Columbus Goodguys Nationals 2011
Show Cars, Auto Cross, Vendors, Food and more...
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We have so many favorite shows that we attend every season. How do you put into words to you readers what is the big deal, especially about a particular show. Well, you really have to be at the shows to fully appreciate all the happenings and why each one is cool. However, I will do my best to give you a visual of the show and our adventure to and from through my words.
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What used to take us four hours to travel from Lafayette, Indiana to Columbus Ohio now is four days and approximately fifthteen hundred miles. What are you asking? Did we forget how to go from point A to point B? No we did not. We decided to follow what the motto is for the big man of Goodguys, Gary Meadors, "Ya Gotta Drive Em". Yes we take the long way to Columbus Ohio. Our Goodguys Nationals weekend actually begins the weekend before. We load everything in the back of the wagon and head for the Goodguys Heartland Nationals in Des Moines Iowa. We thoroughly enjoy driving the country side to various shows in our wagon if we have the available time to spare. Once the Heartland Nationals ends on Sunday we go back to our hotel to settle in to get a good nights sleep before we head out in the morning for Columbus Ohio.
You are right, this trip won't take all week to make it to Columbus. The way we travel it will take until Thursday, which is when we roll into the host hotel. Our wagon is one of a group of about 24 vehicles who cruise together making various stops along the way until we arrive in Columbus on Thursday. We embarked on this venture eight years ago, called "All roads lead to Columbus Nationals".
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The week long cruise is only the start of the fun to be had for the next weekend. While we cruise all week long, many of the car buffs are talking about problems they are having with something on their vehicle. Now instead of trying to figure out the problem on your own, you have several heads working on a solution. So, by the time you arrive at the show you have certain vendors you are wanting to go and look at their products because of someone on the cruise talking about their product.
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The drive into the host hotel is like one big family or class reunion. You see people and cars you might not have seen since a year ago. We quickly break into hugging our friends after the wagon is parked. Next, which is not in any particular order, we look over the vehicles our friends drove to the show, catch up on the happenings of the families, etc. While your catching up with your friends, you suddenly hear the rumpidity rump in the distance of a bad to the bone Black 69 RS Camaro of Dick Kleinhenz, who is a local hot rodder. By the time he is getting just remotely close, my friend and I are out spoken by the sound of his nasty big cubic inch big block that runs in the 8s. Now I mean nasty in a very good way. Dick's 69 is just one of the many vehicles that cruises by and stops your conversation, stops you moving, or plain simple is a real head turner. The evening consists of telling a few tall tales, great food, great friends, and fabulous cars.
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If the host hotel knocks your socks off, well wait till the show begins the next morning. The grounds is filled with over 6,000 vehicles ranging from the best of the best vying for the Street Machine of the Year, Street Rod of the Year, Builders Choice and so forth. You have 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s to lay your eyes on all weekend long. You have all colors of the rainbow to check out along with Fords, Chevys, Plymouths, Dodges and more. Trucks, cars or a combination of the two, whatever you can dream up in your head you might see at the show. The after market has exploded with fabulous products for anyone's needs. John, in fact found the new wheels for our wagon by cruising through the new products on display. When you have totally exhausted yourself from walking the grounds then its time to get the energy you need from the juicy philly state or pepperoni pizza that you can find at the food booth. One of the items that is growing very strong is the autocross that you will find at many of the Goodguys events.
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This year the magazine along with the female vendors joined forces and had posters and t-shirts to sign and give away to the crowd in attendance. Because of the promotion of the ladies in autocross I spent more time all weekend long at the autocross. Not only did I observe, I also rode with several drivers. I actually met a very nice lady, Debbie Farrington, who only lives an hour away from us, that was driving her Patina 64 Chevelle in the autocross. We hit it off from the beginning. The best time was riding in her wagon around the track. She is one heck of a driver. Her 64 partially green, bare steel, wagon is meticulously manouverd around those cones, without knocking down a one, all at the hands of great driver Debbie. I guess all those years of being a firefighter has helped. I could go on forever talking about my experiences at the Columbus Goodguys Nationals. Why don't you come join us at the show and make your own memories. We hope to see you all this year at the Goodguys Nationals. Please stop us and say hello!
