Keeping IDIOTS out of Hot-Rod Events

We have a fantastic hot-rodding event here in NZ it is handsdown THE biggest event in NZ. it involves a fair bit of cruising on the friday and saturday nights.

In the last two years it has been killed off on the sat night by boy/girl-racers coming from a big city a couple hours drive from the event. The event is held in a sleepy town which goes off in the summer break and new years. This is their biggest money spinoff for the year so they want to keep it.

So I just got back from the event yesetrday and been reading posts on a forum here in NZ about the event. All the posts are negative about the wa---kers turning up and ruining it. This saturday night was destroyed and was effectively shutdown by the police because it got radically out of hand.

The event had attracted 10,000 plus young uns packed in groups of 2-4 in their souped up rice rockets to the Saturday night. Even though the event is touted as a 50's 60's style festival with preference given to American origin vehicles pre 1970, the f---kers still turned up and ruined it.

Now the organisers are talking about canning the event all together cos it is now just too hard to keep under control. What do you do there to keep your events exclusive, keep in mind it has to be kept on publc roads brcause the event plainly is too big for any fairgrounds or park.

any ideas?

 

I ***ume you're talking about the Beach Hop? That's a shame. I know a photographer that went over there to cover it for Street Machine. Hopefully he didn't waste any memory sticks on those ****heads.

It's an age old problem and one that I'm not sure can be answered.

Your event starts off nice and small, but everyone has a good time. They tell a few people, so they come along the next year. It might make it into a magazine, even more people show up... and so on.

Problem is, you need the numbers to make it viable, especially if the plan was always to be a large event with the GENERAL PUBLIC involved. You either somehow run the event with a closed gate and only let in suitable cars, but then that won't guarantee you don't get ****heads, or you just try to minimise the damage these twits might cause.

Of course, you could always run an 'Invite Only' event like the Pasadena Roadster Club Reliability Run... but then some people might get sooky if they don't get invited and start up a rival event.

I dunno... Shoot anyone that acts like a ****head???

 

The best advice I have is to work with the community. Make sure it is known that street racing is not welcome for ricers and rodders alike. If it is an organized event that makes some money, offer the community to pay some OT for extra police. Good luck!

 

It happens over in the UK too mate. Cruises have been ruined by these young ****ers coming along in their metric boxes and acting like total ****s.

They are the new 'PC' generation that has been produced by governments who train people that they are not responsible for their own actions, that there is always someone else to blame, and the result is that they have no respect for anybody or anything, not even themselves.

I think the only course of action is to have closed events, with security on the gates. Maybe the *****s will learn that they are not wanted.

 

I noticed that last year when I was there.

The Beach Hop is an awesome event. Better than most Aussie events.....

I do remember that we left the streets when the ****ers started turning up on the Saturday.

It'd be great to see all the rodders advised to stay away from the cruise strip after a particular time and then, BAM....free-for-all for the road worthies, breath-testing, etc by the cops. The police seemed pretty cool. They need to know the people causing the trouble aren't wanted by the rodders.

Closing off that main street between particular hours, too, perhaps?

 

Last year there was a show called "Cruize Fest Nationals" that got run off by a town about an hour north of me. Fighting, public intox and all kinds of stuff. Well, now it's coming to OUR town. It's a bunch of kids with rice (to each their own) and trouble seems to follow. We'll see how well it goes over.....

A few bad, ruin it for the good many!

 

Sounds to me like an exact repeat in history here......
Picture this.....
The date is 1952 in Small town, America. There is a group of hoodlums beginning to gather in gangs! The are wearing tight bluejeans, white tee shirts and leather jackets. They even have enough nerve to sew a patch on their backs with their Club names !
They spend all week in garages taking older cars, stripping them and finding ways to make them faster. They are now putting SBC in small 32 and 34 fords. It was a sin I tell you!
When the weekend arrives.... they gather their hotrods and shove off to the downtown area. Their engines are so loud they keep all the residents awake.
They race one another and also look for other hoodlums to race.
They aren't afraid to run any family car off the road to win.
I even heard they have intimated a group of stock Model A and T enthusiats by running them off the road when they were out for a cruise on a Sunday afternoon
We've been trying to figure out what to do these gangs ever since.

I guess your only recourse is to trailer your cars to this event and only get them out into the closed, invite only show grounds.

 

See if the local police will work with you on a closed street cruise. Open only to the years you designate. If they won't deal with you, change the date, see if you can't throw em off a little.

 

Talk to the city and have the police ticket the hell out of them. Then instead of fining them make the lil bas..d do comunity service. that way the city can get some good out of the bad and dady cant pay the fine

 

Flyin, that won't work. They just did that here at the SW Nats. Almost got a riot started. The cops actually caused more trouble than they prevented.

 

i hate ****ing terds. they always ruin it for everyone.

 

I knew the Japanese started sending their **** over here in the 50's!

This same town has hosted a VERY large Harley show for years.....they've never been run off. Hmmmmmm......

 

Some (most) of the trad shows here reserve the right to turn anyone away. Contact the orginazers of the show and suggest that. There s a European show that has raceing as part of their venue that doesn't let cars into the races that don't meet a certain criteria. IE they got to park outside and walk in. If the town is basically shut down for the show it would be a relatively simple s thing to make the tuner guys park at the outskirts and walk in.

I don't know if its something that gets done in your part of the world but you could discourage the tuner crowd by arresting them and impounding their cars if they get out of hand. Then the local constabulary not only gets the joy of screwing with the riff raff but they also have revenue.

There used to be a Bike run out to a little town out here in Kansas. After a long time it started to attract some unsavories (like me). In 1980 when things got out of hand the National Guard showed up and gave everyone about 10 minutes to get out of town. then they indiscriminatly began arresting the riff raff. Fines, impound charges, etc, etc. The town made a fortune off it, and those unsavories didn't ever come back.

 

Inviting the cops to come in makes it worse for EVERYONE. Cops think EVERYONE (except themselves) are criminals. Cops have a us versus everyone one else at***ude. They want to throw their weight around and be 'important'. Cops made their job choice because they are less intelligent than the general population and cant get a better job.

 

I know several cops, that that description DOES NOT apply to (I'm not a big fan of stereotypes anyway), but unfortunately, I also know a few that it fits PERFECTLY.

All I could suggest is to make it obvious that the "ricers" aren't welcome.

 

NOT TRUE at all, MOC...well, maybe it is where you LIVE...MOST cops around here are into cars...and own Chevelles, Camaros and street rods and kustoms...and go to local events.

I just got back from Moab, Utah...their 13th Annual April Action car show...happens on the park grounds, but the main north/south highway runs directly thru town...and that's where the real crusing takes place on Friday and Saturday nites...the cops, city fathers, business owners, and the whole town is well aware of how much money is spent in Moab on that weekend...over 700 car enthusiasts...(and a few hundred local idiots that want to show off) cruise from early afternoon until late at nite...

The local cops use bicycles to patrol the street, walk the streets a****st the crowd, have extra patrol cars and they even bring in the highway patrol to help keep the "noise" to a minimum...and they don't fool around: You do a burn-out on the main street, you just earned a ticket! Open containers of alchohol on the street, you get a ticket. Everyone that comes into Moab is well aware of this and the real car enthusiasts act accordingly...the majority of the tickets go to locals in their ricers or 4 wheel drives that "don't get it."

The city doesn't want to lose this cash cow...and they know how to control it...and the cops cooperate with the rodders by leading tours, blocking off streets for the show, even ******ing a tour of rodders out of town to see the sights...

NZRodder...work with the town's business owners and Mayor (or whatever you have there), ask them to pressure the cops for more support...one way to do this is to donate money or physical help to improve the city's parks...cash talks, ******** walks...it certainly worked in Moab!!!

R-

 

We have a great relationship with our local police in Mustang. We are a suburb of Oklahoma City, less than 20 minutes away. We donate the local FOP as a car group.(it's not a lot) THey appreciate the token, once a year donation. We get the respect and the option to handle our own traffic. It works for us. If we have a guy we can't get to abide by the rules, we call the law....they take care of it. We haven't had an incident in 8 years.

As a matter of fact, we had 2 off duty cops run the poker run last month. They commented on how well we ran everything. They said they were previously jaded with their idea of what a hot rodder was. That's all changed now.

 

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but a cop job is to make sure everyone's safe. If you're doing what you're supposed to (ie: not making an *** of yourself doing burnouts,hot runs, etc.) you should have no problems. El Jefe had to call the cops at Roundup and everyone that mattered thanked him for it-because we want to continue having our event. Tickets, fines and impounds work...

 

Amen Brother !

 

Set a new date...

Don't advertise the event to the general public. Keep it to the hot rod mags, forums and word of mouth.

It sounds too big.

Otherwise... you can find a nice cop who will talk the Mayor into opening up an abandoned air field for you kids to race on....

What? It worked in the movies.



JOE

 

yes but theres a fine line between what went on in 52 and now,at least back then the cars were cool looking even if the drivers were ebing ***holes,now its ooo look at me,while driving some lil import ****box.also its a whole different world now as car shows are more family oriented and attract billions more so somthings gotta change i mean even the Daytona bike week has its rules.This event in NZ sounds like its in danger to never happen becuase of these ***holes that are ruining it

 

we have an abandoned airfield around here I've seen a couple people tear up.




But I like this suggestion. maybe try to shrink it up some. Or lower the age of car from 1970 to 1962. You'll loose a lot of the high dollar muscle cars and high school kids doing burn outs in thier mustangs. Set a curfew. No cruising after such and such time...or like between such and such and such and such. Have police out there writing tickets. Write a couple hundred ricers tickets one year and they won't come back next year.

Or you could talk to the city about closing a certain part of town and setting up detours. Only cars under whatever year line you set or cars that are registered/have papers on the dash are allowed down the main strip of town after 9pm or something like that. Then the only people to blame if all hell breaks loose are the people participating in the cruise nights...you'll know who to go after.

 

"The date is 1952 in Small town, America." "They are now putting SBC in small 32 and 34 fords. It was a sin I tell you!"

The 265 came out in 1955, which SBC was it in 1952? A 215? I love it when history changes before your eyes for the sake of a story or a traditional craze.

 

The point is still the same. In the '50s, many hot rodders WERE the hoodlums. In the '60s, those newfangled "muslcecars" were terrorizing the citizenry. Now it's some of the tuner crowd. What goes around, comes around.

I beg to differ. The hot rods then were cool to those that were into them, but not the jeneral public, or to fans of, asy, restored cl***ics. They were simply what was available to go fast, cheaply. Modern cars are as cool to the people into them as the hot rods were to the people into them (and to the guys that still are.)

Hot rods weren't the best way to build fast cars back then, they were the only way to do it relatively cheaply. We look back on that era and say "that's the (in your case only) way it should be done" but they were doing what they did with what was on hand. And they weren't limited to domestic bodies, either. That's why we see Anglias, Topolinos, Austins, etc as hot rod shells.

I do agree, however, that the problem is more prevalent now with the whole generation of "not my respnsibility" youth that's been created (and the simply larger population in general). But you have to remember that just like us hot rodders, there's much more to the tuner crowd than the miscreants.

And trust me, the guys in the sport compact scene complain just as much about shows and events getting ruined by the troublemakers. It does seem that invitation only shows, or simply not having the bigger events, is the only way to totally eliminate the problem.

 

The key, I think, is how do you keep them away and still promote the sport? Many kids today only do what you and I did back in '55; they buy what they can afford, then spend more money in them as they can. Mine didn't come with wide whites, full caps, nosed, decked and naga interior. It came lookin' like every body else's '48 Chevy coupe except mine was chocolate brown for God's sake. First order of business was do the removal of chrome and apply paint.

The answer is to limit the year of manufacturer of the cars in attendance and also have the police take care of their business when it starts to get out of hand. Not many rice burners on the road in America dated pre-1972 and can't imagine it's any different where you are.

The leaders of the town need to decide if the revenues from the event in local business' pockets offsets the trouble they're having. If it offsets the trouble they will be more than happy, I'd think, to be more involved in the policing of the event.

Good luck and I hope we see many pictures of the show here on the HAMB after it's over this year.

 

I GOT IT...!!!



Get with someone BIG in the BlingBlingTwentyInchNeon-a-riffic crowd, and promote an event, FOR THEM, on the same day... far enough away that they won't come **** with you.

They just want to be loved...
Let 'em have their own circle-jerk... and they can love each other.

It's all about love, people....
... and deception ...



JOE

 

J dog is right, they're just misunderstood.....

 

Kiss my *** dweeb.

 

The little books I have contain letters written by the rodders of the day complaining that small groups of "squirrels" (jerks) sometimes ruin their events by acting up and attracting undue attention from the police and members of the community. The old timers in the forum could probably provide some insight here, but I'm guessing there was a big difference in at***ude between the rodders who organized drag races at the local airstrip and the "squirrels".

 

Now, Joe...
What did we just learn about love...?






JOE