2010 'Ridler Award' winner - Tammy Ray and her 'Gold Digger'

text and images by Diana Merrill Claussen, Dallas

To see her is not to know her, as Tammy Ray is not your typical Southern Belle.  Actually, she is a self-proclaimed Gold Digger, and welcomes people to call her so.  Tammy and her husband Tony, are [...]]]>

2010 'Ridler Award' winner - Tammy Ray and her 'Gold Digger'

text and images by Diana Merrill Claussen, Dallas

To see her is not to know her, as Tammy Ray is not your typical Southern Belle.  Actually, she is a self-proclaimed Gold Digger, and welcomes people to call her so.  Tammy and her husband Tony, are the current owners of the Crisson Gold Mine, Dahlonega, GA., which was originally established in 1847 as part of the Georgia Gold Rush.  The facility is now open to the public as a place visitors can pan for gold and take tours of the old mine. 

Tammy grew up in a big family where there was only one boy and four girls, “My dad made us help him no matter where he needed it or what he needed done,” Tammy said. From cleaning chicken houses to gardening, “I was always his right-hand man and a typical daddy’s girl too.” She also inherited her love of mechanics from her father.

This love of things mechanical also led to Tammy showing a 1923 T Bucket at her local car shows and cruise-ins for ‘fun’.  It took a friend to step in and advise her as to what she would have to do to be able to compete with the ‘big boys’.  “So I decided to up the ante,” Tammy smiled.  She not only upped it with time and money, she threw in some gold nuggets just to ensure she would have quite an original ride.

The Ray’s decided to use their gold for more than just jewelry when they bought a 1933 Ford Phaeton that Tammy had built during a project that took almost three years to complete.  The body is a ‘Rat’s Glass’ fiberglass piece that started with just an engine and a chassis. From the undercarriage to the outside roof, Gold Digger is a completely customized car that even has seats that were tailored and shaped specifically for the golden-tressed owner.  Tammy also used a few of their golden treasures as accents and trim on different areas of their automotive masterpiece.  With all of this golden attention to detail, it only seemed natural that Tammy decided to name the gold color and nugget accented car “Gold Digger”.  Even the paint on exterior of the custom ride is now a copyrighted golden pearl color which Tammy and her painter will soon publicly sell as ‘Gold Digger Gold.’     

Her hard work paid off, as Tammy was awarded the coveted ‘Ridler Award’ at the Detroit show.  This made Tammy the first woman to ever win this highly esteemed International Show Car Association Award.  “To win the Ridler is top of the line in the show car world.  Best of the Best. I actually started crying when I first made it into the top eight contenders right before winning the Ridler,” she said.

Tammy later went on to win the Legend Cup at the Chicago World of Wheels show. To date; Tammy has won Best of Show in nine out of nine shows total. The Gold Digger has been deemed, “The number one hot rod in America.”  To earn this title means the owner has to truly go ‘over the top’ by converting normal everyday auto parts into their own work of hot rod art.

Here are just a few of the mechanical conversions Tammy made in order to achieve this feat. “I had Chip Foose design the wheels, and I custom designed the Extrudabody fuel injection while adding an LS 350 turbo transmission and a 427 engine,” Tammy exclaimed.  The car also boasts a single lift-off Hartz Cloth roof and an all leather interior. Inside the Phaeton, Tammy also added a PPG Dakota Digital dash gauge, and many long golden nuggets as accents both inside and out. “There are two 1-ounce gold nuggets on the valve covers and two half ounce nuggets on the brake calipers.”

These accessory nuggets are more-so displayed like art than simple ‘extras”.  Each piece of gold is centered inside a red background that is highlighted and surrounded by engraved silver framing, like a picture would be.  From every angle and degree, it is easy to see how the Gold Digger keeps winning everything she enters, especially in the ISCA shows which feature some of the most stringent judging to the extent that all vehicles are mandated to be white-glove ready without a fingerprint or speck of dust.

Tammy and Gold Digger’s most recent show was the Dallas AutoRama where Tammy professed   “I won the best Rod award.”  Local car enthusiast Mac Bernd confirmed Tammy left Texas with the ‘Dallas Diamond Award’, which is the highest award given at this prestigious show.

Tammy says she has the auto toys to compete with the ‘big boys’.  “But now the big boys have to be able to play in the sandbox with the girls and their hot rod toys,” she laughed.  

Life led Tammy to a Gold Mine, which in turn has led to the creation of the award winning Gold Digger, so it is easy to see why Tammy Ray does not mind being called a ‘Gold Digger’…

The Dallas AutoRama, sponsored by O’Reilly Auto Parts, is [...]]]> text and images by: Diana Merrill Claussen, Dallas

The Dallas AutoRama sped into town on Friday, February 18, and will run until Sunday 20, at 5:00 p.m.  There were many friendly and interesting people who not only attended the event, but entered their custom rides to be judged.

The Dallas AutoRama, sponsored by O’Reilly Auto Parts, is in it’s 51^st year, and is part of the Summit Racing Equipment Show Car Series.  The competitors in the show are so serious that the cars literally have to pass ‘white glove’ judging.  Winning at this highly acclaimed show is everything to the entrants, and so is spending time with fellow car enthusiasts.   While many of the show cars and their owners are from across the country, there were plenty of Texans on-hand who shared interesting background stories about their cars and their lives.

One such entrant is Mr. Bruce Hubbard, from DeSoto, Texas. Bruce brought his White 1948 Lincoln Continental Classic Coupe off of  eBay® for $16,000.  After his initial purchase, he started looking into the coupe’s history. “I contacted Ford Motor Company and they have been helping me to research the Lincoln’s former owners,” Bruce said. After six months of research, Bruce and Ford narrowed the list of previous owners down to two Hollywood agents that had bought Lincoln’s for their movie star employers.

“One of car was owned by Errol Flynn, and also appeared in the movie The Godfather,” Bruce said. “The other Lincoln could have possibly been owned by Marilyn Monroe,” he added.  Bruce has owned the car for two years and says Ford is still working on getting the cars certifications. “If someone famous has owned this car, it will immediately triple in value,” Bruce said. The Lincoln has all of its original parts and the interior boasts a luxurious Spanish Red Corinthian leather, the kind of interior fit for a Hollywood legend.

Located across from Bruce was Shelli Dowdy, who is the proud owner of a highly customized 2004 Viper.  Shelli is also no stranger when it comes to competing and winning. “I’m a Texas girl, but before I got the, Viper I was first a Porsche girl,” Shelli said. “That is until I lost weight while using a well-known weight loss product.” After her weight loss, Shelli wrote a 500 word essay about the product and how it had helped change her life.  The essay was entered into a contest sponsored by the weight loss company and, “Out of 7,000 contestants, I was the last girl standing,” Shelli smiled.

“I was then awarded the car by Anna Nicole Smith,” Shelli said. Many call Shelli the Living Legend of Anna Nicole, not only because of their likeness but also because of their similar backgrounds.  At the time, “We were the same age and had sons that were the same ages too.”  Losing weight and winning the car is what Shelli said turned her life around. She said it was also the catalyst to having a winning attitude in all that she does. 

Once she received the title to the all white Viper, Shelli went to work in customizing her new ride. “It now has a Paxton super charger on the big block, so it runs hot!” Shelli exclaimed. She also had Jarod Frannea of Dallas give the Viper a custom paint job of a ‘Viper’.  The snake mouth starts on the hood, while the body runs down the side of the car and around the trunk. “My car is named the Venomous Bastard,” Shelli smiled. It also has leather interior that looks like actual snake skin. Venomous Bastard didn’t receive it’s name because it’s a Viper, but thats another story for another time.

While Bruce and Shelli had never met until this years’ AutoRama, both owners found it very enlightening that his Lincoln and her Viper were touched by the hands of famous people. The Anna Nicole and the (possible) Marilyn Monroe connection was even more exciting for both of these AutoRama exhibitors.

There were several celebrities on hand during the weekend, such as the “Rangers Captain”, the Texas Rangers Mascot for the sports enthusiests.  For the younger hot rodders, Debby Ryan who plays “Baily” from Disney’s “Suite Life On Deck” also had scheduled appearances.  Then there was the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and even Wrestling Superstar Shawn Michaels was on hand.

Other notables at the event during the weekend included the ‘Living Legends of Drag Racing Cacklefest’, featuring The Grizzlehopper, Scorpion I & V, and The Blue Max dragsters that helped make drag racing history in the Southwest.

 For more information on the Championship Auto Show series, visit www.autorama.com