On to the Golden State Nationals
After our great day of cruising the coastline and some fun stops at Sanderson Headers and Roy Brizio's shop, Road Tour #6 continued its trek to the NSRA Golden State Nationals in Sacramento. Wednesday we began with a brief cruise through a section of Golden Gate Park. We then crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and made a stop at the vista area at the north end of the bridge. From this vantage point the entire skyline of San Francisco is in front of you across the bay and the Golden gate bridge is to your right. What a view!
From the vista view we caravanned through the main street of nearby Sausalito and then north to Napa Valley and the Sears Point Raceway, now known as Infineon Raceway. It was a great opportunity for a photo shoot as we pulled the PPG Lion's Mane Gold Tour Coupe into the winner's circle and all the Road Tourians posed on the reviewing stand. Doug Walker and his son Bruce had been part of our group since the start in Pomona, traveling in their white1939 Ford Coupe. They are from Danville and have friends with a vineyard. After a quick a phone call, we were all invited to stop by the Viansa Winery and Italian Market Place. We were given a personal tour by Josh Haberman and enjoyed a nice lunch.
By 1:30 we were on our way again, this time heading south to Danville where we made a stop at the fantastic Blackhawk Museum. I had heard of the Blackhawk Museum for many years, but nothing can prepare you for the classic cars that are on display. We were asked if we wanted to park our cars in front of the museum and then we were treated to an hour tour of the collection. The cars on display were one-of-a-kind hand-built beauties that were restored to perfect condition. It is a must-see stop for any car buff that gets close to the San Francisco area. Wednesday had been yet another fantastic day on Tour #6.
Thursday morning we were getting closer to Sacramento, but had one more stop to make; Leonard Lopez at Dominator Street Rods in Brentwood, California invited us to stop by his shop. Leonard and his craftsmen are in the process of building next years Road Tour Brookville 1932 Coupe. It was fun to be able to take a look at the progress on my 2007 office. Things are moving right along and we should be ready to debut the Coupe at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona in January. Our '32 was by no means the only project underway at Dominator as the shop was filled with high quality cars in various stages of assembly. From Dominator we decided to take the two-lane river road to Sacramento. We arrived in the Old Sacramento downtown area around 12:30 and enjoyed many of cool shops and restaurants. We had some good food and then rolled to the NSRA Headquarters' Hotel for registration.
It was a wild weekend at the Golden State Nationals and all the Road Tourians made the Street Rodder Magazine tent their headquarters. We even had a Saturday afternoon cookout with the help of PPG and their gas grill. Tour # 6 was a blast for me, and everybody who traveled along. We saw some incredible places and things, the scenery was breathtaking, and the camaraderie was fantastic.
Stay tuned. We are very close to announcing next year's Road Tour schedule. You will see it here on our website first. We have some great trips planned and fun things to do and see. Make plans to join us. Ask anyone who came along for the ride this year and I can almost guarantee you they had the time of their life.