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For those who don’t know it, Chic Henry was once an Army Apprentice and speaks with great enthusiasm about how good the Army trainingwas. Many Army Apprentices have achieved great success in their life and Chic proudly promotes that two other Ex-Appies are involved in the staging of the Summernats. One such person is Lt General Ken Gillespie, recently promoted to Chief of the Australian Army, who did his time at the Army Apprentices School as a bricklayer. Chic hopes that the Summernats can continue to assist the Army and the new Chief, to show that the Army is a great opportunity for young people to have a successful future, starting with a trade.
Rod Hadfield - A Rare Spares Legend Introducing Rod Hadfield, Rare Spares Legend...
Chic & the Jack Daniels Girls Check out this great shot of Chic with the Jack Daniels girls at Summernats 21. All are previous Miss Summernats Competition winners. From left to right:
Chic's Wrap-Up of Summernats 21... The 21st Street Machine Summernats was the birthday party I hoped it would be with a big crowd (105,565) and no shortage of memorable highlights. As I write this, the latest issue of Street Machine is out and I’m looking forward to seeing the Special Edition out in a few weeks. We’re madly cutting and shutting the film footage for the Official Summernats 21 DVD and plan to get it out much earlier. You can also see plenty of highlights on www.channelvision.com.au I had a huge time and whilst my highlights are many, the real highlight was being able to hang out with so many fantastic people. Make no mistake, I know I’m a lucky person to be able to have the opportunity to share my time with people who are telling me what a great time it is to be at the Summernats. I’ve never shaken so many hands, had so many kisses from enthusiastic ladies, had so many photos taken with kids and so on. The bonuses are to see the cars that are built especially to be seen at the Summernats above all other shows and to see people rise to the occasion, such as Rob Godfrey with his 900 plus hp tonner winning the Grand Champion sword. Ditch getting Top Elite. Joe Pegano winning the Burnouts. Even seeing Yummy’s yellow ute die again and me getting an opportunity to present him with a sign he’d ripped off the Armco. And then long-time mate, Johnny Peterson appearing out of the blue with his Mk3 Zephyr to do a celebratory skid for me and the 21st Summernats. I didn’t know that was coming. I got to sit in the Tiger helicopter. Up top where the gunnery stuff is with General Peter Leahy, my good friend looking on. Fantastic. A cruise around the block with Victor in Black Bess and a ride in his burnout 57 Chevy. Seeing the Gladiator Challenge go so well. The cheeky dialogue between Brett Stevens and James Scarlett the Challenger, was priceless. Damn, even when my bloody Camaro caught fire on the track was a highlight to me. Can’t forget the photo opportunities with the gorgeous Jack Daniels Miss Summernats Winners. Six of them and a seventh. Could it get any better? Well, maybe. The firey end of the Fever Eye Candy show was spectacular as was the ACT Fireworks and Lawrence wrecking the Roller. The PPG Supercruise and Stunt Show was just the thing for a 21st celebration. The highlights were endless. It was a really great
Summernats and as I said, I’m proud to do what I do and yes, I’ll
hang in there for a while yet and I’m already planning some good stuff
for 22 including a trip to the States to talk with Troy Trepanier about getting
him and one of his cool cars to the next Event. No-one ever said that the Street Machine Summernats was a quiet weekend in the Nation’s Capital. When you really know me, you know that I’m into having a good time and the Summernats is all about that. Just as that dumb-arse kid from Melbourne with the white sunnies found out, when you throw a big party, it can easily get rowdy. The media coverage of the Summernats from Monday onwards, has not done us any favours, but as a lot of people know, what you read in the local rag, is mostly exaggerated. I will say that the Marshall acting very inappropriately is something I do not support, even though he and other security personel and marshals had copped racial abuse all weekend. The so-called riotous mob took us by surprise and as time goes on, I’m finding out more and more that it was a big group for sure, but a riot? Define a riot and you’ll find that the mob was nothing like that. I’ll come back to the truth of the media stuff a bit later so stay tuned for that in two or three weeks. What hasn’t done us any favours is that there’s a lot of bloody dickheads out there. We’ll sort it out. You’ll see. Make 08 great. Keep cruisin’. Chic 17 Jan 08 
Chic's 300C on the Cover of Refinisher Magazine PPG’s Refinisher magazine’s latest copy features Chic’s Chrysler 330C wagon and has an article on the twenty one “celebration colours” they will feature on their display at the Event. Besides the PPG special mix maroon applied by Newgel, Chic’s 300 isn’t as the Mopar Factory produced it. Tyres from Bridgestone on 22x9.5 billets. Nolathane fitted their suspension magic and Genie provided the headers to go with a healthy sounding Powatone exhaust. Factory cold air intake, throttle body extension and a Jet performance module helps the hemi with the highway boogie. BDL Car Stereo fitted the DVD screens and a dash module specially made to suit 300’s. Not bad for a daily hack.
Car Hoons... A mate of mine sent me this recently: a positive spin on car hoons "HOONS are a misunderstood lot. Just because they drive high-powered cars, rev
their engines at the lights and blast the neighbourhood with execrable music
does not mean that they are a menace on the roads.Yet governments have been panicked into passing tough anti-hoon legislation
that is so broad it can snare the car-mad along with the bad."
The plea for greater understanding of
hoon culture appears in the latest edition of the journal Youth Studies
Australia. Rob White, professor of sociology at the University of
Tasmania,
and his co-author Hannah Graham argue that sensational media reports have given
the impression of "hoons taking over our streets". The last line says it all. Chic. (Havin’ a chat).
Saving Planet Earth... I was sitting in on a session at a Conference I recently attended and this well-known dude from the USA really got my attention when he said that serious exposure to exhaust emissions regularly could lower my I.Q. I figured that my problem was that I was getting older and slower but there’s more to it than that. I think about my kids a lot and when I finally check out, I hope that somehow I’ve made a difference to their world. There’s some serious stuff being said about the Earth as it is and what it’s becoming and I want to do a bit myself to help and I’m asking you guys to think about it too. It’s the old story, “If we all do a little bit, it’ll become a lot.” Hey, I’m no Greenie tree-hugger, but I can do stuff such as turning off lights I don’t need, fixing leaking taps and using recycling bins when I can. Over the next few months, I’m gonna throw a few simple ideas your way. We can’t escape the fact that we drive bloody hungry cars and we could easily come under some serious government and community pressure because of this. You want the Summernats to survive don’t you? Me too. How ‘bout we do some stuff together to ease the problems? Have you ever seen photos of the Earth from Space? Damn, this place looks cool from out there. It’s our home and just like our cars, a bit of regular preventative maintenance will keep it ticking along really well. More later. In the meantime, switch off lights you don’t need on. It’ll help. PS. The Sunday Telegraph newspaper has a good liftout series
on Saving Planet Earth. Positive ways we can make a difference. Chic. (Havin’ a chat).
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Ex-Apprentice Now Army Chief
