urant in Stafford, VA, and had breakfast before cruising to the show in Wilderness, VA. Jim & Linda met and ate with us but they were going to a “Corvette” show in Mechanicsville, VA instead of running with us.. ..birds of a feather and all that. grin The rest of the group; Ron, Dan & Ramona, Andrew and the Princess & I had an uneventful pleasant trip to the show after we had a great breakfast at Country Fare. If you haven't been to this eatery you need to try it, just take it easy on the owner, he's a little bashful! grinThe show at Wilderness Resorts is a new one, last year was the first time for them and it was not attended very well, I think they had 12 cars.. ..This is why when scheduling a show it is so important to consider other scheduled shows. The bad thing about their first show is that the Wilderness people did consider the schedule but another show was scheduled over them and most people chose to go to that show instead of the Wilderness one. This year there was a minor conflict with the AACA show in downtown Fredericksburg, VA but the cars in the both shows were very different and did not compete with each other! Since it had rained for 3 days prior to Saturday, I had called to confirm that the show was still on and that they had provisions for the cars to have alternative parking, they did. The parking was on rolled 21A gravel and it drained very well so it was very firm when we got there. It was adjacent to the grass field we would have used had we not had the rains. They had a very good food vendor and the DJ, First Choice Entertainment, was on top of things with their good music and minimal announcements. The restrooms were nice, clean and permanent. The goody bags were terrific, filled with things we could and would actually use! I have to tell you that we were apprehensive about attending this show but we attended anyway because of the reason they were putting it on, raising money and awareness for Wounded Warrior Project. This is the charity that the Princess and I support.. ..in fact we try to include them in all the events that we have anything to do with just to raise the awareness of WWP and how important they are to our wounded Veterans.
The show had 51 entrants and they were very diverse.. ..from Pete’s white Ford Mustang 428R and a black ’09 Challenger to a green ’31 Ford 5w coupe and Ron’s gunmetal
’28 Dodge sedan. Some cars were old friends we see at most local shows and cruises but there were a few new ones too. The red 50’s Plymouth coupe was very different as was the blue ’37 Ford coupe. The silver Factory Five Cobra was slick and had a story on the build that was interesting. One of my favorites was the orange '67 Nova, I really like that car. The black and purple ’36 Chevy sedan was clean and unusual and the orange & champagne 50’s Ford PU with the cosmic hood hinges is always a crowd pleaser. There was a red ’57 Chevy golf cart with horns loud enough to be heard in Richmond! Cool deal.. .. The white 60’s T-Bird was like new and the engine was chromed out to the max! We got a lot of non-car people traffic which is ok with us.. ..we got to share our hobby with many people that day, which is why we like this hobby so much. We got to see some old friends; Vicky from over 15 years ago and Allen from more than 15 years ago and Joe from not long enough ago. There was a roving clown that visited with all the cars but he spent a lot of time with the Princess so I had to take their picture with her car, the Jim shoes were a nice touch! What’s up with the hand kissing? Everyone
in our group won a trophy.. ..except the Princess and me. I got my award of much encouragement to make the RedRat growl on the road as I left.. ..so.. ..I did an OK imitation of an AA/FA launching as soon as I got into 2nd, I hope my ankle heals soon so I can shift better. .hehehehe The Princess said that I may have to come back next year by myself, this is the second show in a row that she hasn’t won anything, she is getting so twitchy. The weather cooperated just fine and Kindra and Laura from Wilderness made sure everything ran well. The only thing that would have made it better for the show was to have been on grass but other than that it was a terrific show and one you must attend next year.After the show a few of us cruised to A-1 Speed Shop and parked in the lot where the cruise was going to be later that afternoon. We decided to try the seafood restaurant across the street from A-1, Steamers Seafood Bar & Grill. We have been going to the A-1 cruise for a couple of years and never tried it so tonight was the night. The food was really good and the service was quick and attentive too. The prices are in line with other seafood restaurants around here so all was good.. ..now we have another choice of dining and since the Princess likes seafood she started to forget that she was such a looser earlier at the show! It’s all good. Then Jim and Linda stopped by and joined us for dinner on their way back from Mechanicsville and their show. Linda was quick to point out that she won a second place trophy at their show, number 2 out of 170 cars, not bad! And that the trophy was real nice.. ..Then the Princess started mumbling something about that it was getting hot in there and she was full and she was tired of sitting and that it was too noisy and and the sun was in her eyes and that she wanted to leave and and and and .. .. she so hates to loose.. ..I’m glad I couldn’t hear what she was saying under her breath while we walked back to the cruise at A-1.. ..grin!
The A-1 cruise had a couple of red Fords from the AACA show earlier in Fredericksburg, VA.. ..a ’60 and a ’64. They were very nice and it’s neat to see the old cars in stock condition. When someone mentions AACA I always think of pre 40’s cars,
I forget newer ones are included too! The lot began filling up at A-1 with a nice purple Ford Pickup and then Mark’s orange Camaro that has a shine that looks wet and about 15 more cars. The A-1 cruise never has a lot of cars and I don’t know why. The music is great, the location is centralized and the sponsor is very accommodating.. ..maybe we just need to get the word out better.. ..we’ll see. Anyway one of the reasons we attend this cruise is the valve cover races. Over the past year or so the owner of the track who is also the owner of the Cruise has won all the races with his Rebel Flyer racer. Many have challenged him but none have bested the Rebel Flyer.. ..till tonight! There was a new challenger, Dan’s super secret “YO MATEY” racer. It is a dark horse with three wheels..it looked bad in a sinister way with the large wheels in back and the single one in front. Hmmmm The first few runs it went straight and fast but then it crashed in the overrun area. After that it went wild.. ..it hooked to the right, it hooked to the left, it tried to run over the guard rails, it tried to crash other racers and it finally came at me on two wheels! I had to jump back from the stop barrier! I think it’s possessed or something.. ..like the red ’58 Plymouth, Christine! Dan tried to make adjustments but no luck.. ..the YO MATEY would just have to sit out this race and go back to the frame shop. The Princess made some test & tune runs, her racer was hooking to the left a little, that’s OK, I knew how to fix it but we would wait for the eliminations to do that! Can you say sandbagger? Finally around 8:30PM Dave called for the eliminations to begin. There was only two real racers left from the test & tune runs, it was between the Rebel Flyer and the Princess Express. I had adjusted the tracking of the Express and it was running straighter now! The first run and the Flyer barely won but the Princess, being The Princess, started to whine about her lane choice and that Dave had a better lane and the light was bad in her lane and there was debris in her lane from another racer? So in an attempt to not look like he was picking on a Princess, Dave agreed that they would have another race and The Princess could use the left lane.. .. Round two and the Princess barely won the race! Now they both had a win so the Princess said it should be the best 2 out of 3 runs!? So they flipped a coin for lane choice and The Princess won the left lane then proceeded to barely beat the Rebel Flyer again! It was close but the Princess Express won by about 2” both times. Dave said something about using nuclear radiation to polish his ceramic bearings next time? HUH? ? I think Dave should quit using those Ford bearings and try some bowtie bearings? So the Princess came home with a win.. ..she was happy with her racer builder so life is good for me.. ..but.. ..then she asked me what was I going to do to make sure Dave doesn’t beat her next month? Hmmmm hey Jim, how do I make a little miniature flux capacitor? It never ends. Be sure to check out the movie of the races on;http://www.youtube.com/user/502SizeMatters
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