It all started with Chris Cissel, Chris Norwood, George Knott, and myself about six weeks ago over when we connected over some burrito's at Chipotle. The Chris' often get together on Sundays and push their hot rods to the limit over the course of hundreds of miles, it's just what they do. They encouraged Hot Rod Coalition to step outside of their comfort zone of pioneering car shows and plan a "Run". I took that challenge and enlisted our resident "Bad Ace" George Knott to lay out the route, all I had to do was to get the word out. On the morning of the Back Road Reliability Run I was hoping for twenty hot rods to show up at Grossi Speed and Fab. By the time 8:15 am hit we counted 57 cars. After we finished looking over all of Grossi's numerous LS motor swaps and full hot rod builds we all gathered for our drivers meeting. We soon rolled out and arrived at Double Z Hot Rods in Dinuba, Ca. Attendee's were shocked when they saw the thousands of square footage that Double Z had to work with. They have the capability to take your heap and returning a competition show car, there is nothing they can't do. From Dinuba the caravan cruised through Orosi, Squaw Valley, Wonder Valley, and many more small farm towns. The scenery was perfect, we saw farm land, rivers, foothills, free range pigs, (yes, you read that correct), there wasn't much George didn't capture in this run. At the conclusion of the ride we all gathered at the Blossom Trail Cafe for lunch. Service was great and the company was even better. The outdoor patio was full of conversations that centered around the run and I couldn't believe all the positive feedback. I am convinced that when we do this again in the Spring we will have over 100 cars because I know that the 57 that attended this last one are telling all of their friends. Thank you to all of those that joined us last Saturday, thank you for a great time! Check out all of the Event Coverage HERE
A point I've been trying to make for a long time. Instead of a week long far away expensive show requiring you to take vacation time and empty your bank account. How about an over-nighter with a couple dozen friends and hit the back roads to a destination a couple hundred miles away,have some terrific food, do some sightseeing (visit a museum, a natural geographic site or entertainment venue, and return the next day via an alternate route. Do this about 3-4 times a year instead of lining the wallets of the big promoters. Frank
The Jalopy Journal
