SCC Cruises For the Cure!

Written By: Deuce

Costa Mesa- Sixteen SoCal Challenger members and one guest attended the” Cruisin’ For a Cure” Car Show in Costa Mesa on September 26^th. Billed as the nation’s largest one day charity car show, somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 hot rods, classics, modern autos, and specialty vehicles attended. SCC partnered with SoCal LX to show a strong modern Mopar presence at the event. Proceeds from this show went to the City of Hope and their search for a cure for prostate cancer.

Dave had arranged for us to meet at SoCal LX’s meeting spot to roll into the show with their group. We met at 4:00 to 4:15 a.m. They had attended this event as a group before, so we took their experience and their lead for this event as it was new for us. The fog was heavy, and pretty much everyone was in zombie mode at that hour. Chris’ kids were sacked out, as well as Kevin’s wife. It was early, early, early. We had a guest show up at the meeting spot that we had talked to online but had never met. Joe, who was from Massachusetts, had moved out to California just three weeks before. It was great to finally meet him and his Hemi Orange R/T. After a pow-wow with SoCal LX, we left the Best Buy parking lot and rolled to the show shortly after 4:30 a.m.

Upon arriving at the OC Fairgrounds we were promptly split up into several lanes for entry. It didn’t matter that we came as a group and were going to park as one. We got split up and would have to re-form once we got in. I was talking to a volunteer while we were waiting to go in and even she thought that was dumb. I second that opinion. Being the last car in of our group driving Ryan’s Charger, I was two lanes over from most of the group. As we came in we made our way to the rear lot where we had our own area next to SoCal LX. A sign said,”Challengers, Chargers, and Corvettes” with an arrow to the right at one point. I started to turn right there and was yelled at by a parking volunteer not to turn there. He responded that “I would cause a traffic jam turning there so go to the end and double back”. Silly me for following those signs. Can you tell my frustration with the organization of this event so far?  The German in me was coming out big time. We did our double-back and parked with everyone else eventually and everything was good.

This car show opened to the public at 7:00 a.m. We had a couple of hours to kill before the peeps eyes would be on our rides. We couldn’t really clean anything, because the fog was wet enough to promptly ruin what you had just cleaned. I ventured inside to the vendor area to help Ryan setup his booth. Stack Performance has been a huge supporter of SCC. They had a booth at this event with three cars, one being my Challenger. I helped  Aaron, Tim, Ryan, and his fiance’ Cheryl set up their booth. The vendor building hadn’t turned on their air conditioning yet and it was humid as could be and hot. We knocked out Ryan’s booth quickly and could now enjoy the show as it unfolded.

As the show opened, cars were still pouring in to park. Thousands of them. I don’t know what the final tally was, but they were at 2,700 or so cars signed up a few days before the show. I think they all showed. I’ve been to this show as a spectator before so I knew what to expect as far as the enormity of it all. The unique part of this show is the “Cruise” portion. You can leave your parking spot and “Cruise” your car around a pre-set route that goes throughout the whole show. I know Dan took advantage of this and loved it. If my car wasn’t at a vendor booth, I’d have done it too. Cars were constantly “Cruising” around this show. It’s a very unique feature. I ran back and forth between the Stack Performance booth and where our cars were parked. I think if I would have worn a pedometer I would have seen plenty of miles racked up going back and forth. It was great to see all the members that were there, some we hadn’t seen in a while. Jon”Milk Carton” S., Robert H, as well as Bill and Macy were there and had been sorely missed. It was Kevin’s birthday as well and I gave him an old magazine ad of a Challenger  R/T that was mounted and ready to hang. You just can’t have enough Challenger memorabilia. I think everyone had a good time. This show goes from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. That plus us meeting at 4 a.m. made us toast by the end of the day. I had suggested a group dinner afterwards but everyone just wanted to get home. I understood that completely. Some of the members took advantage of the free prostate cancer screening as well which can now be done by simple blood draw.

I’d like to thank Dave and Socal LX for arranging the meeting place. I’d also like to thank Ryan and the crew at Stack Performance for their support of us. And Kevin, thanks for spending the better part of your birthday with your SoCal brothers and sisters. We are honored to spend it with you and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did….