Mopar Nationals

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Not taking a car this year but I'll be there on Friday. Family get-together Thursday in Columbus.
 
They don't mail to Canada anymore. We have to pick it up at the track.
Heading down on Thursday morning.
 
the usual suspects will be there

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4spd340Swinger said:
Found out they never received the check I mailed. Thanks USPS for your great service!!!!
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Stolen checks have become a big problem. A new revenue stream for organized crime. You should immediately follow up with your bank, and maybe stop payment. A few weeks ago, my buddy sent two checks totalling a few hundred dollars. Mailed inside the post office. They were stolen, altered, and cashed for several thousand. He's working with Postal Inspectors and Navy Federal Credit Union. He thinks he'll probably get refunded, but it's been a huge hassle.

Don't send checks through the mail, the post office is warning. Criminals are stealing more than ever.

U.S. Postal Service warning users against sending checks through the mail

*Edit - but like Gunbunny says, don't put it past Belinda being a putz.
 
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Anyone know how the spectator parking is? Are my low hanging headers going to be a problem? I'm trying to decide whether or not to drive the Dart, just for the drive, not for display. I wish there was better information on the website. National Trail Raceway still has 2022 information up. I would like to buy spectator tickets ahead of time and can't find anything about that.
 
Siksty7 Dart 270 said:
Anyone know how the spectator parking is? Are my low hanging headers going to be a problem? I'm trying to decide whether or not to drive the Dart, just for the drive, not for display. I wish there was better information on the website. National Trail Raceway still has 2022 information up. I would like to buy spectator tickets ahead of time and can't find anything about that.
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You could find a decent spot if you either try to get into the area to the left side of the racetrack (used to have judged cars there) or the lot going that buts into the main gate. There are good drive area and pretty smooth parking available as long as you don’t go too far off the road into the field. I’d stay out of the lot across the street from the track.
 
So other than the fact that I had to spend 5 hours at my car because you have to be there when the judges do their thing, It was a good first day for the Mopar Nats! The judging really is very thorough and they start by making sure that your car actually runs and then do a safety check (all the lights, brakes, etc) Then they really looked the car over thoroughly and asked lots of questions. Since I'm in Modified they wanted to know from me what all the modifications were, which was good because a lot of it was steering, suspension, frame stiffening, the A500 trans, the engine build, all of which is pretty invisible to a casual inspection.

The other cool thing was that this golf cart pulls up and an older (late 70s?) guy with gray hair gets out and starts really going over the car and asks some questions. He pulls out a camera with a big lens and takes some photos, comes over and says he'd like to take some interior shots, so I open the door. The way the car was parked the steering wheel is cranked about half way so he asks if I can straighten it for some more pics. He says he really likes the car and the story of our, now 5500 mile, road trip to get to the Nats and wants to ask me some more questions and record the story of the car and the trip. I finally asked him if I should know him, since he looks vaguely familiar, and it's Cliff Gromer (sp?, sorry) the editor of Mopar Action Magazine (the best of the bunch, IMHO). So we sit and shoot the breeze and I tell stories from our trip and he asks questions. It was really fun. Here's a picture I took of him with my car. He was a really personable guy, not snooty at all (like other magazine folks that I have talked to). Made my day!

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HemiDenny said:
the usual suspects will be there
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So I was mostly tied up with the judging process, but I did take a lap of what was going on after 2pm and never did find Butch Leal's cars (or Butch). Where is that set up so I can find him tomorrow???
 
str12-340 said:
So I was mostly tied up with the judging process, but I did take a lap of what was going on after 2pm and never did find Butch Leal's cars (or Butch). Where is that set up so I can find him tomorrow???
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It’s over by the tower at the top of the track. Big white tent. Can’t miss it
 
So for those on the fence about going, I’ve gone since 2011 and then skipped a year or two, then every year now since 2015. Always on Friday. This year was by far the busiest I’ve seen in it since probably 2016 when they debuted the Hellcat thrill rides(which aren’t at the Nats this year). The swap meet was definitely bigger than last year which was bare bones in my opinion. The number of racers probably doubled last years. The fun field and Mopar parking areas were all packed. Even the parking lot by the swap meet(where I always park) was actually full by noon. Lots of folks I talked too were planning on hitting the Heath Cruise tonight so hopefully everyone has a good and safe time. Can’t wait for next year. There WILL be a new A body on the grounds…
 
Just an FYI, the man who bought and restored the very last A-Body, an '81 Brazilian Dart Coupe (Swinger) will be roaming the show. AG (Alexander) Badolato, from Sao Paolo, the Jay Leno of Brazilian Mopars! He has over a hundred Darts most are beautifully restored.

https://www.youtube.com/c/agbadolato

If you see him tell him One Car Mopar says Hi from York, PA
His collection is really impressive!

In Brazil, the 1966 Ford Galaxy, 1971 Mustang, 1969/1974 Dodge Dart, and the Ford F-Series pickup continued to be produced for many years after their body styles were discontinued in the North American market, and were given makeovers and improvements along the way.
 
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dukeboy_318 said:
It’s over by the tower at the top of the track. Big white tent. Can’t miss it
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Thanks - with that info I found it today, had a nice talk with both Butch and Pappas (SP?) of Missile fame. Location was kind of obscure which made it possible to have time to talk without a line of folks waiting. I got the book on Butch Leal and got him to sign it - already had time to look through it and there lots of really cool info.

Got a first place in A-body Modified - Not that big a deal with only 2 cars in the class. I enjoyed the event and talked to lots of people, but in reality the car show was pretty weak for a "National Event". I'm looking forward to getting (from one of the judges) his list of Mopar Only events nationwide! Maybe the FABO multitude can help him add ones he doesn't know about. I also got some leads on more cool long distance road trips from folks who stopped to talk about our trip this year, SCORE!!!
 
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