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Story Subject Category: Automotive
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WILL-TV videographer Julius Bolton climbed into car #2 in the country’s oldest vintage car rally, The Great Race, as it headed into Urbana last summer. He follows the action with driver Anna Mae Phillips and navigator Dan Colasanti as they handle the race course without a calculator, GPS system or cell phone.
Segment duration: 07:22
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Producer: Lillie Buck
Chief Camera - Segment: Julius Bolton, Henry Radcliffe
This segment is filed in these categories: Antiques/Collectibles • Automotive • Sports
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Hall and his crew chief, his brother Tim Hall, tell viewers how monster trucks are built, and take them on a tour of the semi-trailers they use to haul their trucks around and use as a base of operations on the road. Host Alison Davis Wood follows Mark as he comes home with his truck Raminator to compete at the Champaign County Fair where he duels it out with a monster truck named Bigfoot.
“These guys grew up in Champaign, and they’ve turned their lifelong dream into a reality,” said Alison. “If they’re not competing, they spend weekends doing demonstrations at Dodge dealerships around the country.”
Segment duration: 10:20
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
Chief Camera - Segment: Julius Bolton, Shane Pangburn
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive • Sports • Champaign
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On his farm south of Bement, Ray Walsh’s collection of old tractors tells the story of how farming has changed over the years. Fifty old tractors he has restored to working order make up a kind of mini-museum of farming history, says WILL-TV’s Alison Davis, who visits Walsh in the season premiere of Prairie Fire. “He held on to a lot of old tractors he farmed with in the 1950s, but his collection really got started when he bought a tractor like the one his dad used in the 1920s,” Davis said.
Walsh travels around the country to compete in tractor pulls, and on his travels, he always has his eye out for old tractors. As he describes the tractors in his collection, viewers get a glimpse of what farming was like years ago. “Walsh remembers the days before tractors had cabs when farmers were outside exposed to the elements all day long,” said Davis. “The corn and bean dust caused breathing problems for a lot of farmers, including Walsh. So tractors have not only gotten more convenient and efficient, they’ve also gotten a lot safer.”
Segment duration: 07:13
Producer: Alison Davis
This segment is filed in these categories: Agriculture/Agribusiness • Antiques/Collectibles • Automotive • Illinois Culture/History • Bement
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Segment duration: 05:30
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive • Sports • Champaign
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Host Alison Davis takes a tour of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and cruises around with the vehicle’s driver, Brian Randall.
Segment duration: 03:47
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive
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Host Alison Davis takes a tour of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and cruises around with the vehicle’s driver, Brian Randall.
Segment duration: 00:58
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive
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Host Alison Davis takes a tour of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and cruises around with the vehicle’s driver, Brian Randall.
Segment duration: 1:25
Producer: Alison Davis Wood
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive
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Prairie Fire takes viewers to Chrisman where Larry Meeks carves replicas of race cars. He’s sold his models to some of the most famous names in the sport: Roger Penske, A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford and some of the Unsers.
Segment duration: 06:03
Producer: Alison Davis
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive • Hobbies
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Host Alison Davis focuses on champion demolition derby driver Traci Neimann of Fisher and the intriguing Midwest subculture the derby represents.
Davis follows Neimann during competitions at the Ford and Champaign county fairs, and talks to Neimann about what it takes to be a demolition driver.
Davis said the demolition derby, in which drivers try to stall other cars by crashing into them, is a fascinating subculture of people whose lives are wrapped up in the sport. “It’s particularly popular in the Midwest,” she says.
Neimann, 26, who was the 1993 demolition derby state champion, is one of the few women who compete against men in the derby. She started out in the Powder Puff women’s competition, kept winning and now goes up against the best demolition drivers in the country. She always drives pink cars because she says it’s a way of getting back at the guys if she can leave a big streak of pink paint on their cars,” said Davis.
Neimann’s father is also a demolition derby driver, so she grew up around the tracks. “People say it was just in her blood,” said Davis.
Segment duration: 09:31
Producer: Alison Davis
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive • Sports
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Segment duration: 06:27
Producer: Alison Davis
This segment is filed in these categories: Automotive • Business • Family history • Illinois Culture/History • Decatur
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