Riverside- SCC made its first appearance in the Inland Empire May 17^th at the CSDR Mopar Show in Riverside, Ca. which was sponsored by Inland Mopars. SoCal Challengers took home five awards that day sweeping the Challenger and Special interest classes. For the fourth show in a row, the Group Participation Trophy was awarded to SCC.

I had seen the flyer for this show the day before we were in the Spring Fling in Woodley Park. I gave it to Chris(SparkChicken) in Woodley Park and told him that I’d go if he’d go. I wanted to be at a show out in the Inland Empire to do something for those members of ours that have travelled from Riverside and San Bernardino counties out to our shows in Orange County and Los Angeles. Chris and I got all the info and posted the show a little over two weeks before it was to happen. I certainly wasn’t expecting a huge turnout with that late of notice.

As I stood in the parking lot of Target on Arlington Avenue, I was pleased to see eight cars besides mine in the parking lot. Art came first in his brand new Torred SRT-8 that he had just driven back from Texas a few days before.  For those of you who don’t know the story; Art had a DWB R/T that he drove out to Texas to go visit his son. The R/T ended up staying with his son and Art bought the SRT8 out there and drove it back home. That’s the way to travel!!!  I was excited to see all the Gregs together for the first time. Three Gregs, three silver Challengers. To make it simpler for me, I named them G1, G2, and G3 in the order that I met them. This event marked the first showing of the 3G Network. G2 found out that G1 and he had the same last name as well if it all wasn’t strange enough already. He remarked, ”We’re both tall and skinny and have the same last name, I’m calling my dad to make sure nothing funny’s going on”. We got a pic of all the G’s first show together. James and Richard showed up together, trailers in tow. Garber came with the only R/T that day. Chris brought the whole family as usual. SoCal LX was there too, as they had that parking lot as their meeting place for the show as well. I met Nathan and Cam who were super nice guys. Everyone I’ve met from SoCal LX to this point has been great to be around.

After we got parked at the show it was a race to get the easy-ups put together as it was baking already. James and Richard brought two easy-ups for us to stay out of the heat. Nobody in our group has done more set-up and hauled more s***t around to more shows than James and Richard. We are truly lucky to have you two in our group. Once the easy-ups and banners were done, it was show time. The show had a Challenger Class we could compete in for the first time. There were four Challengers that weren’t in our group there besides ours. We ended up sweeping the class taking 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place. In first was Art with his Torred Srt8. Jeff took second in his Stone White R/T, and G3 took third in his silver SRT8.  Nice job guys. Richard won the “Special Interest” Trophy with the junior dragster.  For the finale, we took the “Group Participation “ Trophy for the fourth show in a row. Congratulations to everyone who participated and made this show the outstanding event it was. Thanks also to Art and G3 for stepping in as judges for the “Best in Show” Trophy.  The fact that the judges came to us to not have a conflict of interest in judging says volumes for the people running this show. We thank Inland Mopars for having us and giving us mucho bling! Next year…. “Mist”-ers and a kiddie pool!

Villa Park- May 9^th saw over 100 classic cars, motorcycles, and hot rods fill the parking lot of Villa Park High School for their 6^th annual car show. So Cal Challengers brought eleven cars to the show and for the third show in a row took home the “Best Club Participation” Trophy. All proceeds went to benefit the Villa Park High School Marching Band and Orchestra. 

The meeting place was set for this show at The Coffee Grove in the Villa Park Center. I was particularly excited about this show as Villa Park High School is my Alma Mater (Class of 1986). For the first time I was going to this show with a car to show, and with an outstanding group of friends. I had taken my Harley-Davidson to this show previously. As usual, Kevin was there already as I pulled into the parking lot at 6:30 a.m. “I hate being late”, Kevin replied when I commented on his earliness. I have the same belief as Kevin. My mom drilled that in me from day one; always early, never late. Greg came out from Sun City. It was nice to finally meet G2 and his family. James and Richard were there early too. Ryan from Stack Performance came with his Charger and also his Challenger driven by Aaron. Nick and Loni brought a black Charger as well. It was way cool to see Ryan in SCC gear for the first time. I was wondering if we’d ever see that shirt on him. Dan came too with Ryan with the only black Challenger of the day. Dan has new mods every time I see him. I think he’s now the official “Mod King”. I think Ryan has a retirement plan, and his name is Dan. His car looks outstanding, damn outstanding. Dave came in with Led Zeppelin blaring from his car and a hearty “Good morning” as he pulled in to a parking spot. Soon after that an orange R/T came in to the lot with an unknown driver. My wife and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. Being hockey fans though we loved the license plate frame that said “Give blood, play hockey”. A great guy by the name of Vince stepped out and we introduced ourselves. Turns out that our member Jim “The Diceman” had chased him down on the street some days back and had let him know about SCC and this event. Chris, his family, and the Supercharged R/T made the trip out from San Jacinto as well. A great group to take into the show for sure.

As we pulled into the parking lot we were greeted by two student volunteers, one male and one female. The boy absolutely flipped as he saw us lined up. “Holy crap”, he said over and over. He asked me, “Are you ALL together?”, “Are YOU the car club?”. He couldn’t believe it. We were making an impression already. We all got our picture taken in front of the VPHS Band trailer and then proceeded to park. Heather had made a collage of some of my high school pics to place out in front of the car. Everyone got a good laugh at my nerdy ASB ID cards and dance photos. The “Miami Vice” senior picture brought laughter as well. What can I say, back then that was hot! Now, not so much. Now it’s good for laughs….endless, gut-busting laughs. The show provided a pancake breakfast for us and we were then ready to enjoy the show. This show allowed motorcycles as well so it was great to see some scattered throughout the parking  lot. A Corvette ZR1 was there along with a new Lamborghini. Lots of hot rods and classics too. My favorite was an early 60’s convertible Lincoln. It was superbly restored. That car would be a perfect PCH cruiser. Everyone had a great time walking around and looking at the different cars and vendor booths. Unlike most car shows, there were a lot of vendor booths with non-car related items. Ryan was asked by a spectator at one point to start up his Charger with the 7.3 engine in it. There were two high school students standing at the back of his car as he revved his engine. One of those kids jumped about three feet in the air and almost fell down. And if that wasn’t good enough, Ryan revved his engine a second time and the kid flipped out again. Kid, you didn’t know that second one was coming? Hilarious.

 At 2p.m. it was time for awards to be handed out. SCC received four awards. The first was the “Best Club Participation” Trophy. This was our third show in a row we have won this award. Thanks to all the members for making it happen. Heather and the members set up the next award. The shenanigan was set up for me to be called as the winner for the “People’s Choice” Trophy. I had no idea on that one at all. All of the members had voted for me without my knowledge. Thanks guys and guyettes. That trophy will be displayed on my car from now on at every show. Kevin won the “Long Distance” Trophy for travelling the farthest that day. The Challenge Her dragster won the “Young Guns” trophy. Not bad for a four month-old car group eh?

Van Nuys- April 25^th saw hundreds of Mopars descend on Woodley Park for their annual Spring Fling Show. For SCC, it was yet another opportunity to show what we’re about in front of the Mopar faithful. As usual, we made a substantial impression on those who attended the show and those who put the show on for all of us to enjoy.

The morning started early with a 6:30am meet time at a closed down jewelry store just a few blocks away from Woodley Park. My wife and I found the meeting place at 5:45 or so and then left in search of coffee. Upon returning to the jewelry store we noticed that Kevin and Armen were there already. Other members started showing; Garber, Rick and Fred, Chris, and James with his Challenger on a trailer. Art then joined us for his second

event with us in his DWB R/T . Carl came and joined us. He brought his Inferno Red SRT-8 to the show. He had met Rick and Fred the night before at a concurrent Spring Fling event. Both Art and Carl are super nice guys and we’re glad they joined us. After the usual pre-flight pow-wow, we were off to the show. As we turned right on Woodley Avenue to enter the park, there was a HUGE line of cars all the way down Woodley as far as I could see…and it was before 7am! Luckily, a volunteer told us that the ominous line we saw wasn’t ours and we were pointed to the correct one some distance down the road. We got into the show fairly quickly and I was surprised to find out from the registration volunteer that we had our own staked out area. Nice job Rick!

Unlike the Spring Fling in Irvine, there were old Mopars everywhere. We were the only new cars there. Beautiful ‘Cudas, GTX’s, Darts, and Challengers. I particularly liked the old Dodge Power Wagon pickup that was there. It was superbly restored. There was an adjoining parts swap meet where there was a lot of wheeling and dealing going on. We saw some familiar vendors, Hotchkis, Edmunds, etc. I also met Ernie from Asanti who brought their concept Challenger with the wide-body rear-end kit. You think the ass of your Challenger is big now! Although it’s not something I want for my car, the workmanship on the kit looked really nice. The rear quarter panels were blended in nicely. I’m glad there are vendors out there who are giving us Challenger owners many mods to choose from for our cars. It really allows for personalization by everyone.

This event was more about the people than the cars for me. I met more people who were interested in our cars and SCC than at any event I’ve been to so far. Everybody swarmed Chris’s supercharged beast. They wanted to hear it, take pics of it, and ask question after question about it. I think probably a gallon of drool had to be removed from that thing. Maybe Chris might mod his front end to allow for a drool trough across the front of his hood. Get Techco to work on that Chris. We met some new Challenger owners too. Because of Fred, we had an additional six Challengers park with us. Dan brought his beautiful B5 Spring Special to the show and it was a big hit. Everybody loved that color, especially when the sun came over the trees and was directly on it. Dave from Arizona parked with us in his white R/T. Dave is a great guy and his idea to do a joint event with his group in the future I’m taking seriously. I met Daryl at the end of the day who brought his black SRT-8. He ended up joining SCC on the spot! Art officially joined us as well.

I’d like to thank Rick who did the leg-work on finding the meeting spot for this event. Kevin deserves the credit for starting the original thread for this show. We wouldn’t have known about it without him posting it.  Also Shotgun Fred for greeting every freekin’ Challenger that came in that gate and inviting them to park with us. Awesome enthusiasm from you Fred. Thank you. James brought our banners to the show so we could represent SCC properly. I’m thankful they could be carried there by someone. Thanks to James for stepping up and bringing them. Jeff took care of all membership issues as always. It’s comforting I can turn those people over to him and know they’ll be handled competently. And finally, thanks to CPW for putting on a great show