The Nationals

All of us know that the first Street Rod Nationals were in Peoria, Illinois, and that there were 600 cars. That's history. But, what about the behind the scenes stories that made this event what it was and what it went on to become? The 33rd National Street Rod Association Street Rod Nationals held in Louisville, Kentucky, at the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center counted 11,475 registered vehicles (8th largest) with approximately 34,425 individual participants. There were 310 exhibitors (a record number) covering 440,000-square feet of exhibit space and 69,425 spectators. This is the eighth time Louisville has hosted the Nationals and the fifth time in a row. (By the way, the 1994 Louisville Nats hold the record at 13,871 street rods.) Again, that's history, but what about Louisville's defining moment?

There's more than one great story at any event, especially at the likes of the Street Rod Nationals. And we at STREET RODDER have the story, the defining moments that will make the Louisville 2002 Nationals legacy grow. Before we tell you this story let's go over some of the other details that made this one-of-a-kind spectacular an event to rival anything within the world of cars.

It's pretty hard not to get caught up in the excitement associated with 11,000-plus street rods. However, to this there are a number of activities intended to make this event special for all. A quick look shows our sister publication's, Rod & Custom, Pros Pick, the NSRA Divisional Rep Picks, and the NSRA Divisional Safety Picks. You can also see the Under 21 area (open to licensed rodders under 21 with their own car present at the Nats), hosted by Vintage Air, and Women's World, which is a veritable arts and crafts fair.

Entertainment is always a big deal at the Nats and, as usual, all that's required to partake is your participant's button. Friday night entertainment included Jolly Demis (stand-up comic), Andy Childs and the Memphis Sound (country and rock music), and Mike Rayburn (music based comedy). Saturday night was another rock 'n' roll music filled evening with the likes of The Spencer Davis Group and Gary Puckett.

When you speak of Nationals entertainment the first name that comes to mind is Wings Callahan. He "invented" the street rod DJ back in 1977 at his first Nats in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since 1977 he has attended all but three Nats (1978 and 1980-81). Wings is a fixture with his unmistakable voice and sense of humor. He always has plenty of rock 'n' roll music and keeps participants and spectators alike up to date with the latest in haps. Make it a point to drop by his mobile radio station and see what's up--it's entertaining.

Louisville has literally dozens upon dozens of great places to eat. Some are nearby while others are downtown, a few miles away. Many more are located on the banks of the Ohio River, 20 minutes by car up the interstate, on either the Kentucky or Indiana side. The favorite you ask? It's Vito's Pizza located just around the corner from the fairgrounds on Preston Highway. (It has served as the "home" of the annual SRM Builder's Party for the past four years. The party is always held on the Wednesday night before the Nats officially kick off.) Stop in and have a slice or one of the many other fine Italian dishes. Tell Vito the staff of SRM sent you over. (On the other hand...!)

Other favorite awards are the Club Participation and Association Participation awards. The Memphis Street Rods of Memphis, Tennessee (31 members of this club drove a total of 10,800 total miles to Louisville), won the Club Participation award. The Lone Star Street Rod Association won the Association Participation award for their 23 members who drove a total of 15,400 total miles.

On the subject of clubs, it should never be forgotten that without the volunteer clubs there would be no Nats. If we counted correctly, there were 38 car clubs that lent a helping hand to the 33rd Nats. SRM readers should be familiar with many of these clubs, such as the Memphis Street Rods (Registration) attending for their 32nd year; Michigan Hot Rod Association (Rod Repair Shop) attending for their 31st year; Iowa Street Rod Association (Registration) attending for their 28th year; Mid-West Street Rod Association of Omaha (Tot Rod Lympics) attending for their 23rd year; Okolona Street Rods (Information Booth) attending for their 14th year; Early Tin Dusters (Gate Crew) attending for their 13th year; Central Florida Street Rod Association (Boardwalk) attending for their 8th year; Backyard Classics (Rod-A-Rama--Kid's Kompetition) attending for their 5th year; and the Lawrence Street Rod Association (Gate Crew) attending for their 3rd year. A special award should be given to all 38 clubs--without them nothing would happen!

Louisville is the hub for the United Parcel Service and 2002 marked their second year sponsoring the UPS Commercial Way competition. For this competition a panel of judges looks for three unique street rods that represent vehicles that were originally designed by the OEM to transport goods and materials. Rodney Payne (#9144) from Mabelvale, Arkansas, went home with honors for his '35 Ford pickup, along with Talbert Goldman (#9858) of Meridian, Mississippi, for his '48 Studebaker pickup, and Billy Scott Jr. (#10023) of Louisville, Kentucky, for his '40 Ford pickup. (Bill's pickup will be featured in a later issue of STREET RODDER.)

If you are in the mood for driving (and isn't that what rodding is all about?) then you have to give a nod of your cap to the Long Distance award winners. King Huggins (#10334) of Grayland, Washington, took home the Long Distance--Continental U.S.A. award for driving his '37 Ford woodie, while Greg and Sharon Hayes (#4570) of Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada, drove their '34 Chevy cabriolet home with the Long Distance--Outside the Continental U.S.A. award.

Another major Nats award is the Mopar Country selection, being offered for the 27th consecutive year. Referred to as the longest running mini-activity of the Nats and held on Saturday, a panel of judges selects five outstanding Mopars (Mopar car or Mopar powered) to be part of Sunday's Circle of Winners. The five that were honored are: Jim Burke (#13) of Lebanon, Kentucky, for his '33 Plymouth tudor, Matt Dillon (#2712) of Newman, Illinois, for his '33 Desoto sedan, Ron Green (#3686) of Reedsburg, Wisconsin, for his '33 Dodge pickup, Bob and Ellie Kaufman (#3772) of Knoxville, Tennessee, and their '41 Plymouth coupe, and J.D. Whitman (#9732) of Corydon, Indiana, for his '34 Plymouth coupe.

Another major award is the PPG Industries Outstanding Use of Color award. The five to be so honored were Bob Oney (#425) of Evandale, Ohio, for his '40 Ford coupe (will be in a future issue of SRM), Don Zuelke (#5810) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for his '48 Thames, Howard and Cathi Steinfath (#9347) of Englewood, Florida, for their '37 Ford convertible, Adrian Jackson (#9838) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for his '48 Anglia, and Robert Gesullo (#10189) of Bear, Delaware, for his '48 Ford pickup. Oh yes, let's not forget the PPG age group Children's Coloring Contest. This is a great place for kids and parents to have fun together. (I entered once and was awarded fourth.) Hats off to PPG for this one!

There are also five other significant awards that any one of the 11,000-plus entrants has a shot at winning. There's the Backyard Buddy Award (being awarded for the third year in a row) sponsored by Backyard Buddy. The lucky ticket holder goes home with their very own Backyard Buddy lift. Next up are the Chevrolet and Ford engine awards, again going to lucky ticket holders. The Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors sponsors the Chevrolet Engine Award while Ford Racing Performance Parts sponsors the Ford Engine Award. For the third year General Motors sponsored the GM concept and special vehicles display that filled the lobby area of the commercial exhibit building. GM has 700 vehicles in its inventory but they aren't on permanent display anywhere, so it's always a treat to see a selection at the Nats.

And, don't forget the NSRA Super Prize Parts Giveaway. This marks the 15th year of the program and by the time the season was over for 2002 the NSRA had given away $12,737,096 worth of automotive merchandise. This year there were 11 identical packages each valued at $101,892.73 and they were given away at the rate of one per NSRA event in 2002. (For those of you that can't make Louisville make sure to enter yourself to win one of the 10 brand-new Chevrolet S-10 pickups that are given away at each of the regional events.)

However, what has to be every registered participant's dream who attends the Nationals, aside from having a great time, is to win the NSRA Giveaway Car. At the 2002 Nationals it was a '32 Ford highboy roadster built by California Street Rods of Huntington Beach, California. Well, Mike Smith (#11162) of New Carlisle, Ohio, now has a brand new highboy.

Okay, let's say you are at the Nationals and don't win a coveted award or go home with a new street rod, so what's there to do? Any rodder worth his crankcase in oil is sure to spend hours in the Street Rod Product of the Year judging area. This year 144 new products were introduced, making it even easier to build a car of greater quality.

There are three major categories that manufacturers try to win. There's Group A for products under $100 in retail value; Group B for products between $101 to $500; and Group C for products that retail over $501. The winner in Group A was the Shorty Column Mount from ididit, with the runners up being the Recessed Fire Extinguisher mount from RodDoors, and the Tite Fit Duct Adapter from Vintage Air. The winner in Group B was the Fuel Filler Concealment from Legens Rod Shop, and the runners up were the '40 Ford Steering Column with Shifter by Juliano's and the Bucket Seat with Seat Belts by Wise Guys Seating and Accessories (they also won the coveted NSRA Safety Award for this street rod innovation). The winner in Group C was the Serpentine Drive System (called the Front Runner) by Vintage Air, with the runners up being the Aluminum I-beam Axle from Super Bell, and the Power Brake Booster Kit from Parr Automotive.

More can't miss attractions for attending rodders are the seminars that run Thursday through Saturday and which are hosted by prominent rodding companies. Again, a nod of appreciation to the following companies for donating their time and effort to make this a must attend for rodders: Vintage Air on air conditioning; Stainless Specialties on exhaust systems; Covell Creative Metalworking on metalworking; Haywire, Inc. on electrical systems; Lincoln Electric Company on welding; PPG Industries on automotive painting; Inland Empire Driveline on driveline vibrations; and Pure Choice Motorsports on street rod plumbing.

Trends, it's always fun to see what trend or trends emerge from the Nationals. It was a bit more difficult to spot any one trend this year but we can say that all appears to be going well within our hobby. There was the usual number of high-dollar smoothies, there were the always-plentiful Willy's and some pro street rods, and the traditional look is still gaining momentum. But if we had to try and place our finger on just one or maybe two styles that seem to be building a head of steam we might have to go with highbrow rods and that old faded look--patina.

Highbrow rods have been around for some time but there was no missing them this year with one such example being Ronnie Fredricks' (Gonzales, LA) '38 Packard limo. It's outfitted with a Viper V-10 and six-speed tranny (yep, a stretched limo with a six-speed) and a Lincoln Versailles rearend. Mr. Wrigley of Wrigley gum fame once owned the car and it was used on Catalina Island, 26 miles off the coast of Los Angeles in Southern California.

Under the category of Deuce of Deuce's, this would have to fall to Duane and Christine Lietzke (#9895) of Grand Lake, Oklahoma, and their '32 Lincoln. It's equipped with a 460-inch Lincoln V-8, a '73 Lincoln tranny and rearend, a '75 Caddy frontend, and the obligatory gangster-Tommy gun in the rear seat.

Patina is cool and new patina is even cooler, or something like that. Cars that look like they have been dragged out of a barn after 30, 40, or 50 years of neglect appear to be gaining in popularity. We saw a number of these at the Nats but they weren't old, these cars are new! New, as in just built within the past few years but painted to look distressed, abused, abandoned, or all three. (Upcoming in SRM is a story on Painting Patina with Josh Shaw of Wade Hughes' Hot Rod Flames out of Cincinnati, OH.)

Now, for what we consider to be the story of all stories from this year's NSRA Street Rod Nationals. After you read this you'll have to admit that this is what the tradition of rodding is based upon. It's an experience many of us can relate to or have experienced.

It turns out that 24-year-old Eric Koceja (#10699) entered his Ford highboy roadster along with his 17-year-old brother Mike Koceja and his pickup for the Nationals. (Mike was also entered in the Under 21 competition.) As they left their home in Big Bend, Wisconsin, Eric knew the engine in his roadster was tired and would need some "attention" by the time they got to the Nats.

That proved to be an understatement, as the roadster never made it. Outside of Chicago the engine "gave up the ghost," so to speak, and that was the end. A friend of theirs, Jiggs Lindhorst, was also on the road to the Nats with his trailered roadster. As luck would have it, Jiggs pulled his roadster off of the trailer and drove it to Louisville. In the meantime, Eric loaded his left-for-dead roadster onto the trailer and continued to the Nats.

First stop, after registration, was the Michigan Hot Rod Association Rod Repair Shop. Help! Rich Larrick of the Rod Repair Shop acted as the liaison and assisted with tools and what not while Eric, Mike, their dad, and a few friends jumped into the project at hand. Pulling out the old motor wasn't difficult. The fun part was watching the family remove the old engine via 2x4's and some chain. Ah, the good ol' days of the shade-tree mechanic. But where do you get a new engine delivered to you at the fairgrounds during the Nationals?

When it came time to find the new engine all they had to do was turnaround and go into the exhibit building and stop by the very first booth--it was the Chevrolet Motor Division booth with Bob Hook Chevrolet of Louisville, Kentucky, on hand. They were able to purchase a brand-new Chevy crate engine and with the help of John Stroud, from the NSRA, and the fairground crew, the engine was delivered via a forklift right to the roadster.

The crowd that gathered around must have been entertained because it kept growing and by 4:30 p.m. the highboy roadster was up and running. (Thanks to StreetScene Joe Mayall for helping us fill in the blanks.) This was by far the most interesting and fun story at this year's Nats--in our humble opinion!

When we hear of rodders who get their boxers in a bunch because the A/C isn't just right, or their trailer winch isn't working, or their car rides too rough, we just have to wonder.

This just goes to show that the rodding spirit is alive and all's good that end's well. That's our selection for the defining moment at the 2002 NSRA Street Rod Nationals and we believe it will keep the Nats legacy going strong for another 33 years.