Well, another summer is over and once again, I didn't get to drive my roadster nearly enough, but I still saw plenty. These days the "heavy" travel is left to the "younger" staff members who are both single and have no life outside the confines of four wheels, a pair of framerails, and eight cylinders. But I get around enough to make some noteworthy observations.
For starters, every year I have the good fortune to attend the NSRA Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Goodguys get-together in Columbus, Ohio. Each of these weekend affairs represents the respective association's premiere function. Generally speaking, the Columbus affair to remember takes place the second weekend in July, while a good dose of Southern hospitality occurs in Louisville the first week in August.
While the events are different, they also have a great deal of similarities. Columbus plays host to pre and post '48 cars, while Louisville is strictly a pre-'48 gathering. Columbus is a three-day event, while Louisville takes on a family out for a summer vacation feel as it spans four days with more and more rodders arriving on Wednesday making it effectively a quasi-five-day event. Columbus is creeping upward, now surpassing 6,000 vehicles; Louisville has stabilized around the 11,000 mark. (The discussion here, "Could Louisville handle any more cars, people, and tourists during the first week of August?" Well, the city fathers will have to tussle with that one.) Both events are significant, but for the pre-'48 aficionado, there can be no denying the lure of Louisville, while Columbus has variety that covering both sides of 49th Street brings about. Columbus has also replaced Goodguys Indy as the place to see the year's newest and latest trends in rodding first.