Print edition: 
My thanks to Karen Matz Thompson who wrote to us recently to point out the correct spelling of her late father's name. His amazing handiwork showed up in a recent story about Lynn Moore's collection of 1932 Fords.
Paul Matz was originally from Hillsboro, where he set up his own upholstery/auto glass business after serving in World War II, Karen said. He worked for Boeing briefly before re-establishing his own custom car upholstery business in the 1950s.
Many of the cars in the Starbird shows at the old Forum featured his work and Karen said a diary that Paul kept indicated he upholstered somewhere between 350-400 Model A Fords during his long career.
"He was self-taught. Dad had a love/hate relationship with his work," Karen wrote. "His perfectionist tendencies made him his own worst critic. He often had to create tools to do his work... his problem-solving skills were amazing," she said.
Paul Matz died in September, 2003. But his legacy lives on in the hundreds of beautiful auto interiors that bear his mark.
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Thirty-one years ago, a couple of Wichita racers got to share the spotlight with drag racing legends Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney. They recently got to relive a bit of that experience.
Rick Baird and Bill Kraus, who now lives in Phoenix, won the Top Alcohol Dragster class at the 1980 AHRA Spring Nationals in Tulsa, defeating Mike Weaver of Joplin, Mo., with a run of 7.54 second at 182.9 mph. That victory may have been a bit overshadowed by Garlits' 6.28 second, 232.5 mph win over Muldowney in the Top Fuel category, but it was a high point for the Kansans.
The former Kansas race team got to meet Muldowney and Garlits at the NHRA Arizona Nationals near Phoenix in October. "We received their autographs and a picture of them. Don Garlits was really impressed that we won the same race," said Kraus. "We just thought it was a little bit of history." And so it was.
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Lester Steventon, whose 1965 Austin Mini Cooper was featured on the Wheels page in April, 2010, will have car guys all over the country eyeballing his little red machine with the British flag on top — at least for a month.
His car was picked as one of four featured on the June page of Snap-on Tools' 2012 car calendar. Snap-on Tools dealers everywhere have the calendars available, along with entry forms for anyone who wants to try to get their ride featured in the 2013 calendar.
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Speaking of famous, the inductees into Darryl Starbird's National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame have been announced. Bo Huff and Dick Hukans will be honored as custom/rod builders, while Kenny Youngblood will be inducted as the designer/artist of the 2012 class. Dale Johns of D&D Specialties will be honored as the builder of the year, while a lifetime achievement award will go to Jon Kosmoski.
The induction ceremony will be held Feb. 17, 2012, at the Tulsa Starbird show.
