I am not sure what the Southern Hills Drag Racing Association is as we have no drag strips anywhere near the southern Black Hills. There used to be an eighth mile track a couple hours away in Sturgis, but that shut down. It seems a strange name for an organization, but they ran the show reasonably well.
I bought some wax on Friday and spent a lot of time going over the car. It shined up nicely but shining it up also brought out some of the other flaws in the paint that are harder to see when it is dull or dirty. Still, it looks great, the best it has looked in my possession. This is not a show car, but it was a nice addition to a show that turned out to have a wide diversity of vehicles. My car garnered a reasonable amount of attention, and I had a few good conversations about it.
My car number was 45 and I was one of the last cars to pull in, so the show was just short of 50, but that is a pretty impressive number for Hot Springs. There was a class for ‘rat rods’ with about a half dozen entries that seemed to fit that concept well. There was a truck class which I found disappointing for the lack of quality. I see a lot of interesting pickups running around the area, but only a couple of the entrants looked like they were in good condition and some of them really weren’t all that interesting (I voted for the topless K5 Blazer, but it was rough enough mechanically to leave a puddle under it). There was a class for motorcycles, but only a couple showed up. The cars covered a very wide range of possibilities. The guy I bought my house from showed up in his daily driven (around town, anyway) nicely restored Ford Model A. He won a sponsor’s award which I thought was a nice recognition for his unique approach to the car hobby. There were a few of the real classics from the 50’s and early 60’s (I voted for a ’57 Thunderbird), and a few muscle cars. There were 3 VW Beetles, 2 of which were convertibles. There were a couple of the Fox Mustangs, but none of the older ones. The one car that truly captivated my attention was a well-preserved low-mileage Plymouth Turismo, an econobox from the 1980’s. While such a car likely had production numbers that prevent us from thinking it is rare, survival rates might mean that such a car is rarer today than a Boss 429 or Hemi Cuda. The winner had some convertible from the 40’s with a wild (and perfect) paint job, a custom interior, and a showy engine compartment. I found it garish, but what do I know about show cars?
The social aspect was a bit strange. Generally, I can’t walk around downtown Hot Springs without seeing someone I know, but this is not my normal social circle. I spent a lot of time talking to the previous owner of my house and I think he was happy to learn that I am a car enthusiast. Even though he has lived in Hot Springs for a very long time, he didn’t seem to know that many people there, either. The registration table was manned by one of the people who I regularly see at the Carquest store here in town, but that was the only other familiar person I saw. There were groups of people sitting together in the shade (99 degrees yesterday) that seemed like old acquaintances who were not interested in talking to strangers and then there were a lot of loners scattered about. I strangely felt young there. I talked to quite a few people, but it wasn’t a particularly social event.
