[frank.g]

It was great to read the replies in this thread. Brings back alot of memories. For me, I began to attend the Nationals in 1986, and have been able to attend about 28 of them. My best memories were back in the 90's , when Bill Hale and Jim Pedersen were still running the show. Our local car club in NJ was very active, and we would caravan out, no trailers. We had each other to help us if there was trouble, which did happen occasionally. Of the shows in the 90's, many of us would work at the show, mostly on the tech line, as we often knew more about the earlier cars than the local club members did. The first year Bruce Fulper attended the show and ran the drags, some members of the NJ Club took him to dinner Saturday night. In a social setting, he was great, we had a fun evening. In hearing about him in later, I came to understand that doing business with him was difficult.

As the years went by, our NJ club shrunk, by the end it was just 3 members. There were no more caravans, and while I still attended, I was traveling by myself, and the cars were getting older each year. So, I am now a trailer attendee. I was much happier driving the car, but the last time I drove it out, I did have some trouble, and I just can't let that happen again.

Like some here have mentioned, I am not really about entering the car in a show to get a $5 trophy. After 35 years, I have made some of the best friends of my life at this show. It is fantastic to get together with them each year. The Friday & Saturday night B.S. sessions in the parking lot are the best.

It did stink that the show was cancelled, but I believe that they had no choice. Attendance would be well below what is needed to be financially successful. For me, NJ would require that I self quarantine for 2 weeks upon returning from Ohio. That would be a deal breaker for me.

Anyhow, a couple of Sunday's ago, I decided to do something that I have been meaning to do for a few years now. I got to do my own mini car show by getting everything out of the garage and set them up for this picture. At least I got to attend 1 show this year.Regards to all, frank.g