Has anyone ever set up the show classes that after judging, then have an option for the cars in each class set up for racing others only in same class? Fast within class
I’d like to see the event moved to other venues year to year. This would encourage people to attend if they are closer to the location and it would change the cars we see every year. Would be awesome to have the event at ZMax speedway in North Carolina one year. I’d love to see 4 Buicks wide racing .
Amen brother. Please move the concours class to the same area as the rest of show cars on display. I've heard many others over the years echo the sentiment of disliking the poor location of the concours class. Why is this class is parked in the worst location of the entire facility for a dozen show cars? To be closer to the bathroom? At some point a person or a concours show car will be hit by a someone driving to the pits.
I saw a kid on a mini-bike doing wheelies in front of the Concours cars this year. I assume it was done initially to showcase those cars in a prominent place but it's a disaster waiting to happen not to mention the constant kicking up of dust.
Moving the event to a different venue will never happen. Years ago Richard set it up there to be as close as a central location for the current membership at that time. I also asked him if it would be possible and why it was as it is. The ROA and BCA both have there national event move every year for the reason you stated. Due to that I've only been one time. Im 10.5 hours away from BG but make the trip each year for the last 10.
get rid of the trophy's and judging. you will get more cars! its a CAR SHOW and meant to be fun, we are not 10 year old children that need to be praised with a prize to know we have a nice car. alot of people dont take there cars to shows because there is always a few people pointing and shaking there heads because the hose clamps are not right or the hood latch is plated wrong, wow that thing is rough, ect. how can a 10-15 year old concours restoration compete with a fresh concours car? thats just a stacked deck. i would rather see a nice selection of projects, drivers, modified, and concours cars. keeps it interesting. oh yea move the show around every couple of years. if you cant get enough buicks there maybe open it to bop. charlie
The other issue is the racing which is an integral part of the GS Nationals (as I've said, the show comes off as an afterthought) that the BCA/ROA don't have to coordinate. It wouldn't be the same w/o so the event needs to be at a track which makes it much more difficult to move around - We don't draw enough and are lucky to even have a slot @ Beech Bend. I like the idea of moving it around in theory & didn't go the one year ('99?) it was tried but apparently it didn't work out so well. BG is definitely a long haul for many (esp. in New England & out west) but is like my 2nd home town & is still pretty centrally located (700 mile trip for me).
I think also the Friday Car Show somewhat hurts attendance, I'm not suggesting moving it, but most all shows are on Saturday. This year will give you an idea of future GS Nationals attendance now that the GSX reunion is over. A lot more people attended that normally won't go again.
It should be mandatory that you attend if you own an X, so from now on if you don’t show and you have an X, you must sell it within 30 days!!!!
I hope this year was the sign of good things to come - It felt like the late 80's/90's Nationals. Was great to finally meet you & see your car. But you may be correct. The GSX reunion, Denny Manner w/the experimental engine parts display, stellar weather forecast, & ppl being cooped up all came together. Only we can make it continue. I'll be there - None of my cars are done & if I were to bring one just to have it there it'd be nice if there was at least a special area to park it or some show class it would fit into. I do know some ppl who weren't there this year that are planning on being there next year so let's keep it going. I was there from '85-98 & missed '99-16. I think life got in the way for a lot of us in that period.
So, I like the new addition of the class N. SO I have a class for the wagon. How about a WIP/ work in progress class. Some of us take pride in our cars even if they are not finished. This was the first year back to Bowling Green since I attended the GSCA Nationals in 1983. I enjoyed it even if I couldn't bring the wagon. My wife said I was a teenager again. There is word of the car show being extended, anyone care to elaborate on that? Tim
Car show on Saturday,...would increase attendance IMO,..more show people will leave Friday after work make the drive to show,..vs having to take off work Guys that's been racing have more opportunities to show on Sat vs Fri Car show back in the grass weather permitting Concours definitely needs to be with the show cars be it grass or circle track Circle track needs to be left for pitting for a few reasons 1. Racers need asphalt more than show cars,..jacking,..working etc 2.the actual pit area is 9 out 10times filled to capacity as is,..that's one reason why racers ended up in the infield besides the convenience of it 3. When I think of the GS Nationals I picture cars in the grass,...making the turn and seeing the 65 GS's against the fence and the sea of colors against the green grass 4.jackasses in 4 wheelers and golf carts and bikes won't be in the grass
I've wanted to make the trip from UT for over 35 years. Now that I actually have a car, I REALLY would like to make it. It's about a 24 hour cruise one way for me. I'll be towing (likely with the wife's Lincoln) my cutie out if I can make it work. I may try to find out who is coming from the west and see if we can convoy out/back. I've got quite a few recreational commitments this summer that are pretty epic but I hope to pull this trip off. Easier to fit it into 2023 for sure Personally, I couldn't care less about the classes and trophies (mine will never win one and I'm ok with that--trophies and show are not why I'm building it). I do like to see a variety of cars and appreciate ones with tasteful mods as much as those that painstakingly restore. Everyone is different and every car is different. As mentioned above, show car guys put a LOT of effort into their rigs. Race guys put a lot of effort into theirs. I appreciate the idea of a bunch of people with bias towards Buick showing up and appreciating everyone else's rides. That's the appeal to me. It's kind of a "bucket list" trip for me but I need to make it happen this year (less complete car this year for sure) or next (more complete car) 1-I'd like to see the most cars possible 2-I'd love to see WIP cars, restorations or "customs" 3-historical stuff like the Denny Manner with experimental engine would be way cool to see. Maybe offer a guest vendor spot for 4-5 cars of historical significance (Kenne Bell stuff one year, TA another year, historic GN turbo cars another, etc) There's a few Buicks in the west but most shows of 100-200 cars might have 2-3 Buicks total? Bigger shows might have a few more? The Buick centric event is quite appealing to me. It won't be what I expect but will be cool in whatever way it is. On a different but slightly related note: Is there a show in the west that a lot of Buick guys bring their stuff to? (I'd LOVE to see a bunch of Buicks at https://cvcacruisein.com/ the next few years. I'm 10,000% biased but this is a great show. Even if we didn't get a specific section for Buicks, it'd be fun to have 20-30 cars sprinkled through the field. We've got Granger Smith with Special Guests Earl Dibbles Jr. And Sawyer Brown as a concert on the Thursday night of the car show (no idea why it's on Thursday) for 2022. If there's interest, I'd be glad to answer any questions about the Logan, UT area or get any show/club details for anyone that's interested in attending. I do know a few club officers if I'd need to get some questions answered for the Cruise In. I live about 75 minutes from Logan. If there are folks that want to drop a trailer/tow rig at my house, I have a little space I'd be happy to accommodate them with. There's a couple other Buick guys along the Wasatch front that I'd imagine would extend the same offer. You could trailer in comfort for the bulk of your trip and run your cars from SLC area to Logan daily or just drop the tow rig/trailer for the weekend and hotel in Logan. I'm easy)
Never been to UT so... Always thought it'd be a blast to take the truck (well, maybe not my truck) w/a truck camper (maybe a newer one than mine) & trailer a car around the country and hit a bunch of local/regional shows. Hope you make it to BG this year.
Thanks for the encouragement. I'd bet I can make it happen for 2023 but hopeful for 2022 (a LONG way to go on my car but it's possible---probably more possible if I was in the garage rather than sitting in the warm kitchen at my laptop ) Edit: I just proposed this to my bride of 30 years and she's all for it as long as she can stop in some quilting museum in Paducah, KY along the way there or the way back and at Missouri Star Quilts in Hamilton, MO. My 17 yr old daughter overheard our conversation and expressed sincere interest along with my 22 yr old son. Now the Navigator is getting sort of crowded but it could still function fine. I'm thinking it might be nice to rent a motorhome from a friend or similar and do things that way? Might turn into a 10-12 day trip but hey.... The motorhome would suck in the mountains but I'd have a place to stay at Beech Bend and anywhere along the way, I guess. I'd have to weigh fuel/comfort in the motorhome vs the SUV. Probably a toss up, I'd imagine? Offsite planning thread on my "home" offroading board https://www.rme4x4.com/threads/trip...-trailer-on-this-route-for-10-12-days.119344/ Your rambling car show idea would be a way fun trip. 2-3 months just finding the next show every weekend. The Cache Valley Cruise In regularly gets folks from around the country. They have a "long hauler" award and usually it's someone from Maine or Florida. (We get similar for Easter Jeep Safari in Moab but that's even an international event. My daughter made friends with a couple of ladies from a group that came from Australia a few years ago.)
Here's the email I sent to Carl: Hi Carl, Glad to hear you're involved in the show. I went to the Nationals from '85-98 & then not again until '17-18. I think I met you there in '18 - I don't get on FB too much anymore. I missed '19 & was there again in '21. '17 was a bit of a shock. I knew it wasn't going to be like late 80's/90's but still... I came away with a lot of issues that at the time I posted on FB & probably on v8buick.com. Hopefully I can recall most of it. Roberta said to contact you with ideas/complaints about the show (https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/gs-national-2022-car-show-changes-needed.373891/) so here it goes: 1) Overall, the car show seems like an afterthought. The GS Nationals website only reinforces this w/the show info all the way at the bottom of the page. It's always been a racing oriented event and I would never want to lose that aspect but the show deserves a bit more attention. Guys haul their cars a long way and at a significant expense & risk to be there. 2) For whatever the entrance fee is, a program of some sort would be nice that at least listed the show and race classes and a schedule for the event. In '17, I stayed through Saturday & sat there watching the racing having no idea what was going on as they called the classes up. On Friday, I didn't see the little show markers at the ends of the rows but even if I had, I would've had no idea what they represented. I guess I could've looked all this up on my phone but tbh I didn't think to. 3) The timing of the show awards is further reinforcement that the show is afterthought. In '17 I stayed for the awards but hardly anyone else did and the timing equipment was all taken down. IMHO, the racers could take a break for an hour once the show is tallied. Then the cars could take a timed trip down the strip if they choose to. 4) I believe it was also '17 that the show tallies were screwed up and one year an entire class wasn't judged. Most guys exc. the concours class, where nearly everyone is awarded, aren't there for the trophies but still... 5) The concours class shouldn't be where it is. I suppose the idea was to put them in a prominent place but it's a disaster waiting to happen. There's way too much traffic, golf carts, mini-bikes, scooters, etc. Last year Troy Acton & I watched as a kid did wheelies on a mini-bike in front of the concours cars. Not to mention the constant dust which I'm sure you're well aware of. 6) There should be either a show class (non-judged) &/or a special parking area for work-in-progress, non-show, driver type cars. Seems to me like the area that the GSXs were parked last year would be a good place. My own '70 Stage 1 4-sp would fit into that but w/o something like this so at least people can see the car, along with others, I have very little motivation to bring it down there. I'm always looking at cars randomly parked in parking area and it's be nice if they were all together. There seems to be a lot of interest in this on the thread linked to above. 7) Some have suggested moving the entire show back to the grass but I'm not sure that's practical. IIRC, the whole place was configured differently back in the '90's and we used to enter through what is now the campground/amusement park entrance and it seems the show was in campground or amusement parking area as there were delineated rows. Maybe there's a way to do this now in a different area - Personally, I like it in the circle track but it would be nice if we had enough cars that the show didn't have to share the area with the racers. There have also been suggestions to move the show to Saturday. While this might bring in more cars and I'm not necissarily opposed to it, traditionally Friday was always reserved for the show and Saturday for racing. It seems like this may make Thursday (or at least Wed.) unnecessary which may/may not be a good thing. 8) There needs to be some adjustments made to the show classes. Some good suggestions are made on the thread linked to above. Back in the day we used to vote on the cars and I think it would be a good idea to bring that back to get people more engaged in a "people's choice" award for each class. 9) This is more of an event related thing but without rehashing the details & it doesn't really matter anyway, the debacle with Wayne Roberts in the finals in '17 was uncalled for. This isn't an NHRA National Event. Wayne's car is beautiful and fast - Seeing it run was in and of itself worth the trip. It's a car that would draw people which is what we need. Wayne said he'll never return which is a shame. Gary Paine, the other finalist wasn't happy either with how it all went down even though he "won" by default. Denny Manner's display last year was a draw as was of course the GSX reunion, the fact that people had been cooped up, and the weather which we can't control but we need reasons for people to attend besides just that it's the biggest GS gathering. Last year's event had that feel of the old days and this was a common sentiment and one that I hope we can build on. I feel like there's some other issues that I'm forgetting. Good luck. Feel free to call me if you want to discuss any of this. Dan R. (aka Dano on v8)
Wow Dano... that sums up the car show suggestions nicely! I'm not a racer nor have I ever been to the GS Nationals yet, so I'm oblivious to the racing part. I'm going to make a strong effort to go for 2021 with my car.
