Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Cars, Community, and Compassion: How Bob Hammer Is Driving Hope With A Brighter Day
Transcript
- 0:00BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from
- 0:04all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors,
- 0:09designers, and everything in between.
- 0:11Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrol heads that wonder, how did
- 0:16they get that job or become that person?
- 0:19The road to success is paved by all of us, because everyone has a story.
- 0:28For some people, cars are a passion, and for others, they're a platform, and every
- 0:33once in a while, someone comes along who uses that platform to change lives.
- 0:37And today's guest, Bob Hammer, is doing exactly that.
- 0:41After years of being part of the car community, Bob is now channeling
- 0:44that energy into something far bigger than horsepower and polished chrome.
- 0:49He's launching a brand new charity concord event with a mission that hits
- 0:53close to home, supporting A Brighter Day, an organization dedicated to helping
- 0:58teens and young adults overcome stress, depression, and suicidal ideation Through
- 1:04outreach resources and real conversations, A Brighter Day works to turn despair into
- 1:09hope, and Bob is stepping up to fuel that mission in a way only our community can.
- 1:15That's right.
- 1:16And joining me tonight is returning co-host Don Wieberg from Garage Style
- 1:19Magazine, one of the many personalities on the Motoring Podcast Network.
- 1:22Welcome back, Don.
- 1:24Thank you, Eric.
- 1:24Thanks for having me.
- 1:25And with that, let's officially welcome Bob to BreakFix.
- 1:28Welcome, Bob.
- 1:29Good afternoon, guys.
- 1:30Well, Bob, like all good BreakFix stories, there's a superhero origin.
- 1:34Let's talk about your earliest memories of cars, and how you got mixed up
- 1:37in that world, and how that passion grew into something that stayed
- 1:41with you for the rest of your life.
- 1:42Sure.
- 1:43As a 16-year-old, my first car was a '66 Barracuda.
- 1:46Fixed that up, and I actually... My first job was at a used car
- 1:51lot in northern California.
- 1:53My buddy Bob K in BK Motors, a little shout-out, but my first job was at a used
- 1:57car lot, so, uh, that was in the '80s.
- 1:59And this was long before internet and social media, so I was the kid on
- 2:04Autotrader looking through the magazines all the time, looking at old cars.
- 2:08I had a crush on Shelbys.
- 2:09Since the time I was probably 10, I wanted a Shelby.
- 2:13I was a big Mustang guy.
- 2:15My next car was a '65 Mustang GT Fastback, and I had that car for 17 years.
- 2:21Ended up having to sell that car because I was diagnosed with cancer.
- 2:25When I was 29, I got testicular cancer, and then it came back.
- 2:28I had it twice.
- 2:29So long story short, had about $60,000 in medical bills in 1992,
- 2:34and had to sell my '65 Mustang.
- 2:37Been working ever since to get that car back or somewhat similar.
- 2:41But, uh, I've always been a car guy.
- 2:44I currently have a, uh, '68 Corvette 427 convertible.
- 2:49I have a 1957 Chevrolet stake bed pickup truck that my Uncle
- 2:54Bill has owned since 1958.
- 2:56It has over a million miles on the truck.
- 2:59Oh, my gosh.
- 2:59And it was my uncle's daily driver until 2010.
- 3:04He had said to me since I was a kid.
- 3:06I drove that thing to high school once in a while back in the day.
- 3:08It's, like I said, it's been in our family since '58.
- 3:11My Uncle Bill passed away in 2017, killed in an auto accident.
- 3:15I had these big visions of I wanted to put an LS Tremec five-speed,
- 3:19you know, the whole deal, and horsepower, and slam this thing.
- 3:22And after he died, I decided that I wanted to put this thing back
- 3:26in his memory, and I put it back to completely original stock.
- 3:29It took me about six years to do.
- 3:31It's got a six-cylinder three on the tree from the old '50s style, and
- 3:36I've taken it to lots of car shows.
- 3:37It gets lots of compliments.
- 3:39The original color of that is Chevy orange, which was, as many of your
- 3:43fans know here on this podcast, that was the engine block color of
- 3:47Chevrolet from 1962 to, like, 1975.
- 3:51But that started in the '50s and with that truck, and the truck
- 3:54is sitting right out right now.
- 3:56I mean, Bob, it's obvious you're a car guy, but how did you get wrapped
- 3:59up in the world of charity events?
- 4:00I started my own foundation, uh, in 2005.
- 4:03It's called the Have a Ball Foundation, and the very, very short story is I went
- 4:08through testicular cancer twice, and the second time around I was able to meet
- 4:12Lance Armstrong, and this was before Lance Armstrong was Lance Armstrong of today.
- 4:17He had a wonderful foundation.
- 4:19His wife had put this foundation together.
- 4:21More importantly, I got to meet his oncologist.
- 4:23His name was Dr. Craig Nichols.
- 4:25I was at a, uh, a, a dinner one night and got to meet this gentleman.
- 4:28He heard my story and he said, "You know, you're talking about having to have a
- 4:32surgery next week at Stanford Hospital.
- 4:34I don't think you need it." Like I said, very long story short, if I would've
- 4:37had that surgery, I wouldn't have been able to have any more children.
- 4:40I had a one-year-old daughter at the time.
- 4:42My wife and I didn't have that surgery.
- 4:43We ended up conceiving our son, Josh, a year later naturally, which was a
- 4:48big deal even today, right, you know, after you have testicular cancer.
- 4:51So I wanted to raise money and, and I was running the company golf tournament, and
- 4:54I ended up ... I, I wanted to raise $2,500 and send a check to the Lance Armstrong
- 4:59Foundation and say, "Hey guys, thank you for introducing me to this gentleman." I
- 5:02ended up raising $52,000 that first year.
- 5:05That was 2005.
- 5:07It is now 2026.
- 5:09We have been doing this, this for 22 years, and I have raised $5.4 million
- 5:15for cancer, and I benefit 20 to 24 cancer organizations every year from that.
- 5:20So that turned into me starting to help others with nonprofit
- 5:24foundations and events.
- 5:26It always sounds conceited as hell when I talk about it, and I don't, but I'm really
- 5:30well connected in the town that I live in.
- 5:31Like a normal golf tournament, Eric, is 144 people.
- 5:35Because of my Have a Ball Foundation golf tournament, we have 600.
- 5:39Wow.
- 5:40We've had 600 people play in my event since 2010.
- 5:43So with that, there are a lot of people in this area who know about our event.
- 5:48It's now considered the largest privately held golf tournament in the nation.
- 5:51You know, it's got some legs.
- 5:52It's got some people that follow it, and there's people who know it.
- 5:54So with that, a couple of the mayors approached me two years ago and they
- 5:58said, "We know you're doing this thing up in, in another city. What would
- 6:02it take for you to bring it to our town and bring it down to Danville?"
- 6:05Because the town of Danville used to host two car shows a year.
- 6:08This gentleman, David, used to run these Hot Summer Sundays car shows.
- 6:11Great event.
- 6:12It's fantastic.
- 6:14He's been doing it for 20-plus years.
- 6:16He did it in July and September.
- 6:18David's older now and he's getting a little tired and, and he stopped, and
- 6:21then now he just does it once a year.
- 6:23So the town approached me and said, "You're losing money at your car show.
- 6:26Why don't we work on this? Let's get it moved to downtown Danville." So
- 6:30what I love about your story, Bob, is that like a lot of car people, it's
- 6:34in our blood, it's in our genes, we carry it with us everywhere we go.
- 6:38And coming from the car show culture, the in-between lines that I was picking
- 6:42up there was, "I'm building these cars to show them at car shows so that other
- 6:46people can appreciate the craftsmanship, you know, and get the joy that I'm getting
- 6:50out of my car and showing them off."
- 6:52What's your connection to A Brighter Day?
- 6:54How did you get involved with that specific charity?
- 6:57And obviously, they were already doing a car show, as you said, and you've
- 7:00taken that and you've amplified it with your own personal experiences
- 7:03and car show experience and stuff like that, but what's the connection there?
- 7:06Is there a story behind that?
- 7:08Elliott started his foundation 10 years ago, and he tried to do
- 7:11a golf tournament, and he had 40 people at it, and he raised $3,000.
- 7:15And he, he had a couple people walk up to him and say, "You gotta go meet my buddy
- 7:18Bob. He's gonna help you." I gave him advice on his golf tournament, and I gave
- 7:22him advice on how to raise money at...
- 7:24through different events type of thing, and, uh, we formed a relationship.
- 7:28And, uh, the job that I was at through COVID was coming to an end- And I
- 7:33didn't wanna work there anymore.
- 7:35Elliot heard this and said, "I will hire you tomorrow." So that was about
- 7:40three years ago now, and I am the development director for Elliot, and
- 7:43came in and created a couple new events.
- 7:45We're doing a crab feed, and we got this big benefit concert that we
- 7:48do, and we have a golf tournament, and now the, and now the car show.
- 7:52Bob, you were talking about Elliot and the fact that you've basically inherited this
- 7:56car show, and it now in its fourth year.
- 7:59Yes.
- 7:59Is Elliot a car guy, too?
- 8:01Does he bring that provenance with him?
- 8:02Because, you know, when you're, like you said, when you're choosing
- 8:05charity events, you know ones that work and ones that don't.
- 8:09Golf tournaments are super successful.
- 8:11I would say car shows probably are successful, too, if they're
- 8:13operated correctly, and there's other ones that just don't work.
- 8:16So was it Elliot's vision to do a car show, or it was just, "Hey,
- 8:20that seems to work for charities"?
- 8:22Elliot is not a car guy.
- 8:24He had a board member who started this event, and the board member is a, also
- 8:29he's an extremely busy man, and he, this was kind of a side thing for him to do.
- 8:34I think that it changed when I came in, and as a, you know, as
- 8:37an employee and trying to build something, and a car guy on top of it.
- 8:41Knowing that I've been going to car shows since 1985, I know all about them, and
- 8:47I know what can work and what can't.
- 8:49So what about A Brighter Day's mission resonated with you, and why did
- 8:52you feel compelled to get involved in their car show and their golf
- 8:55tournaments and things like that?
- 8:56They were working on their second annual event.
- 8:58They were hosting it at a big shopping center.
- 9:01This big shopping center charged them $8,500 just to be there, and for a little
- 9:06non-profit, and me doing fundraising for 21 years at that time, I came in
- 9:11and said, "You're, you're doing this wrong. Additionally, you gotta have
- 9:14some corporate sponsorships on hand."
- 9:17You know, my goal was to get enough corporate sponsorships where I know
- 9:20that we're, we're gonna make money no matter what we do, and we are.
- 9:23We're, I'm at $40,000 in corporate cash for this, and 150 cars at 40
- 9:29bucks, you know, type of thing.
- 9:31We're gonna make money.
- 9:32So I wanna pull that thread a little bit there, Bob, because we are
- 9:35in the middle of car show season.
- 9:37It's a thing more now than it ever has been in the past.
- 9:40It seems like every other day there's a car show somewhere.
- 9:43Let's just talk in generalities.
- 9:44Let's say out here out east, we had Katie's Cars & Coffee, which kind
- 9:48of expanded nationwide as well.
- 9:50You know, their recipe was really simple.
- 9:51Come out, buy some coffee, have a donut, share stories about your
- 9:55cars with your friends, and then it blossomed into something else
- 9:57and it became more successful.
- 9:59From your experience, you know, you, you talk about the good
- 10:01and the bad of these events.
- 10:03If somebody's looking to put on a car show and they're like, "Oh, yeah, I could
- 10:08do this, 'cause Bob makes it sound so easy," or they already have a car show
- 10:12and they're struggling, what are some pointers that you could give these car
- 10:15show organizers to say, "Look, these are five mistakes you shouldn't make starting
- 10:20out or you're making now that you need to correct to make it actually successful"?
- 10:23I've learned a lot about city government in the last two years, I'll tell you that,
- 10:27running through the red tape, et cetera.
- 10:29The first year they did it, they lost $17,000 doing a car show.
- 10:33I came in, and they were already in the agreement with this big shopping center,
- 10:38so I came in and I got five auto dealers to help cover the cost and promote them,
- 10:43and, you know, having Chevrolet and Ford and exotic cars type of thing type of
- 10:48dealerships, and came in and we ended up raising about $15,000, which was not bad.
- 10:53And I do know how a car show looks.
- 10:56Going into this, I had a couple things that I knew would work.
- 11:00Like, I think that one of the points that I was just talking about, you
- 11:03could have way too many corporate sponsorships at this thing and not
- 11:07enough cars where there's enough foot traffic, where there's enough people
- 11:11to come down and enjoy it because all you got is a bunch of auto dealers
- 11:15standing there trying to sell a car.
- 11:17So that would be one.
- 11:19Obviously, location- Is huge, just like real estate and
- 11:23everything else in the world.
- 11:24Location, location, location.
- 11:26Timing of the event, you know, you don't wanna do it in December, right?
- 11:30I mean, you wanna do it in car show season.
- 11:32I think it's a lot of the things that you just touched on yourself.
- 11:35I mean, sounds like you could probably run a car show yourself.
- 11:39Right?
- 11:39But we can partner together, but you know what I mean.
- 11:42Fair enough.
- 11:42Common sense, though, on a lot of this is usually the way to go.
- 11:45Yeah.
- 11:45And, you know, you don't wanna just have ... Like, a lot of the
- 11:48Cars and Coffee's concepts work, and there's, there's not a band.
- 11:52We're in a parking lot last year, and it went fine.
- 11:54I had a guy singing acoustic music really quietly over in the corner.
- 11:59It was fine.
- 12:00It was a great event.
- 12:01I think that you can also overthink a lot of these things.
- 12:04At the end of the day, that's why Katie's Coffee and all these Cars
- 12:07and Coffee guys, you know, we've got one every Friday here on, uh,
- 12:10in our little town here in Danville.
- 12:12Little Friday morning at this little shopping center, and guys show
- 12:15up, and they go get their bagel, and they have a cup of coffee, and
- 12:18they meet a new dude each week.
- 12:19Don't overthink it is a, is another really good suggestion.
- 12:23Always remember to turn off the sprinklers, right?
- 12:25There's that, too, yeah.
- 12:27Oh, yeah, no, but then the goal is, how do we make this experience
- 12:30good for the, for the customer?
- 12:32How do we make this fun?
- 12:34Last year, I told them that we need to do this differently, and we ended
- 12:37up moving it to a auto museum parking lot last year in the town that I live
- 12:41in, which is Danville, California.
- 12:43We moved it to the Blackhawk Auto Museum, put it in the parking lot.
- 12:46As a nonprofit guy, I took the cost from, I don't know, two
- 12:50years ago it was, like, $26,000.
- 12:52I took it to 1,000 bucks, and I did it all myself, and I did all the promotion, and,
- 12:57and we cleared 31,000 for the foundation.
- 12:59And for those that are unfamiliar with A Brighter Day, aside from going to
- 13:02the website right now as we're talking about this, can you describe a little
- 13:05bit about what the charity's about?
- 13:07Elliot had, had a son who was 21 years old at the time, and
- 13:10he committed suicide in college.
- 13:12Elliot had no idea that his son was in that state.
- 13:17The note that he read after his son died, he left a note and- He
- 13:22was so closed-minded, he didn't talk to anybody about his feelings
- 13:26and where he was in his life.
- 13:28And Elliot took that and then one of the things I respect most about the
- 13:32man is he, he took a absolute horrible shit situation and he turned it into
- 13:38something to try to help others.
- 13:40So he started this foundation, and he got the backing of local
- 13:44schools, you know, elementary, middle school, and high school.
- 13:47Predominantly more middle school and high school, but they go to schools, they have
- 13:51information pamphlets, they talk to the students, they have navigation services,
- 13:56they have a 24-hour crisis hotline.
- 13:59They are connected with other larger foundations, you know, Better Help
- 14:02and other, some of these other larger organizations that they do work with.
- 14:06They're doing a lot of good.
- 14:07I'm happy and proud to work with Elliot and, and try to raise
- 14:11a little money for these guys.
- 14:12Bob, tell us more about the venue where the Brighter Day Foundation show is held.
- 14:17Yeah.
- 14:18We are now fully running this in a, in our town, Danville, California, and
- 14:22it's the entire street of Harts Avenue.
- 14:25Downtown Danville will be closed for the event.
- 14:27We also have another section of another street that's part of it, and we'd
- 14:30probably be able to fit 250 cars here.
- 14:33And I've been going to all the shops and talking with them and, 'cause
- 14:36I know a bunch of the people, and we've got 10 different restaurants
- 14:39that are doing car show specials that day, all that, all that fun stuff.
- 14:43What else on hand?
- 14:43What can people expect?
- 14:45Is Starbucks on hand?
- 14:46Are vendors on hand?
- 14:47Is there music?
- 14:48Is there a band?
- 14:49Is there, you know, paint the picture for us.
- 14:51Well, I could just say yes and we could call it good.
- 14:53Yes, we have all that.
- 14:54Yes, so it is, it's in downtown Danville and a lot of people are excited about
- 14:58this because, like I said, this was an event that was running for a long, long
- 15:02time in the summertime in our town.
- 15:04The town of Danville is happy.
- 15:06The chamber is, is excited.
- 15:07Everybody's excited to have this thing back.
- 15:10You know, it's our first year doing this in this new area, right?
- 15:13So it, it's, it's kind of a work in progress, so we gotta build it as
- 15:16we go, but I think we're expecting about 150 cars, and we're specializing
- 15:20in, uh, I've got a group of people who have exotic cars, Lambos and
- 15:24Ferrari, you know, that type of stuff.
- 15:26But we also have just general classic cars from any genre, and a lot of muscle cars.
- 15:32Lots of different types of styles of autos.
- 15:34We have six auto dealers coming.
- 15:36We are presented by Diablo Subaru.
- 15:39I mean, I could go down the list, I probably should, but we've got
- 15:42Livermore Porsche, Livermore Audi, Land Rover Livermore, Livermore
- 15:46Honda, Walnut Creek Toyota.
- 15:48We can go on, but we have a lot of sponsors.
- 15:51I could continue to get auto dealers there, right?
- 15:54But we've got a five block, six block radius of- Space.
- 15:59And at some point, I don't wanna saturate it with just auto dealers
- 16:04just to be making money for the car show for the foundation.
- 16:07There's a line between trying to make enough money to, to make this
- 16:10a successful event, and then get the people involved from the town,
- 16:14and then get the people to show up.
- 16:16Those are the ingredients you want.
- 16:18We're gonna have the typical car show stuff.
- 16:20Hagerty Insurance is gonna be there on hand.
- 16:22We're gonna have a f- quite a few vendor booths.
- 16:24We will have lots of specials that, uh, restaurants and a shoe
- 16:30store's got specials going on.
- 16:31What I did, Don, is I created a QR code that people will be able to go to on
- 16:36their phone, and our volunteers are gonna have a QR code on their shirt, and it's
- 16:40also gonna be on, listed on every sheet that we have of every car that registers.
- 16:44They're gonna put, you know the sheet that you put their name and
- 16:47what it is and that type of thing?
- 16:49That's gonna have a QR code on it, and that's gonna take
- 16:52everybody to a landing page.
- 16:53That landing page is gonna talk about the event that day- Yes, we have a band.
- 16:58They're called Salvage Title.
- 16:59They are the three-time East Bay Band of the Year here in our little
- 17:03East Bay of Northern California.
- 17:05So they're a very popular band, and they're from our town of Danville.
- 17:08So it's gonna talk about the band, and the hours of the band, and, and where the
- 17:12restrooms are, and all that fun stuff.
- 17:14So I know the people in this, in that band, Salvage Title.
- 17:18I know the people that are in downtown Danville who are gonna make the
- 17:21cocktails that are gonna make it fun.
- 17:23I know the people that are gonna have the food, and I know a bunch of the
- 17:27people that are coming, and I think that's a benefit also, you know,
- 17:31experience of, of knowing what works and what doesn't, and what we should
- 17:35and should not have there type of thing.
- 17:37By doing this in downtown Danville, I've been honored, and I am now on the town
- 17:41of Danville Chamber Board of Directors.
- 17:44My goal is to raise some money, have a great time, have some really cool
- 17:49cars, and then also bring business to downtown Danville, which they've
- 17:53been missing because of this show.
- 17:55So I have literally old school door-to-door for the last three weeks.
- 18:00I know a bunch of the people, but even the people that I don't know, I tell
- 18:03them what I'm doing, and they're all in.
- 18:05So I've got the little Auburn Lounge, for example, is, they're creating
- 18:09a specialty cocktail that day.
- 18:10Show the QR code, and you get a pinky tusk or whatever they're doing, like a
- 18:14car show special cocktail for five bucks, and a portion of the proceeds are gonna
- 18:19go benefit our foundation on top of it.
- 18:21So I've probably got 15 different places right now that are going
- 18:25to be doing these specials right there, right where the car show is.
- 18:29Terrific.
- 18:30Bunch of people have stepped up.
- 18:31You know, the local cigar shop, they're gonna be outside, not smoking cigars,
- 18:36but they're offering water and sodas.
- 18:38Okay.
- 18:38Where I'm going with that, guys, is the cool part is that people wanting
- 18:41to be involved, and they, they wanna help, and they wanna make this a success
- 18:44for me, and that part is wonderful.
- 18:47Absolutely.
- 18:48Absolutely.
- 18:48Now, is there judging involved for the cars, or is it just show
- 18:51up, park your car, and enjoy?
- 18:53We are having judging.
- 18:54I've got 12 awards, you know, the best in class, and the muscle
- 18:58and ... Yeah, we've got some awards that we're gonna be handing out.
- 19:00Okay.
- 19:01And for people who show up, let's say you got, uh, a couple of friends,
- 19:04they wanna park together, but one friend has a McLaren, the other
- 19:07friend has a, an old VW Beetle.
- 19:09Can they still park together, or are you gonna separate them by class?
- 19:12We're not separating.
- 19:13Is it first come, first serve, park wherever?
- 19:15Yeah, and I do have, I already have a group of people, you know,
- 19:18a Mustang club is bringing eight Mustangs, and they wanna be together.
- 19:21They're letting me know that, "We're gonna have this group,
- 19:23and we wanna be together."
- 19:25If we have that organized ahead of time, absolutely, we can get that
- 19:28done, and we are- Terrific ... we are going to be doing that.
- 19:31And just to say it again, what is the date of this show?
- 19:34Sunday, June 14th.
- 19:36Terrific.
- 19:36June 14th, that's fantastic.
- 19:38Let's talk a little bit about the future, 'cause this one, the ink is almost dry.
- 19:42It's almost go time.
- 19:44You gotta be thinking about number five, six, seven, eight, and however many there
- 19:48are more are gonna be down the line.
- 19:49So what do you imagine for future shows?
- 19:52What do you imagine for the '27 season and '28?
- 19:55And what about, about Brighter Days involvement and the community of Danville?
- 19:59For starters, I am hoping we can go back to kind of my Mustang roots.
- 20:03I'm hoping that we are definitely doing this and it grows, because
- 20:06I am waiting on a car myself.
- 20:08I told you briefly that I had a '65 Mustang that I had to
- 20:11sell because I got cancer.
- 20:13Well, because of the success of my golf tournament, my wife submitted my story
- 20:17to a show called Ride of Your Life with Courtney Hansen, and I was the winner.
- 20:22And I was on episode, season two, episode nine with Courtney.
- 20:26So the car, the '65 Mustang, was unveiled to me at the Monterey
- 20:31Auto Week a year and a half ago.
- 20:33Coming up on two years this year.
- 20:35They've been finishing the car, and the car is not in my possession, and I am
- 20:39bugging Courtney and, and her production team weekly right now to try to get
- 20:43that car out here for this car show.
- 20:45Yes, I am planning on having that because if that car's not here this
- 20:49year, I'm hoping to unveil it next year.
- 20:51Uh, but what I can say is I think that the move that I did to move it
- 20:55to downtown is going to be beneficial.
- 20:58I've been doing events for so many years.
- 20:59I always have these super high expectations- It's
- 21:02kinda like my golf swing.
- 21:04I stand over the ball for a minute, and then I realize I am absolutely gonna
- 21:07crush this ball, and then I realize, well, no, I'm not, because I'm already
- 21:10thinking too much about it, right?
- 21:12Take a step back and try to think about where this could be in a couple of years.
- 21:15I think that this first year, it's gonna be good to great, you know?
- 21:19And I think, I think we're gonna get 150 or so cars.
- 21:22I think that once we are there, and once people see it in downtown
- 21:26Danville, that it actually happened, I think that the following year- We
- 21:31could easily get 200, 250 cars because people from that other car show that
- 21:37have been coming, they're gonna see it and they're gonna hear about it, and
- 21:40then they're gonna wanna get involved.
- 21:42The car show that has been established in our town for 20-plus years,
- 21:46a gentleman, David, runs it, and he does such a fantastic job.
- 21:50He has 400 cars at his event.
- 21:52You know, it'll take some time, for sure.
- 21:54He's been doing it for a long, long time.
- 21:56But it'll take some time, but, you know, that's ultimately the goal is to,
- 22:00I wanna get this to a point where I am honoring this gentleman who started this
- 22:04in our town, and I wanna be able to carry this on in his tradition, in his honor.
- 22:10In fact, he's coming down to our event.
- 22:12We're gonna be talking with him and letting everybody know that this is
- 22:16the man, this is the guy who started car shows down here, and we're just
- 22:19trying to keep this tradition going.
- 22:21But to answer your question, I think that in three to five years,
- 22:24if I do this correctly, I think we could get to, we could double this
- 22:27in three or four years and have a longer footprint on, in the town.
- 22:30We could go a couple more blocks north type of thing, which is what they do.
- 22:34I think that this has the ability to grow.
- 22:36I'm just hoping that, uh, I can get it to that point.
- 22:39Well, you talked about expanding the size of the show and the presence
- 22:42of the cars and the businesses that are involved, so let's just pull the
- 22:44thread there a little bit and talk about the fiduciary side of this.
- 22:47What are your goals in terms of raising money?
- 22:50Because this is only an annual car show, and obviously there's other events that
- 22:55you coordinate with A Brighter Day.
- 22:57But what are your financial goals?
- 22:58How much money are you looking to raise this year?
- 23:01And obviously you can donate year-round through the website and things like that,
- 23:04but obviously you want to exceed that.
- 23:06What's the target number this year?
- 23:08I don't have the numbers right in front of me, but we do a crab feed.
- 23:11That did about 40 grand.
- 23:13Created a benefit concert, and that fir- the first year of our
- 23:15benefit concert, it went okay.
- 23:17I raised about 80 grand.
- 23:18This last year, I raised 100 and- $49,000 at it, so I did
- 23:23very well at the benefit concert.
- 23:25We had 450 people at it.
- 23:26Ideally, we'd like to get to around $500,000 as a s- as a little
- 23:30nonprofit, and we are ... This year we'll be at about three.
- 23:34I think that if I build this car show the right way, the benefit concert
- 23:38that I'm working on is trending upward, which is a good sign.
- 23:42In this economy too, right?
- 23:43A lot of people don't realize, but when the economy is like this and we're
- 23:46at war and, and people are kind of thinking, taking a step back on a lot
- 23:50of different things, the first thing that they are not going to do is donate
- 23:54a lot of money to a, to a nonprofit.
- 23:56I've had several guys, for instance, who said, "I'm just, uh, I'm not
- 23:59gonna be able to do that this year."
- 24:00Okay.
- 24:01Well, then what can you do?
- 24:02So you did, you did 2,500 bucks, uh, for a table of 10 last year,
- 24:06and I put you on some radio spots.
- 24:07How about you do 1,500 bucks, and I'll still put you on the
- 24:10radio spots, and I'll still pro- I'll still promote your company?
- 24:13Meaning, we're willing to work with you as long as you're willing to work with us.
- 24:17You helped me last year and you gave us good money.
- 24:19This year I'm gonna help you, and I'm gonna give you 1,000 bucks off.
- 24:22You gotta be able to work the crowd, and you gotta be able to adjust and,
- 24:25and kind of work on the fly as, uh, when you're doing nonprofit work like this.
- 24:30And, and that's the same type of thing with the car show.
- 24:32Last year I had a group of guys who, they didn't know me, I didn't know them,
- 24:36and but they wanted to bring 10 cars, and they wanted a special deal on it.
- 24:40They were very adamant that they wanted a special deal.
- 24:42I go, uh ... At the end of the day, I go, "Okay. You just tell me what you
- 24:46want and where you wanna park, and we'll figure it out," and they did, and now
- 24:48they're back this year, and they're all donating larger amounts of money.
- 24:52So it's just how you deal with people and how you work with people, and
- 24:56you gotta kind of read the room.
- 24:57Like, this year is a little bit different than last year.
- 25:00We're in a different state right now, so the fact that I've got 150 cars
- 25:04coming to a, basically a brand-new event, I'm, I'm proud of that, and
- 25:07I'm proud that I was able to get some sponsors involved and, and get some
- 25:11base corporate cash type of thing.
- 25:13Like you said, three to four years from now, I think that we're all in a, gonna
- 25:17be in a different space, and I think that this thing has the ability to go larger.
- 25:21With that, Bob, we've reached that part of the episode where I like to invite
- 25:24our guest to share any shout-outs, thank yous, promotions, or anything
- 25:27else that we haven't covered thus far.
- 25:29Um, no, I can just direct people to our website, abrighterday.info,
- 25:33and there is a landing page.
- 25:35You can go right at the top of our landing, of our website,
- 25:38abrighterday.info, and it has events right there, and you can do
- 25:42the little drop-down, and it's got information about our car show.
- 25:45So if you are here in this area and you wanna come check us out or in northern
- 25:49California, uh, we've got a lot of people coming from out of the area, actually.
- 25:52It's not just Danville folks.
- 25:54I got people coming from 30, 40, 60 miles away.
- 25:57So, uh, yeah, abrighterday.info.
- 25:59My email address is right there as well.
- 26:01You can reach out to me.
- 26:02My phone number is right there, so you can call me or reach out to me with any
- 26:05questions, and I'm available anytime.
- 26:08And that wraps up our conversation with Bob Hammer, a car enthusiast
- 26:11with a purpose, and the driving force behind a brand new concours event
- 26:16dedicated to supporting A Brighter Day, an organization helping teens
- 26:20and young adults navigate stress, depression, and suicide prevention.
- 26:25It's a powerful reminder that car culture isn't just about machines, it's about
- 26:30community, it's about compassion, and it's about stepping up when it matters.
- 26:34That's right, Don.
- 26:35And if you'd like to learn more about the mission behind A Brighter Day Car
- 26:39Show and Shine, visit abrighterday.info.
- 26:42Or, if you need to talk, text Brighter to 741-741.
- 26:46You'll find the resources you need for families, teens, anyone
- 26:51who wants to get involved.
- 26:52And to stay connected with the car show, be sure to click on the events
- 26:56tab when you visit the website for more details, and you can always reach
- 26:59out to Bob at bob@abrighterday.info.
- 27:03And with that, Bob, I can't thank you enough for coming on Brake Fix
- 27:05and being part of the wonderful mosaic of folks that have made up
- 27:08the greater autosphere here on our show, and sharing your story with us.
- 27:13And this story is really going out to all those folks who love
- 27:16cars or someone who might need a little extra light in their day.
- 27:21Thanks for having me here today.
- 27:27The following episode is brought to us in part by Garage Style Magazine.
- 27:31Since 2007, Garage Style Magazine has been the definitive source for car collectors,
- 27:36continually delivering information about automobilia, petroliana, events, and more.
- 27:42To learn more about the annual publication and its new website, be
- 27:46sure to follow them on social media at Garage Style Magazine or log
- 27:51on to www.garagestylemagazine.com.
- 27:53Because after all, what doesn't belong in your garage?
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