Note sull'episodio
From a $600 Ford Explorer built for a destruction derby to a 1966 El Camino tearing down the drag strip and a deeply personal Yamaha YZ250 restoration, this episode of Checkers & Wreckers on Racer Radio is all about why racers build, compete, and keep coming back. Dave Stall and Brittany Sandoval kick things off with Sheldon Creed’s win at Darlington before Brittany gives an update on her newly acquired 1986 Porsche 944 project—including driving it in 90-degree heat without air conditioning just to get acquainted with her new ride.
Garrett Hargis of Hargis 243 Racing joins the show to explain how he got into destruction derby racing with little more than a $600 Ford Explorer, some welded reinforcement, and a willingness to mix it up. Behind the fun is a more personal motivation: racing as a way to honor his late friend Nick Glenn. Then Robert Ratcliffe talks about more than 25 years of drag racing his carefully built 1966 Chevrolet El Camino at Barona Speedway and the camaraderie that makes grassroots motorsports special—you can be best friends with the racer in the other lane right up until you pull into the burnout box.
In the second hour, Jean Turner Adams of Dirt Bike Magazine shares the story behind a year-and-a-half-long Yamaha YZ250 tribute build honoring her late brother. The project combines a vintage steel-frame Yamaha with modern KYB front suspension, but some of the most important pieces aren’t the newest ones. Rather than replace the original radiator, Jean spent three hours carefully straightening its fins because preserving that piece of the motorcycle mattered more than simply installing a new part. It’s a reminder that sometimes a project vehicle is about much more than horsepower, lap times, or making everything perfect.
Listen to the full episode for destruction derby stories, drag racing, motocross, Brittany’s Porsche 944 project, technical build talk, and the personal stories that explain why racers become so attached to the machines they build.
RACER RADIO 09/06/26