Van Nuys- The weekend of April 17, 2010 marked the 24^th year of the “Spring Fling” Car Show and swap meet in Woodley Park, Ca. put on by Chrysler Performance West. Hundreds of early and late model Mopar vehicles attended the weekend festivities which included a judged car show, a parts swap meet, and vendor displays. There were also off-park parties and a cruise included in the weekends events. SoCal Challengers walked away with three awards including the Group Participation Trophy. Two SoCal Challengers members won ”Awards of Distinction” for their personal vehicles. Stack Performance and Hotchkis had an impressive vendor presence both days. The swap meet portion of the show was full of parts, memorabilia, body panels, and used cars for sale. 

Last year SCC missed the judged portion of the show by attending on Saturday. We ended up winning the Group Participation Trophy anyway which was a great surprise considering we weren’t there on Sunday for the judged portion of the show. We did miss the opportunity however for our members to win any awards for their personal vehicles last year. I wasn’t going to do that again. This year it was Sunday for us and we were going to come big…Way bigger than last year. We set the meeting place the same as last year and waited anxiously for the 18^th to come up on the schedule.

Dan’s and my car were going to be at the Stack Performance booth all weekend. We had to bring our cars there at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday. Eesh. It was interesting to hang out at a car show for a day and not run around like a flamingo doing SCC activities. Not that I mind doing that, because I don’t at all, but it was sure different than usual. Dan and I were stealth wearing our SP gear. We helped Aaron and Brad as best we could with the booth and with spectator questions. Someone asked Aaron if he could pose a stupid question. “Is Chip Foose going to be here today?” Well sir, you called the question exactly. Somehow in his mind he made the decision that Aaron might know the answer to that one. Alrighty then. I walked around the car show a bit and didn’t see a huge car club presence. Sunday was the day for that, and I knew what was coming from us the next morning.

After picking up Dan, Heather and I headed for the meeting place at Continental Jewelry. There were already quite a few cars scattered about the lot. What excited me was that at 6:30a.m. there were more cars ready to roll than last year. Fred had invited a guy he met that weekend that showed up to ride in with us. In fact, we had to get creative with parking to fit all the cars in. I made my rounds and strategized with Dave as he was leading the group in that day. After that we hopped back in my beater and headed for Woodley Park. Dan and I were going to take pictures of SCC arriving at the show.

I’ve never not been in that line of cars coming in. I was either leading it, backing it up, or I just wasn’t at that show at all. This time I got to stand with Dan in the Woodley Park Car Show entrance and watch my brothers and sisters bring it. As Dave was about a hundred yards away from the entrance coming towards us I heard a female voice say behind me, ”Who’s that?”. A man with a CPW green shirt on replied,”That’s the SoCal Challengers guys, and they bring a CRAPLOAD of cars here”. That made me laugh. It also helped me understand why people flip so much when we pull in. From that point where we were standing, it’s a truly damn impressive sight especially with almost thirty cars lined down the street. It’s a different perspective for sure. I hope other members can see us pull in at some point from the entrance. You’ll see what I mean. Parking was a breeze as usual. After we shined ‘em up it was showtime.

There were not as many cars in the show Sunday as there were Saturday but that sure didn’t affect the quality of Mopars that lined up row after row. I took Tom and Marcello over to a black GTX that was just stunning. Beautiful car. Also, there were a ton of 70’s Challengers there. Loved that. I cracked up at the line of K cars across from us. Ya know, I don’t really like ‘em but I appreciate that there were a group of people who brought them and had showed them love. I always respect that even if I don’t care for the car. I was surprised to see quite a few Prowlers lined up too. I battled Chris’ kids again as always, and we had great fellowship throughout the day.

About 2:30 or so it was trophy time. The Challengers had their own class so I was excited for the members chances to win some bling. As I thought, that’s exactly what happened. Rick and Neal  won “Awards of Distinction”. And my favorite of all….the Group Participation Trophy came home with us. I remember a certain car club that said they were going to spank us this year at this show for the group trophy. Ummm, they didn’t show. I remember things like that you know…And talk is just that…talk. All in fun though. It would have been great if they showed so we could play. I only saw one of their kind of car at the show too. The spectators would have benefitted from their attendance.

Thank you to CPW for putting this show on in its 24^th year. It’s one of the better organized shows we go to. Thanks also to all the Members for showing and being a part of that group trophy. We don’t get that trophy without your attendance. Enjoy it!