Submitted photos | Ron Brohm
Mike Moore with granddaughter, Alainah, and a happy kid in the drivers seat getting a free Hotwheels car and his photo taken by his parents at a nearby car show.
Moore’s fleet of six show vehicles.
Stars Wars Storm Trooper, Mike Moore’s grandkids Landon and Alainah, and Mike Moore with a Hot Wheels car with its original red colored wrap.
XENIA — He’s been a “car guy” his entire life.
From racing his Dodge Dart Swinger in the 70s to running a 1/2 Scale Rails Top Fuel team at Kil-Kare Speedway, Mike Moore of Xenia has always been involved with cars in some way.
“Yeah, I’ve always been a car guy since the 70s,” Moore said. “I’ve never really had a normal kind of car, they’ve always just been something a little different and unique. I started off with a Dodge Dart Swinger which I raced at Kil-Kare Speedway for four years with my dad and brother. After that, I joined the Air Force, got married and had a son. ”
In the late 90s, Moore and his nine-year-old son, J.D., had a racing team called J&M Racing.
“We raced 1/2 Scale Top Fuel junior dragsters for kids,” Moore said. “I even ended up running the trophy program for the whole Junior Dragster program. Had some great sponsors including Lang Chevrolet, Xenia Muffler Brothers and Roberts Cadillac.”
Some time passed for Moore, he later divorced, started a company called LDC Services LLC, based in Fairborn and slowly got back into the car scene again, including car shows, starting back in 2014.
Moore has a collection of several show vehicles now, which include a 41’ Rat Rod with surfboards on top, a ‘97 C5 Corvette, a 2001 Chevy Silverado 8.1 with a brushed aluminum wrap, and two motorcycles — an ‘06 Harley Cholo and a 2000 custom built Ridget Chopper which is a tribute to his dad.
His sixth vehicle is like no other — its a Hot Wheels VW.
“That car has been a whole lot of fun,” Moore said. “Last weekend my granddaughter, Alainah, and I were asked to bring the Hot Wheels car to a parade in Morrow, Ohio and we passed out over 400 little Hot Wheel cars to the kids. It was a great time and the little ones at the parade really loved my life-size Hot Wheels car and also all the little Hot Wheel toy cars we threw out into the crowd.”
Moore loves to make his hobby a family affair and routinely has his grandkids, Alainah and Landon, attend and help him at the car shows.
“They just love it,” he said.
With so many vehicles to show, Moore was fortunate at the time to have his late buddy Craig Gillium (who also was the foreman for his company) help out at many of the shows also.
Moore’s company has allowed him to be charitable and generous with his good fortunes.
“Well, my company only has one client so, I really don’t have a marketing budget so I like to use those funds to help support the local car shows and good causes,” he said.
Moore, in fact, spends more than $100 on each car show he attends by giving away free little Hot Wheel toy cars to kids. Each year he gives away approximately 5,000 Hot Wheel cars to kids, which adds up to more than $6,000 a year.
Recently he gave away more than 1, 000 Hot Wheels cars at the Holiday for Homes car Show. Kids not only love getting a free car from Moore but they love to jump in his life size Hot Wheels car and sit behind the wheel in the driver’s seat and get photos taken by their parents.
Moore’s generosity doesn’t stop there, though.
“I really like to also do sponsorships for non-profit car shows and good causes that need a little financial help,” Moore said. In fact, every year Moore sponsors eight car shows, a race car, and a fast-pitch girls softball team, just to mention a few.
A recent car show Moore sponsored was Riverside’s Rockin’ Rods Car Show & Community Festival, which was recently named the “Car Show of Year.”
So, how did this Hot Wheels thing ever get started anyway?
“Well, about three years ago I was at a car show in Yellow Springs and saw this VW for sale. It was actually a ‘99 VW body, overtop a ‘99 Dodge Dakota with a 318 Magnum engine. The wheels on the car just really set it off. I negotiated with the guy ( Roger Greenham ) and ended up buying it right on the spot. I took it home and asked my buddy, Shane Stx (a local pinstriper) about it and he said, ‘how about making it a Hot Wheels car?’ I initially wasn’t so ‘hot’ about the idea but eventually decided why not give it whirl and got the vinyl wrap installed. It immediately went nuts from there. The reactions have been incredible. People even photograph and videotape me while I’m driving down the road. It’s been a blast for the last three years.”
So, now Mike Moore is known as “The Hot Wheels Guy around these parts.
And rightfully so.
