The Race of Gentlemen, 2015

Carlton Wade and Matt Crane have posted oodles of starting line photos and others up close and personal on #Worthless encourage ya to clickity click the linky dink.. http://www.worthless.co/?p=503

 

So your one of them ??


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^^^No, I was just being stupid silly to take the edge off. I don't want to see the Oilers, who seem like slick fellas, get to thinking we don't appreciate their efforts. I am working my ass off and spending all my money so I can maybe part of all this next year, good and bad. But I'll probably be on here a year from yesterday too if Saturday 2016 plays out the same way that many have described. I think Mel and the boys will adjust to please as many as they can to continue a stellar event. It is good that some are putting in their $.02 as long as they stay diplomatic. Wyatt

 

Did you race by chance? Spend 15k+ and countless hours, spend $200 and not get what you were promised, then travel 500 miles to only get 2 runs on a Saturday while the sponsor trucks were taking hot laps? Thank god Sunday was good.

I didn't race but I was in the pits. The above was what I was hearing by many parties.

 

At least some of you got to go down the track a couple times on Saturday, I was there with my best friend that had his 47 knucklehead entered for the second year. He redid the bike for the TROG, sent in his pictures and his $200 and was accepted. When we got there on Friday and rode down to the StarLux to sign in Mel came up to him right after he got off his bike. Told Mark he liked the bike but was sorry that he had dropped the ball and Marks bike was to pretty to race. Mel did offer to let Mark race Mel's bike. Needles to say that was not acceptable we could barley watch the racing Saturday and headed home first thing Sunday morning. To add insult to injury we could not change our room reservations and had to find another hotel, we have not been able to get a refund from our first reservation.

 

Via Craftsman Made To Race
Made to Race: Failures and Recoveries at The Race of Gentlemen

“One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.” — Henry Ford
From the very beginning of this project, we knew that Restoration Rollout was an ambitious undertaking. First of all, we wanted to build a car like no other – a Model K-style racer with 2 model T engines – to take to The Race of Gentlemen in Wildwood, New Jersey. In parallel with the car build, we wanted to recount the history of auto racing. And, since we were inviting Jessi Combs to be one of the first female racers at TROG, we thought it was important to share the stories of the women who have shaped that history. We knew it was a big challenge but we were up for it. Little did we know that Mother Nature and the fates would add a few obstacles in our way.

PLANS CHANGE
The preparations for The Race of Gentlemen went off without a hitch. If only we could have said the same for the race itself! After getting the Craftsman racer built and shipped, along with a truckload of tools, to New Jersey for the race, Mother Nature threw us a curveball. As Hurricane Joaquin made its way up the Atlantic, it became clear that the race could not go on as scheduled. Much to everyone’s chagrin, The Race of Gentlemen was pushed back one week to allow Joaquin to get out of the way. We scrambled to find a place to stow our car, tools and Craftsman garage and made a hasty retreat.

By the following weekend, we were definitely looking forward to the race. Having gotten to the starting line only to be told that the race would be postponed, we were all revved up to see what the Craftsman racer could do. The car, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as ready to go. Our Twin-T did not like sitting idle while Hurricane Joaquin ravaged the Atlantic.

With the help of a Diehard battery charger and the ingenuity of the Oilers Car Club, we finally got the Craftsman racer running. Then, it was finally time to put Jessi Combs behind the wheel.

And then the wheel came off. That’s right, the steering wheel literally came off while Jessi was driving! But something like a missing steering wheel isn’t enough to detour a pro like Jessi Combs. She not only kept driving the car, Jessi went on to win the race. Now that’s the racing spirit!

As it turns out, Jessi was not the only female driver at TROG this year. In fact, Oilers Car Club described this year’s TROG as, “The Year of the Women.” We couldn’t have been more proud to have Jessi Combs driving our Twin-T. She handled every challenge that popped up (and off!) with grace.

Of course, we weren’t the only car that had trouble on race day. These are, after all, vintage cars that are totally unpredictable. Fortunately, we had brought along a Craftsman garage that was stocked with enough tools to keep everyone racing. We lent out just about every tool we brought with us and got the racers back on the beach.

There were many lessons learned from our experience at The Race of Gentlemen. But perhaps the most important lesson relates to that quote by Henry Ford at the top of this post. “One who fears failure limits his activities.” If not for failures, there would be no victories. For it is through failures that we learn what works … and what doesn’t work.

We are only as great as our ambitions and we can always count on the friends we make along the way to pitch in to help. Thank you to everyone who helped make The Race of Gentlemen a success.

 

Oh man.

 

I did not have a chance to attend but one of the first photos I saw was one of the Rolling Bones coupes running down the sand if that is so then what this event is promoted as being has changed just like a lot of others , the one event that I can say stays true is Scary Larry's Jalopy Showdown

 

Our club will attend the showdown this year and we are very excited about it.
Don't get us wrong we love TROG , we very much appreciate the efforts of Mel and his guys. We just don't want to see it get watered down.
We will build cars for next year ,as will the other regulars I'm sure ,with the hope that the promoters will stay true to the original plan.

 

I feel for anyone that left feeling wronged by this event (I truly do), however, since I was only a spectator, I had a great time!
I couldn't imagine the challenge that faced the staff as far as trying to get everything to flow and trying to make everyone happy.

Again, loved it (for the second yr in a row),and cant wait till next yr!

thanks to all that put on the event, its greatly appreciated here.

jeff

 

Great for traditional hot rodding.
If the biggest problems are: Oilers battle a hurricane & then the event exponentially experiences some "growing pains" b/c spectators, bloggers, photographer's, & racers all find it so desirable... it gets crowded; that's a good sign for traditional hot rods & HAMB builders in general.

 

My first time going to TROG. I was a spectator who had friends racing. I had a great time. We went down Thursday and had a blast the whole time. The venue and town of Wilwood were great, the boardwalk and beach are huge and clean. See you next year with a roadster to race

 

I'm afraid TROG has "jumped the shark". 10-20 grand to build a car to be "chosen" just to run that one weekend and not aloud to to be back the following year. 300 bucks for shitty motel room... 200 in gas to trailer it there... Loss of work to get down on Friday... 200 bucks for a bag with a T shirt and a whoopee cushion and a promise of a plaque that was never received. 500 bucks for black wall tires because He was told no white walls 0r headlights... And seeing tons of white wall tires and more head lights than I ever seen on the beach. All this got my budy 3 runs on Saturday and 4 runs on Sunday. This event was so upsetting for my friend... Who has looked forward for over a year to be a part of. Not sure if you can blame any one person for the situation this weekend or maybe the sponsors. Either way it's a real shame, because this is such a Awesome event. Hope things get fixed for next year... It would be such a shame for this to go away.

 

We interrupt this program to bring you a word from one of our Sponsors

 

Yeah really... Quick throw up cool black and white photos and YouTube videos! Promote Promote!!! We need more money and spectators for next year! Screw the guys who love this shit and bring the cars and bikes that make it happen! Lol. I miss the 1st year they had it ... Run what you brung and and lots of fun. I reamember a Model A chassis with just a cowl and seat flying down the beach. That's what it's all about!

 

I can't believe that nobody mentioned the fact that the $200 entry fee didn't cover any of your pit crew, like in most other events. Each crew member cost $55 for a weekend tkt, which was then traded in for a pit pass. Bummer that there was no discount for crew.

 

conspiracy theory...first pic Sept. 17th...second pic at the race...who paid for the professional logo's?...I'm such an asshole

 

^lol, oops!

From a spectators point of view, this was a great event...except for the chuckleheads that seemed to keep wandering onto the finish line end of the track... Cars and bikes flying down the beach...yeah, this'll be a great place to sit down and meditate... Dude, are you crazy?

The sponsor stuff wasn't too bad ... but then I'm accustomed to seeing it at Englishtown, so, yeah....
I'm already looking forward to next year though. Maybe I'll even have an entry to submit...

 

Honored you think it's professional cause I did it myself. I work for H-D and thought it would be cool to letter the car up this way.

 

Did you hear that the MC/Announcer/DJ said that your coupe was actually owned by Willie G?

 

Haha, no didn't hear it. I'd sell it to him for a shit ton of money though.

 

Via Instagram>
Any racers who did not pickup their plaque they will be mailed to you. You can use the email addy to follow-up on it.



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Note: Over the years of following this event it became clear to me that I could provide a service to the many HAMB members who are not (and they'll be the first to tell you this) computer savvy. So I've gathered information I find on other sources and post on HAMB. Plain and simple. The squabbles don't concern me. If it is related to the event I will share it here, there are some who appreciate it, I hope.

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The above were actually my words, but Big A somehow stole them and published before I got to write them... ;-)
I second to every word. - Great big THANKS to the Oilers & Mel S. - the best ever car weekend!

p.s.
"The Pabst Blue Ribbon" is not actually a good beer, as a matter of fact I'm not sure would I call it a beer at all...
Luckily got me a couple of six packs of something called "Old Brown Dog" by Smuttynose at a local liquire store. That was a decent dark ale to enjoy while checking around the hot rods & bikes. (not a paid adv.)

 

One good thing for spectators was less photographers blocking their view.

 

Seems funny to me that the organizer can find time to post links to event photos but can,t find the time to address peoples issues with the event.

 

WTF As I just stated above I share stuff here about the event regardless of side issues. You confusing me with the organizers would seem you just saw a scuffle to take a part in without knowledge.

 

Jimmy cracked corn and I don't care, Here is a neat video featuring the music of Drew Nugent and the Midnight Society for anyone interested.

 

ELD: Keep up the good work!

 

I'm curious why seeing a rolling bones coupe in the race is changing how the event is promoted.