Event Coverage Trog canceled

100% is. I am talking with friends there.

 

The PD there has always had a heavy presence for car events. The problem is once something happens, regardless of who did it, everyone suffers. I fell victim to it two decades ago during the boardwalk car show. A young kid ran his late model Mustang through the front door of the Wildwood diner. No one was hurt but it was game on for the PD after that and any car with non stock wheels or exhaust was getting a ticket for something.

The problem with the "flash gathering" last weekend was these cool young hipsters were literally throwing bottles at the Police cars as they approached the scene. So WTF does everyone think is going to happen?

 

I don't think it's an apology needed situation. I think we can all agree that the deaths are tragic. And not good for any aspect of the hobby. At least for me, that is so so obvious, that it doesn't even need to be mentioned. I was trying to just report on what is and did happen, because it's somewhat relevant as rumors of cancelation were ahead of trog happening do to the tuner take over thing.

Anyways..

as far as I took it all he was saying is he admires the punk rock attitude of these types of events. Not every one of these "take overs" results in deaths or even racing. He wasn't supporting what happened last week.

And what I would like to say, and this is where the Tuner Group Take Over is screwing up and admittedly hard to do in this scenario, but is also punk rock, is policing your peers. It has more to do with we'll police ourself subculture attitude, because fuck authority and ACAB and all that... But it also means holding your friends accountable. Which this H20i event failed to do.

One thing hot rodders have done, is create good publicity 70 years ago and get the tracks open and the safety safari and all that. That shit is important and unfortunately failing at the current moment.

 

It’s always the innocent who suffer from the a holes. Wildwood is a beautiful place but a poor place to enjoy driving your car.

 

I will report that there is some minor chatter of not returning to Wildwood in the future due to the nice welcome that the cops have given law abiding hot rodders...lots of tickets being handed out...but I do think Trog will live on. Even if not in Wildwood.

 

That's not going to change with a change in venue. The police breaking balls are all NJ State Troopers, not just Wildwood PD. They have jurisdiction all over the State, and if there is going to be a major car event in any shore town, there is going to be a huge police presence. I know of at least 2 guys that got tickets for a "broken windshield" and "unclear plates". A NJSP vehicle cut me off on Rio Grande Ave to light up a Acura that was filled with young guys. This reaction was predictable following what happened here last weekend. Whether that continues in perpetuity has yet to be determined. But I will say that the H20i event did serious damage to the automotive community as a whole from a PR standpoint, and that trust and good will will take years to rebuild. To the average citizen as well as to law enforcement, a car event is a car event is a car event. Check out this headline and article from NJ.com a couple days ago.

https://www.nj.com/cape-may-county/...r-rally-there-so-deadly-event-came-to-nj.html

It describes the H20i takeover as "muscle car mayhem". You can't get into a battle of semantics with the public who is ignorant of the nuance, and doesn't care to understand the difference. Your nailhead-powered Model A is loud, and so is that Honda with a fart-can, so they must be the same. The bottom line is that IF there is another TROG, it will require everyone to be on their best behavior to regain the trust of the people who have the power to take this all away.

 

We have entire coasts of cute beach towns. I"m sure one would be happy to host Trog and recieve the tourist money.....if new jersey wants to fuck around...they can find out...and lose all the money brought into the area by event attendees.

And yeah. I agree. Gonna take some work to "fix" this.

 

You got places that want this event,start making arrangements for next year...in fact there's 100 's here who live near you that should help.....

 

It could have been worse for the tuners. I'm reminded of Tecate, Baja California in 1959 when a large group of American bikers showed up to party during the running of the scheduled Los Anciano Motorcycle club Moto GP motorcycle races. Things got out of hand and there were biker drags down the main street of Tecate. The mayor tried to stop the mayhem and got run over for his trouble. That brought in the Federales with .50 cal machine guns set up in the back of flatbed trucks. Didn't take long for the outlaw bikers to head back to the US.

 

That's impossible...

 

I read some about H20i and it is in no way on par with the TROG event. H20i is an unsanctioned bunch of rowdy folks with a long track record of causing problems wherever they have met. TROG is well planned and works with the city. Hopefully the city will recognize that and allow them to stay in Wildwood.

 

'57 Joe this has been going on down there with the PD literally for decades. The H2oi is just the latest event to put any slightly modified car in there cross-hairs . We have videos of the chaos from the mid 90's and on. It was all shot from the second floor of the Ocean Air Motel on Ocean Ave. We knew the owners of the motel very well and would fill their off street parking lot with hot rods and muscle cars for every Spring and Fall boardwalk show. It was truly awesome to cruise the town at night. It was like a scene from American Graffiti. Hot Rods, Customs, and Muscle cars all cruising and having fun. Then as the night got later and folks retired to their Motels that's when the chaos started. Late model (for the time) fox-body mustangs, grand nationals and IROC Camaros started to show up, not for the show but to tear up the streets. The cops were having fits and couldn't keep up with the all the chaos going on. We'd sit out on the second story porch of the Ocean Air, drink beer, and egg them all on ( I know, I know, probably shouldn't of done it) We've still got a lot of videos from then too.

Anyway so the inevitable happens, a fresh young gun with his late-model Mustang slams into the entrance of the Wildwood diner one night. No one was hurt, but it was game on for the Local PD after that. The very next day I was cruising with a cop right behind me. As I made a right turn the Detroit Locker in the rear of my car took a few moments to unlock. It would drag the outside tire for a split second as I was making the turn and the tire sometimes would make a quick chirp. Cop immediately pulled me over. I said, Why did you stop me? cop replied, Cause you were doing a burnout. I Lol and said if I wanted to do a burnout that would not be a problem. I explained about the rear, how it works, and why the slight chirp they heard when turning under power. Cop didn't care, said they were going to write me for Reckless driving (5 point offense). I lost my shit and requested to speak with a supervisor immediately. Next thing you know a Police Sargent with tattooed arms on a Harley is riding up towards me on the sidewalk! He leans in my pass side window from the bike and says WTF is your problem? I plead my case and he instructs the officer to lower it to a careless driving (2 point offense) charge. I take my ticket and leave for home the next day. I had a friend pull a favor for me to get the ticket taken care of but I still had to appear in court. When I arrived at court the following month all it was was a bunch of O.F.'s in their car club jackets fighting made up tickets they had received from the show. Sad but that's been their MO for quite sometime.

 

37 years old and still a moron, off with his sack and may his future include many decades spent as a jailhouse bitch

 

if you want a TROG fix - from last year - look for the new (#115 Dec/Jan 2023) issue of Ol' Skool Rodz for great multi-page coverage

 

I didn't know ol skool rodz was still around. Is it better than it used to be?

 

Much. Really very little RR content, and overwhelmingly full of high quality builds and cars. If you're into this stuff you should subscribe.

 

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the mug shot of the 37-year-old "man" from Pittsburgh PA involved in the flash mob BS in Wildwood. Same old story nationwide. Every event or happening ends up the same way eventually.

 

Town takeovers by donut rubber smokers and the TROG event is the same thing to City Fathers and citizens. Today if it has to do with an automotive event they at frowned on and dreamed illegal. Low ridder take overs are watched closely by officers but since 99.9% of them even at at intersection happen at 2-3 mph with a “family” car on 3 wheels bringing $$$ into the neighborhoods for the most part given a pass but they are the only ones.
Cars and coffee events are usually owned by no one like in the case of Donut Derelicts in HB SoCal… illegal fire lane and blocking is about the worst part and everyone gone before the stores of the parking lot are even open. Burnouts are frowned on and somewhat controlled by participants.