What was the first NSRA Nats that you attended and what do you remember about it?

1972 Detroit. 1100 or so cars. Figured that was as good as it would ever get....

Been down the road a shitload since then.

Charlie

 

You must be OLD, my first was also Peoria in a 29' Hiboy which I still have. The 40' you
mentioned I believe belonged to Gene Sonnen from Minn. I believe he still has the car.
I remember the park where we displayed the cars was quite a distance from town and
one evening it rained really hard, we just made in back to the motel B4 drowning.

 

I went to my first NSRA event in 1977,,,NSRA NATS SOUTH,,,in Winston Salem,North Carolina,,,in a 1932 Plymouth PB coupe,,,

The car belonged to a friend of mine and I road shotgun,,,I remember seeing Pete and Jake,,,Jim Ewing and Norman Grabouski,,,these guys were as much fun as the cars themselves,,,

I have been to every nats south since the 77 nats,,,moved to Columbia ,South Carolina and in 84 it moved to Knoxville,Tenn.

The friendships that have developed along the way is the best part of it all! HRP

 

Early 70's Detroit and I still love that place. Later i went to the big one on colombus and I went to the first ever in louisville.. That was one to remember .. I just met a girl that was getting divorced and i was getting divorced and she hadnt been layed in 2 years. ... And she bought me new valve covers and shit for the hot rod.. Lets see someone top that Oh ya were married now and we had more fun cruzing the country side in my 29 a tudor than ive ever had since...
dave

 

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Tulsa 74' was the first, really don't remember the order...Memphis, St. Paul, OKC, Tulsa, Louisville in 88' was pictured in the centerfold of Street Rodder Magazine in my chopped 47' Pontiac. Probably 1990 in Columbus, we'd made a guys only (my two sons and me) trip to Brandson for a one day F-100 event and registered at 3:00 pm on Saturday (we got lost on the way). We were in my son's chopped 56 Ford truck. We then went to St. Louis for a Cardinal's game and the Bowling Hall of Fame. Then Indy to tour the track, on to Columbus for the Nats.

 

Tulsa '76. We had 27 miles on my duece roadster when we left Little Rock. I stopped on the turnpike and ran wire from the starter solenoid to the head lights to get there Friday night.

 

Second one in Memphis, 1971. My youngest brother and I drove my T-Bucket with out a top 600 or so miles. Went with Andy here on the HAMB, he was driving his 32 3 Window. Remember not seeing another car until we got off the freeway in Memphis and they were everywhere. Had a great time. Also went to the '73 in Tulsa in the T-Bucket and the '76 it think in Memphis. Went to Tulsa in the early 80's in my 34 Chevy.

 

'78 in Columbus. All I remember about that was rough ass roads.
And how far it was from Orlando.

'80 Memphis. How HOT was it? Some guys at the motel put a 500 lb. block of ice in the pool to cool off the water enough to take a dip.
The next morning it had completely melted.

NSRA had it at the old Fairgrounds. The pavement was so hot it felt tacky like rubber on a dragstrip. One big ol' shirtless boy leaned down to look under a car and slipped. Had huge burns on that big belly from the hot pavement.

Tennessee tax Nazis were there, busting guys for, GASP! selling untaxed Coors brought over the border.

 

I have only been to 3 of em. I remember the first one was at columbus in 89? I remember most that everyone was older than me, spent way more money on their rides, and the local news crew filming my panel truck and the camera man actually taking the camera inside the truck! All 3 the swap meets have been good to me, they used to get rid of all the old hot rod junk until the rat rod sceen got way too popular!

don

I never did get to see the news story!

 

I might have sold that button to you.
I was with NSRA selling "Trash & Trinkets"
The best part was stopping in Wisconsin Dells.

 

Tulsa 73. Lost a water pump and met some of the nicest people.

 

my first one was only like 6 years ago,,,,

..i was so excited,because it was my very first time meeting people from the HAMB in real life!!!!,,,,,,

.....man,,,that was an eye opener,,,because i found out how weird some of you guys are!

hahhaaa

 

Knoxville 1987 - I remember a lot of monochrome pastel paint jobs, and quite a few with flourescent painted accessories, anyone else remember that godawful trend?

I also remember my little brother using all three of the disposable cameras he'd brought with him in about 15 minutes.

 

Tulsa - My Hometown 1976


My brother and I drove our T-Bucket with a 337 inch SBC with a 1965 Rochester Fuel Injection unit on top. Car has been apart and sitting for 32 years and is now back together.

 

73' tulsa drove my 34 ford panel with a flathead to it from okc and overheated or vapor locked all the way there, sold it there and built a 33 chevy coupe lowboy chopped and channeled with sbc power for the return trip in 74' to tulsa .. remember the two seat slingshot dragster cruising i think penningtons drive in on yale or peoria......
80 memphis bout died from heat in a t bucket, etc etc quit in 86' more fun racin these days for me ...

 

Peoria, where I couldn't sell a stock 32 2dr for $550. Been to every one but Detroit. Then there was St. Paul with the racing and the police dogs on University Ave. When we were young and havin fun.

 

My first NSRA Nats was St. Paul in 1974 ... I was only 12 (almost 13) ... we ended up flying (my first commercial airline trip) from SF to Minneapolis because Dad had a "little mishap" (see below) en route to the event.

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, I was obviously impressed by the sheer number of "Street Rods" at such an event ... and remember being really blown away by the quality of craftsmanship in Lil John's brown '26 T sedan (so much so that I built the Revell 1:25 scale version of it upon my return).

The "HEMI32" coupe never made it to the '74 Nats ... broke a rear axle on Hwy 80 in Sacramento (less than 100 miles from home):

NOTE: You can see more pics of the "wreck" by clicking HERE.​

It wasn't until the 1980 Nats in Memphis that "HEMI32" made it to an NSRA Nationals ... and we took the "long route" ... drove north to visit my grandparents farm in Minnesota ... before heading south to Tennessee.

On the journey to Minnesota, Dad & I took turns driving the coupe ... while the rest of the family traveled in my aunt's "chase van"



The coupe's return to its "birthplace" (it hadn't been back in ND since leaving the Midwest in 1962)​

Mom & Dad made the trek from Memphis back to Cali with 4 other rods (2 hiboy roadsters & 2 chopped sedans):

Motel parking with Tommy Walsh's '29 Hiboy, Bob Reynold's '29 Hiboy, & @rich roberts' '34 Tudor



Gas Stop with Gary Meadors' '32 Tudor, Tommy Walsh's '29 Hiboy, & @rich roberts' '34 Tudor



Heading through Colorado behind Gary's full-fendered chopped '32 Tudor (before its current Goodguys logo car configuration)



HOT ROD's are for DRIVING!



Back home ... Can't believe we fit all that stuff in the trunk of a channeled 5-window!​

My father was the Event Director for the (NSRA sanctioned) "West Coast Nationals" events in the 70's & 80's (Lodi, Merced, & San Jose) ... so I obviously attended all of those events ... and have many fond memories from them.

 

Pics of that T ASAP!

 

My first Nats was Tulsa in '73 as a spectator. Back in Tulsa in '76 in my chopped, channeled, fenderless Model A coupe, entry number 1998 if I remember correctly. I was 19. If I can find some pics, I'll post them. In '76, they had the combined, back-to-back Street Rod Nationals and Street Machine nationals. A good friend who grew up a few doors down had his '63 Plymouth Sport Fury at the Street Machine Nats in '76, and made several magazines. He was 18 at the time, and built the car himself at home.

I was back at the Street Machine Nats in Tulsa in '78 in a 70 GTX.

 

This one:

 

1973. No rod but lived on the street next to the Hilton (Host Hotel.) Was like a dream come true. Sat in front of my apt. and watched a rolling car show. Hung around the Hilton every night. Met some really cool people. As soon as I learn how to post pic on here I'll post up a few. Remember having a guy from Minn. stripe my van. Too many memories. Very cool times.
_________________________________________________________
Like I told the kid,"Your music not too loud, it just sucks!"

 

Memphis 1971. Slept in my van on the fairgrounds. Cooked breakfast in a parking lot where there was a car wash for street rodders only. Sat on the front steps of Graceland. When Orv Elgie pulled in everyone ran to where he parked his '37 Ford sedan delivery and drooled. I had the time of my life. Still have memorabilia from there.

 

My first Nationals was the 1971 Nats at Memphis, I took the family in my "32" sedan pulling a homemade trailer, we had reservations to camp at a State Park quite close to the fairgrounds. When we got to the park we found it was a Black state park, OH WELL, we stayed there and had a great time. My only disapointment was, there was only one other street rod there. It was an unfinished "32" sedan from Wisconsin owned by a guy named Peterson. We did swap a lot of stories and we had lots of interested visitors NO TROUBLE. I still own my "32" I never kept track of the other Peterson. Pete Peterson

 

Louisville a few years ago. Coming thru the main gate and some guy jumps out of the crowd and takes a head on picture of the car. Made my whole weekend.

 

Bought 600 slides or so of the 76, 77 and 78 NSRA Street Machine Nats (not CC) and of the 77 and 78 Car Craft Street machine nat's in Indianoplois. from a guy who was a photo nut. I converted some to photos. I have an old slide machine and view them on occasion.

Paid $35 on ebay for them-he died and his sister was selling them off.

I also collect all the old Car Craft and NSRA Street machine Nat's stuff.

 

My first was 1970 Peoria and I found a pic on Streetrodder.net to prove it. We weren't able to go back until 1974 but I have been to everyone since.


Can't believe I was so skinny then.

 

WOW there are a lot more old farts than I expected.

 

My first NSRA Nationals was Memphis in '71. My buddies didn't want to leave until Thursday in their family cars but I had the week off of work so my wife and I hopped in our '48 Morris Van and drove from North Tonawanda, NY to Memphis alone. We were at the fairgrounds while vendors were setting up and we had a guy airbrush a cartoon type picture of the Morris on T-shirts for us (still have them). I remember the yellow '32 highboy with 5 spokes on it (can't think of the guys name) and I heard the owner is now doing a copy of the car. Also remember Orville Elgie's (sp?) '37 sedan delivery and the guys from Cheyanne Wyoming that had a orange '33 Willys sedan with a 327 FI engine---we became friends and rode in each others cars. He had a collection of bugs removed from his radiator pinned on a board in front of his Willys. Remember pulling into headquarters parking lot and being greated by a guy, " Hi, I'm Jim Smith from Dallas, Texas". Had a neat '32 coupe----still out there?? I remember cruising in traffic coming from the fairgrounds and a guy in the opposite lane hit the car in front of him because he was looking at our Morris. Going on the Riverboat cruise. SOOOO many more memories--great time!! Was in Memphis in '80 when it was soo hot some of the cars were sinking in the asphalt! Many more other Nats.

 

You're well on the way to old fartdom yourself.