Charlie Vogelheim has 30 years of automotive industry experience including roles as VP at and J.D. Power and as executive editor at both Kelley Blue Book and Motor Trend Auto Group. He is the principal of Vogelheim Ventures through which he is involved in a variety of initiatives including Motor Trend Audio, TPC Management, DrivingSales, RyanTech, and Webcars China.

James Caldwell lives in Menlo Park, California and is an automotive artist who’s been focusing on painting cars since 2007 although he’s painted since he was a young boy. A graduate from Rhode Island School of Design, he followed in his father Jim’s footsteps, a renowned landscape painter. James passion for automobiles runs deep and his goal is to capture the complex reflections and distortions of light and color in the intricate surfaces. He’s been on Jay Leno’s garage, his art hangs in private collections around the world, and I discovered James at Concorso Italiano in Monterey during Car Week where he’s their official artist creating magazine covers, posters, and calendars.

Carlos Salaff is Founder and Creative Director of SALAFF where they design and make high-performance hand built cars. Working at Mazda Design Americas from 2003-2012, he was instrumental in the creation of several concept and production vehicles. His works have been recognized by the Louis Vuitton Classic, LA Design Challenge, and the Grand Prix Du Design awards.

Cameron Evans is the President of Red Line Synthetic Oil, a division of Phillips 66. He grew up in a family with a passion for racing and his late father was Steve Evans, motorsports broadcasting legend. Cameron was the editor of Popular Hot Rodding Magazine and host of their television show. He’s managed NHRA Pro Teams and worked for years in television production at Diamond P Sports. He’s raced motorcycles, sports cars, Formula Mazda, and today races in the BimmerWorld/Red Line Oil ChumpCar, NASA, SCCA, BMW CCA, and others.Cameron Evans is the President of Red Line Synthetic Oil, a division of Phillips 66. He grew up in a family with a passion for racing and his late father was Steve Evans, motorsports broadcasting legend. Cameron was the editor of Popular Hot Rodding Magazine and host of their television show. He’s managed NHRA Pro Teams and worked for years in television production at Diamond P Sports. He’s raced motorcycles, sports cars, Formula Mazda, and today races in the BimmerWorld/Red Line Oil ChumpCar, NASA, SCCA, BMW CCA, and others.

Twas the night before Christmas, and upon my garage bench,
Not a tool was a spinning, not even a wrench.
The cars were all parked in their stalls with great care,
In hope that St Nicholas soon would be there.

••• 

This car guy was nestled all snug in my bed,
While visions of sports cars raced through my head.
And my wife in her overalls and I in my driver’s cap,
Had just parked our booties for a long winter’s nap.

••• 

When out on the driveway there arose a valve clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the garage I flew like James Hunt,
But I tripped on a floor jack and had quite a shunt.

••• 

The moon on the paint of my shiny car’s hood,
Had the luster of fresh paint on cars that are good.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a train of cool sports cars with a driver so dear.

••• 

He was a spirited old racer, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than racers his cars they all came,
And he honked, and blipped throttles, and called them by name!

••• 

"Now Porsche! Now, Ferrari! Now, Ford and Chevrolet!
On, BMW! On, Bugatti! On Aston Martin from the UK!
Drive Jaguar! Drive McLaren! Drive Lamborghini and Audi too!
Shift Tesla! Shift Morgan! Shift Mercedes and boy how they flew!"

The smell of spent race fuel lingered thick in the air,
And the marks of burnt rubber on my driveway were there,
So on to the driveway the marques how they flew,
It was a sleigh pulled by cars, driven by St Nicholas too.

••• 

And then, all a revving, I heard in the garage
The distinct double clutch of a red Viper Dodge.
As I poked in my head, he was turning around,
And in to my garage did St Nicholas pull up with a bound.

••• 

He was dressed like a racer, from his head to his foot,
And his race suit was tarnished with oil and black diesel soot.
A bundle of car parts he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a mechanic opening up his tool sack.

••• 

His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples how quaint!
His cheeks were like chrome and his nose like metallic paint!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as a headlight’s glow.

 •••

The exhaust from his tail pipes drifted through the night’s air
And he shut down the engines with a quick blip and a care.
His smiling face looked out, of his Bell helmet all round,
He shook when he laughed, like a V12 making sound!

••• 

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old racer
And I laughed when I saw him, like a barn find car chaser.
A wink of his eyes were like the sparkle of chrome stars,
And I knew that this old jolly fellow really loved cars.

••• 

He spoke not a word, and delivered his treats,
He filled the glove boxes, the trunks and bucket seats.
And laying his wrench aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, in to his car he arose!

 •••

The cars they all fired up with a glorious roar,
And away they all drove right out my garage door.
How he yelled with excitement, as he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Thank you to Clement Clarke Moore for your Christmas inspiration.

James Colborn is originally from the United Kingdom who resides in the United States. He’s a racer who after spending four years of high performance driving event (HPDE) days, his good friend, and fellow Cars Yeah guest Don Kitch, owner of ProFormance Racing School in Seattle Washington, handed James the keys to a BMW E30 PRO3 race car and said “Take a few laps.” James was hooked. Since then he’s raced all over the US. The past two years he’s developed the new SPEC E46 class on both the East and West coasts. He’s competed at the professional level in the Continental Tire Series, in the ST class with team BimmerWorld and Compass 360.

David Schaeffer is the Executive Director at World of Speed Museum in Wilsonville, Oregon. His role is to oversee the museum’s mission of education and entertainment through the celebration and preservation of American motorsports. Before joining the museum David worked for the Children’s Cancer Association as the Chief Development Officer and he’s also worked in the headquarters for the American Cancer Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Chris Gennone is the Managing Partner and Co-Owner of The Stables in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Stables is a premium storage facility where they help their customers sell, acquire, collect, and care for fine automobiles. Chris was a professional driver in the IMSA endurance racing series where he was also a chief driving instructor. From there he built the automotive consulting company CDI and raced in vintage racing events in many different race cars. Chris has been collecting, selling, and restoring classic cars and motorcycles for over 30 years.

Shin Yoshikawa is a world-renowned cutaway artist, fabricator, photographer, and a concert pianist. His drawings are exacting details of the interior of automobiles down to every nut and bolt. He’s appeared on Jay Leno’s garage and his art hangs in shops, home, garage, and galleries around the world, including mine. In his automobile workshop titled Studio Time Capsule Shin is a master fabricator. For over 40 years he’s been involved in numerous automotive builds including concept cars, Toyota 2000 GTs, Panhards, Toyota FJs and more. Shin is a man of many talents including his skills at the keyboard as a concert pianist.

Rachael Clegg is an artist who designs and creates unique motorsports themed nude calendars with a focus on racing, both the Isle of Man TT race and the famous Nurburgring race track. Her quirky, bold, artistic, and revealing calendars and prints have been featured in the German national daily newspaper Die Welt. Her Milestones calendar has become a cult piece and is a visual celebration of the renowned TT motorcycle event. Her Nurburgring calendar’s back-stories are detailed and historic and the images are witty, silly, and evocative. Her other art, Sound Stories, are paintings with a nod to motorcycle racing history. Rachael captures motorcycle sound waves translating them to paint on a canvas.