Tuesday, December 30, 2014
EDITOR’S NOTE — As 2014 winds down, The Vindicator
is taking a daily look back at the people and events that made this year unforgettable. “The Vindicator Rewind” will highlight and update a memorable story from 2014.
BOARDMAN
At this time last year, nobody outside of his family, friends and customers knew who Tommy Christmas was.
What a difference a year makes.
Christmas is now widely known as the head honcho of the speedmeisters on “Fat and Furious: Rolling Thunder,” the Discovery Channel reality show.
The show follows Christmas and his crew at Christmas Automotive — Chuck Kountz, Steve McGranahan and Andy Pivarnik — as they acquire dilapidated muscle cars and restore them into drag-racing shape. The show is mostly shot at Christmas’ speed shop in Fowler.
The series premiered in June and its ratings improved every week — so much that the cable channel picked it up for renewal in August.
Christmas and Co. just returned from several weeks in New Orleans, where they shot part of the eight-episode second season, which will start in February and end in April. They had some customers in the Big Easy who wanted rebuild jobs on their cars, so the crew went there to do the work.
Read more about the guys and the show in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.