Tinkering Belles with Tamara Robertson

Tinkering Belles - Jo - Great Race Edition

• Season 3 • Episode 27

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Do you love vintage cars , road rally racing, historical moments and general Maker Shop Talk? 

If so, join Tamara Robertson (Mythbusters, Seekers of Science) as she revs up the fun in this all new mini-season dedicated to the Hemming's Great Race and the amazing team of Trailblazing Creators assembled by Riley's Rebuilds!

As a shout-out to Race Sponsor Cocker Tire Co. , this episode kicks off with a Tech Talk about Firestone Wide Oval Tires before Tamara sits down with Vintage Restoration Queen , Trailblazer and Maker Extraordinaire Jo ( @a_car_gal ) !

Topics they cover include (but are surely not limited to):

- Vintage Restoration

- Road Rally Racing

- Meeting Riley from Riley's Rebuild's

- The Great Race

- The Jessi Combs Foundation

- Shoutout McPherson Colleges

- Shoutout Zoe Carmichael

- Precision Racing

- Jo's Advise on Starting in Vintage Racing

- Acing a Route

- The eccentricities of Vintage Cars

- The joy of Rally Racing

- The power of showing up

- The community behind Vintage Racing

- Capturing Joy

- History on 4 wheels

- Shoutout to Duct tape & Zip Ties

... and so much more

As we dig into Season 3's 27th episode of Tinkering Belles you're surely not going to want to miss it!

So join in on Tamara's adventure as a Maker as she works to amplify the BAMF Females Behind the Builds one interview at a time! 
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If you enjoyed the show join in on the Maker adventure with Tamara and her guests on the Tinkering Belles Instagram page.

You can follow Jo's adventures here, here, and here: 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/a_car_gal/ 

Music for this Episode was provided by Bill Trowell Music.  Visit BillTrowellMusic.com to hear more and to subscribe to Bill's Patreon, where he covers favorite showtunes, movie themes, classic rock and jazz, as well as requests from Patron's. 

Support the show

Tamara Robertson:

Greetings, shopmates, and welcome to Tinkering Belles, a show about DIY, design, and all things hands-on. The sky's the limit as we talk props, metalwork, cosplay, woodwork, leather, electronics, and so much more. I'm Tamara Robertson, your host, so strap on your tool belts because we're about to get into some skill sharing, y'all.

Tamara Robertson:

Today, I'm going to be joined by a maker who's turning heads and wrenches in support of vintage motorsports. I don't want to give away too much, but this maker is driven by one goal, keep vintage cars alive and on the road. So if that doesn't make you want to stick around and hear more, then you might be at the wrong podcast. But first, let's go ahead and have our tech talk of the day. So we're going to be talking all about the Hemmings Crate Race, which was made possible by support from so many sponsors. Sponsors like Coker Tire Company, who's provided many of the parts for our vintage Ford Fairlane, including its shoes, i.e. the rims and the throwbacks to a classic Firestone wide oval tires. So let's back it up. Where did these iconic tires get their start?

Tamara Robertson:

Firestone's wide oval tires were first introduced in 1967, designed specifically for the era's booming muscle car market, offering a low profile, high grip solution for high horsepower street machines. Now, the original wide ovals were bias ply tires with red lines or raised white letters. These were visually bold and built to the American performance icons like the Camaro, Mustang, and the Chevelle. While bias ply gave them an aggressive stance, they lacked ride comfort and wore quickly, which led to radial evolution in later years to improve safety and handling. In the 1980s, Coker Tire Company began producing Firestone-wide ovals using original molds, preserving that muscle car aesthetic while improving tire construction to modern safety standards. Today, Coker offers these vintage tires in radial form in 11 new sizes, built in the USA, combining authentic looks with better grip, ride, and durability, perfect for restorers who balance performance with period-correct style. Check out Coker's Firestone Wide Oval Collection. Give your car authentic style with modern performance and tell them Tinkering Bells sent you. Well, that's it for your Tech Talk. As always, you can join in on the conversation with my maker friends and me on the Tinkering Bells Instagram and X pages. Just search for Belles Tinkering, hit follow, and share your DIY adventures together with us. Have a tool you want to learn about? Let me know, and it may be featured in a future episode. Tell us what you liked, what you hated, or possibly even what we missed.

Tamara Robertson:

Now we're going to be getting into the main event and I'm so excited to introduce you to our next maker. So drum roll, please. Presenting Jo. Jo, thanks for joining me. How are you?

Jo:

Good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here. There's so much fun stuff to talk about.

Tamara Robertson:

There is. So to start off, can you let everyone know where they can find you, follow you, and then a little bit of a snip of what they might expect to see when they go there?

Jo:

Yeah, absolutely. So my Instagram tag is a underscore car underscore gal, a car gal. And basically it follows my adventures working on cars. I'm an automotive restoration student. So it's little bits and pieces of what it's like going to a tech school that focuses on old cars. And also a couple little snippets about just what it's like working in vintage racing and seeing these historic race cars on the racetrack and things like that.

Tamara Robertson:

So amazing. So obviously, as a superhero scientist, one of my favorite things is learning people's origin stories. I've gotten to know you a little bit over the last year, but could you share with the audience what your kind of origin story was for becoming a vintage gearhead?

Jo:

Absolutely. It's a little bit of a funny, I guess... trajectory to get to where I ended up I started being very into cars as a kid my parents would restore air-cooled Porsches together in the 90s and early 2000s just as little passion projects and I'd always look on the side and see those things and I ended up going into the world of vintage racing just as a guest I'd just be showing up to the races hanging out watching everything zipping around on the track and as I grew older started high school I still loved cars and I thought I'd be going into Porsche restoration, but my first round of internships rolled around and I decided to try a lot of different things and I ended up at three vintage racing shops by chance and I just fell in love with things breaking and getting to fix those things again after they broke in.

Tamara Robertson:

I love that. You know, there's so much value and getting to try out a lot of different hats before you choose the one that you get. And so I really love that that was an opportunity that you got because it is one of those things, you know, as kids, we grow up, we have no idea. what we don't know that we might like, right? So getting to have that exposure is so valuable. Now, we obviously met because of the Jesse Combs Foundation. And so I would love on for those of you that don't know, by this point, you guys hopefully have already heard that interview with Dana. But if you haven't go back, the Jesse Combs Foundation is our nonprofit partner for this race. And so we will all be rocking the dots the entire But could you share with the audience a little bit about how you got connected to the foundation and any Jesse story you might have? Yeah. So

Jo:

I got connected to the foundation through these two incredible women that are a part of it. Isabella Bradley and Zoe Carmichael. Zoe Carmichael was a mentor for me during her time at McPherson college. And she really helped me find my footing in this really difficult male dominated environment. And she is a scholarship recipient. So she was always telling me all these stories just about, Hey, this foundation is incredible. I've never met a more uplifting group of women. And I, wanted to be a part of that. So I ended up applying, and I was extremely fortunate to be selected. And since then, it's just been incredible having this amazing community of women with such diverse backgrounds, diverse interests, and skill sets. So that's, I guess, a little bit about how I got involved with the foundation. In terms of my Jessie story, I was always growing up seeing her in Mythbusters and thinking that she was just so cool. and going into McPherson College and that being my main impression of who she was and just getting to see how she touched so many of the lives of the people around me who are involved with the foundation as well as these people in the industry that are just in all aspects of it, all of these men, these women, these little kids that have just either met her or grown up watching her and gotten to experience the impact that she made on the world and I guess the more exposure I got to that, the more it set in just how special it is to be a part of the foundation.

Tamara Robertson:

That's amazing. Yeah. And speaking of the impact that she had on the world, well, we are all as a group, thanks to Riley from Riley Rebuild, who assembled and herded the kittens that it took to get us all together, getting to actually follow in Jessie's footsteps. footsteps, right? So Jesse was a grand marshal for the great race. And now here we are fast forward getting to actually do the great race. I have to ask, like, before we all ended up in this hodgepodge of a beautiful social media DM fest, did you know about the great race? I mean, as a vintage car, you know, restore and lover yourself? Had you heard of it? What were your thoughts?

Jo:

I've been doing vintage road rallies with my dad since I was 14 years old. So I've been sort of exposed to that world of crazy people that don't just drive fast, but they drive slow and precisely. And to me, I grew up hearing these stories about things like the Starlight Rally, which my parents sit together, which is eight hours overnight, not eight hours, it's longer, overnight from Santa Barbara to Las Vegas. And hearing all these stories about just the navigation and the skill that it took, then going into my school hearing that my school used to have a team that would run the great race every year and they would send a group of students there I just had heard so many stories of how intense it is how much fun it is how everybody in the community is such a character so knowing all these bits and pieces I was talking with Dana and I mentioned to her my background in road rallying and she said you seem like you'd be perfect for this and got me involved with the big chat of incredible women amazing

Tamara Robertson:

and so for audience members that might not know what it means to be a precision race you know we've thrown this around a couple of times of like it's not a speed race it's a precision race could you as someone that that's been in this world for a long time could you give kind of the mickey mouse version of what a precision race is

Jo:

Absolutely. So think about it. Instead of getting from point A to point B as fast as you can, you are given point A and point B and the directions in between and a specific amount of time those directions are supposed to take. So the closer to point B that you get within the time that they give you, the better you do. But the further away you are from your target time, you rack up points or in this case time and that puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to the leaderboard.

Tamara Robertson:

Amazing. And I saw there's a prize, right? If you get the exact time right, it's kind of like birdying the hole in golf. So everyone collects these stickers along the way for each of the stops that they do if they do it in the right amount of time. Is that right?

Jo:

I believe so. I'm not entirely sure of the logistics of that side of the rally. For me, I'm more focused on Hey, let's add the time between turning different directions and how that can affect the time of the car. So I'm hoping that we'll get all those stickers if that's the case, but if we don't, it'll still be a great time.

Tamara Robertson:

So as someone that knows vintage cars really well, you're talking about like the time it takes to take a turn. So I think that's something that a lot of people, modern drivers take, you know, take, for advantage of is that we can turn pretty fast. We can stop on a dime. We can start on a dime. What are some of the things that going into this race, you already have in mind about that part of the vehicle and how that could affect our times?

Jo:

I'm already thinking a lot about the idea that when you're making a turn, for example, the vehicle has to be moving. There's no power steering in any of these cars. So if you try to force the turn, the slower you go, the more slowly you will turn. So that's one factor. Another thing, again, is brakes. You can't just step on the brakes. There's no ABS. If you brake too hard, you can spin out if you're coming from, you know, a pretty quick speed. So there's all these little bits and pieces that, again, as you mentioned, you don't necessarily have the luxury of with a classic vehicle so it's a lot of understanding the specific vehicle that we are taking and how that specific vehicle compares to say a modern car and a keeping note of those times and factoring those times into how we're calculating the speed that we're going or how we're taking the route and where we're accelerating or we're slowing down.

Tamara Robertson:

One of the truly unique things that you bring to this race, because we have a team of 12 girls, right? And every single one of us brings a different skill set. And one of the things that I'm really excited about you being a part of this because of is your knowledge of these vintage race cars and understanding like what goes into not only like getting them to go, but also just taking care of them and being able to go this long distance. So, you know, it's a, it's a nine day race and you know, our fair lane is, is very, very old, very old. And so it's one of those things that I'm really excited to see you shine in this light of knowledge because I think that you will probably be the most first in vintage vehicles on the team. Is there something that you yourself are really excited as far as your uniqueness to bring to this team of hodgepodge ladies that are all trailblazers in our own minds, right?

Jo:

I'm just really, really excited to help get people in the zone because I'm actually just coming from a vintage road rally that I did this last weekend. I got back last night and such a big part of it is that people can get so wrapped up in just competitiveness of it and they can get so into it. all the logistical aspects, which are incredibly important, but they can also forget that being a part of the community and there's a sense of sportsmanship that comes with it too, that you really only get by meeting the people, being involved with it, seeing what the rally volunteers put into it. So above all, I'm just really excited to sort of be there to help people answer questions and also just to see the joy that it brings people to discover all of the love that goes into the sport. Very cool.

Tamara Robertson:

Is there a classic car that you're hoping will be there?

Jo:

Ooh, that is a good question. I would love to see anything weird in French. I really like weird French cars. I think they're super fun and unique.

Tamara Robertson:

I love that. Okay. I am excited about the fact that every lunch and dinner stop is like a vintage car show. That's going to be a really cool part of this. And so there are a lot of, you know, Creative elements that are going to end up happening with this, right? We've got a plethora of sponsors that are going to be there. We're going to all be creating different things. Is there anything like collaboratively that you have in mind that you want to make sure that you're doing or that I can help with in any way?

Jo:

Well, my big thing that I'm doing is I'm bringing my road rally camera set up, which is specifically for in-car footage and outside of car footage. So I'm really hoping that I can hopefully time with some of the girls to just capture some really great and wonderful candid moments on the road, not from the perspective of necessarily somebody holding a camera, but from the... out of the car and this is what it's really like so i would just really love if you could help out just pointing out those really real moments and getting everybody just pumped up so we can capture a lot of the joy

Tamara Robertson:

I love it and for the audience i will definitely make sure that we get a link to those photos if joe shares them and we will make sure that you all get to see them as well And so one of the things that, you know, again, I just, I love to, in talking with all the girls that are going to be on this race is just reminding each of you about the fact that you guys are all such epic trailblazers already. And so like getting us all together and being there, just showing up is such a huge deal. You know, I'm sure everyone, You've noticed going to rallies over the years, there's probably not that many female race teams, especially not ones where they also have the technical skills to be able to be building the vehicle and upkeeping the vehicle and racing it. So I just, you know, I want to commend you for everything that you do. I'm so excited to see. It's been so great to like get to know you over the year, you know, and I look forward to doing more. But is there a tool that you're going to make sure is in your tool belt for this race?

Jo:

Oh, there's a number of them. I have more stories that you can imagine of crazy breakdowns and just things that happen that should not happen while driving. Like for example, this last Saturday, I had a headlight fall out of the car that I was in, just fell completely out of the car. So I guess the biggest things that I've learned is fire extinguishers are a must have. That one, I'm speaking from experience. That's its own little bit of a crazy story. I mean, of course, the torque wrench is another essential one. Flats happen so much more often than you think. And when that happens, if you're on a donut and you can't have the confidence that the wheel is on there right, it completely makes a difference in how you're able to drive. And that's sort of a driving style. Outside of that, duct tape and zip ties. I cannot go a single rally without duct tape and zip ties because whenever something does go wrong, 99% of the time, it can be fixed with duct tape or zip ties.

Tamara Robertson:

It seems like I probably should have reached out to some of the old Mythbusters sponsors because we definitely had unlimited access to duct tape at all times. That's amazing. And so... I guess, so with Riley, have you actually met Riley yet in person?

Jo:

I did. I was incredibly fortunate to connect with her at SEMA this last year. And I absolutely commend her as a human being. She is such a kind and amazing soul. And I've really enjoyed every conversation that I've had with her.

Tamara Robertson:

Riley was a rising star for the Jesse Combs Foundation. And so that's how a lot of the girls have gotten to meet her over the last two years. I met her signing at SEMA as well. We did an autograph session together. And it has been really cool, just her bringing everyone together and really lifting that veil about what it takes to get sponsorships, what it takes to rebuild the vehicle, how the race actually, you know, needs to go itself. Is there anything as far as, you know, if someone's listening right now and they've had an interest and finding out more about vintage cars or about vintage car rallies, do you have any advice on where they can maybe find more insights or information or how to get their start?

Jo:

Yeah, get out there and talk to people. That's the big thing that I have to say. I've personally found that I've learned the most and had the most meaningful connections by just going out to classic car shows and talking to the owners of these cars. And as you talk to more of these owners, eventually you find people that do rally their cars and they can give you an introduction to the events and the community that don't necessarily involve the big plunge of having a classic car yourself to get involved with it. But yeah, just going out to shows and talking to people. And if you do have a classic car, look up your local rally. I'm sure that there's one within a hundred mile radius and show up and have a good time. I know that when I did my first one at 14, I was super nervous and I'd never done anything like it before. And I ended up making lifelong friends and I cannot exaggerate when I say lifelong, I've known these people for upwards of six years and every breakdown, with my car they're the ones that are there to help me out and fix it so get out there find your people try new things and take the risk it's a very very welcoming community and you won't find a community that's more excited to have people involved with

Tamara Robertson:

and it's really intriguing too when you get someone started talking about their classic car like they just light up like the passion, the excitement, the stories like there. I actually, when I was just in Los Angeles living the last 10 years, I lived above a guy that had vintage cars. And like, I swear each month he'd pull a different one in that he'd start working on. And it was like, Oh my buddy, this or my friend, this. And like, He was always out at the car shows and just great, great stories, lots of breakdown stories. Which I think is the thing I'm most realizing we're probably gonna deal with, but I think there's not a more capable team out there than the one that we're going with.

Jo:

Absolutely, and I feel that people, find it so easy to forget that with these old cars, they're not just cars. They're rolling pieces of history, and they all have their stories. So part of what I'm really excited for for the rally is getting to add the rally to the story of the Fairlane.

Tamara Robertson:

That's going to be cool. It's going to be really, really neat. I mean, we've already had quite a story just getting to hopefully what will be our final Fairlane. So I'm super excited. Super excited about that. Well, I have one question that I love to ask every single guest that I have. And that is, if you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Jo:

If I could have any superpower, that's a good question. I think if I could have any superpower, it'd be that I could look at something and break apart how it works in my mind. You know, look at something and just build a mental blueprint of it right away. I feel like as a mechanic and being into classic cars, it would make such a difference. And as a kid, I've always just been fascinated. figuring out how they work. So if you like just being able to look at something and know how it works at the snap of a finger would be a super, super, super fun superpower to have.

Tamara Robertson:

That would be a really neat one. I actually liked that. I was just like imagining like seeing something and then it like does the Iron Man and like, you're like, Oh, okay. Okay. That way. And you know, like I want that. I want to get to that point in tech. I think it's coming. I just, but having it in my brain would be a lot more useful. Very cool. Well, the Hemings Great Race kicks off June 21st in St. Paul, Minnesota, and will run all the way until we hit the finish line, hopefully June 29th in Moorpark, Orono, South Carolina. So follow our Instagram, stay up to date with all things Creator Race as we tackle this iconic vintage rally road race one mile at a time. That's it for Tinkering Bells. This episode is assembled and ready for delivery. Thank you, Joe, so much for joining us. This has been such a joy.

Jo:

Thank you so much for having me. It's been super great catching up and getting to talk about the upcoming

Tamara Robertson:

I want to thank you for choosing Tinkering Belles as your user's manual for all things Maker on a bi-weekly basis. If you want to continue to hear more, don't forget to rate and review the show on your podcasting app of choice, as well as sharing it with your friends. I look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, don't forget to keep making.