What’s the magic to creating great automotive content for audiences beyond the garage and around the world? Hear your favorite TV car guys share stories of how they turned their true passion for cars into successful entertainment careers. Sit back and buckle up as you get the inside scoop on what it really takes to create your favorite car shows.

Moderators – Wayne Carini & Jay Ward

Max Girardo, Tory Belleci, Chip Foose, Ant Anstead & Ray Evernham

Max Girardo

Since 2016, Max has been working as the founder of Girardo & Co, his latest venture specializing in advising, sourcing and selling some of the most elite vehicles in the world. He has dedicated his time and knowledge to ensuring the business is a market leader in the collectable car industry, and that Girardo & Co provides a bespoke service in pairing clients with their ideal cars. 

Prior to founding Girardo & Co, Max had over a decade of experience in luxury cars and auctioning. Gaining his expertise and knowledge on high end motorized vehicles, Girardo held a number of positions including as a car specialist at Bonhams and the Managing Director of CARS Europe. In 2006, he took on a senior position in auctioneering as the Managing Director & Motor car Specialist at the world-renowned RM Sotheby's. In the role, Max was responsible for opening the first ever European branch of the business and was the chosen auctioneer for all of RM’s global events.

Wayne Carini

Wayne Carini is the host of Chasing Classic Cars on the Velocity channel, currently in its 9th season, and the proprietor of F40 Motorsports sales and restoration services. He is a noted collector, recognized collectorcar authority and president of Carini Consulting, a collector-car consulting firm.

Jay Ward

As Creative Director for the world of Cars, Jay Ward consults on all CARS-related projects around the world, providing automotive and franchise expertise to both Disney and its partners in matters pertaining to Consumer Products, Interactive, Marketing, Publishing, and Theme Parks. He also serves as a liaison with automotive manufacturers and museums working on Pixar-related projects. Jay was the automotive and later franchise creative consultant on all three ‘CARS’ films, the Cars Toons, and Cars Land at Disney’s California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. In addition to his work on Cars projects, Jay worked in the art departments of Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, and Brave, and served as the associate producer of the 2008 Pixar short film “Presto.” Ward also runs the campus classic car show, the “Pixar Motorama” hosting vehicles from Jay Leno, Chip Foose, and many others.

Prior to joining Pixar, Jay co-created and ran the traditional hot rod & custom show “BILLETPROOF” from it’s inception in 1997 up until 2002, when he branched into other automotive endeavors including being the Managing Editor for Hop Up magazine and now writing monthly articles on-line for The Jalopy Journal, reaching millions of vintage hot rod enthusiasts around the world.  He currently resides in Orinda, California with his wife, their two children, and plenty of old cars and motorcycles.

Chip Foose

The preeminent car designer of his generation, Chip Foose has created a legacy of designs and accomplishments that are well beyond his years. Known for his clean designs and sophisticated style, Chip Foose is a living legend in the automotive industry. His customization of classic American hot rods and muscle cars include the iconic and eye-catching Impression, Hemisfear, and Grand Master.

Chip began his work with designer Boyd Coddington at Hot Rods by Boyd in the early 90’s, and became a full-time employee in 1993, then Managing Director and finally the company’s president. During his tenure at Hot Rod by Boyd, Chip created the “Boyd Look” and was responsible for many internationally known vehicles including Roadster, Sportstar, the Boydster I and II and Boyd Air. In 1998, Chip left to form Foose Design with his wife, Lynne.

Foose and his team turn clunkers into dream rides on the hit series “Overhaulin'”. In addition to his television work, his designs have also appeared on the big screen in movies such as Blade Runner, Gone in 60 Seconds and Pixar’s Cars.

Vehicles designed and fabricated by Foose have collected a number of awards. He is a four-time winner of the prestigious Ridler Award from the Detroit Autorama, eight-time winner of the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award, first recipient of the Inaugural Good Guys Trendsetter award, seven-time winner of the Good Guys Street Rod of the Year Award and also holds two SEMA Best in Show Awards. His designs have earned him a place in the SEMA Hall of Fame, the youngest inductee of the Hot Rod Hall of Fame, the Darryl Starbird Rod and Custom Car Museum Hall of Fame, The Grand National Roadster Show Hall of Fame, the Diecast Hall of Fame, the ToyCon Hall of Honor, and the San Francisco Rod and Custom Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

Chip’s unprecedented design and illustration skills along with his affable personality make him one of the most beloved personalities in Hot Rodding and the Automotive Aftermarket. Chip quickly qualifies this recognition by saying, “What we do is 100% un-necessary; but it is passion based”. His Foose Design, Inc. headquarters, located in Huntington Beach, CA, continue to produce some of the most exquisite designs the car world has ever seen.

Ray Evernham 

Ray Evernham has more than four decades of experience in the automotive and racing industries. He has worked with the biggest names in motorsport history, including Gordon, Andretti, Foyt and Earnhardt, was a vital force in resurrecting the International Race of Champions (IROC) series, won three NASCAR Sprint Cup championships as a crew chief for Jeff Gordon, and partnered with Dodge to build Evernham Motorsports into one of the most successful teams in NASCAR. Evernham has also held many roles in the television industry, including serving as a NASCAR analyst for SPEED, ESPN, ABC, FOX and NBC and hosting and producing his own television series AmeriCarna on the Velocity channel and Glory Road on NBCSN. He also served as a consultant and voice talent for Pixar’s Cars 3. Ray received the most significant honor of his career when he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2018.

Most recently, Evernham co-created a made-for-TV motorsports property for CBS called Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), which consisted of a six race series with twelve legendary drivers from all forms of motorsport competing head-to-head in equally prepared cars on iconic short tracks across America. Ray led the design and build of the cars and developed the exciting race format that led to SRX becoming the United States’ second most watched racing program in just its first season.

Currently, Ray is an avid car collector, consultant to motorsports and automotive related businesses and is very active with his foundation, Evernham Family – Racing for a Reason, which funds community centers for young adults with high-functioning Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome called IGNITE.

Ant Anstead

UK native Ant Anstead is best known for hosting car-centric television shows. He is co-owner and chief engineer of Radford Motors, and oversees the entire building process. A former police officer and semi-professional footballer, the 42-year-old started his own television production company in 2014 and produced his own show, The World’s Most Expensive Cars.

Since then, the motor specialist has hosted a number of other car-related shows like For the Love of Cars, Wheeler Dealers, Building Cars Live, Ant Anstead Master Mechanic and the World's Greatest Cars series.

Tory Belleci

Tory Belleci is best known as the daredevil on MYTHBUSTERS, and can build just about anything.  For years he has hosted Science Channel's hit show PUNKIN CHUNKIN and has also starred on THRILL FACTOR for the Travel Channel. He's appeared many times on The Rachael Ray Show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as a science entertainer. He's also appeared on Iron Chef and Hell's Kitchen as a celebrity judge and can be seen blowing things up on his web series Blow It Up!

Tory started working in the industry behind the scenes in 1994 after graduating from San Francisco State University's film school. For almost a decade he worked as a model maker, sculptor and painter at Industrial Light and Magic building models for major Hollywood movies including the Star Wars prequels. His models include the pod racers and the Federation battleship. Other movies that you can see his work in include Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, Terminator 3, The Matrix 2 & 3 and Van Helsing.

Tory also has written and directed short films including his short "Sand Trooper" which played at the Slamdance Film Festival and also aired on Syfy Channel.

Again this year we are not charging for our Forums! This is due to the continuing uncertainties of their attendance due to COVID. We anticipate that we will resume charging for some of our Forums in 2023. Please only  RSVP if you are certain you can attend, and allow seats for others.