What Might Have Been...

It always seems like the wrong way to do things but a good confrontation was needed. Setting the record or someone straight has always been a precarious situation at its best and down right bloody at its worst. The confrontation was inevitable and finally came to be this past weekend, with my last official act.

Over the years I have been in many clubs and organization but none compare to the years that I spent with this one. I started as a normal member and had fun. I gained respect from many in the club and soon became a member of leadership and as soon as I got comfortable, politics ripped it apart. In the ensuing turmoil a core group put things back in order and I moved on with the club and it was fun. Then I became the top dog and it was still fun and after serving in that capacity for to long it was not as fun but fun none the less.

After watching from the sidelines for a few years, I saw politics raise it ugly head again and again and saw personal feelings get in the way of good leaders and the membership. When the politics started blaming people in the club for things that went wrong, I stepped further into the background in hopes of having fun again. Fun was had at a price, a price I personally was not willing to pay. You see the finger of blame was pointed in my direction.

I pride myself on my integrity and my reputation as a straight up guy and someone had balls big enough or brains small enough to step on that reputation without checking his or her facts. Rumors are like shit flies, they emanate from where it stinks the most. The facts spoke for themselves and my reputation withstood the onslaught of finger pointing and the constant wah wah wah. Apologies were made but never from the finger pointer.

Since that time the assault on my reputation and honesty has been endless, for reasons I can only chalk up to penis envy or paranoid behavior that should be treated with medication. The last straw came when the same source of the previous rumors stated to several people, inside the club as well as several outside the club, that a few of the members with me as the leader were going to take the club over and throw out the leaders and some of the membership.

At times in this hobby we see a car or truck in the woods that is so far gone that its not worth saving, as is the case here. The club had reached its pinnacle years ago and that was history. No matter what any of the leaders from the past, present or future do now or plan to do the club will be what it is and no more, it will never be what it was.

With very little effort, personal debts within the club have been settled and words were spoken in the most diplomatic way possible yet some members that were there still didn't get it. When asked why and who, the questioners were answered truthfully and bluntly. Some were saddened and some were surprised by my decision to leave and others were actually clueless.

The source of the rumors and accusation quickly left at the end of the meeting so that the anticipated bloodletting never came to be. But he knows that thin ice is now synonymous with his standing with me and probably most of the other members in attendance.

My last official act? Dropping my pants...

Let The Pidgeons Loose

Today could be the start of a new era in Street Rodding or the end of the hobby as we know it.

It was announced to a select few in the NSRA and trickled down to me through sources who you will only guess at, that beginning in 2010 the All NSRA events will be open to vehicles 30 years old and older. ALL NSRA EVENTS including Louisville, home of the Nationals.

It's not like we haven't seen this coming for a few years but a few of us have hoped that the trend would hold off a couple of more years or stop altogether.

From the beginning the NSRA has had issues with some of the newer (49-up) vehicles thus the start of Goodguys and Right Coast and other organizations that cater to the new car crowd. The NSRA has always been Pre-49 at its event until recent years with the advent of Milwaukee and Richmond which were started with the 30year rule in place. Well Milwaukee fell out of Grace with the powers that be and was given the Boot last year. Richmond could be next if the Numbers don't get to where they need to be.

Since these events were started the call for opening the gates to the 30year car at other smaller events came and some of the smaller NSRA events also began the 30year old vehicle trend. But lets face it it all gets to one point on the map, Money.

It all comes down to this equation; bodies + gate = sponsors or cars on the grounds + Sponsors = Cha Ching. That’s all that matters is numbers, bodies equal money equals continuation of the NSRA events, Period.

With the Goodguys, Right Coast, Billetproof, NSRA and a host of other organization vying for the same crowd it ain’t hard to see why it was done. Remember it’s a business not a club.

After sitting at an event with several of the local clubs on hand, and realizing that at the age of 50+, I was one of the younger ones in the room, it might be time to start looking at the aspects of the hobby as an old guy thing. Or do we start recruiting some of the younger guys to keep it going. The policy of Pre-49 may be what is keeping the younger crowd away, due to the availability and pricing of the needed vehicles to allow participation. I think the NSRA has seen the light and had taken the first step of many, at these smaller regional events in order to continue our hobby as we know it.

Could this be the end of the Street Rod hobby as we have come to know it. Not likely, but the economic times dictate what will happen in the future. The Environmentalists are loving every minute of this shit and we either need to embrace this new order in the NSRA or tell the NSRA to shove it.

I personally have a feeling this may be what the hobby needs, but then again, I am watching the door to see what other 400lb. Gorillas come in.

A Challenge

A continuation of a previous post should read in the title "Part 2". Well it doesn't, so live with it.
This is a continuation of a recent post having to do with a pissing contest and the Vote for Me and Mine attitude during the upcoming Car Show Season.

HotKarz.com is doing a "BEST of the BEST" Award at the end of the season. They did a similar award for Cruise Nights last year. The drill last year was peer and spectator voting allowed at selected cruise nights and the car with the most votes at the end of the contest won a trophy or some such award type thing at a presentation made at the end of the season.

This year they are doing it at Select Car Shows and will take a photo of the class winners, then post them to the HotKarz website and allow anybody to vote for them, supposedly once per E-mail address.

Now I don't mind restating that this is not conducive to eliminating the buddy system of balloting that has run rampant through out the show scene for years. I myself have 2 e-mail addresses and you can get more for free anytime you need to. Brilliant, Just F***ing Brilliant.
The inmates are now in charge of the asylum.

Now here is my challenge. To anyone who reads this and has a perennial class winner, REFUSE TO PLAY THEIR GAME. Tell them NO. Tell them NO as many times as you need to. Beat them over the head with the word NO. Embellish the word with verbs and adjectives if you want as in F*** NO, HELL NO, NO NO NO. Be polite, but say NO.

Can anyone guess what the Selected Car Shows will be, I would bet good money it will be shows that are using the HotKarz Car Show Guide or as I call it at this establisment the "3 Ring Binder of Ass Wipe and Useless Info". But that is for another rant at another time.

*%^@(&%

The other day I needed some things for maintenance on my everyday driver, oil, air filter etc. I also needed a couple of things for the house/garage and decided Wallyworld was as good as anyplace else, that and the fact I could possibly find something I absolutely did not need while there.

Now you see I did shop around a little and found that the oil is cheaper at Wallyworld and they stock Fram air filters for my application. With this in mind the common sense of not going to Wallyworld was over ridden by the savings of going to Wallyworld.

You see I have a problem with anyplace that allows you to load Food and Anti-Freeze in the same cart, or have the cornflakes across the aisle from the underwear. That is just wrong.

The point at which my ass was fully within the confines of the entrance to Wallyworld was the point at which the gods aligned themselves in perfect ordered and laughed.

The people that used to be at Wallyworld in the wee hours of the morning are now there in force during the daylight hours. You can tell who these people are by the breakfast buffet of the past week that they wear with pride on their shirt or the worn for 8 days without washing sweat pants that dads got on.
The voices in my head were silent.
On to the Automotive department. There in all it's glory are the things that grip you by the brain and say BUY ME. Funnels of every shape, size, color and length beg me to take them away from here. Oil drain pans fell of the shelf in front of me in adoration of my being and without flinching I moved on to the motor oil.

Now we have a choice of brands of motor oil unparalleled anywhere in the continental United States and Europe. What brand I chose is unimportant but be it known it wasn't the brand called Uncle Clem's otherwise known as the el cheapo house brand.
Finding the air filter I needed with the electronic fish finder they call a catalog was fun but uneventful and on I went to find the items for the garage, when I suddenly realized I needed some ATF for the street rod and probably could find some here.

Gallon jugs of ATF were everywhere, Dextron III,IV,VI/Mercon, ChryslerIII, Type F and Uncle Clem's. I only needed a couple of Quarts and having to guesstimate how much you've poured into the Transmission from a gallon jug is a down right pain in the balls.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a shelf in the corner, a clearance shelf of sorts with stuff thrown helter skelter and paw prints from the last Neanderthal intrusion everywhere. In the middle of the shelf was a neat little row of quart containers, name brand quart containers of the correct type transmission fluid. Under this shelf it was clearly marked with the correct brand abbreviation and ATF/GAL. $5.00. Now I look the shelf all over again to make sure the markings are correct and determine that they are. Being that there isn't a gallon jug within 6 ft of the shelf and this is a bargain I grab 4 quarts and head for the house/garage items and on to the registers.

The gene pool runs shallow in some families, I found one that could be called empty. The look that a dog gives with his ears up and head cocked off sideways doesn't come close to the look I received from the cashier.

Everything was fine until the moment she rang up the ATF at $2.00/Qut. I politely informed her that this was wrong and she needed a price verification. She again attempted to ring it thru at the same price and I again informed her that was incorrect. Now the cashier's have system of notifying the supervisor when they have a problem and evidently the human like substance that I was stuck with couldn't figure out how to turn on the blinking light and left to find a supervisor, at which point I directed all the poor lost souls behind me onto the next bus to Hell and waited.

After explaining to the supervisor where I had found it and what was stated on the tag below the ATF off she goes to the Automotive Dept. for a price verification. Perhaps these people had never heard of cellular communications, intercoms, walkie talkies or smoke signals.

The voices in my head were calling for blood, my blood.

After filling the seats several times over for the eternal bus trip to Hell the Supervisor finally returned with a store security person, to inform me that the label/ price tag clearly stated that it was ATF/GAL. $5.00.

This time the voices in my head fell silent for just a moment, then calmly stated in a soothing almost sensual tone,"the jail time would be worth it".

ITS BEGINNING TO LOOK ALOT LIKE BULLSHIT

Everyday I get pissed off at something or someone, we all do. Most times it lasts a few minutes and is over and is not really worthy of mention. We move on and hold no bad feelings toward any one thing or person. However, there are other things that really are worthy of mention and they usually get written about on this little slice of insanity we are beginning to know and love.

Today I will state one more time that politics are not what this blog is about, but yet that is what the subject is, politics on the national front.

You see I receive e-mails everyday from people who think they know what they are talking about. Some come with news stories and facts listed with circles and arrows and a paragraph written on each one. Some come with a request to put it on this blog or spread this e-mail to others so that everybody that receives it can also be infected by the ineptitude and ignorance that goes along with it.

I could have very easily turned this into a political soap box long ago and raged against the machine that is Washington, but I have not, as this is supposed to be about our hobby and later in the year I am sure I will have more to rant about than you can imagine.

Today is different, today it is politics, national politics, and all the splendor that is Washington. Early in the year Speaker Pelosi pushed upon us the "Cash for Clunkers" song and dance with a chorus line that included all of our wonderful politicians from the Great State of Maine. Rockettes they ain't, Marx Brothers maybe. In the end with the help of many hobbyists and SEMA it was taken out of the stimulus, only to be brought back to the front under a different name with new band leader Dianne Feinstein doing the California version of Yentyl and it to disappeared. Story over? Not yet.

Enter onto the scene the Auto Bailout Plan from Hell with its little blackmail list of things to do. Again a new bandleader, this time with a different "A" side, a remake of "Hit the Road Jack".
Then we see the "B" side and it's the 3rd version of "Cash for Clunkers". The President of the United States has stated that he wants to work with congress to come up with a Cash For Clunkers buy back incentive to promote new car sales.

This reeks of bullshit in its basic form of fresh and gooey. In my eyes this is another form of the Environmental Green Weenies that we all want to leave in the woods and need to stop before we all end up pulling oxcarts with grandma hanging off the back on our 40yr journey through the wilderness with Moses.

Call the Politicians we elected from Maine and tell them want you think. Tell them that its "FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE".

Tell them "The Editor" said so.