Hunnert Car Pileup #10: 2 month Warning + Announcement

The 10th Hunnert Car Pileup is only about 2 months away!

There will be more indoor vendor spaces and a larger swap meet (thanks to the Bombers). There will (hopefully) be antique tractors hauling people around. There will be great pre and post show parties in Clinton (that’s Friday AND Saturday nights, folks!!). Since this is our big 10th anniversary, we went all out with the bands, too! We even got one of the bands who played the very first Hunnert Car Pileup to come back (The Gravetones)!

Junior Brown
3 Bad Jacks
The Reckless Ones
Art Adams
Hot Rod Hucksters
Th’Empires
The Gravetones
MG & the Gas City 3

It will be a killer show worthy of the 10 year anniversary...

It will also be the last Hunnert Car Pileup.

This was a very hard decision to reach. The Chrome Czars have devoted 10 years of their lives to this show, and we have an emotional attachment to it. We debated (and argued) about what to do, but finally decided that ending the show was best. It was time.

There are a variety of reasons behind the decision, and we struggled with it, but we feel the show is going in the wrong direction. It's becoming more about the spectators and it's getting harder to keep out cars that are not truly traditional. Fun for all, sure, but no longer the original intent of the show. The show’s “vibe” has been dimming and drifting as a result. We'd rather kill it while we still respect it, than let it go down in a smoldering wreck. 10 years is enough, and there are several other traditional car shows now that can carry the torch.

Furthermore, as the show grew, it became harder for us to manage it, even with the help of the Great Red Shirt Army. The strain on our day jobs and families started to turn the show from a Labor of Love to just Labor. We are not professional promoters.

A long time ago, we decided that we would rather stop doing the show, than to see it lose “the vibe” that made it so special. So, we would rather end it now while that vibe is still flowing through the show, and maintain its integrity.

For now, we are going to concentrate our energies on the Hunnert Car Heads Up vintage drag race event. There have been many shows that started because they were inspired by the Pileup, just like the Pileup was inspired by the Lonestar Roundup and the original Billetproof. The traditional hot rod flame is burning brightly in these shows. Go to the Blacktop Barons' Road Block. Go to Vintage Torque Fest. Go to the Symco Shakedown. Go to the Rust Revival. Go to the Heads Up and Meltdown Drag Races. These are just a few of the shows in the Midwest.

We would like to thank the hundreds of volunteers in the Red Shirt Army who have donated countless hours over the years to making this show happen. They are the heart of the show. Thanks to the hot rodders who drove their cars from all over the USA and came to the show in the cold, rain, heat, and even snow. Thanks to all the spectators who were so inspired by what they saw that they returned the next year with a car they could drive through the gate. Thanks to the rat rods and street rods who challenged our interpretation of “traditional” every year and kept us on our toes. Thanks to the towns of Sycamore, Morris, Decatur and Clinton for welcoming all the crazy hot rodders over the years, and thanks to those rodders for keeping it peaceful and clean. And a special thanks to our families and friends for helping make this show happen, especially Catherine (DW) and Diane, who go that extra mile in planning the event.

We wanted to make this announcement in advance for all of you who keep saying “I’ll get the car done later. There’s always next year.” Not this time, friend. GET WRENCHING!!

Celebrate 10 years of the Hunnert Car Pileup on Oct 8, 2011. It will be an event that you'll be telling your grand kids about!

Don't miss it!!

 

Man I have wanted to go to this one for a few years and finally have everything ready to go or in line. I must go now.

 

hmm, will i have the van done to go, and will i have the money for the gas? hmmmm

 

Well, see you guys there.

 

See you there!

Congrats on making it 10 years

 

Sorry to hear you guys won't be doing the show after this year. BUT, with all the work involved and the time you guys have had to dedicate, I totally understand. Thanks for many years of killer shows( I think I honestly looked forward to the Pileup more than a kid looks forward to Christmas!). I look foward to the 10th and final show as the Pileup has always been a gathering place where I get to hang out with friends I may only see a couple times a year. Thanks again! I'll be there once again peddling my art and checking out the cool rides, great bands, and the cool vibe.

 

Noooo! I just wanted to take my truck to hunnert once...but i doubt i can finish it in 2a months. Im seriously considering my dirtbike and skipping all other shows before hunnert just to try to make it...

 

Not good news, but certainly respectable.
I'll be there wearing a red shirt and resolve in the fact I have been to most of them.

Let's make this party one for the books fellas.
TZ

 

Thanks to the Czars, DW, and all the volunteers for 10 great years. Including #10, I consider myself fortunate to have experienced half of them and honored to be a volunteer at 4 of them.

I have an intimate understanding of how hard it is to keep shitty rat rods, turd cars, circus trucks, and bone stock grand-ma's more-doors out of the gates. Sadly, it's even harder to make those that do not "get it", understand the tradition and passion that helped start these kind of shows.

I applaud you all for the decision. Number ten is going to be a hoot.

 

Thanks for all the work onthe past and this years show. It is a shame but like everything else that kicks ass eventually it gets played out or turns into something different. I consider myself lucky to have attended the last 5 and look forward to this last one THANKS AGAIN TO ALL THE CZARS D.W. AND ALL THE REDSHIRTS!!!

 

Very disappointing that the show will end, but understandable.
Your club has run an awesome show for so many years and for that I say THANK YOU!
You guys kick ass!

 

Let's talk about all of the great things that have come from the Pileup.... I flew out from Boston for the very first one after meeting Magnet and Hellfish.

Which prompted my move to Chicago. I have been to every single Pileup, and became involved after #3 or 4 I can't remember.

My involvement in the Pileup eventually led to the meeting of my husband, Snarl....

Which made me move to Madison.

I am soooo blessed for the friends I have made b/c of this crazy show. The Czars are my true Midwest family and have supported me just as much as I have supported them.

 

It's hard to let it go. I, we, have put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it. It consumes a LOT of my time. A lot. And it has been taking a huge toll on my job and my family. The same goes for the other Czars. The show means almost as much to me as the Chrome Czars. The club and the show grew together in many respects. I hate to stop the Pileup, but sometimes you have to know when to let things go.

The vibe is still there, but it has been changing, and in the immortal words of Neil Young, it's better to burn out than to fade away.

I've met a lot of great people by running this show. I've had a blast! I had as much fun planning it as I have had attending it! I look forward to going to all the shows that were inspired by the Pileup, like Vintage Torque Fest and Symco Shakedown!

 

Every year I am on the fence for the pileup. It has been a while since I went. I guess I will have to make it happen this year. I understand why, so lets make it burn hot!

 

Well, I've only missed the two years you were at Sycamore. I've been to each and every one since. As said, thru the rain, the mud, the heat, the snow. I've met so many of you because of the Pileup.

The Pile up has/had become one of my must attend functions. I look forward to seeing so many of you I had not seen since last years Pileup. Meeting those who I have met, and jabbered with from here on the HAMB. Putting a face with a name.

Words really are not going to do justice to express my thanks to the Chrome Czars for putting on the Pileup over the years. But I do wish to express my thank you as best I can for doing this for your fellow hot rodders.

Also, if I may, a Thank You to Ryan, for this web site of the HAMB. For allowing the spreading of the message of the Hoodlums and Traditional rides to come together at places like the Hunnert Car PileUp.


So for one more time. I'LL SEE YOU THERE.


HellRaiser

 

after last year, I just dont want to come this year. good luck on your last show

 

Thank you Czars for an amazing, life-changing decade!

You opened a fun-filled "Pandora's Box" in Sycamore, I caught up at #3 in Morris and was hooked. I'll see you at #10 (in a red shirt) to help you put a lid on it.

 

i've been to them all. i include a little bit of pileup with all the stuff i sell here. i throw a sticker in the box when i remember.

 

You know, I don't think I ever actually cried at a show...(just drunk late night on Saturday) but for a few years in Morris, when things were getting exponentially bigger, 35pickup was on permanent stand by to be available for hug if I thought I was going to lose my head.

 

Damn......I hate to hear this. You guys done good and its been a good run boys....Magnet will now have to have the red pants framed and hung in the hall of fame.

Magnet I fully expect to see your panhead there done .....How many years has it been since you were brining it?????? I hope to ride mine thru the gate this year followed by my panel.

See all you there and we need to do this last one up right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks For The Memories,
Your friend
Shoe

 

You guys have done an amazing job with your show, 10 years is something to be proud of. Part of your legacy is all the other shows that yours spawned.
The Tin Butcher's "Scrap Drive" show/swap was started because of the Pileup;
we wanted a show similiar to yours in northern Illinois in the late Spring/early Summer.
The Pileup will be talked about and remembered for years to come.
Thanks for all your efforts.
The Tin Butchers CC

 

What a great run, I heard about HCPU#1 after it happened then made it to the second and it was so fun at Marty and Son's I have not missed one since. It has become a family affair for us we met a bunch of great people that otherwise would not have happened.
I have been honored to wear the Red Shirt for the past 3 years and will do it again this year even more so.

Thanks for a great time it will be missed for sure.

Red

 

I can't imagine the legwork and headaches that come with a show of this magnitude. All I can say is thanks for putting on a great show that has got people to appreciate traditional hotrods. I will be there, setup again, selling my art. Can't wait for October!

 

I plan to be there with my merc this year, that was the plan with the car since I started on it this spring hot and heavy, so now I know why I was so motivated to make it this year, I guess it was meant to be for the car to make it for the last one! I will see you all there! Jim

 

Made a million friends and even started a show thx to the pileup! I consider the czars and dw very good friends! Whether they will admit it or not!

 

Wow! Like Joe said, this was a very had decision for all of us!!!! I've met so many great people from all over the country( and a few in others) due to this show. I'm not sure what was harder today, reading Joes first post(again, mind you) or all the fucking support Ryan and the rest of the HAMB has shown and continues to show for our little show! Its been said over and over again but is true and needs to be said again, this show wouldn't be nearly what it is without all of you and the almighty Red Shirt Army! Gratitude doesn't begin to explain how i feel about the people that help each and every year.

It'll be one hell of a show this year and i can't wait to see wait to see old friends and meet some new ones(like every past HCPU)!

Thank you guys for everything

 

I understand wanting to bail out after 10 years of doing the show. It was fun while it lasted, I have been to all but number 1. I sure as hell wouldn't have put as much work into things as the Czars have over the years. I have friends coming from all over to experience it this year, so I guess we will go out with a bang!

I have been to shows all over the country and this show is by far one of the best ones that I have ever been to.

 

Nothing but gratitude for the Chrome Czars.
They have been cool to me from the very first Morris show and my only regret is that I have not had my car in the show.....instead I have peddled my wares at the event year after year.
I am sure that this will only make the Heads Up all that much bigger - and hopefully we can turn that parking lot at Union Grove into a huge car show as well as getting some really amazing drag cars at the event as well.
A special thanks to Joe for mentioning Vintage Torque Fest and the Symco Shakedown. Obviously without the Pile Up - ours may not have ever started.
Seeya at the Pre Party - Clinton is gonna welcome us again right?

 

pre-party AND post party! Don't forget Saturday night, too!!
Yes, Clinton is going to ROCK BOTH nights!!