Thats great Ryan good man, funny I was unable to make trog but I am also leaving wed. For a husband wife vaca first in many years, enjoy your trip John
Turn out was big We parked at a grade school and rode the bus down to the beach but I saw people headed to the event on foot from the middle of town. Old fart with bum knees and a wife who doesn't like to walk far that was out. Not much dirt to make mud even in the "dirt" lot where the cars staged before the race and we took most of the photos of the race cars and bikes. Probably 90% sand in that lot. The great part was seeing cars that I have seen in magazines since I was 12 and started reading rod magazines. Walking around a rig and there was "Old Dad's" roadster big as life and twice as cool. Had to work at holding the camera steady for that. Rain and big crowd or not I had a blast. The couple standing next to me thought they were going to have to call the paramedics when I started to leave the barracade where I had been leaning and propped up taking photos for over two hours though, my knees really didn't want to work right for the first ten feet after being still for that time period.
great that you will be having some vacation time - next year TROG West, on a sunny weekend with low tide, will really be packed with racers/spectators
TROG WEST 2016 was cold, wet, and a bit dissorganized due to the weather yet was still the most AMAZING Hot Rod event I have ever witnessed in my life!!
Hi Ball & Chain I sure would like to know more about the Black speedster in your first shot, what a great looking car DND
There have been a handful of days in my life when I felt like I was smack dab in the middle of hot rod history being made. Saturday was one of those days. What really blew my mind was watching the whole event move around to accommodate the havoc the king tide had wreaked early in the morning. Yeah...the weather sucked, the light sucked, everyone was soaked, I probably killed one of my cameras...none of us cared. It was truly a surreal day watching some of the most historic and properly built hot rods and bikes used the way they were intended. And I've never seen people have more fun at a "car show."
Great time was had by all! I was a little sad that my car did not make the cut but as a spectator I had a blast! I didn't talk to one rain soaked fan that was upset with the event. Could the weather have been better? Sure! But what do you do when mother nature gives you lemons? High light of the day was my ride into the pits on the running board of the "Not Your Fathers Root Beer" truck with General Gow and Crazy Uncle Harry. What a blast! https://www.facebook.com/mctim64/videos/pcb.10211035034738815/10211035022898519/?type=3&theater https://www.instagram.com/p/BLrGikthw0i/?taken-by=burbankchoppers @Royalshifter @general gow See you all there next year!
Living only a short 3 hours away it was absolute torture not being there. I tried I begged, and honestly as a responsible adult I just couldn't do it this year. and come Saturday morning I still almost just bailed and went anyway. So that being said as soon as the calendar for next year is released I will mark it down. Social Media has been torture as well. as much as I love seeing the great photos I cant help feeling completely jealous that I was not there.
Holy shit... like two or three times the crowd I saw at TROG a couple of years ago on the East coast...
Pictures look great but it looks like it would be a kind of crappy event for spectators if you were not in the first one or two rows of people.
As I posted on another thread, only got to take a couple quick photos on the way in Saturday before manning the Hop Up booth. Dave Shuten knowing how to make an entrance in the historic Edelbrock Special. In line in John Gunsaulis 32 Phaeton following Jay Cavello in the Hop Up Magazine Special T. Justin Baas' T finished the night before! and sounding tough! Had a great time seeing old friends and making new friends from all over the world. I can't even imagine how crazy it would have got with better weather.
Yeah it looks insane. My Instagram feed and even the explore tab have been nothing but trog west for the last few days and I'm not complaining. Looks like a lot of nice cars and not so many thrown together quick cars. Oh,and the Kustoms display. holy cow the kustoms display!
Really considered coming down to Pismo but could not pass up an offer from my longtime Bakersfield pal, a plane ticket ( on him) for the CHRR this weekend, from the weather report should be much nicer than the weather you guys experienced. Speaking purely as a long distance (and dry) spectator; I would say the crappy weather made for a great backdrop for the actual beach race photos, thanks so much to everyone that endured and posted photos.
One of my favorite photos from the event: Brian @Bass and his #199B Deuce Roadster Image by Marc Gewertz (@Church's brother)
There's been some amazing threads, posts, images and videos shown of this great event and I have loved them all. Here's my little tribute piece, borrowing a few images from some of those posted. As someone else said, 'History In The Making'. Geoff aka whodaky
Ryan- You are correct. Despite the lousy weather, the crowd was much larger than the East Coast version, according to Lars who has ran at both events... Quality of cars were absolutely fantastic, and if I had to go home after just walking the staging area parking lot I would have been happy!
Right after these guys shook hands the guy on the right got down on one knee and proposed to his girl with red bandana....brought a tear to my wifes eyes! Sent from my SCH-I535 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app