Thinking of starting a different type of "cruise night" in central Illinois

A buddy and myself were talking about how boring cruise nights and car shows have become in our area and wondering how many people we could get to make the drive to our little burg for some real old school cruisin. It's a small town of 500 or so people. There is a gas station with snacks, pizza, etc we're pretty sure we could convince to stay open late, two bars for those of you that can drink responsibly, and we'll keep our shop open as sort of a headquarters for bench racing, wrenching, tuning help and just a general hang out. We're not looking to start a rowdy drunken party, and definitely not condoning illegal activity, but it is a quiet laid back place to hang out where you won't get harrased by the police (because you seldom ever see one) for loud pipes and having a little fun with your hot rod. We're looking for something totally informal. No sign up, entry fees, goodie bags, PA system or any of that stuff. Just hanging out, meeting new people, yada yada. We're thinking amongst our own circles we'll probably be able to get 20 or so guys to come down and get this started but it would be cool to see some new faces. This won't be 100% traditional rods and it's not intended to be a promotional deal for our shop. We just think we could get something pretty cool going here. We're roughly 20 miles from Decatur and 30 from Springfield. If it works we'll probably try to do this once a month or so in the summer. So, anybody game or is this a dumb idea?

 

I'm in just live a little east of you!

 

You'd really make the trek from Indiana? I guess we'd really owe you a good time. Thanks for the reply and I'll give you a call later.

 

Talk to the merchants in the area you want to cruise..get them on board, make some flyers...Go cruisin'

 

Not many vendors to ask. Our main drag consists of a gas station, two bars, and my machine shop. No red tape whatsoever. Pretty easy deal to pull off.

 

I'll see who I can get around here mine will come on the trailer!! lol later b.

 

Go for it!

 

Awesome idea! Wish I was closer. Around here a "cruise in" means parking in a lot, raising the hood, sitting your collection of cheap plastic trophies around your car, park in a folding chair for 3 hours listening to the same lame DJ laughing at his own jokes each time. We reached a new "low" a couple of weeks ago when the owner of a first-gen Camaro (red, of course) brought mirrors to show the underside of his car! Oh, and did I mention the requisite array of 2010 Camaro, Challenger, Mustang and Corvettes that seem to arrive early to "power park"....WTF is that about? Imagine a "cruise" where you actually hear the engines and see the cars in motion.....needs to be a name for that......how about "cruise"! Seriously, I wish you good luck and great success. Keep us posted about how it turns out. If it works, maybe we can get the same concept tried in other areas!

Jim

 

What town are we talking about?

 

Where in Central Il. are you? I am in Heyworth. Me and my 65 Chevy II will be there.

 

hey,Greg looks like it's taking off!!!!

 

Mount Auburn, IL

This should be happening all over the country. Nobody has to pay and nobody trying to make a buck. No judges. No dash plaques. Just get out and have some fun with your ride. Bring some life back to these small towns.

 

I'm from Decatur and I would be interested. Might be able to get a couple guys from work to join in. Work in Sullivan and my buddy/coworker I'm sure would be very interested.

Only bad thing is that we work nights.

 

Looking at June 26th for the first one. No official start or stop time. Remember it's not really an "event". We're just trying to get some real cruising going. Hope your work schedule let's you make it. Thanks for the interest.

 

June 26th... Mt Auburn Il... Late after noon till?????? Lets line the sides of the main drag with cool car and middle with cruising. But defiantly no burn outs or racing on the close by country roads where no one would hear or care if you did burn outs or racing. This otta be goooood!

 

Way to go guys, sounds awesome. I'll be down in Springfield over the 4th may be I can check your shop. Is anything going on around there over the 4th?

 

EXACTLY!! Something I'm looking forward to doing is just taking a small caravan of cars to whatever small town hangout we choose that day and just arriving together without any notice what so ever. Blow their minds, eat my burger and boogie my little fat ass on down the road lol!

 

I saw a topic like this on another forum I frequent. Do like bikers do. Pick a weekend, pick a town, cruise to it and party. No corporate sponsors, no 50$ entry fees. Just make a run with buddy's and have a good time. Hope to see some new faces In Mt Auburn on the 26th,

 

June 26th is set. Should be some good fun. Anybody with questions can call me at 217-827-3094.

 

Takin this back to the top, seeing if its still a go?

 

We cruise here every Friday night here in Dewey Okla., no rules, no membership, no dues, just friends...

 

Its still on. Be there or be square!

 

We used to do it years back now all they want to do is sit at, one of the "cruz nites" I got bitched at cause I kept doin laps the masses were yellin park it.....shit I cruzed out I,m cruzer not a squater, they call em cruz nites and everybody just sits and it a big deal to squat, oh well your idea is cool do it ,you will be surprised, I have always said its not about the destination.......it the trip there, go for it good luck it will be cool.....you can count on it!

 

Thanks to everyone that came out. Went off pretty well. A dozen or so rides. Mostly traditional stuff. A couple lowered S-10s. One ricer. Some hot girls. Everyone hung out till about 11:30 and got along real well. Cooked some burgers and dogs. A few burnouts in front of the shop. One dude dragging frame and making sparks in his bagged S-10. Even had a Mercedes making smoke in front of the shop. That was a first. Not as much excitement as we were looking for cause nobody brought anything fast to the party but us (except for Heath and the Old Man going at it with the GTO and Heaths old motorcycle). NEXT TIME BRING SOME MUSCLE PEOPLE!!! Hoping to do it again in July. It's got potential. Just for clarification you are welcome to bring your own cooler. Thanks to everyone who was drinking for staying cool and not getting obnoxious. I'm looking for feedback about how to make this more interesting and we're considering hanging out at the gas station down the street next time. They put out an awning for cruisers and stayed open late but we weren't able to steer much traffic their way this time. More parking space and a nicer, wider bit of street down there on the edge of town anyway. Even if we do headquarter down there the shop will still be open if anybody needs to uncork some headers, bolt up some slicks, do some tuning, etc wink wink. I'll post the next date as soon as we decide on it. What's everybody think about July 23rd maybe, the night before Fat Hill?

 

Had a good time and got to meet some good people.

I think hanging out at the gas station would be good. I'll see if I can get a few guys to head over with me next time.

 

I was out of town for this one but we're always looking for something to do in our non hamber classic. can we start a group or mailing list?

 

I never understood the whole cruise night concept it should be called an outdoor car show.

So, I probably won't make it but you have a place to run the gut, a drive-in to pick up chicks and or races not necessarily in that order and a quarter marked out somewhere close to hold said uncondoned racing?

That's what "cruising " was when I was a kid.

Sounds to me like you just really want to have a hangout with your buddies, we call it garage night here. There's alway cheap beer in the fridge and if you don't make it on garage nite the beer will probably still be there and so will whoever's house you show up at.

Thanks for the invite.

 

My advice is to not get to " orginized " thats the quickest way to kill a good time. Keep doing what your doing and set a specific day like the first Monday or the first Friday of every month, something thats easy to remember. Our town does it at the Dairy Queen every Monday night. It started out just 3 guys that met up there and we just kept it going. Now the guy that owns the DQ hands out free ice cream coupons and plays music outside, has raffles and it's a really good time. The first one this year we had about 40 cars. Good luck and keep it going.

 

my car wont be done........... but im in!!

 

I'm in the same boat!...and I couldn't agree more! Good luck with this deal.