I and others understand the NSRA is a business, and needs to stay in business for such events to take place. However, we would like to see the NSRA make every effort to keep at least the Street Rod Nationals a pre-1949 vehicle event.
I would be willing to assist in any way possible to help in that effort. It has taken an unbelievable amount of work by fellow volunteers, sponsors, vendors, and NSRA staff to make the NSRA Nationals the event it is today. I want to do all I can to help insure that the spirit of that event being pre-'49 vehicles is preserved. What can I do to help you convey our feelings so it does not fall prey to other "forces" pulling it in a different direction?
Ron Herrmann
Andover, MN
Well, it's gone-the last bastion of the real street rods. The NSRA has moved the cutoff year to cars 30 years old or older. What will they change their name to now? It is no longer for street rods. How about Not for Street Rods Anymore? I can't wait to be parked next to the lowriders, minivans, rice rockets, etc...with their mega loud boom boxes going full tilt. What has happened to our hobby? Is there no organization left that believes in the old traditional hot rods? It would seem we need some brave soul to step up and start a new organization dedicated to real street rods and hot rods.
We all know it's all about the money, but that could have been solved very easily. Just boost the membership fee form $25 to $50 and the event fees from $25 to $50, viola, double your income and keep the true rodders happy! Now was that so hard? Were we even asked about changing? No! You should have heard the negative comments at the Western Nats. And at the ladies tea they actually booed the announcement. Many NSRA members (myself included) vowed to boycott all the events unless NSRA comes to its senses.
Joe McIntyre
Via the Internet
Ron and Joe,This debate has carried on for at least 30 years-in fact, the late Bill Burnham in his SR column (In Bill's Eye) dated March of '89 wrote about this very subject. Bill commented on the health of the hobby/sport/industry (take your pick) and was pleased at the then-current state of affairs, and rightly so with 11,202 rods at the '89 St. Paul Nats. In the last paragraph he writes, "Rodders who constantly tinker with success or fix stuff that ain't broken worry me." I understand his point but I was and always will be one of those rodders who just tinkers; Senior Editor Ron Ceridono likes to tell any and everyone that I can tune a car until it doesn't run! True, but I always figured he would help me get it back to where it would run and the fun was in the learning (and listening to him bitch!). My philosophy is that maybe, just maybe, I will come upon something even better. I believe this is the very foundation hot rodding was built upon-"There is always a better way."
We at STREET RODDER are aware of the NSRA's decision to convert to a "rolling" cutoff date beginning with its 2010 events. I interviewed Vernon Walker (one of the founders of the NSRA) on this very topic for the August '09 issue of SR. It should come as no surprise that SR (through its staff) is an advocate of expanding the years of coverage not only on the pages of SR but at all events. (Here's a piece of SR trivia, one of the first SR project cars was a mid-'60s era VW that was turned into a Baja Bug. In those days a hot rod was, well, a hot rod!)