mayor of San Bernardino Judith Valles. Henry Hemborg got us two Fords to race. We’d build it up pretty good. Well, Judith beat Ron and Ron complained that his car was not running right. Word has it that Judith’s son-in-law Danny (asshole) Hensley took two plug wires off Ron’s motor. Fun stuff. Over the years we have had many sponsors and great volunteers.

In 2004 R.C. joined the race track in the sky. We looked for someone to fill his shoes and the one we looked to was Mark Godfrey. Mark and Finn Comer have kept this show going. I do miss all those meetings and Old Farts in R.C.’s kitchen and those late nights setting up the drags. 20 years of great memories. See all of you at the show. For more info please visit https://www.showandgo.org/

When the Mustang was first sold back in 1964, there was no such thing as a “pony car” or anything about a “sports” class. The Ford Mustang was introduced and iconized a whole new class of automobile, drawing the likes of the Pontiac Firebird, Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro, and the Plymouth Barracuda. The Mustang even brought back excitement and renovation to the Challenger and Camaro in the 2000’s with the “retro” look of the 2005 Mustang. Quite the revolutionary vehicle over the past fifty years!

The Mustang has also inspired the need for speed in racing events across the world, making a first appearance as a pace car for the 1964 Indy 500. This, with the sporty lines of the pony car and increasing power under the hood led to many events such as drag racing and the National Hot Rod Associations’ own events, NASCAR, and drifting at the Formula Drift and D1 Grand Prix series.

This weekend, however, the Mustang has stirred the car enthusiasts with Strictly Stangs to host their annual one-night car show—MAD Mustangs After Dark right here at Raceway Ford. A small community event which started out in 2009, Mustangs After Dark has developed into a full-on Mustang event, with estimation of over 100 Mustangs in the club, and over 600 aficionados at the event alone! This has become a traditional Southern California event which gathers Mustangs from all over California and the outlying states.

MAD Mustangs After Dark and Strictly Stangs congregate all types of the steel equine. From your entry-level, to the BOSS 302, down to the GT350 Shelby and Bullitt and ROUSH, it’s all going to be here at Raceway Ford. Food and drinks and even a raffle or two. Don’t miss out on the biggest Ford pony show of the Inland Empire!

For six years, Ford has taken home top honors when it comes to the 1.0L EcoBoost engine, as the robust little three-cylinder was voted 2017 International Engine of the Year “Best Engine Under 1.0-liter”—remaining undefeated in the category since its inception in 2012. The 1.0L EcoBoost maintains ten separate International Engine of the Year records over the past such as an overall winner on a record three times, and also “Best Newcomer.”

 Take us to your Liter!

“Our 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine has been a game-changer, setting the benchmark for compact, fuel-efficient engines with sophisticated EcoBoost turbocharging, direct fuel injection and Twin-Independent Variable Camshaft Timing technologies. Even with 10 International Engine of the Year awards under our belt, we’re still finding ways to push back the boundaries of powertrain engineering, and deliver even more benefit to our customers from this acclaimed small engine.”

-Joe Bakaj, VP Product Development, Ford of Europe.

With the considerable amount of technological changes in today’s modern society, the 1.0L EcoBoost engine has made several strides in the three-cylinder market. A 1.0L wasn’t even considered in a segment that

didn’t conjoin an electric motor of sorts, such as the first-generation Honda Insight back in 2000. Now, the hard-working EcoBoost has shown to be rather impressive, landing in the engine bays of the more peppy and sporty.

 The 1.0L EcoBoost Engine, boasting 123hp and 148lb-ft of torque!

The 1.0L EcoBoost churns out 123hp and 148lb-ft of torque, again, quite the little miniature rocket for such a tiny engine. Comparing apples to apples (as close as apples can get), these figures get even more impressive – The next closest competitor, the tepid 3-cylinder Mitsubishi Mirage makes for about 74hp/74lb-ft of torque. Quite the difference.

A little fun fact; the 1.0L engine has the same power per liter (power density) as the 8.0L, 1001hp Bugatti Veyron! With all things considered, this isn’t a cheap, run of the mill engine—this is a first-rate engine. Just very small, as being Ford’s highest torque-per-liter of any engine in their lineup. An example of this advanced engineering is something that has been utilized for a few years now in a few other makes—cylinder deactivation, which shuts down one (or more) cylinders at light speeds or cruising to reduce running costs. This technology can disengage or re-engage one cylinder in 14 milliseconds—20 times faster than the blink of an eye without any compromise in performance. You don’t feel it—it is that precise.

There is plenty of reasons why Ford’s backpack sized 1.0L engine takes the acclaim as it does, but there isn’t anything better than experiencing it for yourself. Get behind the wheel and test drive one of these power plants today at Raceway Ford!

When one reflects upon the Fourth of July, America’s Independence from the British, they commonly associate the holiday with freedom, fireworks, parades, barbecues, baseball games, and political ceremonies held throughout, mostly enjoyed by the middle class. Independence Day isn’t known for the automobile. But it is all about celebrating America and the vast heritage that the USA is known for, and the automobile is a revolutionary cornerstone of America.

“I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the
individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one.”

—Henry Ford

Even though Henry Ford didn’t create the automobile, he was the inventor of the assembly line during the Industrial Revolution, catapulting the United States into the lead of an industry that dated back decades before his time. This in turn provided affordable access for every American to own a motor car, and thus the Model T was born. The Ford Model T made way for the American way of life as the first affordable automobile and it opened travel on a massive scale to the middle-class. The Model T was then positioned as a reliable, easily maintained mode of mass transportation, totaling up to over 15 million models rolling off the assembly line.

The Model T became a powerful icon for American heritage and signified innovation for the rising middle class. The freedom to own an automobile at an affordable price was Henry Ford’s mission, and he thus succeeded, and the Ford Motor Company holds those values true to this day and continuing on Ford’s legacy.

Tomorrow, as you enjoy the red, white, and blue celebration of American freedom and traditions, and honor those who continue to protect those freedoms to this day, take a gander over at your vehicle, no matter if it’s a Ford in your driveway or another fine craftsmanship worthy of Henry Ford’s assembly line. The freedom to own has been epitomized by affordability for the middle class nearly a century ago by an analyst who wanted the best for the American people.

From all of us here at Raceway Ford, we wish you a safe and Happy Independence Day.