The madness continues....

Saturday the 14th....The Mt. Ararat Baptist Church Show....The Stafford Classics are helping the church youth group put it on. Since The Princess and I are members of the car club and past members of the church we got there about 6:30 to set up the coupes as part of the club display and begin helping. We knew what the youth group had in front of them, we knew what the youth leaders had in front of them since we had been youth leaders a long time ago too! Brent got there soon after we did and the organized chaos began!

Please refer to the pictures I took to get a flavor of the event. I usually focus on individual cars and take a few overall shots at each event. This time I reversed it for reasons I'll explain later. The first show car rolled in at 7:38, it was a maroon early 50's Ford Pick Up....and the cars kept coming in till 12:30! The youth/leaders ran around and got everything set up....at one point Brent started to look a little....stressed....that's the way it usually works out. Whoever is in control of the event has to answer a volume of questions and make decisions about everything....and it doesn't stop until they leave the event when it's over! Then you have days of second guessing your decisions and formulating how to do better next time! So Brent had about 12 hrs of high stress time he was going to be dealing with today and a few days of Monday morning quarterbacking next week! Brent set up the music and the oldies began to waft through the fabric of the event! Another reason I like car shows! The Princess and I had shade, a cool breeze, good music, we were sitting in chairs....bring on the "work"!?

The Princess and I worked at the registration table and got to meet everyone that brought a car to the show....which was cool in itself. The judging began as soon as the cars were registered and ready to be judged, as defined by the car owners. The judging went on all morning which is a good way to do it, that way the judges don't have to do all their work in a narrow time frame. It really helped today. Mark, Brandon, Andrew and others I don't know did the judging....the Princess was glad our cars were not judged....she said those guys were way too picky! Since the judging was a go-no go points based system it was very fair....like 'engine clean' If it was clean then you got points if it wasn't then no points....very simple and fair. Brent's team have developed a laptop based points tabulation system that makes the 'counting' of the judges votes very easy and effective. Applying technology to solve a problem....what a concept, usually it's the other way around! The Princess and I had begun to worry about Andrew's girlfriend since we had never met her....Andrew keeps talking about her but we never saw her....we thought maybe Andrew had one of those inflatable dolls or something....But Saturday we finally got to meet Angela.... she is a real girl....HOORAY....Andrew is normal!? Now if he just had a normal car like a Ford or Mopar....we still have some work to do with Andrew....grin

Ray Phillips and his wife Terry brought the Wounded Warrior Project race car to display and raise awareness of the Wounded Warrior Project to all that were there. They were able to accept donations on site as well as provide a website for donations. If you don't know about this group please visit the link....Regardless of your political leanings these people have sacrificed for you and me and we need to take care of them! http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

The day evolved and the cars kept coming....in the end there were 108 registered cars! Not bad....all of the shows the Princess and I have attended this year have been down in attendance....Last year this show had 67 cars, this year 108! I think this speaks volumes about what people think about a show! As I was sitting at the registration table I watched the event unfold....it was turning into a different kind of car show! Instead of the structured parking and uptight tense individuals we see at most shows the cars AND people were beginning to gather in groups and chill out. Some were in lines and some were in little pods, under trees....like a giant family picnic! This was turning into a FUN event, not just an event where people are smiling....think about it! The participants were directed 'generally' where to park but they could park as close or as far away from the next car as they wanted. This changed the flavor of the whole deal for me. As I said earlier I usually take individual pics of most cars at an event....but today I wanted to capture the feel of the event as a whole....so there are a lot of general views of the event....you can see/feel the homeyness of the event in the pictures. The only event we have attended that was close to this was the NHRA Reunions at Bowling Green, KY, but that's another story!

Sometime around 1PM we got notice that the rain was coming up I95 so Brent got the award ceremony going early so we wouldn't be caught with show cars on wet, hilly grass....not a good deal! The awards were given out, everyone seemed happy with the results....very nice trophies....every show car got out before the rain....and it DID rain about 3PM....The youth group swarmed on the fields and got everything put away....a good group of kids with good leadership too....Thanks for your work! I got a 'Spirit of the Hobby' award, a cool piston with a bent rod....what is the message here? Anyway the Princess didn't get anything so she wanted to go home and pout....so I fluffed up her Princess pillow and we went home! Tomorrow is another day....Be sure to look at the pics!

Sunday the 15 and the Stafford Classics were represented at the Goldvein Fathers Day show by; Ed, Ray, Jim & Linda, Dan & Ramona, The Princess and the Slacker....The quality of the cars was above average and most have been seen before, some at the show on Saturday mentioned above! But still....the blue and white 62 Chevy 409 was there....we haven't seen it all year! The car is stunning and it was appropriate that it got 'Best of Show'....Please do yourself a favor and look this car over if it is at a show where you are. Bill's 'Bad to the Bone' was there and very cool red 67 Goat....driven by the lady in the family, right on! And the periwinkle 32 Ford PU, again, he doesn't like me to call it periwinkle but he won't tell me what the name of the color is....so I'll keep calling it periwinkle! hehehe No matter what color you call it, the car is drop dead gorgeous, check it out! The ice cream truck came around and a Stearman from the Flying Circus buzzed us a few times....a great day. Paul was acting a little lose....I hope he gets his wife's car going soon, she may be able to keep him under control....maybe not! The awards were given out and since the Princess got one it was going to be a good day....she said she might even consider doing the laundry next week now!

We left the show for our oldest daughters home and a 'Fathers Day' dinner....we always enjoy visiting them and we do have fun driving them hot rods!