Glendora Racer Kenton Koch Promotes Inaugural Gumby Fest at 125 mph
May 1, 2014 (GLENDORA, Calif) – Race drivers come in all shapes and sizes. Glendora native Kenton Koch is tall and lean, just like another famous Glendora native: Gumby. On May 1-3, Koch will be taking Gumby for a high speed ride in his ALARA Racing Mazda MX-5 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in Monterey, California. This community partnership is to promote the June 14th Gumby Fest in Glendora, and help raise money for the Glendora Library.
Koch will be donating his custom Gumby Fest Mazda Motorsports Sparco racesuit and helmet to the Glendora Library to be auctioned off in support of the library. A special thanks to L & G Enterprises for painting such a beautiful helmet said Kenton. To whoever gets this piece of art, take care of it!
This partnership would not have been possible without the help of L & G Enterprises, Mazda Motorsports, Sparco, ALARA Racing, Myles Regan and Sir Speedy – Monrovia.
Quotes:
Kenton Koch: Being a native Glendora resident, I jumped at the chance to support this great community event. My plan is to take both Gumby and Pokey to the winners circle in Monterey.
Joe Cina, Executive Director, Glendora Chamber of Commerce: Our inaugural Gumby Fest is all about fun for the family. Its wonderful to have young community leaders like Kenton Koch step forward in creative ways to help out. This will be a great photo op for kids of all ages.
Joe Clokey, Clokey Productions/Premavision: Gumby is about adventure, and racing is certainly an adventure. Its great to have a Glendora native carrying Gumby and Pokey at the racetrack.
About Gumby and Gumby Fest
Memories of Gumby make everyone smile. What most people dont know is that Gumby is alive and doing well, and were here to help promote and educate everyone on the history of Gumby as well as the magic Gumby will create for future generations. Welcome to Gumby Fest Glendora. Many are not aware Glendora, California, is Gumbys hometown. Gumby was created in the mind of Art Clokey after he graduated from USC in the early 1950s, and in 1953, Art produced the first Gumby stop action animation film, Gumbasia, inspired by Disneys Fantasia. Gumbys appearance was inspired by the Gingerbread Man based on a suggestion by Arts wife Ruth. Clokeys first commercial production of Gumby was an episode for the hugely popular The Howdy Doody Show. Gumby then earned his own spin-off in 1957 on NBC that resulted in 233 episodes. In 1960, the couple opened Clokey Productions on Fleetwood Avenue in Glendora. For the next 18 years, Gumby and the stop motion animated childrens Christian television series, Davey & Goliath were produced quietly in an unassuming industrial building in south Glendora. As this means basically that Gumby lived in Glendora during his formative years from when he was 7 until 25, we humbly claim Glendora is Gumbys Hometown. In honor of Glendoras connection to Gumby, Glendora will host the first ever Gumby Fest on June 14, 2014 with film screenings, demonstrations, memorabilia, historical displays and plenty of games, contests and activities for the kids.
About Kenton Koch Racing
19-year old Kenton Koch has been racing for over a decade, starting out in karts at age eight. The Glendora native balanced his school work with racing as he moved up to racing with the Skip Barber Racing School where he won 30 races over three years. Kenton won the 2013 Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge to earn a place in the Mazda Road to 24 ladder program. Koch kicked off the 2014 season with a win and a second place in the Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich. When not at the racetrack, Koch is a full-time student at Cal State Fullerton where he is majoring in Mechanical Engineering.