All pictures are of the the latest and greatest drone, General Atomics’ Avenger (Predator C).

General Atomic’s first generation of drone was the Predator then followed by the Reaper (Predator B).

The Avenger is far superior to any other drone including those of Lockheed and Gruman.

Full stealth

Maximum speed: 460 mph

Endurance: 20 hours

Service ceiling: 60,000 ft operating altitude

Armament:Internal weapons bay, 3,000 pounds capacity. Capable of carrying AGM-114 Hellfire air-to- surface missiles, GBU-24 Paveway III bombs, and GBU-31 and GBU-38 JDAMs.

Length: 41 ft

Wingspan: 66 ft sweep angle 17°

Power plant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545B

The 20 hour endurance and the 60,000 ft.operating altitude are nearly unbelievable. The Avenger costs $10,000,00 to build in comparison to an F18′s $30,000,000. All drones are remotely flown by specially trained jet fighter pilots with one assistant.

The thing that really caught my eye was the Ascend low rolling resistance. The lower the rolling resistance the better the mpg. While I’m on mpg I recently read that cars driven by Americans are burning up almost 1 BILLION gallons of gas a year because so many of us are over weight.

The Ascend was developed on the race track which will mean excellent handling and braking characteristics. All this plus the Ascend lasts 20 percent longer than the conventional touring tire.

The Ascend wil be produced at Yokohama’s Salem, Va., plant. Initially the Ascend will only be available in applications ranging from crossover vehicles, to passenger cars and minivans. I would assume the Ascend will be available for performance cars in the not too distant future.

First a clarification of what is what. If a Mustang has a name with Mustang in it, like the Mustang Shelby GT500, then the Mustang came direct from the Ford factory. If a Mustang only has only the Shelby name attached like the Shelby 1000 then the Mustang went from the Ford factory to Shelby American for mods and upgrade.

The Shelby 1000 and the Shelby 1000 S/C are 50-state, street-legal cars. They are the high performance dream of founder Carroll Shelby. If you want one here’s what you do. Go to your Ford dealership and order a 650 hp, $55,000 Mustang Shelby GT500 and have the dealership deliver your GT 500 to the Shelby American facility. Then send Shelby American another $150,000 to get the 950 hp Shelby 1000 or $155,000 to get the 1,100 hp Shelby 1000 S/C. The S/C is suppose to be for the track only. You get much more than the hp increase. The Shelby 1000 models are upgraded and modified in every possible way. The Mustang Shelby GT 500 is advertised to have a top speed of 200 mph. It will be interesting to see top speed figures for the Shelby 1000 and 1000 S/C. It will also be interesting to see how many are sold.

I met Tammy Drinnon at the Smoky Mt. MOPAR Show and we scheduled a photo shoot at the English Mt. Dragway later on in the summer. After the photo shoot with Tammy at English Mt. Dragway I proposed the idea of Miss ACAG to Tammy and her husband David. I explained to both of them that the accepting the title would mean instant international fame, more money that could ever imagine. But it also would be all time consuming job with the travel, TV, movies, and talks shows. Tammy and her husband looked at each other as in disbelief and just walked away. I heard her husband mumble something to Tammy as they were walking away. I think I heard the words “crazy and physco”.

Pamela Sue Anderson continues to call me about the job but I’m holding out for Tammy. Here’s why: Tammy’s AWESOME, Tammy’s SOMKIN HOT, Tammy’s SMART, Tammy’s BOOBS ARE REAL (I think) and Tammy is AMERICAN CARS. Watch the video as Tammy set’s up her husband for his pass in his Charger and CRANK UP THE SOUND.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x84-mCo83uA

We started out with her boyfriends father’s car but the dad had to make a pass. I’m really glad he did because we moved on to the Chemical Reaction. It was a much better looking car.

Pictured we have Tammy pictured with her husband, David and David’s 1985 Shelby Dodge Charger. In her own words Tammy tells why drag racing is so important to her and her family.  See text below picture.

“Drag racing is a big part of the family. David’s late father, Larry Drinnon got David started in it when he was just a kid. That’s the meaning of the big sticker on his back window “Drinnon And Drinnon Racing”…The first letters of Drinnon and Drinnon spell out “D.A.D”…David’s dad passed away in November of 2010 after a 3 month battle with cancer. That is David’s way of keeping his dad with him in racing. I know you don’t wanna put all that on there, but I just like telling people the story behind the sticker . It’s special ”

400 big block, Trans: powerglide, Rear-end: 8 3/4, Gearing: 4.86, Best e.t.: 6.71 @ 110 mph

English Mountain Dragway

When I told her that some of my photographs were on display at the New York Museum of Fine Arts she laughed.

 When I told her I had been nominated for Pulitzer prize for outstanding writing she laughed.

I don’t know what I could have said that would have made Barb take me seriously? Maybe the truth?

The 1975 Vega wagon is owned by Tucker McCandless. The Vega runs a 388 Chevy small block, 4.13 gears and a Power Glide tansmission. Best e.t. is 7.50.

Tammy only lets a Chevy between her legs but ever once in  a while ———————-

She may let a MOPAR!