SoCal Challengers

San Juan Capistrano- February 13^th, 2010, marked the 7^th annual CARe Car Show benefitting the Capistrano Animal Rescue Effort. Everything on four wheel and four legs was invited to the Capistrano Sports Park for a day of cars, animals, food, and music. The show, originally scheduled for February 6^th, was moved to the next weekend due to rain. Breakfast and lunch was provided by Ruby’s Diner. Ruby herself was there signing autographs. Several bands played oldies and classic rock throughout the day and the CARe organization raffled off several items to show-goers including a new bicycle and a trip for two to a resort in Carlsbad, Ca.

I remembered as I sat in the Starbuck’s parking lot how last year’s CARe Car Show was our first car show as SCC. I was wondering who was going to show up that day in 2009. I remember that Armen was the first to show that day and it went from there. We ended up with eleven cars at that show in 2009; this time we’d have more. I knew a couple of members had to bow out when the show was postponed due to rain but we also picked up a couple of attendees because of the reschedule as well.  James showed up first and we began trying to flag down cars as they drove past the street they were supposed to turn on. We stood there waving flashlights like we were guiding in planes at John Wayne. For the most part, we weren’t seen and those cars had to go around the block. We had a great laugh about it as most people simply looked straight ahead and kept on going. Isreal and Vern came for the first time as members. They had joined at our annual meeting. Larry, (RavenX) showed up in his black R/T. It was nice to finally put a face to the ChallengerTalk screen name. It was also Rick J’s birthday. I was honored that he chose to spend part of it with us. After the morning meeting, it was time to go into the show.

As I pulled the group down Alipaz Street, I was surprised at the turnout at that time in the morning. We pulled up in line a good three or four hundred yards closer than the year before. Evidently, the reschedule had lost a good portion of the cars that had signed up to attend the week before. I was happy that we still had a good sized group to bring in. As I pulled the group onto the field, I notified the volunteer that we had seventeen cars coming in as a group. He asked me, ”Are you all together, here, right now?”. I turned my head back towards the line of Challengers behind me and said, ”Umm, yes, we are all here…Look behind me”. He looked up and his eyes got real big. Then he started barking at other volunteers to start making space for us. That reaction is always a kick for me; pulling in with a large group and seeing the persons face as they see all of us lined up to come in. Jim, who we have seen before at shows with his convertible Challenger, showed up and parked with us too. We were parked really quickly and began getting ready for the show.

The show had a good variety of cars to view, one being a drag-prepared Dodge Dart that was parked just in front of us. There was an original Hemi-Orange Challenger parked the row in front of the Dart that was immaculate. I gave him the “I’m not worthy” bow as I walked by it. I had to pay respect to my Challenger elders. The owner got a laugh out of that. There were several car awards given out by the CARe organization but the classes were all for older models. We didn’t win any trophies that day. If there was a group participation trophy, we would have taken that one easily. No car club there had the turnout that we did.  It was great as always to hang out with my fellow members, get to know new ones, and look forward to our future events in 2010. No matter what we win as bling or not, we always have that fellowship; always.

I’d like to thank CARe for inviting us and allowing us to contribute to their great cause. I’d also like to thank our members for shuffling their schedules and turning out in great numbers for this show. We impressed everyone there with our turnout. Keep it up!!!!

Anaheim – Jan. 24^th  , 2010, marked the date of SoCal Challengers’ first annual meeting. The car group, which formed in January of 2009, now includes more than fifty members spread out over six counties. The meeting facility was hosted by Stack Performance of Anaheim, Ca. and lunch was provided by In & Out Burger. Members spent the morning in meetings discussing the past year’s events, 2010 events, and financial matters. Awards were given to many members for making a contribution to the group that was exemplary. Once the meetings were concluded and lunch was served, Stack Performance hosted a dyno day and crazy hat contest for SoCal Challengers members.

The annual meeting had struck me quite profoundly when I started my preparation for it some months before. The group was a year old. I started having flashbacks to that first Cars and Coffee eleven of us met at on Dec. 27^th, 2008. We were a group of guys piddling around on ChallengerTalk. I was just about to get my car so I signed on there to see what other Challenger owners were doing in my area. A group was talking about getting together, and talking, and talking. I proposed going to Cars and Coffee in Irvine. That seemed good to everyone so I found a meeting place and the rest was history. When we met that day, I had only taken possession of my car five days before. We had a great time and soon after SCC was born. It got me to realize how far we had come. We were now almost five times larger. We are now a Non-Profit Organization. We have logos and uniforms. AND, people know who we are almost everywhere we go. People are asking US to show up at their events. What cigarette ad said it best, ”You’ve come a long way baby”. We certainly had.

When I saw the 2009 at a glance document that Heather had created I didn’t realize we had done twenty-seven events over the course of 2009. No wonder I was tired. Also, I hadn’t realized all the awards we had won not only as a group, but as individuals. We did extremely well. I know that means too that we will have to bring it bigger in 2010. People know we can bring it now and we won’t be surprising anyone this year.  I think we will rise to the occasion and have just as much success as we did in 2009.

After covering 2009, I began discussing 2010 and our tentative schedule. I had Klaus Kindor speak about track days for SCC and he was received warmly by the group. Klaus tells it like it is, and I could tell the group appreciated it. We also discussed a calendar and other events as well. All in all, more shows, more track days, more cruises, and some new events to make 2010 an exciting year to be an SCC member.

The financials and NPO were discussed by Jeff G. We wanted to convey to the members our transparency, accountability, and the reasons why we had made the decisions we had made. I think Jeff did a great job of doing that. I followed up with the liability issues involved in our decision to become a non-profit organization. I think membership now clearly understands why this was necessary.

After some housekeeping issues it was time to hand out awards to our members. Dave, Jeff, Heather, and I had wanted to acknowledge several members for their outstanding contributions to SCC over the year.  We decided to create categories for all of the members we had wanted to recognize. The categories included attendance, vendor support, event planning, and an award for best family participation. It was a great feeling handing those out and hearing the applause from the membership. They obviously felt the same way we did. They were all deserving.

After stuffing ourselves with In & Out Burger for lunch, Stack Performance took over and started their dyno day. Many members for the first time got to hear their car at speed from the OUTSIDE. It was for many an exciting new experience. Car after car went up the ramp and let it fly. Awards were given for blower-equipped vehicles and normally aspirated vehicles. And finally, James won for the craziest hat.

It was a fantastic day for everyone. I’d like to thank my fellow officers for their hard work in 2009. I’m blessed to be surrounded by great people in my leadership team. Most of all I’d like to thank our members for which we wouldn’t have a group without. If it wasn’t for your love of the Challenger, and your desire to become something bigger than yourselves that can accomplish things much greater than yourself, we would not exist. Thank you…

West Coast Customs had their first Christmas car show & Toy Drive benefiting Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital on December 19th 2009. It was a nice cold morning, members met in the ITT institute parking lot @ 6:30, Rick and Fred of course were there by 5:30 as they always love to be the first car there every time. As a club we were cars # 4 – 15 to register for the show! Eleven Challengers and one guest Charger, Nick from BFXenon. It was a really slow start in the morning as most of the cars didn’t show up until 9am which was when the show started. For some of us who were at the Bad Boy Meets Big Boy event we were able to see the detonator yellow SMS Challenger for the second time in two days, which was parked next to us as well. Most of us still can not get over the $98,000.00 price tag when u can buy one for less and make it faster and better then the customized supercharged Challenger.

G1 was nice enough to bring doughnuts, milk and OJ. We had a surprise visit from Diceman which was very nice to see him. We also had an unexpected surprise when Andrea and John showed up with bagels, cream cheese, & croissants!! They were on there way to Oklahoma for the holidays and decided to drop by and bring us some goodies. That was so
very thoughtful and sweet of them & we all appreciated it very much. Most of us got to see Andrea’s car for the fist time, it was beautiful!

West Coast Customs had a raffle & the SCC made out like bandits!! James bought six ticket and won five things! Other members as well were multiple winners like Joe Mcglaughlin, and a few others. They had one heck of a time pronouncing Joe’s last name which we all found
quite amusing.

We took home first place trophy for club participation, which I was so overly excited about I wouldn’t let it out of my hands for more than two seconds… All and all it was a good turn out. West Coast Customs was very happy to have us as we were one of the only clubs who said we would be there and actually followed through. A lot of the club members were looking forward to meeting the owner of West Coast Customs who never showed unfortunately. We even made a special trip to The West Coast Customs shop because we were told he was there and then when we got there supposedly he had just left to go to the car show, after it had already ended. A few of us also had a fun time going and getting my tire patched after we found the third screw that same week in one of my tires… I wish I didn’t have to pay for something that Bill could have fixed in five minutes, but now we know we need a plug kit in the car. You live and you learn.

I am so glad we had such a great turn out with only two weeks notice! We all had a really great time and I believe all of us would love to do this show again next year.

Burbank – Dodge corporate hosted the Dodge Challenger event entitled, ”Bad Boy meets Big Boy” at the famous Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, Ca. on December 18^th, 2009. The event, which featured Dodge special edition and new colored Challengers as well as custom Challengers, drew thousands of  Mopar enthusiasts. SOCAL Challengers attended by personal request from Dodge and brought seventeen members to help fill the parking lot. SMS attended with two of their specialty Challengers and Hurst brought one of their specialty Challengers as well. The centerpiece of the event was a widebody Challenger project car that was driven in by Jay Leno. The event was covered by AutoWeek and the local press.

This event was a big secret to SCC Members up until the last minute. I was originally forwarded an email from Mark Mallie, Head of Product Marketing in Auburn Hills, Michigan about 10 days before the event was to take place. All it said was that they were having a special Dodge Challenger event in the Southern California area on December 18^th, and they would like us there. No times listed, no places. No itinerary of what was happening at the event itself. I posted it on our forum and the questions began pouring in. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really say much about it because I didn’t know anything to tell them. Dodge stated they would release the event info 24-48 hrs. beforehand. A lot of members didn’t know whether to take off the whole day or half a day. Some passed on this event completely because they needed to know far in advance to plan accordingly. Fortunately, between Dave and I digging around and one of our members being told information they shouldn’t have been told, we found out where and when. The mad scramble began. We wanted to show up in dramatic fashion with as many members as possible. Dave and I set up two meeting places as well as having Rick go straight to Bob’s early and give us an advance scouting report.

We arrived at Bob’s at 1:30 p.m. and found the parking scarce at best. My plans to get there early so we could all park together went out the window. Even though the event didn’t officially start until 5p.m., parking was scarce. The first six or seven of us had spaces together. After that it was Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Hunting, stalking, slaughter, and mayhem trying to find spaces. All calmly narrated by a few of us SCC Members running around like flamingos. I was surprised at the rudeness and attitude of the regular Bob’s show folk. Umm, gee I’m sorry we ruined your 45^th appearance here this year by taking a front spot in the parking lot Mr. “I come here every week in my POS”. You can bring your Pinto wagon and your two-wheeled dookie mobile and have your precious space back next week. Its interesting too that only our female members got popped off to. Brave and manly men those guys are.

After the spaces were ironed out and we all parked as best we could, it was show and shine time. We had plenty of time to kill before the event. Or so we thought. Dodge and AutoWeek were already there. AutoWeek immediately began asking us to do video spots where we talked briefly about our cars to the camera for 60 seconds or so. I then was asked to do a longer video interview with Dutch Mandel of AutoWeek about my experience owning a Dodge Challenger. Dutch was a very cool guy and made the interview process fairly painless. I threw out a shout to Ryan of Stack Performance as well, as he deserves so much credit for making our cars what they are.

At around 6pm Jay Leno pulled into the parking lot in a flat gold wide-body Challenger. Topo and the guy from the “King of Cars” show designed and built the car. Jay had issues backing up the car into his reserved space. Rick and Fred took over and backed Jay into the spot perfectly. Fred has done that so many times he could do a class and offer CE credit for getting cars placed perfectly. Jay posed with lots of people for photos, many of whom were our members. He signed Chris’s car and autographed Bill’s magazine that he was pictured in. Dave got Jay over to our cars and presented him with one of our t-shirts and Heather and I gave him SOCAL Challenger stickers for his and his friend’s car. The hooks are in Jay, you’re going with us sooner or later. Jay is a super nice guy and a true car lover. It’s a pleasure to be around a celebrity that isn’t a complete tool. I’ve met so many celebrities that I’d care not to ever be around again. Not Jay Leno. He’s a class act.

As the night drew later many people checked out and photographed our cars. A lot of people really enjoyed the Custom Challengers that SMS and Hurst brought as well. Jon Dawson of SMS is a super nice guy and it was great to finally meet him in person. Mark and Eric from Dodge corporate stayed the entire time and that really impressed me. Most corporate types do the “15 minutes and now Elvis has left the building” routine. Both of them were great to talk to and we look forward to working with them in the future.  We were there so long we had lunch and dinner there. It ended up being a long day but so worth it for all of us.

I’d like to thank Jon for alerting me to this event in the first place. I’d also like to thank Dodge corporate for inviting us to be a part of their special event. We hope we represented the Dodge Challenger in the way it should be, with power and passion.  And finally, thank you to all the SCC Members who made great efforts and sacrifice to be there and represent SCC and the Dodge Challenger to those who brought us the car in the first place. We will carry that honor for years to come…

Here is a video that Dave (RedDog) put together of the Engine Block Party event at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank. Thanks to Jon Sibal and David S. for the great pictures.

Yorba Linda – Twelve SCC Members attended the John Force Car Show at the John Force Race Station in Yorba Linda, California on December 6th, 2009. The show partnered with the CHiPS for Kids charity which provides toys for children during the  Christmas holidays. A total of 950 car entries were lined up in and around the surrounding streets of John Force’s Race Station. A donation of fifteen children’s bicycles was given by SCC Members to the CHiPS for Kids charity.

As 6:30 a.m. shown on the car’s clock, I pulled into the parking lot at Allied Signal Corporation to find Kevin waiting there already. It’s been something that has made me smirk all year; having someone be earlier than I when we have met for a car event. Usually I’m earlier than anyone by a long shot. Kevin drives in from really far away as well. He is the Challenger driver that never sleeps, the owl of SCC. Soon after I arrived other members began pulling into the lot and lining up in adjacent spaces. As these members began pulling in I kept watching the time as I was anxious to get our members into the show. I was also freezing my butt off so that gave me extra vigilance. It was cold, damn cold. The forecast was that a storm was coming in later that day. At that moment it was fairly clear and cold, but the wind was picking up and clouds were way off in the horizon. Go time was 7:30 a.m. We were still missing a few people, but it was time to go. We had an appearance to make! I promptly drove my car over the edge of a concrete island on my way out of the parking lot. I guess it just wasn’t too early for me to make an ass out of myself. Was I channeling Mickey Thompson? Luckily there was no damage done and I had gotten the “making an ass of myself” part of the day over with.

As I turned the group into the Kaiser Permanente parking lot where we were to be pre-staged, A volunteer got on his walkie-talkie and stated, ”Ron, we just had a whole lot of Challengers pull in” ”A whole lot of ‘em”. Pulling into car shows in formation makes such an impact on people. It’s a very powerful visual. It’s why we do it. It makes a definite impression. The gal at the check-in line thanked me for having our group already have their placards taped to their windshields. She said it made her job a lot easier and we got waved in much faster. We were able to park very close to the Race Station where it ended up being a great spot for people to see our cars. We were right at the intersection of the two busiest streets. Once we were parked, we shined ‘em up and got ready for showtime. The best part was yet to come.

Richard had been at this show in year’s past and had given children’s bicycles to the CHiPS for Kids charity. It’s something the charity has a real need for, but gets very few of. Of course they are grateful for all the toys they receive, but they have a high demand for bicycles. Richard had proposed that we all try to bring a children’s bicycle to the event to donate. Of course we all brought one. Some of us brought two for good measure. He also proposed that we make a group presentation to the charity. Great idea. About 10:15 or so, we all lined up with our bikes, took a few photos, and headed up to the booth. I had Richard lead us up there. This was his baby. It was only right that he would lead us up there. As we started walking up there people starting making comments. “Look at all the bikes!”, “How cool of you guys to do that!” People started clapping. That feeling, I tell you, was better than any pile of trophies we’ve ever gotten or will get. Richard had the speech down, ”On behalf of SOCAL Challengers we’ve brought fifteen bikes for you today”. They were floored. They had no bikes donated whatsoever until we got there. They didn’t have any more bikes donated after us either. John Force thanked us in his speech at the awards ceremony. His wife also thanked us at the end of the show. It was an amazing moment I will never forget. Although we received no material awards that day, we all took a gift home from that show…All of us.

People clamored over our cars throughout the day. It was probably the largest crowds we’d ever seen at a show, even more than Cruisin’ for a Cure. Just a sea of people….All day long. It took our minds off the bitter cold and wind. The rain missed us that day. Try again Mr. rain man, try again.

I want to thank John Force Racing for putting on by far the most well-run show we’ve been at this year. This is an invitation-only show and we’re glad you invited us. I also wanted to thank Richard for the bike and group presentation idea. That was an incredible experience. Next year, more cars……and more bikes!!!

Written by: GregTheUPSMan

With November being a fairly “quiet” month with the SCC, the City of La Verne held a car show, and toy drive, on Nov 28th. I proposed this show, as a last minute event, which was optional for SCC members to attend. Being on a holiday weekend, I was quite surprised that we had as many Challengers as we did.

Art, Joe, Howard, Chris & family, and myself, represented the SCC at the show. We also had guests, Pete and Beth that wanted to roll with us in their Red ’68 Charger.

All of us met at the Applebee’s, in San Dimas, at 6 am. We had a 30 minute briefing, and began our single file drive to the show’s entrance. We had pre-assigned numerical parking places for the show, so it only made sense to arrive in numerical order. As we arrived at our parking area, we noticed a Black BMW 5-series illegally parked in our assigned section. The BMW ended up splitting between Art’s space and the “68 Charger’s space. The area was clearly marked, “tow away” but the show staff didn’t make any effort to have the car removed. We were able to park around the BMW, but it definitely disturbed the appeal of our lineup.

Once parked, we began to touch up our Challenger’s even with a 50% chance of rain in the forecast. The show area began to fill up with other show participants. There were a lot of old Camaro’s, Chevelle’s, ’55-57 Bel-Air’s, Nomads, classics, and all kinds of hot rods. It didn’t take long for the pedestrian traffic to find their way to our Challenger’s. Massive groups of spectators smothered our Challenger’s all day long. Folks were even hitting up on Chris to fire up his supercharger, which is always cool! In all modesty, we all were liking our chances of at least one of us winning something by the days’ end.

About 2:30, they announced that the trophy presentation was about to begin. Everyone congregated to the presentation area, and that’s when we noticed a lot of guys wearing identical jackets. They were all wearing “Team jackets” with the name, “Cal Rods of the San Gabriel Valley.” I couldn’t even begin to guess on how many of them were there. I knew at that point that any chance of winning something had just dwindled, because the voting was predominately participant’s choice. The actual presentation took place under the “Cal Rod” E-Z up.

We would like to congratulate the Cal Rod members that took home about 90% of the trophies that day. On a side note, Beth won $175 in cash on a winning raffle! Once the award presentation was over, we went to our Challenger’s, said our good-byes, and went our separate ways. It was a good day and we all had fun.

Written By: 1HotRod

Temecula – It was a beautiful November day, and a perfect day for a cruise.  The day, Sunday 22 November 2009, a dozen Challengers from across Southern California convened in Old Town Temecula to participate in a cruise to the small mountain community of Julian in San Diego County.  The goal for many was to purchase some renowned Julian Apple Pies for Thanksgiving.  The route was a simple but scenic one, State Route (SR) 79 through Warner Springs to SR 78 at Santa Ysabel and on into Julian.  The route back took a turn at SR 76 that led us through Pauma Valley to Pala Road then back into Temecula.  The weather, road conditions, and traffic were ideal for a cruise.

It was October 23rd when G1 submitted a post to the forum that SCC had no events planned for November, and I took a hard look at my calendar and selected November 22^nd for a cruise to Julian.  This was the first day after the end of the club soccer season, and a week before the high school soccer season began.  I assumed from the beginning that I would be lucky to get a handful of cars to make the cruise. 

On Nov 1^st I  pre-ran the route with Pentastar (G2) to scout out the route and plan the itinerary.  When we got to Julian, we noticed that parking was going to be an issue, especially if SCC wanted to park together.  We checked out several of the lots in town, and settled on the largest parking lot in Julian.  Even though it was a gravel lot, it was our best option.   With info from the pre-run in hand I finalized the route and itinerary. 

A week before the cruise it looked like my assumption of a handful of cars was going to be correct.  However, during the final days before the cruise several people signed up.  On the morning of the cruise there were 11 people confirmed.  I expected the local guys (G2, HemiLvr, SparkChicken, and ChuckR) would come out for this one, but he never expected guys from as far away as Thousand Oaks and Glendale to show up – Woo Hoo!!!  G2 couldn’t make it that day due to prior commitments in Las Vegas.

Cruise day started with some freshly brewed coffee from Starbucks in Old Town Temecula where we all met.  Old Town Temecula, with its Early California architecture, is home to the annual Spring & Fall Old Town Temecula Car Shows formerly known as the Temecula Rod Run.  In its hay-day they were pulling in over 1000 pre-1973 cars, trucks and motorcycles.  I will be petitioning the event coordinator for acceptance of the “New” Challenger at next year’s events if anyone is interested.

Upon arriving in Old Town, I was met by REDDOG, SparkChicken and SRT4RJ.  G1 rolled in right behind me.  By 8:40 there were 11 Challengers lined up on Front Street.  I checked my list of participants and found that JamesW in his B5B RT did not sign up – he drove in from Thousand Oaks.  We were waiting for Challenger #12, Furious.  He rolled in around 8:50.  At that point, we had 12 cars – 5 HO, 3 BSM, 1 TR, 1 SW, 1 BB, and 1 B5B.  The HOs won for most popular color.  The plan was to roll off at 9:00, but a valuable lesson was learned this day, these guys love to talk.  The group finally rolled off about 9:15. 

The first 5 miles through South Temecula were the toughest, with no less than 15 traffic signals.  Leading the pack, I kept the speed down, and used two-way radios to communicate with the middle (G1) and rear (REDDOG) cars to maintain the group’s integrity as we negotiated the traffic signals.  Just beyond Temecula, SR 79 turns into a twisty two-lane road that climbs through the valley north of Palomar Mountain.  Knowing this route is typically heavily patrolled by CHP and San Diego Sheriff Deputies, I set the cruise control at the posted speed limit. 

Our first stop was at Sunshine Summit General Store.  We had our 12 Challengers lined up side by side for a great photo op.  We were there a little longer than anticipated which seemed to be the theme for the day.  Did I mention these guys love to talk?  We lined them up once again and continued our drive through Warner Springs, and past Lake Henshaw.  This is where we saw the only CHP this day.  He was alone on the left shoulder with his bubbles flashing.  With the cruise control set at 55, we were not breaking any obvious laws, and we did not invite him to come harass us.

Our next stop was the Inaja Memorial Park.  This is a small park along SR 78 just east of Santa Ysabel.  There were just enough parking spots left for our 12 Challengers.  From there we proceeded to our destination in Julian.   I pulled into the St. Elizabeth’s parking lot, where the attendants were expecting us, and told me to park wherever we wanted.  The lot had plenty of space, with parallel parking spaces available.  These are the best; you don’t have to worry about door dings. 

It was high noon already.  Figuring enough time to grab some lunch, pie, and do some shopping, we agreed to meet back at the cars at 1:30.   First stop for several of us was the Julian Café.  I put several names on the wait list to ensure the group all got in to eat. 

After walking around the town and visiting a few shops, several members met back at the café.  I was the next on the list to be seated.  I got a table for 6, and invited Furious and his wife to join me along with G1 and Brenda.   DutchChallenger, REDDOG, SparkChicken and his clan, and the RJ’s eventually all got seated and ate lunch. After lunch, we walked down to the Julian Pie, Co. to buy apple pies for Thanksgiving Day.

On our ride out of town, we drove down Main St. Julian to showcase our cars.   As my wife Kelly said to their daughter later that evening “If you think we get a lot of looks when there is one Challenger, just imagine the looks we got with 12 Challengers.” 

Since we had spent more time in Julian than anticipated, I made the decision to forego the stops on the route back to Temecula.  The route down SR 76 is a little more twisty than SR 79, and the drive through Pauma Valley and Pala is a pleasant one.  We arrived back in Old Town Temecula around 4:00, took a few end-of-day pictures, and said our goodbyes. 

This is the first event that I had organized for the club.  When I to do this again next year, I will plan it ahead of time so more of the SCC members can get this on their calendars.  I would also like to do this as a charity event, either to support the local food bank, or the USMC Toys for Tots or both.

The food was good, the conversation was better, the company was best, and the scenery was breathtaking during this cruise – especially the view in my rearview mirror of 11 Challengers snaking through the turns behind me.

I want to thank everyone who participated – without you this cruise is just another Sunday drive.  Special thanks to G2, G1, and REDDOG.  G2, thank you for doing the pre-run with me.  Without the pre-run, the cruise would not have gone off as well.  G1, thank you for being my sanity check, and for your notes from the cruise.  As you can see I put them to good use.  REDDOG, thank you for being my tail gunner, and not letting any lChallengers stray from the pack.  And thanks again to all the participants for coming out and enjoying the day with Kelly and I.   We will do it again next year.

The member participants were 1HotRod [aka:G3], GregTheUPSMan [aka: G1],  REDDOG, DutchChallenger, SparkChicken, HemiLvr, ChuckR, and SRT4RJ.  Guest participants were Furious, SpeedKing, JamesW, and MrJay_RT.  Of the 12 participants 8 had their significant other with them, and 2 had friends.  I like seeing the wives, girlfriends, and kids participating.

Los Angeles- Fifteen members of SoCalChallengers attended the 14^th annual “Cops for Tots” car show which was held at the old Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park on October 25^th, 2009. SoCal Challengers swept the “Challenger Class” at the show and also took home trophies in the “Daily Driver”, “Special Interest”, and “Group Participation” categories. The “Cops for Tots” show raises money for selected children’s charities in the greater Los Angeles area. Over 500 cars filled the entire police academy parking lot as well as the surrounding Academy Road that runs between the police academy and Dodger Stadium.

I pulled into Dave’s shops’ parking lot at a quarter to six that morning. It was dark, it was foggy. I was excited as this show we had been looking forward to for some time. We had our own class for our cars, (Which has only happened at one other show this year), and there was a group participation trophy to be had as well. I thought we had a good shot at getting that group trophy with our projected turnout of fifteen cars. Several members were already there when I arrived. Bill and Macy, Joe, and Rick were good to go. James, Dan, and G1 were there soon after. Then G2, Kevin, Jim, Chris, and the rest rolled in. We were excited to meet Joe M, who had come from the inland empire to roll in with us. His Inferno Red R/T was nice to see as we don’t have that color in our group yet. Jeff had been nice enough to give him his pass for the show as he was unable to attend. We were waiting for Brendon from San Diego, but needed to go as the staff at the show wanted us at the gate at 6:30 a.m.

As we pulled up to the show we passed a long line of entrants cars and were put into a side staging area in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. Then we got a lesson in waiting. Although we were asked to be there at 6:30, we were still in that staging area waiting to be placed at 8:00 a.m. We hung out in that area, talking and such….dee ..de….dee. It seemed like forever. We learned of James’ hatred of spiders. We also picked up another Challenger driven by Chuck and his wife. They accepted our invitation to park with us. Most of our wives and kids went back to sleep in their respective cars. Right about 8:00 a.m. a golf cart came over and said they were ready for us to come in. We were taken past the rest of the cars in line and were placed on two adjacent roads, not together like we were promised. I remember Rick coming back to my car while we were in line and letting me know they were doing that. He wasn’t happy about it. Neither was I. It ended up working out as we set up our ez up on the corner in between the two groups and also the “Challenge Her” dragster of Richard’s. It also gave us a gap to place Brendon as he showed up later in the morning.

After we were placed and got our cars cleaned up, Dave and I went to the Judge’s tent to get our briefing. We were judging the modern LX cars other than Challengers. Two SoCal LX members (Mighty Noid and SRT John) were judging the Challenger Class. As we got our judging sheets and were explained the process we were supposed to follow, I noticed that Dave and I were given a bunch of old Mopar cars to judge as well. That was fine by me, the fun part was finding them. They were all over the show as they did not put the same make of cars together. I had one sheet that said “’34 Dodge”. That’s all. No area where it was, no license plate, color, nothing. I never found that one. The organizer in the judges tent told me, ”If you have a sheet, then it’s here”. I responded, ”Well, you better show me where it is then ‘cause I can’t find it.” Freekin’ 500+ cars and I have to find a ’34 Dodge somewhere. There were some beautiful cars though Dave and I got to judge. The Blue Road Runner was stunning. There was a great old Hemi-Orange Challenger there too. I was happy to eventually find all the rest of the cars and get them judged.

We ended up taking home six trophies that day. We won the “Group Participation” Trophy. Rick won in the “Daily Driver” category. Richard won in the “Special Interest” category for the dragster. In the Challenger Class, I received first place for the very first time this year. Dan and Dave received “Show Stopper” runner up awards. Although it was poorly organized at best, we as a group made our usual best of it and took home more bling for the mantle.

I’d like to thank the LAPD for personally inviting us to the show. Thanks also to Dave for providing the meeting place for us to roll in from. And thanks to the members who helped me later that day…It meant a lot……

Thanks to Dave (RedDog) for this awesome video depicting 9 months in the life of SoCal Challengers: