Thoughts so far on day one (officially) of the Nats?

Any great purchases? Or did you sell something you were hoping would sell this weekend?

Thoughts on the car corral?

Three of us came this year and we all said we were pleasantly surprised that Friday was better than last year. I thought general attendance was up and the car count was up for a Friday. Car corral was as usual. Some nice cars with decent prices, some junk overpriced. Didn't purchase anything from the swap meet, but there was a lot of stuff for sale. Met some new friends. Had dinner Thurs with Rhinodart (what a hoot that was! great guy!) Wish the night life was a bit more active tho. Looking forward to Saturday. We have a 1970 RR convert (orange), 1971 'Cuda convert (red), and my 1970 Challenger (orange). Stop by and say hi.

What were driver quality B body cars selling for?

I seen some decent deals, but no luck on the 70 Roadrunner front fender I needed.

I went on Friday.
-Beautiful day
-Watched a little drag Racing
-Looked at some cars
-Looked through the swap meet

Better than ANY day at work!

Hey - I did & we talked quite a lot earlier today - I'm glad I got to know you & Mr. Cuda! I've known & worked with Mike since 2004. I got home tonight around 6:30 & looked at my Nats photos. Time has really flown - last time I was there was 11 years ago - I could not believe it! Although there were some nice cars there, the number of really nice ones was way down since 11 years+ ago, plus I thought there were a lot fewer cars there. Carlisle for me next year without fail.

-Eric

did anbody get video of he crop duster fri? it put on quite a show

I went Saturday. Last time was 2019. First thing that hit me was all of the fields across from the track were full of corn instead of spectators cars. Parked near the main entrance. Then I noticed that all most of the grandstands on that side were gone. Looked like no one had cut the grass in a while, weeds growing thru the fence. All the food vendors that used to be there were gone, and the one attached to the bathrooms was closed. Hardly any major vendors. Staging lanes were a ghost town, but they started to fill up a while later. No tents for survivor or show cars. There were plenty of cars in the fun fields, but I didn't see any Lil Reds and only one Warlock. Swap meet was busy, but since I sold the car I was looking for truck parts, which disappointedly there were very few. Went to watch the Christine car like exhibition pass......but the rubber band or something broke so that was a no go. The burn out was pretty good...got to see a woman flash one of the contestants (from behind unfortunately) Joe from Garage Squad was MC, but you couldn't hear what he was saying, and we were close. Meet up with some friends, had a good time, only spent $25 on small parts. I'd say National Trail needs new owners that will make this event what it used to be. And the Golf Cart Nationals were alive and well in the swap meet. I saw one moron....obviously not physically needing one, driving thru the swap meet and car corral like he was out on I70.

My son and I went over Friday. Like said before better than a day at work! We went thru the swap meet, found some truck hubcaps for a couple different projects, picked up some parts that was prearranged so either they wouldn't get lost or damaged and to save on shipping costs. I noticed also that the parking lot on the spectator side wasn't even half full let alone the field parking was corn.
The crop duster sure sprayed for a long time. Someone said they were spraying for Democrats!! As for the car corral there was some good deals. I seen a 69 GTX sold that the asking price was $48,500 and a roller Coronet sold. Now I better get back to my trucks and get them done. Birdtracker

From the sounds of things reported by others, I made the right decision and after 22 years in a row of attendance I stayed home. I can watch crop dusting from my shop.

PS. Although I sure hope they got a shitload of those Democrats!

I skipped it again this year, from reports and pictures I’ve seen glad I did. Poorly managed show and out of control golf carts is the reason I quit going after attending every year from 1984 to 2014. Carlisle is a much better show and I will attend the Holley MoParty and plan to hit Fall Fling. Shame, the Nats was a great show, but not worth the drive now (only a three hour drive). I would love to see new management bring it back to life. I thought the perfect weather this year would help, but sounds like it didn’t have much impact.

So you have not been there since 2014 but you can criticize the 2022 show?

Pretty much sums it up on what I noticed last year 2021 Mopar Nats after about a five year hiatus , maybe longer

Kind of like sticker shock or dealer add on pricing
Parking in the weeds which used to bee the judged part of the show in years past
That walk down the road from parking in the fields , walking over the river and seeing the judged field gave me goose bumps for about fifteen years

The main concourse last year 2021 maybe had a handful of vendors , and the anniversary display for the 1971 Cars , I counted four cars - Yes four cars on the concourse


We all miss the glory years , but obviously it’s in the past , and honestly I don’t ever see it getting better , why would it in todays world


Major vendors pulled out of Carlisle this year also so

However

After going to Carlisle this year for the first time , Mopar Nats is a very very distant memory - Absolutely zero comparison today

Based on reports and pictures plus some friends that are there it appears to still be going downhill. I hope those that attended had a great time and the reports I’ve seen are wrong.

Are we talking Roadkills Crop Duster , like running the track

Or an actual airplane and crop dusting ?

LOL

Confusion

Actual airplane spraying fields. Birdtracker

There was a lot to criticize. The show has gone down hill a lot just since 2019, let alone 2014.

Was there for 10 hours Saturday and didn’t see all the cars.
Watched races and burn outs too
Sure it’s not what it used to be.
The more people that show support the shows and hobby, the more people will attend.
Still not a bad show . I’ll post some pics later today.

Its very clear Bielenda is riding the brand into the sunset. Even a gnats rear end worth of innovation would reignite this show. I've never heard of a drag race event where you have to BEG for a gamblers race. The sport would benefit from the brand getting sold to someone who actually cares.

Lack of effort extends to some swap meet sellers as well...Three times Friday I asked someone what price they wanted for something with no price listed...three times I was met with "what will you give me for.it", only for me to walk away having never heard a number. Like I have to convince you to sell something, in a swap meet.

Weather couldn't have been better, I did snag a few things for realistic prices. I don't think it was excessively light for parts but racing definitely had mere portions of what once was.

I went and had a great time
I bought a few small parts for my Swinger.
Weather was perfect.
I thought they kept the event site pretty clean and it seemed the isles were wider.

One thing I wish they could do was separate the modern muscle from the older stuff.

At the end of the day I think most people get out of it what they put into it.
If your looking for faults you can find them. If you want to go and hang out and have fun looking at cars you can do that too.

I will go back,