The 2015 Lonestar Round Up

The press room on the Thurdsay afternoon before the Round Up was a hectic scene. Just about every publication you can think of had a representative of one sort or another. And the air in the room was thick – Cigarette smoke and chatter fogged the joint as each correspondent began to make plans for the pending storm of the century. Some groups made plans to cover the imminent doom that awaited – Hail damaged hot rods, after all, could bring a significant traffic spike. People love to gawk over shit like 1000 man hours destroyed by little balls of ice falling from the sky. Others made plans for a hasty exit.

I was too damned busy to pay much attention to it all or even care. Two weeks of drama was being capped by the release of a book that had taken me three years longer to write than it should have. So I didn’t even notice the dry skies when I pulled up to C-Boys that night.

Let’s start there.

Thursday Night
C-Boys. Stevo set the club up for us and reserved a bunch of parking for hot rods attending our Book Release Party. We drank beer. We listened to Shaun Young and The Texas Blue Dots. We sold a few books.  (K)No(w)body in attendance got wet – at least by means of the sky.

So, our little party went down exactly how I was hoping it would. It was laid back and not at all over-hyped. Just a group of guys with a lot in common celebrating the release of a book that I’m pretty proud of – The Jalopy Journal #3. By midnight… or maybe it was 1am, the crowd dispersed and people began to get ready for the approaching storm that promised to hit us the next day.

(Editor’s Note: The Jalopy Journal #3 will be available for online purchase on Wednesday of this week)

Friday
The first day of the Round Up is always my favorite. It’s smaller and more intimate. But this year the weatherman was promising rude skies and intimidating weather. What was supposed to hit us on Thursday night got delayed somehow and now was going to get us on Friday. I did all I could in defense – I added a couple of extra stakes to our popup tents and when the fellas from Hop Up weren’t looking, I anchored my tent to theirs figuring that even gail force winds couldn’t possibly lift a tent weighed down by their latest offering.

Again, the weather never came. The man on the news said that some high pressure cold front appeared from (K)No(w)here – stalling the storm’s speed, but also growing it to sizes never before seen in West Texas or anywhere else for that matter. “Saturday,” the weather man said. “Prepare yourself for violence.”

Friday Night
Given that the apocalypse was coming the next day, I decided to skip the Hop Up release party at Austin Speed Shop and instead spend the time with my family at home. From what I heard, lots of elbows were rubbed and a stick of dynamite or two were ignited to the pleasure of the crowd, but I can’t report on a scene I didn’t attend. I will, however, save my report and my impressions on the new Hop Up book for a later article titled, “Hipsters Try Their Damnedest To Destroy History & Fail Miserably.”

Saturday
I decided to spend my last day on earth or, at the very least, in Texas by actually browsing a car show that I rarely get to enjoy. The boys make me give away a “Jalopy Journal Pick” every year, so I calculated that I had better figure that shit out before the storm hit. It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon Lucky Burton’s roadster. I knew instantly that I had found my pick. It was an emotional decision just as much as it was an objective one. The car was built to go fast and with no regard for winning a trophy such as the one I was giving out. But to say it’s a “casual” car might discount the fact that it’s actually packed full of some really rare and unique parts.

This is just my kind of hot rod… With any luck, maybe we can arrange a feature sometime soon with Lucky.

Once I had my pick figured, the skies started to darken. By noon, it looked as if Will Smith was going to pop out of the skies in an F-16 and start taking down martian invaders with sidewinders armed with nuclear tips – the sky was literally black. I battened down the booth, got everything ready for 100 mph winds, and waited… and waited…

Will Smith must have kicked some serious martian ass above the cloud cover, because once again the weather never came. The black skies parted and blue skies spread from one horizon to the other. In fact, we didn’t get so much as a single drop of rain on Saturday. It was a miracle of miraculous proportions. And if you know the guys that run this show (Will, Steve, Brian, etc…), then you know that we now have absolute proof that good things happen to good people.

Saturday Night
After getting our operation all packed up, we decided to skip showers and head straight for a local watering hole. I was four beers and a chicken fried steak into the activities when the blue norther came from seemingly (K)No(w)here. At 9m it was above 70-degrees and overcast. At around 9:30, the temperature dropped to the low 50’s and all hell broke loose. Hail dropped from the skies at a rate only matched by the wind speed. The roof on our bar shook as if it would give way at any moment. Patrons screamed in fear. Pure pandemonium.

And then… 20 minutes later it was over. And so was the Round Up – for me, anyway…

Special Thanks
Every year, I thank the same people… Steve, Will, Brian, Reggie, Norm… They are family. Plus, John Mearns. He’s one of the partners in the book and well, we will talk about him when we release the book online later this week.

Also, I’m sure most of you have heard that Mercury Charlie was in a really serious accident in his Merc after the show on Friday. He’s going to recover fully, but it’s gonna be some time before he is back at it. Family kept his open house alive on Sunday and it was really cool to see so many people attend what turned out to be a benefit for Charlie. It’s the first of many I’m sure, so keep your eyes and ears open. We gotta get the back of our own – ya know?

Coverage
Honestly, you won’t find any better coverage than Tom Davison’s. If you haven’t kept up with his live work, you can do so here. It’s a great thread full of Tom’s really clean work and… well, I can’t top that. So, below is really just a few snap shots I took throughout the weekend. Enjoy em…