MCA National Show, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Labor Day weekend 2002.

    The MCA put on a show at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC Labor Day weekend, August 29-Sep 1, 2002. Although it's a long drive from Florida (650 mi.), we figured it would be a great place for a show, especially a National one, so we planned to bring our '86 and '93. Leaving Tampa the Sunday before, all went well until we stopped on the other side of Orlando where I promptly succeeded in locking myself out of my '86..DOH!! A quick phone call and 2 hours later I was on my way with the correct door key which was sitting back at home. After stopping for the night and imbibing on several cold ones, we hit the road the next day bright and early (11 AM) and made it 30 miles into GA where my '86 promptly died along I-95. It was of course raining and it's never fun trying to diagnose troubles by the side of major highway with semi's wizzing by you at 80 MPH. A call to AAA and a tow brought me to A1 Auto Repair in Brunswick where it was determined the coil was shot and a new one was installed which put us quickly on my way (Thanks Hammer!).

    All went well for about the next hour when the car died again; pulled over, lifted the hood..Holy S---, this time the coil was actually smoking!! I knew there was more to meet this story than meets the eye. Closer inspection revealed a break in the primary wire which had grounded out when I hit a hard bump, frying the second coil of the day. A quick trip up the highway in the '93 netted us TWO new coils and an ignition module (just in case). With wires taped up, we went up the road, stopped for the second night (this is normally a 8 1/2 trip to Charlotte), and partook in several more cold ones.

    Tuesday we got up bright and early (10 AM) and made it to within 10 miles of our hotel when the second car called me on the radio, "Hey, there's sparks coming from underneath the car!". Pulling off the next exit, I couldn't believe it...the alternator pulley had actually sheared itself off! The belt was trying to turn it and it was hitting the bracket, throwing sparks everywhere...unreal! Anyway, a trip up the road in the '93 netted us a new alternator and belt and an hour later we were in our hotel, you guessed it, having many more cold ones this time!!

    Well, after the trip up I figured, the bad luck must be behind us..except it hadn't rained in Charlotte for almost 2 months, and you guessed it, Friday and Saturday RAIN! If one more person told me "well, we need the rain...". At this point I gave up, and just decided to have fun. Anyway, enough of my tales of woe.

    Although the weather was wet Friday and a washout Saturday, this didn't stop over 500 Mustangs and 11 SSP's from making it a great event. Some of the highlights included track cruises both Friday and Sunday, vendors and manufacturers from all over, dinner Saturday night with keynote speaker Jack Roush, and of course show cars! There were cars in all classes with pristine examples of GT's, Cobra's, 428's, 429's, you name it. The awesome GT-40 was there, as well as some great Roush vehicles.

    11 SSP's made the show from states all over - including Florida(2), Ohio(1), Indiana(1), Maryland(1), Pennsylvania(1), Massachusetts(1), Kentucky(2), North Carolina(1) and Texas(1)! It was a very nice group, with some excellent examples of restored and semi-restored vehicles, stock and non-stock. There were SSP cars ranging from 1986-1993, with 6 FHP cars, one Winter Park, FL, 1 Kentucky State Police, 1 Texas DPS, 1 NYSP and of course yours truly's 1986 Fire Chief vehicle! Capt. Kelly McCloud of the Kentucky State Police brought his '90 car which

    Although the weather kept a damper on things, everyone managed to make the most of it. Friday night most of the group did several laps on the track cruise, got a couple of nice group shots (of course we missed it!) then got together for a dinner where everyone finally got to meet and have a few beers (we didn't miss that!). It was nice after all this time with only the internet as the common bond to match people up with their cars. Saturday it rained all day, and rained hard...After checking out the vendor stuff umpteen times($200 NOS certified 140 MPH speedo anyone?) we gave and headed back to the hotel for a few more beers with plans to get up bright and early Sunday, hoping for a bit brighter weather. And Sunday, ah Sunday.....

    Although it didn't rain Sunday, it was still dreary, but that didn't dampen anybody's spirits thanks to a semi-dry track. The track cruise was scheduled for 10:30 AM with almost 200 cars and 10 SSP's signed up. Carol Barker and Alan Middlebrook from MCA asked if we would like to lead the individual processions of cars, in groups of about 10 around the track, one SSP in front, 1 in rear. Not only did the group get to do a cruise with all 10 cars together, we got to run again with each group of cars, taking turns by 2! And if that wasn't enough, Motor Trend TV was there filming a video for an upcoming show, so they requested a shot with all the SSP's chasing a red Shelby Cobra around the track..He took off, and eveyone went after him, lights, sirens..I have to see that show!!

    I think when it was all said and done, I ran almost 25 laps on the speedway in each of my 2 cars during about 2 hours - not bad for 10 bucks!! Thank God I remembered to get gas first! Needless to say, everyone was happy to volunteer, and it made the whole trip, including mechanical breakdowns, hangovers and rain well worth it!

    This was a great event, regardless of the weather. Most of the group took home very nice trophies from Saturday's car show, the MCA folks went out of their way to put on a great show, and how often do you get to drive your SSP on one the premier NASCAR tracks? If anyone is considering the 2004 show in April, don't miss it- you won't regret it.

    Here's a sampling of photos from the event. Many others took photos and I hope to have more so please check back!

10.06.02 - Added some great shots, Thanks to Don Brink and Scott Castle for their help!

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