Again this year I traveled over to Indianapolis, IN for the 2018 Custom Car Revival. My buddy Kevin puts the event on and it’s one that I never want to miss not just because some great cars show up but also because of the people. This is THE place to be to hang out with the keepers of the custom car faith.
After returning from Texas for work late on Monday evening I was able to pick up about 100 of the 48 Cars 48 States books on Tuesday and ship a handful on Wednesday before leaving for Indy. After 10 hours at the day job I put down about 6 hours to get me out to Hannibal, MO where I met up with Mick Bryan of Stray Kat Kustoms shows and Travis “TwoTallOkie” Miller.
Thursday we got rolling early headed on to Indianapolis and were able to roll in around 2pm finding the host hotel parking lot already filling up with great rides and old custom friends.
Here’s the 5th and final day of coverage of the 2018 Hot Rod Dirt Drags, I hope that you enjoyed the photos and got a sense of what the event is all about. Thanks for coming to the site to see all of the fun.
I’d tried for years to get my dad to join me, here’s a shot of him and my friend John Binger racing their banger powered Model A’s down the track! So much fun!
Above you see the Overholts throwing some rocks during the night drags on Friday night. We had a blast watching the cars run through 1st and 2nd gear and putting on a show for the night drags. Then we all gathered up and had some bench racing sessions all over the host hotel parking lot, there were coolers opened and beers drank and lots of stories told. It was a great day!
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book is shipping in June and only 54 copies remain. You can order the book here! Or pick up a copy at the Custom Car Revival!
This year I talked my dad into attending the 2018 Hot Rod Dirt Drags in Monte Vista, CO with me. We headed out from home mid morning Thursday with some stops to make along the way for work. After the work day was done we found ourselves 6 hours from Monte Vista, we pointed the F250 west and headed for the mountains.
Friday morning we went out to the Best Western Movie Manor to get our registration and start the weekend hanging out with friends. The Speedster wasn’t running quite right so we ended up finding a couple of Model A experts Larry and Rick who helped us get it going. A few hours went by and the car was running again. Dad and John Binger were selected along with 12 or so other sets of cars to do the Night Drags on Friday night. These are some 1st/2nd gear pulls to just put on a show with all of the rest of the cars parked along the track using their headlights to light the track.
Here are some photos from Friday, there will be more to come all week long!
Thanks again to Derek Campbell and Velma for the photos from Santa Maria! Here’s part 3. Go follow him on Instagram here and her on Instagram here and make sure to say thanks for sending us these photos.
Thanks again to Derek Campbell and Velma for the photos from Santa Maria! Here’s part 2 Go follow him on Instagram here and her on Instagram here and make sure to say thanks for sending us these photos.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book is shipping in June and only 74 copies remain. You can order the book here! Or pick up a copy at the Hot Rod Dirt Drags or Custom Car Revival!
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While I was doing the Flint Hills Rod & Custom Run and at the Gypsum Pie Festival and Car Show my buddy Derek Campbell and his lady Velma was out at Santa Maria, CA for the West Coast Kustoms Cruisin’ Nationals. He was kind enough to share a whole bunch of photos with me to share with all of you. Go follow him on Instagram here and her on Instagram here and make sure to say thanks for sending us these photos.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book is shipping in June and only 74 copies remain. You can order the book here! Or pick up a copy at the Hot Rod Dirt Drags or Custom Car Revival!
The 2018 Gypsum Pie Festival and Car Show was a blast! This year I was called upon to be the DJ and MC of the show so I didn’t take as many photos as I wished I could have. The temperature was flirting with 100 and although our town has a LOT of trees, none of them were in the right location to help provide shade for the show.
On Saturday I organized and lead the inaugural Flint Hills Rod And Custom Run where we started in Manhattan, KS and drove a beautiful scenic route through the Flint Hills and ended up in Gypsum. I hope to have a stop motion video of that run put together in a few days for you to get a glimpse of what it was like.
Sunday started early, with the show scheduled to open registration at 9 and the show start at 10, there were already 40 or so cars there by 7:30 am! We had a stack of pies, awesome food vendors, crafters, an amazing DJ named Royboy, and a town full of great car folks to hang out with. Door prizes were given away throughout the day as well as some sponsored awards where the award sponsors picked out the recipients and a bunch of awards that the Pie Festival committee members picked out.
A lot of folks went home sweaty and with a pie and as far as I can tell we all had a really good time. I hope to see you here in Gypsum next year!
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book is shipping in June and only 78 copies remain. You can pre-order the book here! Or pick up a copy at the Hot Rod Dirt Drags or Custom Car Revival!
I want to say a huge thanks to Joey Wagner (find him here on instagram) for sharing these photos with me to share with all of you! These are from the 2018 Pete & Jake’s Open House in Peculiar, MO, the show was on May 12, 2018. Thanks again Joey for helping me bring photos to the folks when I stay home!
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book is shipping in June and only 81 copies remain. You can pre-order the book here!
When I didn’t get my Galaxie back together after a radiator, overflow tank, fan and shroud, and alternator swap, I had to make other plans. Lucky for me, my dad has some pretty awesome cars so I borrowed his 1959 Thunderbird and headed over to Emporia, KS to the 25th annual Emporia Flatland Cruisers Car Show.
The skies looked pretty scary on the way over to the show but since they were moving away from the event I just kept the pedal down and through the Flint Hills over to Emporia. They had a nice crowd show up including some old friends and some new to me rides, I believe about 150 cars showed up with a nice mixture of all kinds of rides. I even got to see a couple new to me traditional rods.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book is shipping in June and only 81 copies remain. You can pre-order the book here!
This weekend while I was in Emporia, KS for the 25th Anniversary Flatlanders show (photos of that tomorrow), my friend John Wells of Vintage Torque Fest, Iron Invasion and Retro Rewind was at the Rust Revival and he took some photos for me to share with all of you! Enjoy the photos.
This post is brought to you by the Iron Invasion in Woodstock, IL on October 6, 2018
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
My buddy Richard “Slim” Toonkel sent me these images of his show in NJ a couple of weeks ago. Since I stayed home to work on my Galaxie this weekend I’m sharing them with you. Thanks for the photos, looks like a great time!
From Rich: “My 4th annual Slims Rod & Custom Invitational. My goal is to invite Traditional Rod & Customs from my region to represent the style of cars and trucks I love. I had 90 cars and trucks this year from NJ, NY, CT, & PA. My show is also a fund raiser for the Local VFW post here in North Jersey.”
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
With cars from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, and Australia, to name a few, there was a great variety of rides in town for the Stray Kat 500. Saturday is the big day for the show, with nearly every available spot filled and people filling all of the shops and eateries in the area, it’s packed! Sunday is a bit more laid back since many start heading for home Saturday evening or early Sunday. We always have a smaller crowd on Sunday and try to get folks on the road around 1pm after the Blessings of the rides and the awards. I’m honored to get to play my little part in helping promote some of my favorite events.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
Friday after the feed we all went back to our respective hotels, one of the best parts of the Stray Kat Kustoms shows is the hang out at the hotels. My Lonely Knights family from Colorado provided the rum and cokes and we had a great time telling stories and laughing until a bit too late in the evening for our 5:30am wake up time so that we could get over to the show so I could set up a stop motion video of the cars rolling in to the show.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
It’s hard for me to write about the 2018 Stray Kat 500 some times. I (maybe unfairly) love this show and the weekend. From the time that I first attended the show I immediately got it, the vibe of the show that is hard for me to capture in words. The people that attend this event, the laid back vibe, some amazing vehicles  and the occasional great weather all combine for what is annually one of my favorite events to attend.
Thursday night I wanted to head to Salina to get the Galaxie cleaned up from the Lonestar Round Up trip. In the 20 mile drive this storm appeared on the horizon.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
With a scheduled shoot in Joplin to tend to I had to blast off earlier than I wanted to but I was still able to get out and check out some of the action at the drag strip. I can’t wait to see what the good folks of Herington do with this event in the years to come!
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
In today’s post let’s see if you can pick out the images taken by my 9 year old nephew Stratton as we walked the show… I’m not sure of the numbers of the show but it seemed like a huge turnout with cars taking up pretty much every spot that was allotted by my eyes. As Stratton and I walked around talking to people and shooting photos we both picked out our favorite cars of the day. Him getting to sit in one sure made his day too. Small town shows can beat most big turnout events most every day.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
I always enjoy my trips over to check out the Herington Car Show and Drags in Herington, KS. It’s a great small town show that has the added bonus of Run What Ya Brung Drags that brings out a HUGE crowd.
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the Spring of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
When I can’t make it to a show sometimes I have a buddy who sends me some photos to share with all of you. This time the show was the 2018 Viva Las Vegas and that buddy was Luke Zoch, thanks for the photos, sorry I had to miss it! Thanks for capturing some of my Lonely Knights brothers rides too!
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in June of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
As I mentioned on the New Blood Award announcement, in order to be eligible for one of the 2 $500+ value prize packages you need to enter here on royboyproductions.com and here is how to do that!
If you and your ride meet the criteria, which is be under 40 years old and bring a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or gasser, fill in this form. I will email you so that you can then send me a photo of your ride. If you are getting this via email and not seeing the entry form just below, click here to go to the post on the site and enter.
So there you have it, simple really. You fill out that simple form, I get that info in an email, I (sometime in the following 24 hours) send you an email and we go from there.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me here and I will do my best to de-confuse you :).
This contest is in no way affiliated with the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular or the Paramount Bar, it is wholly a product of Royboy Productions. This is supposed to be about fun let’s keep it fun so no crying, no whining, just build cool cars and come be a part of a great time.
2018 New Blood Award
Why?
Because when I look around the show I see that I’m one of the younger guys there and I want to bring in new young blood to keep the show thriving.
Prizes
Cash prize, 2 prizes of $500, one for People’s Choice, one Royboy’s choice
Sponsored by
Stray Kat Kustoms Car Shows- Stray Kat 500 May 4-6, 2018 in Dewey, OK
Since I was already down in Arkansas City to have Jeff Myers’ Premier Body & Paint fix up my daily driver so that I can sell it, and I was driving by anyways I just had to stop by and see the Mulvane Marauders at their 2018 Showdown In The Valley held at the Kansas Star Casino Arena on April 21st. Â The show moved to the Kansas Star a few years ago and now has a feature that was great for the rainy weather of the day, an indoor spot for about 100 rides!
48 Cars In 48 States : The Great American Road Trip – A 48 state road trip with a stop in each state to photograph a traditionally styled hot rod, kustom or drag vehicle. I completed the trip in November 2017 and have been working on a 224 page coffee table book of the entire 9 week adventure since. The book will be out in the June of 2018. You can pre-order the book here!
This episode Royboy travels to Koolsville to talk with Jeff Myers about the 1941 Ford kustom that he built for the late Roy Putnam. We also talk about the 1957 Ford that he built for Roy.
Even though the weather wasn’t great, the 2018 Lonestar Round Up was a great time. Thanks to everyone involved in putting on one heck of a great weekend.
The 2018 Lonestar Round Up coverage is brought to by my friends at Owens Salvage in Wellington, TX. Bob has 65 acres with tons of cars that have the parts you need for your next project. Find them on Facebook here or on their website here.
Buy a print (click on the image for the shopping cart) if you like a photo!
See you at a show,
Royboy
Support Royboy Productions!!!
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