Event Coverage RPM Nationals 2019 - photos

We made it to the RPM Nationals this year, it was a good trip. I took Friday off from work and the wife and I loaded up the 47 coupe and cruised up to Atascadero and got a room at the Carlton Hotel, nice place! A little higher end than we normally would do, but we took no vacation this year, so I decided to splurge a little, and the wife loved it!

Here's the coupe before we left, the trunk is loaded with bags, ice chest, folding chairs and umbrella's for shade.
About 6 hours later we pulled up to the hotel. Traffic was heavy through LA as usual, but when we hit Santa Barbara it came to a stand still, we crept along at a walking pace for probably 45 minutes, until I couldn't take it any longer, and the car had just about had it too, as the temp gauge kept creeping up & up and was pushing 220, time to get the hell off the fwy and take side streets, which weren't any better at first, but finally we broke out of the traffic and the Waze app routed us up some really cool old roads on the back side of SB I'd never been to, and we finnasly broke out onto Hwy 154 up past Lake Cachuma. It was a really nice drive, and the car loved that hwy.

So the traffic in SB killed our time, but when we pulled up to the hotel there was this very cool 59 Lincoln parked there, and the old guy driving it was unloading his luggage. I thought it was another guy going to the RPM Nationals. The driver and I exchanged looks and nodded at each other. I parked in front of him and went inside to check in, and as I passed him while returning back to my car I say him carrying a guitar case, I looked at him again, and holy crap, it was Neil Young! Seriously, it was him. He was going incognito, but I have no doubt it was him. I didn't want to bug him, but I did talk to him, just to ask him where he thought the best to place was to park the cars for the night. He told me he sometimes just leaves his car on the street in front of the hotel. So that's what I did too. I moved my car and parked behind him, after getting permission from the front desk.

Here is Neil's Lincoln:


He was gone before day break in the morning.

This 37 coupe was also parked in the hotel parking lot:


Here's the 47 in front the next morning before we took off for breakfast.

Alright, so much for details about the trip, let's get into some photos from the event.

 

This next roadster is pretty well known. You might not recognize it because of the shading due to the low sun angle:


This next one will give it away for sure:

 

This next one, I got a chance to talk to the owner about it. He called it the Snyder Special. It was homebuilt on a 39 Mercury chassis, with an Old's power plant but the 39 trans & rear axle.

 

That's Tim McMaster's (@mctim64 ) sweet little red TV8. He did very well on the track. I have a bunch of action photos I haven't gone through yet, I'm sure I have some of him in action I'll post later.

The return road line up, these guys have already made their first pass and are lining up to go again. Those front 2, the roadster and the RPU ran well all day.

This roadster ran very well too. I guess he had just competed with it at TROG on the east coast, then brought it all the way west to run it here.

 

I haven't gone through my action shots yet, I'll post more when I get the chance.

 

A lot of nice cars. Thanks for the pictures.

 

Good stuff! Thanks for the pics!

 

Excellent, thanks for posting !

 

Nice thanks for sharing

 

Pretty cool! Thanks for sharing!

 

Nice job with the photos, thanks.

 

Thanks for the coverage.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

That Neil Young Lincoln is electric powered, built by Brizio.

 

Thanks for sharing your adventure!

 

Thanks for sharing! It was a great time for sure. I made it all the way to the last round then was soundly beat by Rich Roberts in his Red 32 #11 car. I'll be back next year with more for sure.

 

That's a little disappointing....

 

You were running good all day Tim, but yeah, that 32 roadster was not only beautiful but quick!

 

Looks like a fun event, thanks for the pics.

 

very Cool - Thanks

 

Good thing I didn't end up going with you , Richard...I would have embarrassed the crap out of you in front of Neil...one of my all time rock heroes. That Lincoln is pretty interesting, if not very traditional. Read about it a few years back. Biomass turbines for engine and battery charging. Damn hippie anyway... Great pics of some of the action, glad you and the misses had a good time!

 

Thanks for sharing, pics

 

Ahhhh, so it's not a plug in electric, it has turbine's charging batteries to power the wheels? Insteresting, OT for around here, but pretty interesting anyway.

Re Neil Young, dude played Woodstock with CSN&Y, and an incredible solo career. His Harvest album IMO is one of the best ever, I wore out the vinyl, it's a classic. Learned most of the songs on guitar too. But he's done far more than that still. One of the top rock artists ever for sure. But, you got to be cool around these guys Bob!

Hey man, it was a great road trip, fantastic weekend.

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Looked like a blast.

 

Here's some more shots, hope you all like:

 

All you photographers, sometimes you suck! Damn, this hurt, I thought what a great photo this would be, except that damn photog. And what the hell is he doing anyway, there is NOTHING down track or they wouldn't have let these guys run. WTF?????

@mctim64 sorry man, I coulda turned this into a great photo; but hey, he got the jump on you anyway.