Amen, brother, amen...you nailed it!!! I bet you don't get as annoyed as I do about the guys who don't attend or don't bring their cars and complain about attendance of both people and cars. You guys have a year to get your cars going amd you guys with the trailer queens need to start arranging transportation now. Hey, if you're nearby I could tow you up there with my GS...I'm driving it anyway. Thanks, Geven
Oops, my apologies...I misread BIL (brother in law) as a mistyped Bill. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. Thanks, Geven
Sorry I can't join your cruising to BG in a Buick. I was part of the Duramax and trailer show that was pitted in the circle track. :laugh: We bring race cars and we pound the living hell out of them!! That's how we roll! :TU:
I have attended BG six times. This year was the first time I entered the show and raced. My car was the fire red 72 GS 455 in the C class (is it a bad thing when the judges point and shake their heads?). I also ran the car a few times on the track (first time I had raced). I was impressed with everyone that was willing to offer me advise on attempting to get my car to hook up (with little success on street tires) as well as all the people that helped out when my battery went dead in the staging area (forgot about that light in the trunk that stayed open for five hours during the show). Bottom line I had a great time and met a lot of nice people who actually liked my car, even if the judges did'nt (this is an attempt at humor I knew I was not going to win). Scott Mc (newly addicted drag racer)
Doug, That is fully expected...race cars are in a total different category. And if it wasn't for you guys this event would already be dead. I'm just trying to rev the guys up that have cars sitting home in there garage...they need to get them here, I don't care if its by trailer or driving them. I've got a freind that has 7 GS's and last year he drove a C5 Corvette to the show and belive me, he never heard the end of it from me. My favorites are the guys restore the cars so nice and don't have a trailer. They get done with them and they don't do anything with them after that. It's like a full scale Ertl model in your garage! Geven
Scott, That's what this show used to be about!!! Thanks for bringing your car and using it! If we can get other owners to do this same thing,, we would all enjoy next years show that much more. Geven
Geven it was nice meeting you and your wife. And for everyone that assisted me with my bad alternator the new one cured the problem and I DROVE the Suncoupe back home with no problems. I had put over 500 miles on that car in the last 2 weeks get all the way to the gate at Beech Bend and it dies. Special thanks to Mike Evans for jumping me off to get into the park and my wife Lori for going back into town to get a battery and alternator.
I have to tell you that our judges are not experts - but they love to judge the cars! Where else can you get up close and personal to such a variety of coolness? I also know that they hustled to get the race car class done ASAP so that you guys could go and play some more. Did that work out ok? They might have shaken their heads because they couldn't decide which cars were the best.....:Brow: Thanks for entering your car. We need more like you next year!
This was my 22nd GS Nationals I have attended and every year is a blast!!!!! I do realize things are(and have been) getting more and more expensive,but that shouldn't stop anybody from having fun and enjoying what they like to do. It was great seeing all of you and I look forward to seeing all of you again next year.
the good and the bad First the good. Met a lot of great people. The guy with the train horn freaking everyone out. The nailhead dragster running at night with the flames shooting out of the exhaust. Too cool! Drinking some beer with a few GN guys from Indiana in the hotel parking lot after doing a burnout with my sister-in-laws new turbo diesel Ram! Thanks for the beer guys! The Regal that put it up on the bumper as soon as the pedal went down. That had to hurt when the front end came back top earth! The Bad The ticket prices are keeping people away. Its a common complaint among the people I talked to. One guy from Muncie said it costs him 1/3 as much to enter his car in a Good Guys event and he probably wouldnt be back. Too many people like this spreading the word to their friends keeps the attendance down IMHO! The hardcore people will always come but the casual attendees is where the variety comes from. Otherwise everyone is looking at the same cars every year..... Ive found myself slightly annoyed for the second year in a row while registering my car for the show. Both times it went exactly the same. ..I have a 65 Riviera Gran Sport to register.(sounds of paper shuffling) Go to class I. Whats class I?.72 and down non GS. But my car is a GS. Its a GS?. Yes its a GS.. How many modifications does it have?.... None, its bone stockYou dont have any modifications?. No..(sounds of paper shuffling). Go to class A (65-69 GS). For some reason its just rubbed me the wrong way that for two years in a row I drive up in a Gran Sport and I am told to go to the non GS class! o No: Friday night. After announcing they would run the track all night because most of Wednesday and all of Thursday was rained out they closed the staging lanes at 8:00 and then had the cars run the dark with their headlights on.
This was our second time at the Nats- last year without a car, this year we brought mine. I was actually worried about the turnout because of the weather- but even though there were not 5 hour waits in staging...we all had a blast! There were alot of very cool cars for the show, and race. We had our issues, getting there and at the track- 1st run wide open @ the 1/8th and my return hose blows off and the motor swallowed a ton of water.....................took quite a while before my heart started beating again.:shock: Once again this year we met more truly NICE people in 1 week than you could wish to meet in a whole year.:beers2: We hammered the snot out of my car...11.34 @ 119.8 on wed. but try as we may the changing weather conditions kept us from going any faster.....but now we have a year to play with it and sort it out, so look out next year!!!!!:3gears: The coolest thing about the race for me was the fluke entering of the Super 16- I thought Doug and my Dad were pulling my leg when they put the sticker on my car.....but due to cars breaking I actually made the cut as the slowest car there!!! (never count out the little guy though!!!) With some help from the racing Gods I cut some great lights and ran my dial, and walked away as a semi-finialist with some GREAT memories and some cash to boot!!!! - First pass against a twin turbo car....I was NOT getting out of it and ran a 11.609 on a 11.60 dial.....they told me everyone on the starting line was SCREAMING for me to get out of it!!!! I think Bruno even hurt his head yelling through his faceshield!!!! Dont worry about the judges in the car show....hell mine did not even get a sticker on it....they just kept walking! Some one in a earlier post said they missed us, we stayed till they practically ran us out on Sat night.... I cant say it enough, this is the best place for us Buick guys and gals to get together and hammer or pamper our cars (or both) and if you do come you will not regret one minute of it rain or shine....if its raining just stop by the circle track there is a crazy mix of North East and West Texas that will get you dry and make you laugh!!!!! I am working on the several hundred pictures and 50 or so videos that we got from the event and will post them soon!!! Thanks soooo much for everything, and it was wonderful meeting all the people from the board from around the USA!!!
Not everyone is retired or bringing home 100k a year with 4 weeks of vacation- meaning not everyone can afford to go to these kinds of things (afford meaning not just money- but time.) I use my vacation days to run the errands I cant get done on the weekends- and for sick days. Christmas bonuses go to repay myself for the christmas presents I bought, any other bonus goes to repay student loans. Between bills and the occasional Buick part here and there- theres no leftover money to go to a real vacation, let alone a Buick only retreat. And as awesome as my girlfriend is- shed be damned if I was going to take her to that as a "vacation." So I dont want to hear how this thing is going to go away cause people like me wont drive to it (for the record I would LOVE to go.) If its going to go away- its because it failed to entice people to spend their free time there instead of somewhere else. Twenty years from now when Im sitting fat- then ya, Ill be there. Until then- Ill enjoy talking to ya'll on here.
Re: the good and the bad Not to piss you off, but the reason for this is your car is NOT a "GS" in the GSCA accepted definition of the name. "GS", at least in the GSCA, refers to A-body cars only, all other GS's are considered non-GS's. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here..........
Bowling Green is a super friendly host for the GS Nationals. We had a couple form Bowling Green in a mini van drive up to us as we were parking our cars at the hotel for the evening. They asked about our cars and thanked us for coming to Bowling Green. They said they really appreciated all the Buick people and really missed us when we went to (that awful - IMO) Columbus back in 99. :TU:
Thank you for posting these pictures. That color combo is what our 70 Stage 1 "Stock Appearing" car will look like. (Sill waiting for Paint!) It was neat to see some pics of that color combo. I wish I could have seen it in person. He does great work. Any pictures of Jim Rodgers Red 70 GS ? Or E.T. reports ?
Cullen, not everyone who goes is bringing home 100k. I certainly don't. Vacation time? Yeah I got five weeks of it, but when I started going to the Nats 20 years ago, I was 24 and didn't get any paid vacation yet. As far as the girlfriend goes, I always told mine when I was going and when I'd be back and let her know she was welcome to join me. She declined, ten years in a row. Oh well, not my problem. Anyway, if you're not in a position to go for the whole week, with your Buick, and with your girl...then why not check it out one time for just the weekend. You're a heck of a lot closer to BG than I am.
