[Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the November 2016 issue of Grassroots Motorsports.]
At first glance, it looks like a nearly finished 1934 Ford hotrod: solid wheels, Ford hubcaps, fenderless body, lowered front end and suicide doors. However, moving closer you see four-wheel disc brakes, control rods, anti-roll bars, a digital dash and a full roll cage. This is not …
A Sweet Dill
Like many of us, Craig Watts is a true motorhead, and he’s equally obsessed with two- and four-wheeled machines. In his younger years, he raced motorcycles, winning an armful of trophies in motocross competition. He still rides off-road today and has covered the entire length of the Baja California Peninsula and back on a motorcycle.
His professional automotive career, though, began with a torch. Craig worked as an expert welder for several subcontractors to a U.S. government research facility in Northern California. In the early 1990s, an acquaintance suggested that Craig contact a local hotrod shop to see if they could use his welding skills. That tip led to Craig working part-time for Dominator Street Rods, a well-respected builder of hotrods, custom cars, sprint cars, mud trucks and just about anything requiring fabrication.
Two or three days a week, Craig helped Dominator with a wide variety of projects. All the while, he got an education in suspension and chassis design, fabrication, paint and much more. The shop also offered trackside support for its sprint car customers, so he learned about track setup and maintenance, too. (Fast-forward 23 years, and Craig is still moonlighting at Dominator. The gig supplements his full-time job as a county fireman.)
About four years into his part-time job, Craig began to build his first car: a 1934 Ford three-window coupe that he planned to use primarily as a show car. The three-year project started at Dominator and then moved to his home garage, where it was completed. In 2004 “Rides,” a popular reality TV show about hotrod builders, taped a few episodes at Dominator Street Rods. By that time, Craig had developed a reputation for doing quality work. Later he received a phone call from the program’s producer about a new show called “Overhaulin’.” Did Craig want to join…
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