mopars at the strip 2008

[Charger_Fan]

Guys, I've decided I'm just not up for it this year. I know this is short notice, but I've got 5 single-day passes up for grabs if anyone wants them. You swap the tickets for a wrist band at the gate. They were $25 each, but I'm open for bids.

[Doright]

I am going didnt know this thread was here any one wanting to meet up with me pm me for cell #

[skip68]

Wondering whose going to the Cannery Casino/Mopar Party at 6:00pm Friday? Post up!
The Skips

[Wolfey]

Hey all I am a new be.  I have a 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger with 225 Slant Six, Clifford 6=8 intake, Headers Dual Exhaust, Holley 4 barrel Carb, New Interior and New Paint.  I will be doing an engine swap on of these days to a 383 stroker.  I just stopped buy to say that I will be at the Cannery after 6pm tonight.  See yall there.

[68chrgrwife]

Ok all.....I had a great time although I met no one except for the Skips (sounds good).  They are the bomb by the way (sounds good).  Their car rocks...hubby helped fix some stuff so we could cruise in it, but then we didn't personally cruise in it....I wasn't feeling too hot. Friday after we hung out at the Skip house, we went to the Cannery and chilled, met Lou Santiago (who is awesome)!, had a beer then went to Sonic for dinner (sounds good).  Then we split up and headed home. Saturday we were supposed to meet up again, but ended up missing one another due to stupid cell phone.....(mine).  And we headed home Sunday morning......


Anywho.....SOUNDS GOOD!

[Moparheaven]

MATS was very fun this year. I did not meet up with anyone from the site but had alot of fun. Saw a Blue Charger there under a tent that about 10 guys were helping get tuned. Not sure If that was one of you or not. I had the Sublime Superbird under the tent, and the Silver GTX Clone next to it. I pulled the GTX down with the 68 Coronet Wagon (Superbeast). We sure had alot of fun. We met up with the Mopower Cruise in Salt Lake, I met a lot of nice people including Steve Hinkley who set the thing up. Lou Santiago was there and is a real down to earth guy.
We left Salt Lake the next morning with the Snow falling the size of Silver dollars, on our way to Vegas Via Zion National Park. The snow disappeared and the Sun came out the closer we got to Vegas. Lou ( TV host for Mucle car) drove my Superbird through Zions National Park.
I had loads of fun. Now I just have to wait another year for it to come around again.

Z

[Steve P.]

Well,,, I don't know where to start. I arrived in Vegas more than a week before the show. 99% of the time we spent thrashing to get things ready for a few cars. The Saturday before the show VegasMike and I drove from Vegas to Northern Utah to meet up with C-Stripes and his buddy Neil to buy a car from them. They are great guys and Neil had a ton of very cool cars. We loaded the car and headed back to Vegas. 1030 mile round trip. It was a beautiful trip, but at one point the temp. was 23 degrees... I had just left 87 degrees in Florida. Brrrrrrrr.......... That was cold.....

We worked on another buddies 69' Charger R/T that was mentioned earlier in this thread. (Blue with about 10 people hanging in front of it doing some carb tuning).  No, we were sitting behind the car while that was going on. It's a long story, but we had another carb that was going to be put on while there. We were short a fitting for the new Pro-Form 750. It stayed in the box. We did look all over the place for a new clamp at the show but ended up with nothing. I'm sure the same car will be back next year with a new manifold and that 750 and he will take a ton of time off his ET.

VegasMike made a few runs down the track with his 68'. He did great for a first timer. He needs a few new parts and some seat time, but for the first time EVER racing on a track and at an event that would have anyone shaking in their shoes he did great. The Charger never missed a beat, but,,, those damn FlowBasserds choke the life out of everything. The cut-outs should be delivered today. 

We spent the morning of day 1 rushing around getting the correct wrist band and info to race. Before we knew it we had missed the noon CHARGER.COM meeting at the bar. We did make it, but it was around 12:40 and we didn't see anyone that looked like they were looking for anyone else..

Day 2 we were there and didn't see anyone again. I asked the woman behind the bar if anyone had been asking. She said no. So it was off to the parts area again.

All in all we had a great time, but I think we will be having a conversation with the producers of the show for next year. We had much trouble getting info on what classes would run and when. The "TRACK OFFICIAL" we spoke with at one point tossed out a threat to FIREFIGHTER, (Ron). This PART TIME official was a complete ass and was trying very hard to see the inside of his ass.  Ron held his composure, sorta.... I think Ron was kind of in shock from the way he was treated and spoken to. I know I was in shock that this little shit was giving a guy at least twice his weight and 3 times his size a load of lip. More than that, Mike and I were on the same golf cart with Ron as this happened!!!  You're talkin 3 guys 6 foot and taller and nearly 900 pounds of (WHAT THE ________ DID YOU SAY), ready to turn this guy into wet pavement...  I think the sun, the badge and the 2 way radio made this little jerk feel invincible. Anyway, after Holly went up to the tower and had a talk with some other officials we finally got a shot at racing. That made it all better..

Day 3 was cold and very windy. Many people were leaving early to get back home and the vender's that planned to stay even packed up early due to the blasting wind. It was an early day for us as well.

Over all I had a fantastic time with VegasMike, Ron, BIG AL and Mike's monster Rottweiler, Vito. I got home and my dogs are all pissed off at me. Plenty of sniffing, but no love....

I have started counting the days till next year. Actually I told my wife I am going out for a month next year.  So get ready Vegas. I'LL BE BACK.......

Oh yeah, did I mention that we also made some homeless guy rich with all of our empty beer cans?? 

[68chrgrwife]

I can't believe we were all in the same place at the same time and still did not bump into one another....Hubby said it is hard to miss me...I am prolly the only blonde with big hooter who uses a cane to walk.  LOL

we too bumped into Lou.  And yes he is a down to earth guy.  He and hubby talked for an hour at the cannery.  Hubby and him have a lot in common as both being Seabees in the Navy, and being Mopar fans.  Hubby and him have been talking to one another for a few years now via e-mail. Hubby even had a flag flown for him over in Iraq.....we are going to be mailing it out to him shortly. 

I think I saw the wagon that belongs to a member on here, but we weren't sure.....we kept hanging around it to see if we could catch the owner thus introducing ourselves, but we never saw one.   Hopefully we will meet some people at Spring Fling in May at Van Nuys.

[Steve P.]

I can't believe we were all in the same place at the same time and still did not bump into one another....Hubby said it is hard to miss me...I am prolly the only blonde with big hooter who uses a cane to walk.  LOL

We had all said that you would be easy to find, but none of us knew you are now a BLOND......... 

The Super BEAST was straight across from us on Sunday. Maybe it was Saturday. Hell I can't remember now.

[68chrgrwife]

I can't believe we were all in the same place at the same time and still did not bump into one another....Hubby said it is hard to miss me...I am prolly the only blonde with big hooter who uses a cane to walk.  LOL

We had all said that you would be easy to find, but none of us knew you are now a BLOND......... 

The Super BEAST was straight across from us on Sunday. Maybe it was Saturday. Hell I can't remember now.

Sorry I thought I told you guys I am blonde on top and dark underneath....(you'll see once the Skip's post the pics they took).

I definitely saw the wagon at the cannery on Saturday night (parked at the end down the center) and I think once at the actual show.  There were a few other cars that looked familiar, but can't remember what they were now.  Like I said I did see Scott which was cool (he barely remembered me from last year, but he remembered Hubby and he met the Skip's), and I met the poer couple the SKIP's...who are the bomb!

[Steve P.]

We were under a tent at the starting line end of the lot. Had a Magnum, a 69' B-5 Blue Charger, orange Hemi Chally and red 68' Charger. The open show field started just in front of us.

[68chrgrwife]

We were under a tent at the starting line end of the lot. Had a Magnum, a 69' B-5 Blue Charger, orange Hemi Chally and red 68' Charger. The open show field started just in front of us.

With that said I saw your cars...but obviously missed you......CRRRRAAAAAPPPP

[Steve P.]

With that said I saw your cars...but obviously missed you......CRRRRAAAAAPPPP

Yeah, we were the three tall dark and extremely handsome guys there.  It's a shame we didn't all meet.

[Ponch ®]

I am prolly the only blonde with big hooter who uses a cane to walk.  LOL

I'll make a note to myself so I can look for you at SF.

Wait...you said big hooters and what else?

Sorry I thought I told you guys I am blonde on top and dark underneath....

Hey!....nevermind. Too easy. Don't say it Ponch!...resist!

[Gotta 68]

Here's a photo of my car at the Cannery Casino.  I hope I attached it correctly and it is viewable for everyone!  I was lucky enough to be invited to the Casino by the shows organizers to take my car over to their courtyard for a special party they held.  In the background there is a live band playing.  It was a real nice venue.  I met Rob Wolf from MCG there.  He seemed like a real good guy.  I spoke to Anthony(Chargerman68) & Skip68 along with their wives at the Casino.  At the speedway, I didn't realize a group of you were off to the side of the show cars that were under the tent, otherwise I definitely would have gone over to meet you.  Hopefully, next year!

[Gotta 68]

Another shot, just showing the "catch" from the weekend.  Lou Santiago was handing out the awards.  Fun stuff!  I know you guys are big on photo's, but when you have a car in the show, there's more goin' on than meets the eye.  This is all I got, unless you want a photo with my big lug in it.  Hahaha!

[Steve P.]

Hey, Gotta 68,  I took a bunch of pics of your car at the show. Top shelf brother. 

[Gotta 68]

Hey, Gotta 68,  I took a bunch of pics of your car at the show. Top shelf brother. 

Thanks for the compliment Steve.  Coming from someone with as much knowledge & experience like you, that means a lot to me.  I've put a lot of effort, thought, and work into her.  I love it!  sc 

[70sixpkrt]

Gotta 68, that is one beautiful car. I took some pics of it. The only people I ran into was firefighter(Ron) and VegasMike. 68chrgrwife, I was looking for you to buy you a birthday beer. Like mentioned I was not looking for a blonde. What did VegasMikes car run?

[skip68]

Ok, Ok,  I'll get some of the pictures I took posted.      Soooo should I post the pics of 68chrgrwife and Mrs skip68 drooling over the hood of my car after a few beers or the PG pictures ? ? ?    (sounds good)   Gotta 68, it was nice meeting you and I have to say your car was just beautiful.            I took lots of pictures of it and have to say it was my favorite. A special thank's goes to Anthony (Chargerman68)  for helping me get my car going (new water pump, exhaust) enough to make it to the cannery Friday night.  I'll get Lisa to post pictures in the morning or send them to somebody to post for us  cuz we dum. (sounds good)    I will meet you next year Steve & Ron and hope you guys had a good time eventhough it was lots of work.   And as for you VegasMike, I hope you get the honer of meeting me and working on my car since we both live here in Vegas.    sounds good.        Chuck.................

[Charger_Fan]

We need the drooling pics.

[firefighter3931]

The Mats was a lot of fun and i had a fantastic time hangin out with VegasMike & Steve P  Lots of laughs and great friendship amongst Mopar gearheads coupled with some cold beverages....it doesn't get any better than this. 

Like Steve said, the track organization left a lot to be desired.....the race part of the show could have been much better thought out. It appears that the test & tune folks were merely an afterthought allthough they had no problem taking your money.  My main beef was that they were organizing buy backs to increase revenue while ignoring the folks who had allready paid to race. At some point they stopped all racing to make speeches and presentations.....that's all nice and good but don't waste valuable track time especially when some who paid to race haven't even been down the track yet ! 

This event is Mopars at the Strip.....not Mopars at the cruise in parking lot car show. The Strip part of the show seemed to be lacking and the Painters need to work on this aspect of the show or they will lose participants. The track official i delt with was a condescending idiot and didn't take to well to any (mild) critisism.....it was frustrating to say the least. The folks that run this event need to visit a real show like the Classic event at Norwalk to see how things should  be run. 


As for the show field and displays ; very well done with lots of fantastic cars there. I wish we could have met up wth more members but we didn't know who was there or what they looked like. DC.com T-shirts would be a great idea for next year 

What did VegasMikes car run?

Ricky, the Car ran pretty good given that it's a new combo and Mike is still learning. The Density altitude was 3400 ft and with the restrictive Flowbastard mufflers it ran a best of 12.69  In better air with an open exhaust it should run in the high 11's with a little tweaking and seat time. Here are a few pics of Mike lining up against a GTX. He won that race and another against a nice roller cammed 69 Charger. The only race he lost was against an Indy headed 572 ci 69 Charger r/t.... he didn't lose by much, and that was his first ever pass down the track. 


Ron

[Steve P.]

I would rather do an organized night cruise instead of the Cannery deal. They shut down the track TOOOOO early to do the Cannery. I would rather stay at the track till everyone has made a bunch of passes and then do a night cruise. OR,,,,,, just keep the track open all night and if you WANT to do something else, so be it.. Just keep the track open and let everyone get in a bunch of passes...   

[70sixpkrt]

Ron it was nice seeing you again. 12.69 is not too bad for Mike with little seat time. That car should dip into the 11s with everything right. Me personally, I think they should can the Cannery. I would rather stay at the track and see cars running down the track compared to people that played in a band along time ago. I have been going to MATS every year and they always had old timers as the band. The only group that was good enough to see was Kenny Wayne Sheppard. If they want people to go to the Cannery, they should have some big name bands.

[chargerman68]

hey i have some reguar film pictures of your red 68 charger on the line with another blue 69 charger let me know if u want them...good up close shots...