It was a spur of the moment decision to attend the "Kruizin the Heartland 2005" in Lawrence Kansas last weekend. Big Daddy put the word out on the HAMB a week or so before it all happened and some of the local Omaha area guys said they were gonna try it out....I was looking forward to attending. This was a first-time event and the profits were gonna go for a charity. I'm sorry, I plumb forgot which one. The event was billed as having plenty of rockabilly music to listen to and cars to check out... Lawrence is 201 miles from my front door, as mapquest said and that seemed like a great trip to test out my new rope-type rear main seal installed in the old flathead 6 engine residing in my 41 Pontiac. I'd been studiously ignoring the rear main seal leak since I'd gotten the car a year and a half ago but the drippage was generating some unwanted attention from Mrs Rocky. Last fall, I had the driveway replaced with shiny new, white concrete and the Poncho oil wasn't welcome on it's pristine surface at all.... Last Friday, after work, I slid behind the wheel of the old black business coupe and set sail for a weekend of Rockabilly-style fun. The trip went without much drama with the exception of having to squint through one eye for awhile after my pain pills and muscle relaxers kicked in......I'm fighting a re-occurance of a 10 year old back injury and forgot how strong the medication was. After pulling off to scarf down a cheese burger and a coke, my head was clear and I blew into Lawrence about an hour before sunset. It was chilly! Before I had left Omaha, Mrs Rocky asked me if I remembered to pack long pants and a sweatshirt or jacket.. "Yes dear", my standard answer for any question seemed to pacify her before I made my escape. Well, it was a good thing I threw in my old blue work jacket because the temps were in the 40's when I pulled into the Holiday Inn parking lot. The lot had a fine array of old tin and before I got the engine shut off, I hear "HEY ROCKY!".........it was Roger Jetter [40 Stude Dude] and his brother, Dan calling out. They'd driven Dan's 54 Caddy mild custom and they said it had just finished raining before I arrived. NO wonder it was so damned cold! We hung around and met some other Coloradans from the Denver area, checked out the cars in the lot and caught up on news since we hadn't really talked to each other since the HAMB drags... I crashed early and since the Holiday Inn was full when I made reservations, I was quartered in the Hampton Inn about 1/4 mile from the headquarters, Holiday Inn...... The next day, we followed the posted signs out to the ***embly area in a big ol gr***y field. There was electricity for the vendors and band insturments. Yeah, band insturments. This weekend wasn't just about rods and customs. NO sir, not by a long shot! There was mucho music to enjoy all weekend and a mini swap meet {I bought a pair of 14" Torque Thrust clones from Carkiller] plus about 6 or 8 parts vendors for new stuff......... Yeah, it was small but this was the first year for this event. I don't know how many cars showed but I'd guess somewhere between 75 and 100 rods and customs. The weather was perfect! Musta been in the mid 70's with sunshine spilling out everywhere. The rockabilly bands fired up and people were milling around, renewing old friendships and starting new ones. This was a full-blown social event! Some simple observations by myself were startling. One whole row of cars parked in the field were from the Omaha/Council Bluffs area. While this wasn't startling to me, it was a little surprising. What WAS startling was about 2/3rds of this group of cars were cars I'd never seen before! And I live in the Omaha area! Have for 25 years....Omaha just ain't that big, either....WTF???? To compound my surprise, there was a well represented Omaha car club I'd never even heard of there! [Kudos to The Road Burners] Must have been 10 member cars with club plaques, a club banner.......the whole enchilada. Man, I gotta get out more.......... Saturday evening, we took over the Holiday Inn ballroom and drank adult beverages while listening to 5 or 6 different Rockabilly bands play while the more adventurous and energetic danced their brains out. Gotta say.....the Mezcal Bros kicked *** that night. They rocked.......plain and simple. Uhhhhh, not being a rabid music fan and watching the "scene" from the sidelines, I didn't join in with the tattoos, 50s and 60s dress and hairstyles but it was fun to see... I never saw so many tattood people in one setting......it was cool... I went to the event for the cars and took photos of cars....nothin else and I wish I'd taken more photos of people but I didn't... Without further fanfare.............some of the cars I liked there.....
This is the first time I saw my ol' buddy, Larry's 41 ford sedan delivery. I didn't think much about it for about 3 minutes but something about this car seemed "odd"...then it struck me.........the OFG's know what I'm talkin 'bout....
Since 've been attending hotrod stuff in the midwest, I've seen Roger Ward's fine work many times, sometimes in the magazines. Never having met the guy, I always wanted to but he is a big-name guy and I'm nobody! What would I say? Welp, I just walked up to him, stuck out my hand and introduced myself. The guy was very nice to talk to and turns out, he's a good friend of Choprods who was also in attendence at the event, along with his Brother, Scarliner. . They've collaborated on many car builds. In fact, Kenny sold Roger this fine '64 chevy when it was a lowly farm truck..... 4 words: It Is Nice! The End.........
Can I add my thirteen cents here, Rocky? It WAS good to see you again...enjoyed the little time we spent together... I chatted briefly with "Big Daddy" on Sunday morn and asked about the car count...98 cars...which isn't bad for a first time event...next year it should be bigger and better as the show portion of the event was on GR***...not asphalt...that alone has to be worth something! The bands/groups that played on Friday, Saturday, Saturday nite and Sunday noon were: Paulie Bluenote & The Dukes, The Rumble-Jets, The Cowtown *******s, The Silvermen, and Little Rachel (and she is tiny, with a BIG voice!!!)...Of course, as ol' Rock said, the headliners: The MezCal Brothers, blew the joint away (and I'm not that much into Rockabilly!!!) Saturday nite. They were that good! I, in particular, liked The Silvermen, so much so that I bought their CD and listened to it Sunday evening, in the rain, as we approached ColoRODo about 11:30 PM. Kept me awake! We did get home on Sunday evening at Midnight, Rock, as we decided to motor on home instead of spending another nite in a motel! For those of you that missed this one...this should turn into a bigger event...and plan on the second next May!!! R- Sonny Rogers' Flamed '60 out of Independence, MO Flames...on a '60 Studey Wagon? Yep, belongs to Shawn Spiwak of KC,MO Gary Jordison of Lamoni, Iowa, owns this '31 Ford Steve Martin (no, not THAT Steve Martin) of Foristell, MO owns this '39 Plymouth coop that sounded like a fuel dragster. **** Brown of Sioux City owns this flamed '57 Ford!
Damn, I wish I would have made time to get over there, just didn't fit my schedule this past weekend. In the earlier post about this event, I did mention that the Mezcal Bros. kicked ***, glad to see it isn't just me. I will be there next year for sure, is the date going to be Memorial Day, or different? Any one know. Farmall
Farmall......while at this event, the Roadburners of Omha slipped flyers of their upcoming event into everybody's cars. It's gonna be in Beatrice, Ne and the Mezcal Bros will be the top act. If you're interested in a roadtrip to southern, central Nebraska for another rockabilly weekend, let me know and I'll post the dates and times....info is not with me at this time but I'll have access to it later today......Rocky
You took the words right outta my mouth. I wisht I coulda been there. Looks like a swell time. Glad the weather was nice too. Thanks for the write ups and pics guys!!!
Hey Rocky & Roger, It is good to hear that you guys made it back OK. Thank you guys for making this wannabe feel part of the gang................ The show will end up being a highlight of the summer. I could not believe all of the kool Kustoms and Hot Rods and the bands were killer. I'll never have the time to run out to Paso and thankful to the Pharoahs I'll have a place to go on Memorial day weekend. Great Job guys!!!!! Happy Trails, Mick
Man, I wish I would've stopped at Lawrence to check this out instead of going on to Topeka to see the NHRA circus. (My buddy and I got a free Mother Nature bike wash on the way from KC, then we dried out in another buddy's truck waiting for it to stop raining so we could go in and get our nitro fixes. Too much money for only being able to see one qualifying session. This was my last year going to Heartland Park -- I make a lousy spectator now that I've been a crew dude.) So when's the next KtH? How about a 2005.5 version?
glad that every one had a good time and a good trip home. I think the drive with the fellow hotrodders made the weekend almost perfect. I tried to introduce the Road Burners on the HAMB a while back, but got interupted by the 'great HAMB crash of 05'. I really wish I could have had my coupe there to re-introduce the Road Burners. The Road Burners would like to invite everyone to join in on a cruise to Beatrice , Ne to enjoy an evening with the Rumblejets and the Metzcal bros. Dont expect a car show trophy , just a cruise, cool cars, and some great music . August 20 is the day to burn up some road miles with the Road Burners. This should be a good pre - meeting to the Hamb Drags, sorta a shake down cruise. jeff
It was a great show and I was amazed at this bein their first show there....Rockabilly Music was killer-as I like any music that has talent and includes musical notes -Missed the Sat nite festivities but I will return to their next one for sure! If the Meztcal Bros are one tiny smidgeon better than the Silvermen,I'd Damn sure love to have stayed......I had some probs[fuel pump diet uptown on way out] and was rescued by Blackmerc[Brad] and PontiacGuy[Willy] from St.JosephTTTTTHHHHHAAAANNNKKKKSSS!!!! and they not only saved me from sleepin in an alley but -SLED -******ed me to St.Joe on my way home....It was about 240 miles one way from home-rained on me [NO TOP]from Lawrence to stJoe /then smooth sailing for the last 140 miles at 75MPH in the dark!!!
What??? Brad [Blackmerc] was there? I didn't see him. His merc is just plain bad-***! Here's a photo of it from the KCS&P....
Either that or it was their Bizarro world clones-OR- SLEDDER-ANGELS either way I was DAMN glad they spotted me!
Hey I saw Blackmerc on the way to the show. He was pulled over helpin his buddy with 40's chevy custom. The culprit was a blown oil pressure gauge line, easy fix. They showed up at the show a little later. That is one bad***ed merc, along with a very cool chopped chevy.
Rocky - Well written! It was a great time! Wish I could have stayed all day, but the kids were wore out by 3. I got some good pics and met some great people while I was there, though. Can't wait for the next one! Anybody got plans to go to the Greaserama in Sept? Not quite as big, but still a fun show.
41 Commercial all looked the same as 40 therefore this one looks like a 42-48 Delivery with 41 car front sheet metal. Neat lookin vehicle. Im not a fan of the color but the car is cool. I wish i didnt already have plans for memorial day weekend next year or id be there. looks like a fun time. Nick
I have to agree on the chop on that way chopped shoebox. I think that car needed that wicked chop to show the people in this area that 3 inches really isnt enough, maybe 7.5 is too much for your taste. That car really has the 'look' while it is going down the road.
Nice chronicle, Rocky. Little events are super *****in'! I dig your buddy's '41 'delivery.' I used to wonder why Ford didn't grace the '41 SD with a p***enger-car-based body and front clip like they did the '40, but that didn't happen until '42. The updated real-Ford '41 SD is nice, a little retro compared to the '40 maybe, but your pal's shoulda-been '41 commercial looks wondermous and sets matter right! Mike
Hey , there was a cool 64 rivi at that show. It is black with a silver flaked roo and scallops.. Does any one have any pictures of it ? I would love to see some pics posted of any rivs. thanks. jeff
you guys sure do like your flamed paint jobs out there eh Its so intresting to me to look at the pics from shows in diffrent parts of the country and see the styles that change. Kick *** story and great pics sounds like this show may be one thats worth the drive.
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