Where I’ve Been, Corvette Edition

So, I listed off all those events in my previous post and you may be wonder how many of those events were for work and how many were for pleasure. To be perfectly honest, I see every one of those events as work. It’s hard for me to differentiate the two, which has its ups and has its downs. Either way, 2012 was a special year for me, because I drove the Corvette more than ever and had a great time doing it. The car is in need of several repairs and upgrades, but hey, that’s what this stuff is all about. Here’s where the Corvette has gone this year…

The first show of the year was just down the road in Graysville, TN. Here, my car is parked with Bill Sims’ roadster, which had just been finished at my dad’s shop.

Knoxville Heads Up Drag Racing

Since Knoxville Drag Strip in Maynardville, Tennessee, got revamped a few years ago, I’ve been to the track a number of times, but I’d never attended one of its Heads Up races. The format is similar to the Bounty Race, with the exception of a couple classes. Knoxville always has a 4.70 index class, so I looked forward to seeing those cars compete along with the regular crowd of 7.0, 6.0 and 5.70 index racers. In addition to this Knoxville has Pro Street and Cheap Street classes, which always provide lots of excitement.

Anyone remember this car? This legendary Pro Modified campaigned by Rob Vandergriff is now a 4.70 index car, owned by Roger Sellers and driven by Tom Neubert.

Another Year at the NSRA Nats South

I’ve been going to the NSRA Street Rod Nationals South for as long as I can remember. It’s always held on the first weekend of May and it was once a happenin’ event with more than 4,000 cars in attendance. However, the crowd has dwindled as of late, due to a number of factors, including the age of the participants and their willingness to sit out in the sun (or rain) the entire weekend. Regardless of that, I still go because it’s a great place to find vehicles to photograph, whether it’s for my magazine side work or for use in Coker marketing materials.

The Saturday crowd ended up being pretty big…this picture was taken in the morning, but by mid afternoon, the fairgrounds looked packed as always.

My Kind of Mopars

It doesn’t take long to figure out that I’m a “Chevy guy”, although I like to think that my taste in cars is fairly broad. I guess you could’ve easily noticed that by my infatuation with Henry J’s and other oddball cars. Anyway, I’ve owned a few Mopars but nothing quite as nice as two cars that I photographed at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals South in Knoxville, Tennessee last spring. I’d seen the bright red Dodge at the cruise in at Coker Tire during the 2010 Hot Rod Power Tour and I wanted to shoot it then, but time constraints kept me from doing so. I spotted the car and another unique Mopar as soon as I made my first walk-through at the Nats South, so it was time to get it done.