5,280 Feet High and Rising

As street rod events go, Goodguys' Colorado Classic is a relative newcomer. But don't let its age fool you; it's a rather precocious 6-year-old. Considering the number and caliber of cars in the Colorado area, it's a pretty grand show.

Of course, it's difficult not to have a good show; a banked oval borders the show grounds. After all, this is Pikes Peak raceway. And the fact that Racing Reality (www.1877canrace.com) buzzes the course with NASCAR Winston Cup cars and Craftsman pickups only makes it better. The din of several high-winding V-8s can only be described as glorious. It's certainly a fitting accompaniment for healthy hot rod idolatry.

For the past six years, Goodguys has scheduled the show after the rather temperate summer season--good news for this year's event since wildfires torched a good part of the Pike National Forest. This year we enjoyed days in the low 80s and rather cool nights. On Friday afternoon, we scooted on over to SO-CAL Speed Shop's Colorado Springs location.

Mike DeVriendt integrated the SO-CAL lineup in his former Colorado Hot Rods like Frank Streff did with the Phoenix location: seamlessly. DeVriendt and his crew opened doors for eats and drinks all evening and even gave us a place to keep dry once the rain started falling. You really have to spend time indoors to get a good feel for SO-CAL Colorado; early Halibrand speed parts, early race cars, and a bevy of early V-twin motorcycles cram every nook and cranny in the place. The garage even sports a dealer-fresh OHV Caddy engine, a few woodies, and even a scaled-down SO-CAL roadster--complete with mags and all.

Saturday also blessed us with a pretty nice day--it wasn't until the show cleared out that another downpour slicked the place. While the Pikes Peak Raceway infield doesn't exactly brim with cars (it is a one-mile oval that accommodates some 42,000 fans), it fills up nicely. Between aisle surfing, we even found some time to peruse the swap area. While early stuff still commands lofty prices, we did see a few deals in the mix--including a late '60s rust-free and running AMC wagon that could easily have gotten chiseled down to the $1,000 area. We even spotted some solid Model T roadster body parts selling for not much more than the price of admission.

Even though Sunday hit us hard with a cold front and ominous clouds, we'd chalk Goodguys' 6th Colorado Classic up as one of the better venues. While it has a contingency of California-style cars, it's not completely bursting with them--a definite plus after a summer of California shows. The overall landscape looks pretty much balanced between roadsters, closed cars, and pickups.

So if you're hankerin' to see the best Colorado has to offer when it isn't covered by snow, swing by the 7th Colorado Classic weekend in 2004. Take it from us, you won't regret it.