LOOKING BACK ON 2015
Memories from the year that was
Plenty of kilometres have rolled under the wheels in 2015 and as the year ends, it’s time for the annual On the Road recap.
Late last January, I wrote about small town Alberta-born and Calgary-raised Dale Armstrong. Out of this city’s North Hill community of the 1950s and early 1960s, Armstrong rose to North American prominence in the drag racing scene. He died Nov. 28, 2014, and a celebration of his life was held Feb. 5 this year at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Calif.
After racing on local strips with his Oldsmobile-powered 1934 Ford coupe, Armstrong’s career flourished when he packed up and moved to California. In the mid-1970s, he won 12 NHRA and 12 International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) events. In the early 1980s, he took on the role of crew chief for Kenny Bernstein and the Budweiser King team where, between 1985 and 1988, he took four NHRA Funny Car titles.
In 1992, on the track in Gainesville, Fla., Armstrong helped Bernstein become the first Top Fuel racer to see the other side of 300 m.p.h. In 1996, he won a Top Fuel Championship. Armstrong is a member of many halls of fame, and was ranked 10th in the NHRA’s list of top 50 drag racers of all time.
In late April, there was a column about the Wood Automotive Group and its new partnerships with the Calgary and Okotoks chapters of Kidsport and Comrie’s Sports Equipment Bank. All five dealerships under the Wood umbrella became permanent drop-off locations for donated sports equipment. A pickup truck was dedicated to each facility and the truck’s bed is ready to receive gently used sports gear.
So far, more than 907 kilograms of sporting equipment has been collected — including hockey, soccer and football gear, plus all kinds of balls, golf clubs, skis and snowboards. Donations continue to be accepted at the dealerships, which include Advantage Ford, Big 4 Motors, Okotoks Ford Lincoln, Village Honda in Calgary’s Northwest Auto Mall and Woodridge Ford Lincoln in southeast Calgary.
Early June saw a column about Mike Griffith and his 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. Over a period of several years, Griffith flew or drove from Calgary back to his hometown of Montreal to help his dad, Fred, restore a 1971 Pontiac GTO convertible. He planned to drive his Trans Am to Montreal in the summer of 2015 so he and his father could show their cars together at the Orange Julep, which hosts Hot Dogs and Hot Rods on Wednesday nights from May to October.
“I drove my car back, and in early July we got to the show and shine, and a bunch of friends showed up,” Griffith later said. “It was a good time; I met up with people I hadn’t seen in years.”
Finally, in mid- September I wrote about Grant Kinzel and his amazing achievement at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Working in his Cal- gary garage, Kinzel completely restored a 1953 Fiat Abarth 1100 Sport Ghia Coupe — an ultra-rare Italian sports car. He took on every aspect of the job himself, and then entered the Fiat at the Pebble Beach show where most cars are restored at great expense by a team of professionals.
The judges at the Concours d’Elegance were appreciative of Kinzel’s work, and he rolled away with not one, but two awards at the car show: First place in the Post-War Touring category and runner-up for Best In Show.
Back in Calgary, Kinzel didn’t want a big party to celebrate the accomplishment. If anything was going to happen, an event had to be educational and it had to support the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC). To that end, Kinzel’s good friend, Fred Phillips, hosted The Road to Pebble Beach: from Turin to Monterey, A Symposium on Automotive Design, Restoration and Preservation. The Fiat Abarth Sport Ghia Coupe was the centre of attention while presentations were made to a packed house — three times in one day.
The entry fee was $75, but several people donated far more than that for their opportunity to hear Kinzel and three other guest speakers. Phillips also auctioned off rides in some of the vehicles in his collection, which includes a Ferrari F40 and a Shelby GT500 Mustang convertible. More than $25,000 was raised during the single-day event, and Phillips will match the funds.
As always, many thanks for reading this column. I look forward to sharing stories with you throughout 2016.