It's hard to believe it was just one year ago last week that I received the Phil Hill Award from the RRDC (Road Racers Drivers Club) in Daytona. An amazing honor.

  
A week later I was on the phone with Phil Remington wishing him a happy 92nd birthday (we're seen here in Phoenix the year before). He was a delight to speak to, as energetic and full of ideas as always, but he wasn't happy with his health. Less than two months later he would leave us, working for Dan Gurney very near to the end. The massive respect he had throughout the industry was evident at his memorial.    

The end of February BRE was recognized as one of the best new businesses of Henderson, NV. We've said it before and we'll say it again... if you want to stop complaining about the anti-business practices you deal with, come to NV! 

In March at the Amelia Island Concours, Ed Welburn (head of GM Global Design seen here on the left) and myself put on a seminar on the Corvette Sting Ray. I presented how the original '63 Sting Ray came to be and Ed unveiled the new 2014 Sting Ray, talking about its origins. Unbeknownst to most, it was the kick-off for my book on the genesis of the '63 Split Window Sting Ray. At Amelia, the response to my presentation solidified the interest in, and outline for the book. Ed agreed to write the Foreword and in addition to my period sketches and photographs, he confirmed we would have access to the GM Design archives. For the next three months Gayle and I worked on the book around the clock, with Gayle sending her finished electronic files to the printers at the end of June for an August delivery of completed books, just in time for the Monterey vintage weekend, which just happened to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Sting Ray. 

Soon after returning from Amelia we lost my dear friend, and amazing artist George Bartell. We met young, while attending Art Center. Through the years I commissioned Bartell to do many art pieces while I was at Shelby American and then later when I started BRE. We had personal tragedies that paralleled each other. We called each other brother and I miss him. We continue to offer George's artwork here with proceeds helping his widow Ruth.

Our next Corvette event after Monterey with the book was "Corvettes at Carlisle" where we were impressed with hundreds and hundreds of Corvettes and their enthusiastic owners! It was an extremely educational event as it was one of the first times we were surrounded solely be Corvette fans. We quickly learned that the question to ask is not: "What kind of Corvette do you have?" but rather "How many Corvettes do you have?" Five to ten was probably the average number. It's obvious Corvettes are a fun category of cars to collect.  

Most of the remainder of the year's focus was book signings which included a stop at Jay Leno's Garage where Jay and I talked on video about the book for his Jay Leno's Garage Book Club. We haven't received a date for its airing yet but once we do we will post that information immediately on our facebook page here. Request to be a friend of this site and you'll receive the notification automatically.

A highlight to the end of last year was our being the special guests of Nissan Japan at the Tokyo Auto Show where they unveiled their new IDx concept cars, obvious descendents to the Datsun 510s that BRE took to two national championships in '71-'72.  It was an honor to be recognized at activities that spanned an entire week. And that's how this year has begun.  

We've just returned from the Detroit Auto Show, where Nissan had the IDx's on display.  They continue to look great.  They also unveiled a new Sports Sedan concept (seen above).  It's a beauty.  Word has it that 95% of the concept car has already been transferred to an upcoming production car so we should see this car sooner than later.

L to R: Moderator Bob Varsha, Jack Hoare, Bob Bondurant, Peter Brock, Jean Stucki

The Bondurants put on a 50th anniversary celebration of the Daytona Cobra Coupe two weeks ago in Phoenix.  Participating were team members that were part of the '64 Daytona team such as Jack Hoare, one of the best engine builders we had at Shelby's and the engine man chosen to go to Le Mans with the Coupes where they won their class in their first attempt.  Next was, Jean Stucki, not only a great mechanic but a Swiss national that could speak French, a crucial asset when dealing with officials at Le Mans.  Then there was myself and Bob Bondurant.  It had been decades since most of us had seen Stucki and Hoare.  It was great to be together again.  

A generously sized 32" x 26" poster was made for the event that as part of the print has Dan Gurney, Shelby and Bondo's autograph.  Per your request, we bought a few of these posters (4 to be exact) and had the additional team members at the event sign them.  While they last these four posters are available here (if you go there and the link takes you nowhere, they have all been sold).

The main event Sat, Feb 1st at the Petersen is MotoMan TV interviewing me from 11-1pm.  It promises to be interesting as the interviewer has dug deep into my past, promising to share some of my history of which you may not be aware.  Inside the museum there will be some cars from my past (some will no doubt surprise you).  To be part of the audience (and this is really what you want to come to the event for) reserve your seats here while they last.  The event is free but seating is limited so you must RSVP to save your chair!

 In addition, preceding the interview, there will be a "cruise in" from 9am-11am where 150 choice parking spots will be reserved for you to bring your fun ride in and park. I'll be walking around checking out all of your cool rides. Then at 11 the show begins.

Following the show there will be an autograph/question session. We hope you can join us for this very unique event! And if not, you can watch the MotoMan Show live here.  Again, 11-1pm PST, 2pm-4pm EST.