I dont get it, Billetproof NW is one of the best carshows in WA, OR, ID. 35bucks for 2 days is not bad at all. I guess you can always go to the Goodguys show and pay what, 45bucks to go and look at some billet??
Billetproof drags. bitchen, had not heard about that yet... someone want to loan me some $$$ so I can build a big inch motor for the 57...
Getting the cruise in downtown Centralia was no small feat. The city has a pretty stiff no cruising ordinance, and some VERY large signs informing motorists of the penalties for violation. City Hall allowed it to happen but said they would keep a close watch on the outcome. There is a City Council meeting this Tuesday night at which the outcome will be discussed. I will stand tall before the man for EVERYONES actions, good and bad. We'll see what the impression was. In general most everyone was well behaved. Much appreciated. City streets are not a race track, nor is a cruise and excuse for burn outs. The actions of a few can screw up a really good time for everyone. This is a problem as old as hot rodding, and its hard to believe we are still fighting this battle this many years on. A few folks did step forward and ask those action like fools to tone it down some or we would not be asked back. I thank you. All in all the cruise ROCKED. The setting couldnt be better. We are talking about getting a band to play on the steps of City Hall for next year. Seeing the cars in the old town, under the neon was too friggin cool. For burn out fans, both spectators and those that want to shred tires... come to the Billetproof NorthWest Drags on Aug 30, 2009 at Riverdale Raceway in Toutle, WA. You can burn out alllllllll you like!!!!
Appreciate all the work you and your crew (Slow Pokes) put together to help create this great menu. To see what those of us spectators were seeing in downtown Centralia of all the great sleds, hot rods, gassers and so forth was a blast from the past. As we NW rodders refer to "June Gloom" the weather gods were in our favor for a change as last nights late evening sunset added to the flavor of the nights activities. Looking forward to next years event.
would be cool is more of the shops would have stayed open a little later. I know my wife would have love to checked out the antique shops as well as some of the others. Lets hope the City does see some value in having us there
The 35 bucks, was money well spent. In my Honest opinion. I had a great time. The cars were amazing, and the cruise was spectacular.
Hats off to Choptop and the crue. It was a good show this year, and this time the weather gods didn't set the thermostat for inferno. I wish I had stayed for the cruise, but the wife & kids were done after all day in the sun. Heck, I'm still pink and glowing from stumbling around the fairgrounds. As for drags down at Toutle... why is this a "first heard" here!!! Shout that sh*t from the rooftops!!! Next year, Big Blue will be back with a new heart and a new stance. I can't wait!
Hell next year get ahold of us and join our caravan, It was a b itchen good time, killer rides.....But what really stuck out for me was the people. more friendly people than I have ever met at a show( Davester and Mondo,April May and her boy toy, you guys rule.) The cruise was bad ass their where people all along the street, my wife, kidlet and I had the time of our lifes. we'll be back next year!!!
You had to drive how far? What a girl. My round trip was over 20 hours and I would have driven twice as far for it. And, do you have a job? $35 ain't much bub. I didn't have nearly enough time to soak it all in. What were you looking for to fill your time? Don't let this dude fool any of you. BILLETPROOF was amazing!!! Good job Choptop. It was good seeing you again this year. You work your ass off to make this thing work and it completely does.
Quality was definitely up. I got attacked by the same dude inside The Olympic. He called himself "Cajun Jack" and told me he was going to shoot me with hollowpoints. Haha.
there was a flier in every goodie bag, and there is a thread on the HAMB as well. Look for ads in Cruise News too.
I think what Dynaflash was talking about was the walk in cost. I do disagree about the distance 1.5 there and a short 3 hours back but the weather was great and Chehalis was not under water! I was only at the show for a short time but really liked it. Hell, Choptop got crews from the Midwest to come out! Quality was up for sure. I like the the idea of raising the cut off year for trucks maybe, still keep the damn Mustangs and Chevelles out. Plenty to see and I'm sure more next year. There are too few shows with cruises. All the best ones are shut down. This is only one of two shows in WW that I know of. I'm in for the cruise next year, even if it's on my Schwinn!
WOW GOOD TIMES! This was my first time to BILLETPROOF N.W. I drove 4 hours and enjoyed every mile. this was the maden voyage for my car. and I look forward to next year! The cruse was great, the people very freindly (ROADMEN C.C.) I didn't know alot of people at this event yet felt welcome from the start! I would have liked to see a little more night life for paid particapants at the fairgrounds. Music, Dance, valve cover races or something to extend socal time for fellow rodders. had a great time and cruse !
Well I'll be damned... went back and looked in my goodie bag, and there was a "Hot Rod Eruption" card stuck to the back of my bitchin' poster. Thanks Choptop! If they don't ship me off somewhere, I'll be there with bells on!
I really enjoyed the show, it was better than last years in some cases. More cars, more vendors, better weather (not as hot) and GREAT bands! I bought 2 CDs from "The Mercury Four" The goofie bag was just as cool and getting an annual patch is nothing to sneeze at! My only downer of the event was the cruise in downtown. Yea, everyone says they liked it, and I did too, to a point. My only gripe is... what was the point of the "window cruise card" and signing the waiver to cruise, being lead to believe that it would be a billetproof only cruise, and that we would have the streets to ourselves? From the billetproof website: Just got word from the City, the cruise is on for Sat. night!!! A map of the downtown area with the cruise route will be included with your registration confirmation. You will be required to sign a waiver (insurance requirement) and get a window sticker when you leave the show on Sat. in order to be able to participate. I went to the cruise, and expected the barracades to be set up around 6:30 and every car that had the window card entered the cruise, anyone without took the detour. My only reason for bringing this up is because the things I witnessed cruisers in cars doing, would of been totally fine if we "owned" the street for the night. But we didnt, we shared it with the locals and the "non-billet proof" party crashers. Instead, we were scattered in amoungst other random local traffic. The looks on their faces were looks of total confusion. They hadnt been warned in advance of this event in THEIR town. They had to deal with the following: Guys backing up in the street during traffic flow to talk to someone on the sidewalk, almost hitting a local. Turning off their car in a lane of traffic to talk to people on the street, blocking the intersection. Stopping traffic and blasting flame throwers with locals behind with a looks of shock. Hotrodder pedestrians crossing the street and stopping halfway to talk with others, stopping traffic of locals. And there was other stuff that is to be expected when cruisin. Like many said, just watch AG and youll get the idea. Im all for that, my concern was for the locals. What if someone was trying to get to the pharmacy before it closed, or something else that required attention? Whats with being forced to cruise with 1989 buicks and minivans and post 65's? What was the point of the waiver signature and the window card if the cruise was a free for all? Soccer moms and jacked up 4X4's? Im sorry, but in my own opinion, that was not a car show cruise. That was us swarming a town and taking locals by surprise. Theres some cool shots in this thread of the cruise, but they're carefully selected, showing all classics in a street scene, but thats not what I saw. Over all, and on a POSITIVE note(!!!) I thought the car show was great!!! And again, I thought it was better than last year. Ill definately be back next year. Thanks for a great show and all the hard work to make it shine. Cheers
I do have a job, but a shitty one at that. I just today got paid for the 2 pay periods they had missed, and i was scraping to budget it. I spent every last dollar i had at the show, so thats a bummer. We didnt stay for the cruise, but i kinda wish we did. Might be back next year, i dunno
valid points. There is no way to shut the streets off for anyone but Billetproof'ers. One of the roads is actually under the jurisdiction of the state highway system, closing it would take years and costs thousands of lives. The window card was to identify Billetproof cars to the police. There is a VERY stiff no cruising law in town that carries a $700 fine, having the card in your window exempted you from being subject to that fine for the evening. I will work with the city and chamber of commerce more next year to get the word out. I tried to get the chamber on board to have a band play on the steps of city hall, but the budget crunch has hit them hard. I'll also have more advertising next year. There really isnt a way to reach EVERYONE in town and let them know we are coming, but more can be done. I'll have show posters up in downtown shop windows in advance of the show, and have some mobile automated sign boards up in downtown a couple days in advance of the cruise saying "event downtown on 'date', expect delays". Good ideas.
I enjoyed it and it was pretty close for me-110 miles each way is an easy drive even if it is I-5. I've been going to events continually for 36 years now and both years of Billetbroof have been good events. There is more energy and creativity here than at 10 current street rod shows, and the diversity in taste is outstanding. I didn't see or talk to anyone that wasn't having a good time, so I'll be back next year as will (I expect) most everyone that came this year. Thanks for the effort-I know it wasn't easy.
I did not get my car done in time but went as a spectator on sat and really enjoyed the show, my car is ready now and look forward to the aug 30 event. jp
Hey fellow Billetproof fans.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o></o> I had a great time this year and felt that this show was indeed better than last year. I Attended the Saturday show and watched the cruse in down town. I felt that this years line up of cars was GREAT. Everyone who entered had great stuff. I got to meet up with folks I'd met last year, great music, and great vendors. <o></o> <o></o> On the other hand, I was not super impressed with the cruse. I had understood that the cruse was actually going to look like American Graffiti. I was under the impression that the two streets were going to be billetproof only and we'd actually have free run. When I saw, monster trucks, hydraulic cars, muscles cars, ranch trucks with bails of hay and mini vans I was kind of let down. I read the Chop Tops reply to Monster and understand now why my vision of the cruse is not possible. But I'm sure I was not the only one who misunderstood about the cruse.<o></o> <o></o> And now that I understand the limitation of what is possible and how many strings were pulled just to get this cruse planned, I've got to hand it to you it was a bitchen show.<o></o> <o></o> Thanks for all your work and trying to make the show better each year. Thanks to all who entered their cars, I now have more photos than hard drive space.
Monster made some good points... The fairgrounds didn't even put up the event on their bulletin board until monday or tuesday, and the newspaper didn't put up any coverage either. HOWEVER, with the cruise this year I think that event coverage will be more significant next year. The sheer amount of money that found its way into local business pockets pretty much makes it a shoe-in. Lewis County isn't exactly rolling in dough, so to speak. A band at the courthouse? Wicked cool! Just a suggestion, how about asking the city to put up the Christmas lights in the park by the library and having the band there? They string white lights through all the trees every winter, it would look awesome with a band playing there...just a thought. I will be at the council meeting on tuesday (didn't know about this being on the agenda, so thanks for pointing that out Choptops) and I for one will speak up in approval of the cruise. ...and if one of those minivans happened to be a white Chrysler, that wasn't a look of terror on the passengers face, that was a perma-grin from having such a blast all day long!!! ...AND to Dynaflow8, if you don't have the dough for the entry fee next year, come on down anyhow, I'll cover it for ya! Nobody should miss out on such a well done, down home, unpretentious event. Thanks Choptops, you rock dude
I thought it was to be BP only cars as well at first, but that road is a major thoroughfare and didn't see how it could be "closed".... with it the way it was, made it REAL......I really dug the cruise as it was......some just need to slow down a bit....slow-n-low baby.... It was fun watching some of the locals not knowing what the hell was going on! Alot of kids with parents looked to be very surpised......and enjoyed it as well, from the waving and thumbs up.
i may be wrong but wasn't there a side road just over the railroad tracks? it seems like there HAS to be another way to bypass the locals around two or three blocks. i think in order to not get this taken away from us, we need to hold those accountable (window stickers and signatures) and the locals separate. i think this was the coolest thing about this years BilletProof. i felt that city and cops were extremely kind and understanding...
If you rerouted traffic over there it would be a nightmare. You'd be routing two lanes of free flowing traffic EACH direction onto a two lane road, also limiting crosstown access for those trying to go west. It'd take an army of flaggers and cops to make it work, and even then it'd be a publicity nightmare for the cruise. Centralia and Chehalis are unique in that both towns function of basically the same roadway...think of a really long town with only one true thoroughfare. Also, if you tried to separate the locals from the show folks, it would create a need for much more police presence, and that would detract from the desirability as far as the city would be concerned. A better solution is self policing, as far as speaking out when you see someone leaning out into traffic and egging people into shows of speed. If the Billetproof participants take care of their own, the local police will see this as a positive thing
I think Billetproof is a great show, I liked how laid back it was, but at the same time, it would have been nice to have had more going on at the actual show on saturday. I know some of you were sayin' "there were bands, vendors, and 650 cars, what more do you want?" Well, yeah there were bands, but you couldn't really hear them if you weren't near the stage, there were some cool vendors, kept me busy for a little bit, tons of cool cars, but as much as i love cool cars, i can't spend 6 whole hours doing nothing but looking at cars, and we made the rounds 2 or 3 times and looked at everything. In all reality I think the show would have been a lot better if it were in a different venue. I don't much like that fairgrounds, it was kind of a messy layout, and I didn't like that where we were parked felt kind of detatched from the rest of the show because we were behind a barn and the only place you could find some shade was inside a barn. It sounds like the pre-party, the cruise, and the camping were more fun than the actual show and I wish we could have stayed, honestly I don't know why we didn't, but it wasn't really up to me. And I understand that 75 miles is fairly short in comparison to what some people drove to get there, but I just barely made it home. Probably should have gotten my points replaced before we left, but I ended up driving the last 50 miles home on half my cylinders, and I was absolutely astonished that we made it. But anyway, I think it would be awesome if they held this at the gorge. Granted it would make a cruise more difficult since it's kind of in the middle of no where, but then the show could continue through the night without having to move and be set on some of the most gorgeous scenery in the northwest. That's just my opinion though. Boy I really wish we'd stayed for the cruise though.
The road in question on the otherside of the tracks is limited and with the amount of freight/passenger trains rolling through town would be a further hazzard. Remember those local folks who might not have been fully informed but did venture into town Sat. night and saw the amount of cars we were displaying will possible be "paying" spectators for future BilletProofs. As for trying to experience what many of us actually did in the late 50's and early 60's in todays world I would say last weekend was pretty close, it's just that the mix of today's daily driver's (SUV,4x4) are very different from 45 years ago.
okay, maybe it woudn't work BUT, i'm only suggesting to re-route the ONE of the one way streets not both, and only for a couple blocks or so. so you re-route the incoming traffic to the railroad street (yeah i'm really good with names) and that's it...they just go around three or four blocks. the other one way (coming back) would stay the same. okay, it sounds good in my head i live in a town that's very similar. a one way street coming in, and a one way coming out. and i see your point about added police/flaggers, that could make it very difficult. all i'm saying is the ricer cars, and new model cars GOT to go!
If people didn't have enough to do in Centralia/Chehalis I can't imagine how bored they'd be over in George The highlight would be what, driving to Vantage to go to the minimart, or over to Liberty to have a (gag) hamburger at what best can be described as the "Diner that time forgot"?
59. something miles down I-5 and either 10 bucks to get in the gate or 35.00 as as a participant for the weekend are too "far" and too "Much". I just wish I had one run that was more than a one day event with a reasonable entry fee with in an hour. Vintiques NW and Cool Desert Nights are the closest multi day events to me. 25 and 70 miles. Both have higher entry fees and Cool Desert nights is an "open" event in the big middle of a strip maul parking lot. I would have happily drove my daily the 175 miles one way from my house to the fairgrounds to get to see the cars if I had had the day off and be home so I could be to work at 0430 on Sunday. As for the Cutoff Year model at events. It's been my experience in the past 38 year of attending car events that the "street machine" brigade doesn't really fit in with the guys with the older rods and customs. Where we are more into how "cool" are cars are they are more into how "fast" their cars are and the rickyracers off the sidelines with their mullet Camaros and honked Hondas don't fit in at all except to get the whole thing shut down with their actions.
The Jalopy Journal
