Speechless!

[jeff hanson]

Well, where do I begin. First of all, let me say Congratulations to The Ring Bros for the win. I personally picked them from the start even with the win from last year. The autocross was the clincher IMO. The 2 cars (you know which two) were so close, that had to be the deciding factor, plain and simple.

Now, as far as me getting a top 5 pick. I am so unbelievably shocked right now, I don't know what to say, but here goes. A lot of people told me that I have nothing to be shocked about, but I still can't believe it. I was not expecting this at all. I feel so honored to even be mentioned with the other cars. I'm not just talking about the other four, but all the other cars. It was obvious to everyone that Ring Bros and Troy were the battle, so there was really only three spots available. I would have to say that my autocross effort was my only hope of getting in, so I pretty much went balls out every lap. The crowd was diggin it, and I think that really carried a LOT more weight with the judges than anyone thought. I also think the "homebuilt" factor had a lot to do with it as well. Wether you agree or not with me getting in the top 5, I am feeling like a million bucks right now! I am going to enjoy this moment for years to come, and nobody can ever take that feeling away. It is just AWESOME! All the other cars were so nice, I don't know how they picked between them all. My head is still spinning from all this, I don't even know what I'm saying right now, but I guess all I can do now is try to soak it all in and have fun with it.:cheers:
My Dad called my Mom and I called my wife almost immediately. (actually I think I called Scott and Trush first:lol: ) but anyway, the feeling was crazy. My Dad actually got choked up and couldn't even talk for a couple seconds. He was a huge part of this car. I couldn't have done it without his help. Although, he didn't do a lot of hands on, he chased parts for me for over 2 years, and that is huge, because of my work schedule. I don't think my wife realizes the magnitude of all of this, but I think she will figure it out when I can't remove the smile off my face for a few more weeks(or months). Again, I don't know what to say, and maybe I'm being to hard on myself, but it is just an unbelievable honor to get this with all the top notch competition that was there.

I also want to say that I have read all the posts, and thank you for all the kind words and support. I know there is going to be a lot of guys that didn't make the top 5 that felt they should, and to all of you, you're right. They all should have. If you talk to anyone about the cars this year, they will say how good all the cars were. Unfortunately there's only 5 picks, so everyone else is going to feel slighted no matter who gets in. That's just the way these things go and I think we all know that. I certainly have been on, what I thought was the short end of the stick a time or two, so I can understand how you all feel. I don't want to sound like I am apoligizing for getting picked, but the cars were so nice, these 5 picks could have been picked from a hat.

Lastly, this is truely the best sight on the net, and it was great that John D mentioned Lateral-G when he interviewed me. That was way cool! It was great to meet everyone and put the faces with the names. There was a pretty darn good turn out from Lat-G members. (except Trush, ya punk!) Well, enough of my rambling on aimlessly. I need to go to bed and try to get some sleep(yeah right):willy::thumbsup:

[dodge]

Congratulations on making the Top 5..:thumbsup: :cheers:

Cheers Joe

[nvr2fst]

Congrats Jeff and nice meeting you. You need to parkon the grass at the hotel in the same spot next year great exposure lol
dave

[Vegas69]

You built your car in the garage in your spare time. You should be damn proud and deserving on the top 5.

[jeff hanson]

Congrats Jeff and nice meeting you. You need to parkon the grass at the hotel in the same spot next year great exposure lol
dave

Yeah, I think that was the only spot on the whole street that you could park a car up on the grass and it wasn't even my hotel.:lol:
Nice to meet you too. How'd the pick up go? Is it at it's new home?:unibrow:

[camcojb]

congrats Jeff, the gang here is very proud of you. :yes:

Jody

[GHOSTDANCER]

Congrats :thumbsup: :cheers:

[jeff hanson]

You built your car in the garage in your spare time. You should be damn proud and deserving on the top 5.

Thanks. I am proud. I just have a hard time with showing it. Drives my dad nuts. He does all the bragging, and I keep my mouth shut. I'm not one to talk about my own stuff very much. How's this:woot:

[jeff hanson]

Thanks guys! Who'm I kidding, I can't sleep!:willy:

[nvr2fst]

Yeah, I think that was the only spot on the whole street that you could park a car up on the grass and it wasn't even my hotel.:lol:
Nice to meet you too. How'd the pick up go? Is it at it's new home?:unibrow:

LS7 In trailer, the buy went smooth with a ton of extras he didnt want. Taking it to my shop tommorrow already for tear down. On the way home I decided I cant leave well enough alone. Need to figure custom crank, oliver rods and send heads out to Eric Koening. Not sure what I plan on doing with the intake yet. Did you run any forged internals?

[novanutcase]

Jeff,

I know I already congratulated you at the show but I wanted to say congratulations again! You really deserved it! Great work Brother!:thumbsup:

John

[Stuart Adams]

Jeff, your car is awesome. Top 5, I was not shocked at all, it definately belonged there. Glad to meet you and enjoy that beautiful car. :thumbsup:

[HRBS]

Jeff,
Well deserved, your paint, fit and finish was awesome !
Congrats on making the top 5 ! :hail:

[XcYZ]

Congrats, Jeff!! :bow: I'm stoked for you. :woot:

So..... which magazines will your car be in? :cheers:

[Payton King]

What an accomplishment!

You have to be very proud. It is always nice when someone recognizes all of your hard work.

Great car

[radrambler]

jeff

just another here to say CONGRATS...........:thumbsup:
TOP 5 @ COLUMBUS ....MUST BE AN AWESOME FEELING..

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF YOU TRY HARD ENOUGH...that what im telling myself as i bust knuckles and sand on my junk....

radrambler

[trapin]

I'm not surprised at all, Jeff. You and your Dad pulled out all the punches on that thing. It's what I like to call a "10 Minute Car". You just can't glance at it quickly and move on to the other cars, you've gotta park yourself right there and spend some time with it. Everything about that car is "spot on". The only thing that's missing is a kitchen sink in the trunk. LOL!!!

Congratulations. Good to see a Michigan boy do well at the big dance.:thumbsup:

[tones2SS]

Congrats Jeff!! You shouldn't be shocked. You're car is a beautiful car and deserves all the recognition it gets.:thumbsup: :cheers:
CONGRATS!!:cheers:

[buickfunnycar.com]

Let's see more of that beauty!:yes: :faint: :thumbsup: :woot: :cheers:

[jeff hanson]

Thanks guys. Glad to see that you think that it should have been there. I think as an owner, I need to try to look at it from the outside and maybe not be so critical on myself. I appreciate all the comments, it means a lot! As far as coverage, it will be in a Flowmaster ad, and possibly something with AAW, I need to call them. Super Rod is shooting it this week or next. I know that Camaro Performers wants to shoot it, but doesn't feel right doing it if I have already been working with Super Rod. That's kind of a bummer, but I understand. I'll try to get some pics up soon. I also have a few videos of the Dyno, a spot I did for a Canadian TV show from the Autorama in March, that I just got a copy of(pretty cool), and this past weekend's festivities. By the way, if anyone has a video of the interviews John D did with the 5 cars, I would love a copy of that. I had a friend video it, and when we watched it, he missed the three in the middle (Troy, myself, and Ring bros), don't ask, I don't know what happened with the camera, but we were a little bummed out to say the least. I'm sure someone got it, so I'm not to worried about it. Thanks again guys, I'm still waiting to wake up from all this!:woot:

[ProdigyCustoms]

Hey Jeff, I also said it elsewhere, but I can say it twice, Congratulations. No apologies required. I personally had the first 4 slots filled in my head and neither you or I were in my first 4 picks. Until the autocross, then watching some of those cars suffer on the coarse made me wonder if performance would play into the decisions after all. There were a couple indoor show cars that really suffered, and I loved it! One FOR SURE had top 5 wrote all over it and I can only assume it'sd poor autocross performance nixed it's chances. I am certain the black 68 convertibles winning autocross performance played into it's top 5 position.

I really thought the 5th spot could have gone to 10 of the 25 cars left. Yes your autocross performance was great, maybe the home built idea played in, but ,maybe, JUST MAYBE, it's a great car and the judges just loved it!

So enjoy it for what it is.

[Rybar]

Hey Jeff,

I think you deserved it. Your car IS built to the level of the pros. So be proud! It's an amazing car! :hail:

[Steve1968LS2]

Sweet car and you deserve the spot you got. Must be nice to be up there with the big dogs :)

:thumbsup:

[Ricochet]

Major props to you and your Dad, Jeff. I have a real good idea on how your Dad is feeling right now. My Dad was an integral part of building Ricochet way back. And when I was as fortunate as I was to get the recognition it receieved at SEMA - he could not have been prouder! It was a great father/son experience I nor he will ever forget.

You are right though - the playing field is unbelievebale out there now. The level of talent and quality cars out there now has increased ten fold over the years. It's a great sign to see how this hobby is evolving. It was nice to see a "Little Guy" out there mixing it up with big boys.

Congrats again for a job well done and enjoy the ride my friend.:thumbsup:

Brent

[Ummgawa]

Your car is Bas ass...period. Congrats Jeff! You da Man:hail: !

[Theresa]

:theresa: :theresa: :theresa:
Congrats, Jeff! Very happy for you.

[Tony@AirRideTech]

Jeff,
Congradts on that.... we have some pretty good pics up on our site as well. Here ya go
http://www.ridetech.com/more/nggallery/post/good-guys-street-machine-of-the-year-autocross/album-6/gallery-59/

[GTOBRET]

Jeff,

Congrats on your top five. I was rooting for you. You deserved to be there. Very nice car. I wanted to make it down to your car and chat but didn't make it. I did check it out. Me and my brother had the black '69 GTO. It's a homebuilt car also. Took two years of building after my boring day job.

Later,
Bret

[fleetus macmullitz]

Those are some good pics.

Late to the party on your car, please list the best pics links.

[SRD Art]

Thanks. I am proud. I just have a hard time with showing it. Drives my dad nuts. He does all the bragging, and I keep my mouth shut. I'm not one to talk about my own stuff very much. How's this:woot:

Good on ya! I think that definitely deserves a pat on the back.

[jack67rs]

congrats, always cool to see a homebuilt project get recognized!! there was a good group of cars to pick from this year, it would of been some job to narrow it down to 5. I did agree with the ring bros camaro for smoy, those guys seem one step ahead on trends. really dig the color combos and contrasts they keep comin' up with!

good luck with the mag shoots, well deserved!

[Van B]

Jeff,

It was great to chat with you yesterday. No matter what some people think, the bottom line is that your car was a top 5 car at Columbus in 2008 and no one can take that away from you. I can only dream of getting that kind of recognition some day.

Great job.

[lil427z]

jeff good things happen to good people.:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :
rick k:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

[nvr2fst]

jeff good things happen to good people.:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :
rick k:cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

And humble about it at the same time. Way to go to you and your dad

[Autokraft]

Congrats on making the top five Jeff. That's an awesome car no doubt.:P

[Blake Foster]

NICE!

[jeff hanson]

Thanks again you guys. Everyone's response is overwhelming, this is just too much. The party never ends. I did not take anywhere near enough pictures. I left that up to the guys with GOOD camera's. Here's a couple from inside mixed with some from home.
http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?albumid=2&carid=16360

[monza]

YOU RULE!!! :cheers:

[Roger Poirier]

I'm not surprised at all, Jeff. You and your Dad pulled out all the punches on that thing. It's what I like to call a "10 Minute Car". You just can't glance at it quickly and move on to the other cars, you've gotta park yourself right there and spend some time with it. Everything about that car is "spot on". Congratulations. Good to see a Michigan boy do well at the big dance.:thumbsup:

After reviewing the top 5 it certainly seemed to me to be worthy! :thumbsup: It looked almost mild mannered compared to some of the other Camaro's.


Roger

[ccracin]

Jeff,

I know I said this at the show but you should be proud. Your car is the utmost in form and function. You definately deserve to be there. It was a true pleaseure talking with you. You're a class act. :lateral:

Later,

[MarkM66]

Yes, another congrats. :thumbsup:

A good autocross time, and a car that has an overall good look to it had to of helped with a pick.

Besides take off, was the whole auto cross run in 2nd gear?

[camj69]

awesome job on your car! i know i took at more than a few photos of it.
my friend had a car in the pros pick area that was his first show quality car build and it took two days to convince him he should put it in there. the quality and vision that the owners and builders have is just on another level.
congrats to you on all your hours of hard work paying off, especially for being home built. now the real fun begins driving the wheels off it.:woot:

[syborg tt]

Thanks I did not take anywhere near enough pictures. I left that up to the guys with GOOD camera's. Here's a couple from inside mixed with some from home.

Jeff - You deserved it. Great Car, Great Owner, Great Father / Son story what else could you ask for.

wait - you beat the snot out of it on the autocross

ps - i took a few of your car ( about 50 )

http://www.syborgtwinturbo.com/gallery/2008-Columbus

[awr68]

Big congrats Jeff, we are very proud of you!! :woot: :cheers: :lateral:

[61Bubbletop]

Congrats Jeff..you deserve it! The car is gorgeous, and as you proved over and over on the autoX..more than capable. The fact that I see you driving it all over the place shows you know how to enjoy it, are not scared to drive it and that its not just a piece of furniture to look at. Congrats! :cheers: :woot:

p.s. Yeah, it took me awhile to post...these 6 speeds are complicated!:lol:

[Reckley]

Great Job Jeff!! The car looks great. I love the pics with it sitting next to the other 4 finalists. Congrats to your Dad as well. I remember when you guys started the project and how excited he was about it. It's got to be a great feeling.

Hope to see you around this summer

Mike

[Streetking]

Congrats Jeff!:woot:

SW

[jeff hanson]

Thanks again guys. I haven't checked in for a while. Been crazy busy at work and play! Getting ready for Woodward cruise, or should I say Woodward week. I have two friends trying to get their cars done for it, so needless to say, It's been a little hectic around here. Hope to see some of you guys out there!:thumbsup: