Hot Rods and Kustom Cars
I can’t even tell you folks how many years I’ve planned on hitting the WFO Guys Show in Augusta, KS. Every year I find myself doing something else. That was dumb, this show is pretty damn kool!
Continue reading “It’s About Time I Attended The WFO Guys Show In Augusta”
The 8th and final post of the 2014 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular coverage! Thanks to everyone that’s come to the site to see the coverage! Make sure to go to the top right hand corner of the site and subscribe to the blog!
Well folks I screwed up! This was supposed to go out this morning at 9am and here it is almost 9pm and I’m just putting it up!
The Kowtown Greaserama is a month away and you need to be there! Again it will be at the very kool Platte County Fairgounds in Tracy, MO just northwest of Kansas City, click here for the location page of their website. The weekend is as always Labor Day weekend. The party starts off Friday night with a pre-party at the Record Bar in KC and then moves to the Fairgrounds on Saturday at noon. Then again Sunday at noon.
Click here to see a slideshow of last year’s photos and links to this year’s info.
That’s the look of a man having a good time at the drags. It’s one of my favorite parts of the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular each year to see Gene Winfield get to flag the races.
The drags as always brings a big crowd. Kudos to all involved to resolving the traffic issues from 2013. We were able to roll directly into the event and back out when it was time this year unlike previous years where you were watching your temp gauge and praying the whole way in and out because it was a complete traffic jam.
Continuing coverage of the 2014 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular from Salina, KS. Continuing my comments from yesterday, I would love this show to return to it’s roots, even though that would mean that my 63 Galaxie wouldn’t be allowed in. Comment below what you think of the show, and what background do you come from? Kustom guys seem to be thinking along the lines that I am, where as just car guys in general like the shows that have all types of cars.
The Drags have brought big crowds to the event but the diehard kustom folks don’t attend, and don’t support them. This is where I’m torn, I enjoy going except for when it’s as hot as it was this week, but I really could do without them. They are entertaining, and they bring a big crowd to the event. The drag photos start later in this post and continue tomorrow.
Click here to see 90 images from the show including Drag Racing Action!
The 2014 KKOA Leadsled Spectacular was in town all weekend just in time for the first major heatwave of the summer here in Salina, KS. The 34th annual event was held in Salina for the 9th time, lots of cars showed up but not a lot of leadsleds or kustoms. Since the show’s registration requirements have opened up the show has grown but it’s lost a bit of clout in the kustom community. Some notable kustom car builders and owners have privately told me that they disagree with the bigger is better show rules and they long for the days when the show had strict rules for entry. I’d like to see the show like that again too. Not that the show is bad like it is now, just different.
Most of Thursday was spent gathering up stuff for our booths, KKOA Leadsled Spectacular Set Up Day. After a quick run to a nearby town to pick up an electric fuel pump to get a buddy back on the road we packed our booths for the day and headed out to Bright Built Hot Rods for their Open House. Here are some photos from that event. Click Here to see all of the photos
Every year on the Wednesday before the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular, KKOA member and 2014 KKOA Hall Of Fame Nominee Rocky Burris throws a little get together at his home shop. This year had the added bonus of honoring the Leadsled Spectacular’s Grand Marshall and Kustom Legend Dave Stuckey. KKOA President Jerry Titus came down from the busy pre-show last minute work in Salina to tell us all some stories of working with Stuckey at Starbird’s Star Kustoms Shop back in the old days. Read the captions on each pic to get more of the story. Thank you Rocky for always inviting us all to the pre-party!
Guest Blog!
My buddy Dan Podobinski is a photographer based out of Indiana, he attends a lot of the same type of shows that I do. Since I can’t be everywhere at once, Dan was nice enough to share some of his images from the 2014 Meltdown Drags with all of you through the blog here. You may have seen some of his work recently in Car Kulture Deluxe Magazine, or on the HAMB. You need to go follow his page on Facebook here and buy some prints of his great photographs! And now on with the show!
In the five years since its first appearance, the Meltdown Drags has grown from a very small gathering of vintage drag race fans to an event of major proportions. This year drew over 500 race cars, some from as far as California, in addition to a nice little show ‘n shine area and a swap meet.
The organizers have managed to put together one hell of a show, at a cool old dragstrip…at a reasonable price. If you love vintage drag racing, the way it was in its heyday of the mid 60’s, then you absolutely must make plans to attend the 2015 Meltdown Drags in the quaint river town of Byron, Illinois. You will regret it if you don’t!
Every once in a while plans change. This weekend was one where the plan changed. Originally we had planned to go to the KC area for a poker run, but with a low bank account and a few days left in the month to stretch that account, I had to find an option closer to home. So I sat down and came up with a new plan. When a friend told me about a small town show in the city of Nickerson, KS it fit perfectly with me needing to go to Hutchinson, KS to do a shop visit at Johnny Torres Upholstery and to stop and see the Fields family shop.
The small town of Nickerson is just a few miles north east of Hutchinson which is about an hour northeast of Wichita. It took me a little while to find the small simply titled “Car Show” sign on the side of the street. The sign showed me the way to small park the size of a city block. There were cars all around the outside edge of the park, plenty of room for more inside of that ring. There were a few hot rods, 1 custom and a bunch of nice classic cars including muscle cars, & some stockish cruisers.
See you at a show,
Royboy
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“No matter when you read this, my pal, Travis, and myself are getting ready to head for the 34th Annual KKOA Leadsled in Salina, Kansas for 2014…AND, so is CANDY CLARK !
![AmericanGraffitiOST[1]](https://i0.wp.com/royboyproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/AmericanGraffitiOST1.jpg)
CANDY CLARK IS A SUPERB ACTRESS who played the role of “Debbie Dunham” in “AMERICAN GRAFFITI” so perfectly that she was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her performance !
I got to spend some quality-time with Candy at Darryl Starbird’s 50th Annual Tulsa Rod & Custom Show in February, 2014, and during that time we put together a great Interview concerning her career, her growing up in Fort Worth,Texas, and, of course, American Graffiti !
This is the first story that came out of our long session, and it’s Candy’s personal story about that truly iconic film that has become a “Time Capsule” of the 60’s here in the U.S.A. : AMERICAN GRAFFITI !
In this story you’ll not only hear behind-the-scenes stories, but, also inside info that you probably never knew before, as only Candy Clark can tell it ! Ready to listen ? Okay, just Click-On-Right-Here , and you’re on your way to ’62 !!
PS: See Candy, Bo Hopkins, and, Cindy Williams, at the 34th Annual KKOA Leadsled in Salina this year !
Travis & I’ll see you there too !!
Ride on; Stay safe…
Jonnie
IF you like this post, share it with your car friends using the social media sharing buttons below or just by sending them the link to this page. Every set of eyeballs on the site helps! Or just hit the Store page and buy something or make a donation!
Get a killer hot rod stencil shirt today, limited stock remains so get yours now while you still can.
If you’d like to help sponsor Royboy Productions and provide the koolest car show coverage to folks worldwide, click here to ask me about it.
Well it’s almost that time again. August 16th at the Mo-Kan Dragway in Asbury, MO folks from across the country will gather for the H.A.M.B. Drags. I’ve been going for years and it’s become a family affair with about 20 family and friends going as a group.
In this episode Royboy interviews Ryno of Ryno Built Rod & Customs. Hear about all the cool stuff going on in his shop, the unique job that he does when he’s not building cars and a special offer from Royboy.
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The Automobilia Show has been going down for about 20 years now. Nearly everyone in the area has some story about the show. One of my favorites involves a full beer can still in a cooler full of water that was being poured into the radiator of a running engine. I’ll get that story on the podcast some day for you all. Personally I’ve shown up at the show twice at about the same time as a huge thunderstorm and had to cut my time at the event short. So, I much prefer the heat and crowd to the rain. Here’s more from the show.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
It never fails, this weekend’s show is always either almost painfully hot or raining. This year it was hot. The crowd seemed down a bit but that could easily be contributed to not only the heat, but a Wichita Wingnuts baseball game and a Motley Crue concert in all going down in the downtown area at the same time.
There was still a great turnout of cars though.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
2014 Goodguys Heartland Nationals
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Click here to see 70 images of the show and links to over 130 more!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
I’ve heard it for at least 5 years, “The Des Moines Goodguys is the best GG show that there is, you HAVE to go!” Finally I did. Let’s face it, the GG shows held at racetracks all kind of run into each other. The ones at the Kansas Motor Speedway (2012 coverage here, the show has been killed so that’s the latest coverage) and the ones I’ve attended at the Texas Motor Speedway (2014 coverage here) really are all the same in my memories. Lots of cars, lots of people, but no real atmosphere. So you get to drive your car around the track, okay that part is cool, but other than that the cars are basically just parked as if they are in a parking lot. As a spectator and especially as a photographer, that’s boring.
So this year it was time to finally make the trip up to Des Moines to see if this party still is the best GG party around. Of course due to some poor planning on my part the 6 hour trip northeast started with a 90 minute drive south. It’s a long story, but the short version is we had a long day. First we headed south to Park City, KS to see a small show there, one that we never even got into because traffic was backed up and we didn’t feel like making the day even longer by waiting in line to get in. Along the way we saw a Historical Marker that I’ve driven by for decades and never stopped to look at. It marks the crossing of the Chisholm and Santa Fe Trails. Near here there are a couple of areas where you can still faintly make out where the Santa Fe Trail went thanks to an indention in the ground from the wagon wheels. From there we went east to pick up some newly silk screened coozies from B. Scott Studios and hopped on I-35 towards Des Moines. We pulled onto the turnpike and set the cruise.
After some sight seeing stops at the birthplace of Jesse James outside of Kearney, MO, an Amish “Welcome To Iowa” store just across the border we saw the sign for the Covered Bridges of Madison County. Yup the ones from the movie. I’ve never seen the movie, but it seemed a worthy departure from the interstate. Just off of I-35 is St. Charles, IA and one of the bridges. We stopped, read the signs, took a couple of photos and got word that some friends were going to meet for dinner at the Iowa Beef Steakhouse. It had already been suggested that we head there so we changed the GPS destination and got our taste buds ready.
The company was fantastic, the car crowd was filling the joint and the steak was phenomenal. It was pricey for our budget but not overpriced for the experience. With nothing really planned for the evening we settled into our hotel room and tried to catch some shut eye for Saturday. We were warned that at noon on Friday the window placards were already numbering at over 3200 (I’m not sure if they start at 1 and are sequential or not), so we needed to get there early to see all of the rides. Too bad for us a state sized thunderstorm moved into Des Moines before sunup and didn’t clear out until about 10am.
Click here to see more than 65 additional photos from the show!
The 34th Annual Kustom Kemps Of America Leadsled Spectacular is coming to Salina, KS for the 9th time. If you listened to Chrome Pipes & Pinstripes Episode 13 you heard from KKOA founder and President Jerry Titus talking about the show, kustoms and a bit of Wichita history.
The show goes down July 24-27, 2014 in Salina, KS in Oakdale Park. Click here for all of the info on the show from the official website.
Here are some images from the 2013 show, by the way some of these images are in the new 2014.5 KKOA Calendar that you can get now!
Since it’s the first week of July I figured it was fitting to take a look back at 2014 so far. I went through and picked my 20 favorite images of 2014 so far.
