2026 In Wheel Time Episodes

A garage that feels like a private club, a Corvette charity event that keeps getting bigger, and a luxury SUV review with a twist you won’t expect. We sit down with Space City Corvette Club president A.J. Loupe to talk Corvette Day at Garage Ultimate in Friendswood, Texas, where the National Corvette Museum brings its store on site and the community rallies to raise serious money for a great cause. A.J. explains how this event has pulled in huge Corvette attendance, why it’s become a destination...

Granbury doesn’t just “host” events, it builds a home for them. Recording live from Hewlett Park during the Lone Star Street Rod Association State Run, we talk with Tammy Dooley from Visit Granbury about what it really takes to make a car weekend feel legendary for participants and profitable for local businesses. Tammy walks us through how Granbury earned its official identity as the Celebration Capital of Texas, including the community process and the Texas legislative steps it took to claim a...

Wiring is where a lot of classic car projects go to die: brittle insulation, mystery splices, random colors, and “temporary” fixes that turn into permanent hazards. From the Lone Star Street Rod Association State Run in Granbury, Texas, we sit down with Dennis Overholster from Painless Performance Products, the company so many builders mention when they want a clean, reliable automotive wiring harness for a street rod, classic truck, or restoration. Dennis breaks down what Painless actually does...

A famous last name can open doors, but it can’t turn a wrench for you. We’re live from the Lone Star Street Rod Association State Run in Granbury, Texas, talking with Christi Edelbrock about the real work behind the Edelbrock legacy: foundries, manufacturing, learning parts and processes from the ground up, and stepping into tough spots when the business needs a fixer. Christi walks us through how the 2008 to 2009 recession hit the automotive industry, why banks backed away from anything car-rel...

A great car show isn’t just rows of shiny fenders. It’s the feeling that you’ve walked into a place where everyone speaks the same language, even if they drove in from three states away. We’re coming to you from Hewlett Park in Granbury, Texas during the Lone Star Street Rod Association State Run Car Show, and we sit down with chairman Rick Neely to unpack why this gathering keeps pulling people back year after year. Rick tells us how the Lone Star Street Rod Association has evolved to stay stro...

Rear-view cameras that go dark, airbags that don’t behave the way you expect, and screens that blank out at the worst time, that’s where we start. We run through a packed list of new vehicle recalls and talk about what they mean in plain English: what’s affected, why it matters, and the simple step every owner should take right now (hint: check your VIN and get on the schedule before it becomes a roadside story). From there, we jump into the most addictive kind of car talk: real auction results....

The car you buy says a lot about the life you think you’re going to live. Maybe that’s why “adventure vehicle” is one of the most loaded labels in the whole industry. We sit down with John Vincent from U.S. News & World Report to unpack the 2026 Best Adventure Vehicle Awards and figure out which winners make sense for real drivers who need a daily commute, weekend gear-hauling, and occasional dirt-road confidence. We run through the off-road SUV winners by category, including the Ford Bronco Spo...

White letters on a tire sidewall look like a small detail, but they carry decades of meaning. That bold ring of text became a calling card of 1960s and 1970s muscle cars, street racing, and the idea that performance should look like performance. We break down why the trend exploded, why it’s showing up again in today’s vintage and retro builds, and how branding and aesthetics can steer a tire choice just as much as the practical stuff. We also get specific about how white letter tires are actual...

The car market is doing better than the mood of the country, and that contradiction is exactly where we start. We talk with Jack Nerad from America on the Road about what he’s seeing up close, from California fuel prices to the real-world demand that keeps new vehicles moving even when the media drumbeat says the economy is falling apart. Jack shares highlights from a trip to Georgia to see Hyundai and Kia production firsthand, including how fast modern plants build vehicles and why early all-EV...

A timber-frame “cathedral” filled with Mopar muscle cars and neon signs sounds like a myth until you hear it from the guy who built it. We sit down with John Hovis, creator of the Hemi Hideout near Brookshire, Texas, to talk about the passion that drove him to collect late-1960s and early-1970s Dodge and Plymouth legends, why an original Superbird still stops people in their tracks, and how the space has grown into a full-on automotive time capsule. We also get into what makes the Hideout more t...

Recalls are supposed to be rare. Lately they feel like a weekly habit, and we’re not letting them slide by as background noise. We kick things off by walking through a stack of new automotive recalls and what they mean for real drivers, from incorrect front wheel hub bolts to rollaway risk, seatbelt warning system problems, rear camera failures, airbag inflator concerns, and even driver-assist systems that can hit the brakes when you least expect it. If you care about car safety, reliability, an...

A Pikes Peak build is never just a build, it’s a deadline, a weather gamble, and a test of whether your team can stay calm when everything tries to break at once. We catch up with Richard Tomlin from Apex Auto Works in Alvin, Texas, with the clock ticking two weeks out from the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. He walks us through the Apexoset, a Miata-based monster that keeps key Miata geometry and components but drops weight hard and runs a custom LS7-based setup making over 600 horsepower ...

Four-wheel steering sounds like magic the first time you feel it. One moment you’re guiding a big SUV through a tight parking lot, the next it feels weirdly nimble, like the vehicle shrank around you. We dig into what all-wheel steering (AWS) actually does, when the rear wheels turn opposite the fronts, when they turn in parallel for stability, and why modern drive-by-wire control brings both benefits and new worries. We also get honest about the parts nobody puts in the brochure: added weight, ...

A recall can be as small as a bolt and as serious as a roll-away, so we kick things off by sorting real risk from background noise. We talk through a stack of fresh automotive recalls, including incorrect front wheel hub bolts on full-size GM SUVs, a roll-away risk on the 2026 Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair, Ford Bronco hardtops that may crack and detach, camera and seatbelt warning glitches, and tech that can trigger unexpected braking. We also share what these problems feel like on the road a...

Indy didn’t just get faster in the 1960s, it transformed. We’re joined by racing author and veteran journalist Rick Saffer to unpack the Indianapolis 500 era from 1962 to 1972, when track records fell at a shocking pace and the Speedway became a live laboratory for IndyCar engineering. We talk about the people who shaped it, the cars that redefined it, and why that decade still explains so much about modern American open-wheel racing. Rick takes us through the biggest technology shifts at Indian...

Synthetic motor oil is turning into the kind of “you’ll miss it when it’s gone” product nobody expects to worry about, and the early warning signs are already here. We react to reports that automakers and dealerships are rationing synthetic oil as Group III base oil supply tightens, and we talk through what that means for real owners who just want a normal oil change without breaking the bank. If your vehicle calls for specific viscosities like 5W-30 or 0W-20 or brand specs like Dexos, this is w...

Woodie wagons are usually filed away as beach-cruiser nostalgia, but once you hear the details, they turn into rolling history lessons. We’re back with Mary Argruza from the Savoy Auto Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, for a lively tour through a woodie display that connects craftsmanship, wartime problem-solving, and the moment the American station wagon became the default family road trip machine. If you love classic cars, automotive museums, and the stories behind the sheetmetal, this one is a...

Houston can feel nonstop, so we went looking for the kind of drives that make the city fade in the rearview mirror fast. We lay out five scenic cruises around Houston you can actually do without sacrificing the whole weekend, starting with the Bluewater Highway Coastal Drive between Galveston and Surfside Beach for beach, marsh, and fishing-town views that hit especially hard at sunrise or sunset. If you’ve been searching for Houston day trips, scenic drives near Houston, or an easy coastal esca...

You can feel it when a business is built on momentum instead of luck and Jesse Jackson brings that energy in a big way. We talk with the founder of Mango Automotive about how she jumps from software and automotive industry data into the brick-and-mortar world, buying her first auto repair shop while still learning what it truly takes to run a service bay, lead a team, and win customer trust. The result is a fast growth story that’s equal parts mindset, operations, and gritty daily execution. We ...

A great car museum visit is part history lesson, part design tour, and part road trip excuse and the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia checks all three boxes. We sit down with Mary Agrusa to talk about how the Savoy has grown into one of the most interesting automotive museum destinations near Atlanta, with modern galleries, educational exhibits, and a rotating collection that keeps bringing people back. If you love classic cars, race cars, concept cars, and the stories behind the...

Recalls, auction shockers, racing, and a little automotive history whiplash all land in one fast-moving hour, and it starts with a simple reality: most of us are driving computers on wheels now. We dig into the latest vehicle recalls, from Mercedes-Benz instrument display issues and seat belt concerns to Tesla rear view camera problems and a Ram tire speed-rating warning. The most useful tip is also the easiest one: we walk through how to use SaferCar.gov with your VIN so you can confirm open re...

A college class gets interrupted by one of the best calls a young driver can receive: “Can you race this weekend?” We sit down with Andrew Chapman, a newly 21-year-old ARCA driver, and trace the line from a bare-bones go-kart setup to real stock car results. He shares how he got connected with a team owner, what it takes to earn trust quickly, and why being ready matters as much as raw speed when opportunities show up with almost no notice. We also dig into Chapman’s other lane: electrical engin...

Run-flat tires sound like a simple promise: keep driving after a puncture and skip the spare. The reality is more nuanced, and we dig into the details that actually matter when you’re stuck on the side of the road asking the big question: can a run-flat tire be plugged? We talk through why run-flats cost more, how the reinforced sidewall carries the load after pressure drops, and why the puncture location (tread vs sidewall) changes everything. We also get into the practical stuff most drivers n...

A $4,000 budget. Five months to build. And a crowd ready to judge what you created. We kick things off with the Hot Rod Build-Off connected to the Hot Rod Riot in Victoria, Texas, and it instantly turns into the question every builder wrestles with: what do you do when time and money are the constraints, not your imagination? We talk through what that kind of challenge demands, from smart planning to stretching every dollar with salvage-yard parts and help from friends who know where the good st...