Is the n.s.r.a. doomed or do they just need to retrench and rethink some things?

Stale?? You are kidding right? I don't think I've ever looked at a g***er thread. Not my cup of tea. While lots of folks like g***ers don't kid yourself that they "make" this site vibrant for the m***es. More vibrant for you maybe, but not the majority.

 

Good points you've made there, Denise. Other folks have made some salient points as well. Are you listening N.S.R.A.? We're not trying to be critical just constructive. Anyone have any specific suggestions as to how they can improve their events? Any activities you would like to see or participate in?....Just in case they are listening.

 

For what it's worth, mailed my GG Pocono registration on August 5. Received my confirmation 2 weeks later and my number is 524.

 

Yep, I've got ideas but they have yet to hire me as a consultant

 

This is true, but going back to the fact it's 20-somethings building the cars- What are their friends gonna be driving? You want that young guy to bring his model A?? It'd help alot if his young buddy's bad*** elcamino was allowed in the door, thereby making a traveling partner.

Even in my 30s I'm in this situation. It's real easy to be pre-64 exclusive on the computer, but going to real world pre-64 shows eliminates 90% of my possible traveling partners. If they have a rolling 25 cutoff, I've got a half dozen magazine quality cars that could be talked into joining me. Is that really so bad for the event?

 

I think its our age and the economy. I have just so much for the hobby and rest is for the house and taking care of my dear little wife if something happens to me. They jus ain't enough to go around. IMHO

 

I go to a car show or rod run to see people who share my interests.

One NSRA show per year & 12 months of the piece of **** magazine they publish isn't worth the member fee & car registration. One Goodguys show per year & 12 months of the Gazette is.

If I ever know that I can make two NSRA events in a year I'll probably join again. Otherwise I won't. The Nats South is right here in town & I didn't take my car this year.

JH

 

nice to know you like our city, come back anytime..........

 

So cal tex, the car looks good in the avatar. It was nice to see you a few weeks ago. We are all headed to the Primer nats this weekend. We will miss you! Huggy

 

I've read everything that has been said,,,an I remember when the N.S.R.A. was the only organization that offered the pre 48 guys anything.

I have been a member for many years and I still enjoy going to the events,,not as many as I would like but I gone to the nats south the last 28 years in a row.

I've been to several nationals

I have met and made friends I only see once a year,,,and some that have become very close friends,,,it's a vacation for me and my wife.

I think the nsra has proven to all the states where the shows are promoted that we as hot rodders are something they want there,,sure it boost the economy but it is nice to be welcomed and treated like they want us there.

I also know I am a ol' graybeard and the guys like me will be gone someday,,,will the nsra survive?,,,I think it will. HRP

 

When you meet someone new at a show,flea market or online, young kid or old guy how many times do you ask if he is on the HAMB .....or a member of some club?

 

No need to ask...I just note whether he has a T-shirt with one of those cartoons from the last page of "Streetrodder" or if he is heavily tattooed and handcuffed to the security golfcart...

 

It all comes down to people complaining! I hate to see any good show go, especially when it happens close to home. Being from VA, I am not too far from several good shows but I would like to keep the few that are nearby running along. So all these people that complain about not wanting to see the later model cars at the HOTROD shows are hurting the show scene all together. Keep it up and there won't be ANY shows! If you don't like having a NOVA/CAMARO parked next to your model A, move your car or ignore it. People like me love anything with 4 wheels and if it helps bring 1,000 more cars to a show, GREAT! Especially when it brings money to the towns and also ensures that the shows will continue... Yes, both NSRA and GG need to do some thigns differently but why should they if we as enthusiast continue to whine about the other cars at the show. It's like voting, you cannot complain if you don't show! Who knows that little NSRA show or GG show could be the next Nationals! But it takes time and our help...

 

She's right. Last weekend I chose the Rumblers NYC over Richmond NSRA and Macungie. It's the best show of the year. All are about the same drive for me. Only totally in the shade summer show on the planet. There's nothing like it. The constant roar of pipes under the bridge from the side streets creates an awesome vibe, and not a Camaro in sight.

 

Amen...I've been to events produced by both and know for a fact that numbers jump for better PR. I also attended an event in New England where every car had an even number!!! Instantly doubling the car count.

 

my 2 cents

Wow,

I think all post have 100% soild points, NSRA ,GG ,HAMB, all great.
one thing for sure every weekend great quality runs!, ever day of the week good quality cruise nights! can't do them all,, family , vacation , work , so we pick and choose for different reasons . One thing for sure NSRA promoted and cleaned up some bad points I think they always raised the bar for safety , and challanged everyone to build smarter and better, thats a good thing no doubt, but have failed a little in embraceing the young gun slingers..... I also think it was much better when the Nats were rotated , I would love to go back to St Paul and Columbus, I support them all when I can includeing NSRA ,GG,HAMB, NHRA,IHRA,DIRT,NASCAR,MTA,PBA,FMBA, VFW,American Legion,.. IRS... and the list goes on...I need to hit the lottery so I can enjoy more!

 

If I'm wrong about any of these three points, please correct me:

1: No NSRA official has ever posted on the HAMB.

2: Years ago, after he finished building a radical trike, he drove it a long way to an NSRA event. When he got there, someone at the gate told him that since it wasn't pre-'49, he couldn't bring it in, and he left.

3: The NSRA never apologized to Ed, and has never made an official statement about him or his trike.

 

not sure here ?

What does a rad trike have to do with NSRA ,,,, especially years ago?

 

I agree with a lot of the points made here.

I do think OKC doesn't appreciate what it has with the mini-nats but I don't think we are a bunch of redneck hillbillies either. White trash, maybe, but not redneck hillbillies. The cops are ****holes but , they are good at it.

They don't listen to the m***es. It's like the company that started as a mom and pop run business only to morph int the mega-million dollar company that forgets it roots. It's a business and they really should surf a few forums to keep their finger on the pulse of the real life world.

Love it or hate it, the average age for NSRA membership is probably around 55+.
They need to look around and see the future of the organization.
It's not just NSRA though, GG and KKOA are losing touch as well.

I am glad these organizations are out there though, I was a member of all three at one time or another.

 

Does anyone remember the Hershey and Carlisle swapmeets from 30 years ago. I was there,and all the car events are in the same boat.
Think about it for a minute. The people that I used to travel to the shows with were in their 50's back in the mid 70's. Now its 2008 and most of those people that attended are either too old to walk around ,or are dead.
The same goes for the venders that were there in the 70's. There is only so much old tin to go around then its gone. Its been replaced by Diecast toys, NASCAR shirts & Hats, Junk Jap tools, and you can even by a damn aluminum pig in what used to be the Corvette row years ago.
People that I have seen over 20+ years that went every week either have died off or just can't do it anymore.
Im sure that the cost of the show has something to do with the attendence but its up to the 30 and under to keep it going. The next time you attend a national event look around and see how many of the people running the event are 60 and older. Twenty years from now who is going to be minding the store. Some of you guys think you can do a better job hook up with Goodguys or NSRA and volunteer. Maybe in a couple of years down the road you could be running a major event. Then they can all be ******* about you on the HAMB.

For the Guy that's too cheap to go to ***berland. The big events are not the same as the little car clubs raising money. The ***berland club works their ***es off to put on a show and raise money for cripled kids. It's a little different knowing that the money your paying for registration is going to a charity. You said you get bored at the event. I know they have a swap meet, a poker run ,bands playing in the eve, venders, rod jousting , they feed you Saturday and have a corn roast on Sunday. I dont think the run is boring,I just think you get bored easy.

You need to support some of your local clubs just not the businesses that have one day car shows to take your money.

Two of the biggest and best shows are the Frog Follies and the Turkey Run as they are both put on by local car clubs.

One last thing to vent. I've been going to car shows/rod runs over 30 + years and on any weekend you could get over 300 cars. We haven't seen those numbers at shows like that in years. Attendence has been so bad that half the runs that we used to attend are no longer and the clubs have disbanded.

Since I've been going to these shows attendence been on a slow decline except for a few shows. We used to have ALOT of indoor shows from car clubs and ones put on by the ISCA that are gone too. Remember all the drag strips,times change.

Bottom line is that the NSRA & Goodguys aren't doomed, the future of the Rods & Customs, street rods etc. could be.

Unless you can get ALOT of the younger crowd into Rods and Customs instead of those damn little foreign **** boxes, it's not going to get any better soon...................I vented.....I feel better now.

 

In the Minneapolis area, Back to the 50's had it's largest entry this year, Our Pair A Dice cruiser show had its largest entry, The Down Town Anoka Cruise nite hits 1300 cars on a regular basis with a record 1400+ one night.

As for traveling events this year I had to miss the HANB drags, and one day of Back to the 50's because of excessive back pain. I drove 1-1/2 hours to the Northfeild Mn eventon Saturday and paid for it on Sunday. So I guess other people's health might have an effect on distant events also as lot of Street rodders I know are 60 plus in age.

Then there is the economny

jim h

 

the NSRA has been good to me

 

If we are talking about the Richmond NSRA event specifically, than yes, they ****.
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3 days of hot asphalt.. Nothing cool for the kids to do. ****-*** swap meet. Nothing but a few nice cars for us car guys. What makes the rest of the family want to go with us?
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All the kids remember is that is was hot and that they had to wait 20 minutes to get a bottle of luke-warm water
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Yea &#8211; everyone ho-hums when thinking about next year. Even the entrants.

 

NSRA, I think I let the membership lapse in '93. I was only reading the cl***ifieds in Streetscene, and the venues did not appeal much to me. When I think of NSRA I think of aqua / salmon monochromatic cars with graphics, tweed interiors and more people talking about the Sunday service than cars.

GG, was a refreshing change in the early 90's. The gazette has great event coverage, some great editorials (Roger Jetter), but lately, I have grown really tired of the six to seven figure air ride, big wheeled street rods and muscle cars. The events with drag racing or street-khanas are very cool.

I find myself more and more interested in local cruise nights (which are really booming) and a few select casual non-trophy local events. I also have more interest in swapmeets as well as vintage circle track racing, drag racing, and now bonneville.

 

went to the nsra nats south in Knoxville for years but have not entered my car for the last 2years it seams like 55 or 60 bucks to get in is high for not a whole lot,
yea you get a chance to win some nice stuff but I don't
some of us went to the hot rod reunion in bowling green yea it was 50 bucks but I think you get more for your money. all day drags,car show, swap meet.
and you know there was not one person that dragged me over to look at their camaro or mustang, If you don't like post 64 cars don't go look at them

 

Part of why NSRA and GG might be declining could be the same reason why one issue of (pic your favorite magazine) is great for the one car group and just wasted ink for the (muscle car, traditional, billet, trailer queen) interested person that picked it up. I try to look at other peoples finished cars as inspiration to clean up what I've tried to do right or how to make the next piece and have walked past stuff that some folks said had some neat fab or finishup work done it because the car didn't strike me as interesting.
I don't think ***ociations will be able to make the HAMB type member happy with the 68 numbers matching guy at the same kind of event for long. Diversity is good at times and alway challenging. They've made it past split bones versus billet on pre '49 stuff. Will they survive?

 

Goodguys and NSRA have priced their shows right out of my market. Traveling very far from home has also had an effect on what my wife and I do on any given weekend. Hotel and food costs have had an effect on spending more then a night at a time away from home. This economny ****s.

Compound all this by having family things going on, local shows, and other events of interest and driving to shows requires a great deal of consideration. We are looking at everything we do as far as both time and money spent. There are simply a lot more options available then there was a few years ago and this year everything seems to be conflicting with something else.

I'm seriously looking at everything I am a member of to determine if I'm renewing memberships next year, be it local or national memberships. Did the same thing a few years ago with magizines, now I don't recieve any that are not ***ociated with a membership of some kind. Gene

 

Entry is as low as 25 dollars if you are a current NSRA member. Cost me 25 dollars to register at the NSRA Nationals in Louisville. GoodGuys is a little higher ... but not a whole lot ... again, if you are a current member.

I would like to see NSRA move the Nationals around ... but where are they going to find a place, centrally located and hold 10 thousand cars ?? That does not already have a BIG show already there? GoodGuys has Columbus booked ... for years ... so you know GG is not going to Louisville and NSRA is not going to Columbus.

This same discussion is going on ... on a different board now.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/nsra-open-newer-cars-143758.html

I believe that NSRA will eventually have to go to the newer cars @ all their events... as the current members get older, die off and quit coming to the events. Hopefully, it will not happen any time soon. The events that NSRA has opened up to the 30 year slide rule at ... are sorry event locations IMHO. When it comes to events, the location plays a large part in it's sucess. Look at all the locations GoodGuys has tried and then dropped Knoxville and the Shades of the Past owe a good bit of their sucess to the location. Same for the LA Roadster event. Daytona Turkey Run can also be added to that list.

The reasons for part of the decline in NSRA and GoodGuys events are these ... IMHO

1) Money ... it just cost a lot to go 500 miles and stay 3 or 4 days ... especially with a family

2) Age ... a lot of the members are older, not as good a health and do not travel as well as they did 10, 20 years ago.

3) Boredom ... the events are held at the same old places and you see the same old faces ... doing mostly the same old stuff.

4) Local clubs are doing a good job having FUN stuff to do close to home. Cruise nights are close by and 3 or 4 hours and you had a good time and back home ready before Jay Leno comes on.

NSRA will survive ...

10,000 cars at the 2008 Nationals ... ( 25 to preregister, 35 at the show so ... ) 30 dollars each Average X over 10,000 = over 300 grand
They took in more than that from the parts vendors for their spaces.
Then there's the T-shirts and event merchandise.
Let's not forget the gate at 12 to 15 dollars a head.
The outside swap meet is some money.

Has to be at least a MILLION dollars

Then there's the membership registrations and re-registrations ... sure you get Street Scene but with all the advertising in it ... you know it more than pays for the magazine ...

NSRA will survive ... easily.
They may make a less little but after 40 years ... they have to be sitting pretty.

 

Depends on what you call a offical.
The Walker family and the Bugg family may or may not post here but I do know a couple of the regional NSRA blue shirt guys do post here. One or two Red shirt officals ( safety team ) folks do also.

 

From the NSRA shows I've been a vendor at this year, attendance has been down 10% across the board. As stated above, the attendees are getting older and the travel costs are higher.

It comes down to value/bang for the buck. Why should you pay a $50 entry fee to sit at your car all day long, when you can go to a local cruise night and do the same for the cost of a meal/adult beverage.

Car Count: My father has built many cars, but none of his current cars qualify for a pre '48 cut off. He's "been there, done that". His main beef is this, why should he pay a high $ entry fee to have his car (along with all the others in attendance) be the draw to get the walk in gate $. Shouldn't he (as well as others in attendance) be let in free (or a lower dollar entry fee) since without their cars, there would be no show?

It's a fine line between keeping all 3 balanced, Which 3 you ask? You need a promoter, they are responsible for getting the fairgrounds, advertising, security, getting vendors, getting attendees, getting walk in traffic. Second, you need participants. They are "the show", they also buy the parts from the vendors to keep their rides running. Third, you need the vendors. They supply the widgets that make the cars go down the road safer, faster, COOLER etc. Yes, you can go to the local wrecking yard and score a used piece, but how worn out is it? Yes, you can buy a used piece, but most times, until you figure in your time in restored said piece, you could have bought a new one. Granted, the "unobtanium" parts are out there, I'm not referring to them.

Using NSRA Richmond as an example, I've been a vendor there for the first 3 years. I didn't attend this year. Why? low car count. One of the 3 is missing-cars. If you think the cost of being a participant is high, try being a vendor. As a participant, you can roll in on Friday or Saturday, so your cost is 1 or 2 nights at a hotel, a couple meals, and gas for 1 car. As a vendor, set up day is Thursday at most shows, so there is Thurs, Fri, and Sat hotel fees (that's if the show is within a 1 day drive, add 2 more nights if it's over an 8 hour drive to get to the show-one day before the show and a day after for the trip home). The actual vendor fee to be at the show, and gas/diesel to tow the trailer that carries the products/display for the booth. For me, the cost to do Richmond last year was just shy of $2000, and that was for a 10x20 booth, staying at a 2 star hotel and travel expenses. Most businesses like to turn a profit, so I went in with a $2k hit, before the gates even opened. Last year was about a break even show, but in the time I was out of the shop, I could have delivered prior orders and put more money in the bank, so I opted out this year. I had 1 call asking of I would be there this year, that customer ordered on the phone.

What needs to change?

Activities, how many times can you play the "change spark plug" game before it gets tiresome? I've been to GG's Hot Rod Week prior to Pleasanton, It's fun to get in to others shops to see what's being built.

Venues, "variety is the ****e of life", In the last 10 years, I think my family went to the same vacation spot only twice, why go back "been there, done that". Also, most guys don't want to go sit on a paved parking lot/fairgrounds all weekend without shade. I think that is one of the main reasons that The Back to the 50's show in St. Paul has such a large show-the fairgrounds are fabulous.

Quality Entertainment, come on, most of the singers from the 50's/60's can't hit the right notes any more, 'nuf said.

I think a lot of the hot rod shows have fallen into the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" category. Stirring things up a bit, is always a gamble, but you don't know what will make an improvement if you never try anything new. Kudo's for NSRA stepping out and having the rolling 30 year cut off. Unfortunately, I think 2 of the shows that are not doing so well (or have stopped-NSRA Wisconsin) is because of the venue. Richmond is a NASCAR speedway parking lot-the show isn't even inside the speedway.

I've rambled on enough. I'll still think/ponder what kind of improvements could be made and p*** them on to NSRA/GG, after all, if you can't suggest what you want to see at an event, NSRA/GG can't read your mind-Speak Up!