In part 4 of the 2015 Meltdown Drags coverage we continue with the car show coverage. There was a great selection of cars in the car show parking, the only problem with checking them out was I was missing some racing action! So I had to wait until someone had a mishap on the track to rush over to the car show and capture some images while missing the least amount of racing.
As we work through the huge amount of photos from the 2015 Meltdown Drags you’ll see more awesome wheels up drag racing action, a look through the pits and some of the car show on site. The car show basically is a preferred spectator parking area, drive a pre-72 car as a spectator and park in the show car area, great idea!
Drag cars sometimes have some great names, some of my favorites are in this post, what’s your favorite one?
The 2015 Meltdown Drags action started shortly after I arrived. I made my way to the starting line of the Byron Dragway. The air was heavy, the clouds were thick, but the reports were that the Friday temps were much worse than Saturday’s. It didn’t take long for the lanes to fill up and the cars just kept coming and coming until I finally had to take a break.
For a couple of years I’ve seeing and hearing photos of this near mythical drag event near Chicago called the Meltdown Drags. So in my quest to hit a bunch of new events in 2015, the plans were made to head to Illinois to find this mythical event. 2015 marked the 6th annual Meltdown Drags held at Byron Dragway outside of Byron, IL just southwest of Rockford.
That’s about 650 miles one way from my place, what the heck, I wanted to go for it. When I got to the track on Saturday morning just looking through the fence at the cars in the pits it was all worth it. This was the greatest collection of vintage drag vehicles that I’d ever seen and I wasn’t even in the gate yet.
When I was a kid I spent lots of time doodling. I never got good at art but I sure practiced a lot. I still have a bunch of my later high school and college notebooks for some reason. When I found them recently I came across a whole bunch of my untalented artwork. I drew lots of skulls, flames, band logos (embarrassing) and yes even some cars.
In 1994 I saw my first 1963 ½ Ford Galaxie 500 Fastback. I was in awe, and in love. What the hell was this spaceship?!? This was nothing like any car that I knew at the time. We were in Nebraska at a car audio competition and this car was decked out. J. Bacon was the owner, and a stranger to me at the time.
This week Royboy talks with Nick Hoesing about driving all over the country in a bunch of old cars. Go get yours out and put some miles on it this weekend.
Another event that John Wells attended this weekend was the 21st Annual Millers at Milwaukee Vintage Indy Car Event at the Milwaukee Mile. The event is for vintage race cars designed by Harry Miller, Mercer, Kurtis, Duesenberg, Alfa Romeo, and Bugatti to name a few.
Sometimes a guy just has to take a break. After more weekends on the road going to car shows than I can remember, it was time to take a break. Mostly because I couldn’t afford the time off from work to get to Columbus, OH for the Goodguys event, or to San Jose, CA to Gambino’s Sit Down more than any other reason. I figured it was a good time to head up to Northern Colorado to see my friends and shoot some video for an upcoming Motornation release.
For the 5th and Final installment of my coverage of the 2015 Goodguys Heartland Nationals in Des Moines, IA we have over 105 photos in store for you. I did my best, but even with showing up before 8am and staying most of the day I still only covered about ⅔ of the event on Saturday. There’s just too much for me to cover in a single day. I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and yesterday’s podcast.
Enjoy the photos and at the bottom of the post tell me what your favorite image of the post was. We’ll do this every day this week and at the end of the week I’ll pick a winner and ship them one of the Royboy Keychains.
In part 4 we continue with the incoming parade on Saturday of the 2015 Goodguys Heartland Nationals in Des Moines, IA. I could have sat there for a couple more hours but about 90 minutes after I sat down I decided it was time to get up and move around. I made my way over to the Autocross area and got some images of some cars running, including my friend Robert Kibbe of The Muscle Car Place running in his 64 Chevy. Good times 🙂
Enjoy the photos and at the bottom of the post tell me what your favorite image of the post was. We’ll do this every day this week and at the end of the week I’ll pick a winner and ship them one of the Royboy Keychains.
With part 3 of the coverage we continue with the parade out of the 2015 Goodguys Heartland Nationals show on Friday and some of the Saturday morning entry. I tried to not duplicate cars but with over 4,000 registered cars I am sure I had a few. Enjoy and don’t forget for a chance to win a Royboy Keychain you need to comment at the bottom of the post and tell me what your favorite car in the post is.
There were kool kustoms and bad ass hot rods all over the Iowa State Fairgrounds at the 2015 Goodguys Heartland Nationals. This Mercury from Omaha is always one I stop and look at. There were a lot of non-hot rod and non-kustom vehicles but the Goodguys organization allows them now. Some, I’m really glad to see, I walk on by.
Enjoy the photos and at the bottom of the post tell me what your favorite image of the post was. We’ll do this every day this week and at the end of the week I’ll pick a winner and ship them one of the Royboy Keychains.
For the first post of the 2015 Goodguys Heartland Nationals show coverage we start with what I saw on Friday as I arrived at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. Enjoy the photos and at the bottom of the post tell me what your favorite image of the post was. We’ll do this every day this week and at the end of the week I’ll pick a winner and ship them one of the Royboy Keychains.
Once again this year I went down to Winfield, KS for the 2015 Winfield Garage Car and Bike Show. Another good time hanging out with good friends. Enjoy the photos.
For the 5th and final post of the 2015 Goodguys Day At The Hay coverage we go back to the car show for a bit and then finish up some of the autocross coverage. Enjoy!
For Part 4 of the 2015 Goodguys Day At The Hay coverage we have more from the car show, tomorrow we’ll finish up the car show portion and add in some more of the autocross action. Enjoy!
For part 3 of the 2015 Goodguys Rod & Custom Association Day At The Hay coverage I’ve thrown in some of the autocross shots as well as some of the car show photos.
Saturday morning it was time to head over to the Haymarket area of Lincoln and check out the 2015 Day At The Hay. When we got across the walk bridge to the show we were greeted with an option. To the left, the parking lots were filling with cars to be checked out, to the right, the autocross was in full swing. We headed left first and we saw tons of amazing vehicles.
It’s time to start the voting for the 2015 New Blood Award People’s Choice!
This year we didn’t have as many contestants as last year, bummer but hey we do have 3!
Here’s how it works, below I’ll list the entrants and show a photo of their ride, in the comments at the bottom of the page you simply comment the name of your choice for the People’s Choice winner. Voting is open until July 20th.
A couple of months ago word went out that a new Goodguys event was going down. The Day At The Hay was set to be a one day event in Lincoln, NE in the Haymarket District. Speedway Motors was on board as a show sponsor and even threw a great pre-party at their facility just west of the Haymarket District. The photos in part 1 of the coverage are from the Friday Night pre-party.
This week Royboy sits down at the kitchen table with his dad Lawrence and his uncle Tom to get some of their stories. There are some good laughs to be had in this episode.
While I was off galavanting in Indianapolis for the Custom Car Revival a bunch of our hot rod brethren were in Monte Vista, CO for the Hot Rod Dirt Drags. My friend Travis Lee of The Muffler Shop in Colorado Springs was in attendance and shot these photos. He gave me permission to post them here to share them with all of you. Enjoy the shots and be just as jealous as I am that you did not attend.