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……