7 Valley Street Rods Car Show 2018

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With a boat load of cars show under my belt all ready this summer this is one of my favorites. Yes I am a member of the 7 Valley Street Rods club, but this show gets better every year.

7 Valley club members have been doing this show for 29 years now, and it shows. People that visit this show are always saying that the club knows how to put on great car show. I agree. From the free pictures of your car, to the great food. This show has a lot to offer to both spectators and participants.

Hand made trophies are presented to some of the special award winners each year. We have a hard luck award, story car trophies, best custom, best engine, interior, etc. Along with the great looking trophies, participants can win door prizes as well as a hefty 50/50 prize.

During the show there is a silent auction going on with lots of great items to Bid on, and hopefully take home.

This years show started out with a touch of rain in the air. We were hoping this wouldn’t stop people from driving out for the show on Sunday. Well with over 220 entries I guess it didn’t discourage anybody from attending this popular car show. There were a good amount of vendors on hand this year. Pin-striping from Fine Line Customs were there striping and selling their cool products. Dustless blasting, crafts, automotive parts and more made up the growing vendor area.

As the cars roll onto the show area, there is music is playing in the background, and spectators are mingling among the cars. During all of this club members are working hard keeping everything running smooth. It takes a lot of effort from club members to put on a successful car show year after year. Members work through out the year to put on a quality show like this one.

During the show we all have jobs to do before, during, and after the show. Setup, food prep, food sales, parking cars, registration, selling tickets, judging, music, announcements, pictures, vendors, award ceremonies, and tearing down after the show. These are just some of the things that go on during our car show.

This year I noticed a lot of cars, and trucks that I haven’t seen before. It always great looking at new rides that people have brought out to our show for the first time. During the show I have been part of the set up crew and one of two people walking around talking to car owners about their cars, or trucks. I don’t have any problem talking cars to fellow car lovers, so this didn’t seem like work to me lol. This year I was able to read a story about a car, and its owner from the cars perspective. This was pretty cool and I think the show goers enjoyed it as well.

After the awards are all handed out we stand in line and say good by to everybody as they drive out of the park, now this is cool from both sides. I attend a lot of shows through out the year, and I must say for a homegrown show from a local car club this is top of the list. Proceeds from this show go to local charities each and every year.

Next year this show will be changing it’s location to Dwyer park in little York, NY. Please like 7 Valley Street Rods on facebook for more information. Seven Valley Street Rods

Thank you for stopping by, check out my video from This years 7 Valley Street Rods Car Show Automotive Lounge 7 Valley Show

Take care,

John

Norwich Car Show 18

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Our second car show of the 2018 season was the 53rd annual Norwich car show. We met up with a few Seven Valley Streetrods members and headed over to Norwich early Saturday morning. My wife tammy and I drove our 2017 Camaro SS over to show it, and to enjoy a ton of beautiful cars and trucks.

The weather was perfect for our full day at the show. When we arrived we drove onto the show grounds, and the volunteers guided us to were we needed to be. Tammy and I had to park on the other side of the dirt road off the main show area. This is were they put the new cars for the show. There wasn’t enough room for all of the cars that entered our class. It was kinda a joke. They acted like we were not part of the show.  Well I can tell you we had a lot of people stopping to look at our Red Hot SS.

Today’s young car fans are into the new mustangs, challengers, Camaros, etc. They could give a hoot about cars built 50 years ago. They like cars from the 90’s to present, they are the cars they read about, and dream about driving some day.

I spent hours cleaning my car to almost spotless condition for this show. I was planning on winning, but I was not going to show a car that wasn’t show worthy.

After we parked our beast we touched it up from the drive and headed out onto the show grounds to enjoy other people’s vehicles on display. I overheard other people in our class talking about how they put us in the handicapp section right next to the dusty road. So I was not the only one thinking 🤔 this.

Tammy and I walked around taking pics, and shooting some video for this blog post. We ran into some friends and chatted with them before moving on through the show. We helped a bit with the APEX Automotive Magazine booth http://apexautomag.com/ by handing out our latest issue and talking to fellow car enthusiast.

I forgot to mention when we arrived the volunteers helped us register for the show and took our $15 for entering our Camaro. Our class was class T. There had to have been 15-20 cars and trucks in our class.  It was not like we had two entries in the class.

The show was very busy all day with entries, spectators, and the huge vendor area. The food was good with great service to boot.

Around 3:45 or so they started handing out the awards to the top three in each class.  After a while of listening to the winners over the PA system we decided to walk over and watch the recipients get their trophies  🏆.

One of our club members Dusty Keys won first prize for his beautiful pickup truck in his class. It was cool seeing these people get some recognition for their time and effort that they put into their vehicles.

‘The show grounds were starting to empty out as the awards were being handed out. Tammy and I hung around to see if we even had a sniff at a trophy. I mean why not stay and see where we stand in this class.

Class s was up next the announcer called the winners to the stage and then said ok now its time for our special awards. We were like what about class t?  I mean we did pay the entire fee, we were giving an windshield card ( filled out by an official), and a very nice show packet giving by the club .

Nothing for our class? Ok I guess but why were we told were to park, handed a packet, and paid an entire fee?  Not cool, it was kind of a bummer being treated like we don’t belong, and then not even being recognized as a class of entries.

We are all there because of our love for automobiles, and the friendships that we have built over the years. The future of car shows is with today’s younger generation. If the industry continues to favor the older cars and not accept the new cars they will be in trouble.

I grew up loving streetrods, and muscle cars of my day, no different from today’s youth. Today’s new car owners love their cars the same as a person with a 57 Chevy.  All of these cars were built by a manufacture, not by guys in their garages. Sure older cars could be modified more buy a cutting torch and some fabrication, but new car owners can personalize their cars as well in their garage just like their fathers did.

We had a great time in Norwich and look forward to the next show we make our way to.

USAC Eastern Storm Lincoln/ Al’s Pizza & Subs 

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I have always wanted to make it to Pennsylvania for the USAC Eastern Storm tour. Well this year we finally made it happen. Tammy and I headed to Lincoln Speedway early Wednesday morning for our first night of USAC Sprint car racing. 

This would be the first time that we have been to a USAC Sprint car event, and Tammy’s first trip to Lincoln Speedway. Our trip was going to be just over 4 hours long.  That’s not bad for a once a year opportunity to see a USAC race. Traffic was great so we made good time all the way there. We stopped a couple times to stretch, and get a bite to eat. Tammy will fill you in on our tasty lunch a bit later. 


We pulled into the Speedway a little after 2pm wedsnday afternooon. There were a few campers scattered around the parking lot across the street from the track. 3 or 4 race haulers had parked next to the pit gate waiting for the doors to open at 5pm. Yes we waited 3 hours to get in. That’s not crazy 😜 at all. It’s a sprint car race lol. With our hunger at bay from the great lunch we had, we pulled out our lawn chairs and hung out in the 90 degree heat. 

After sitting for awhile I decided to pull out my DJI drone to capture some cool overhead shots of the track. It was a perfect day for flying. Plus not too many people around to get freaked out about a drone flying around. I recorded some video, and snapped a few Still pics for my event coverage. 

Through out the afternoon spectators and racers made their way into the Speedway. Five clock on the dot the gates opened.  We packed up our stuff and headed into the pit area. 


I still get excited when I walk through the gates at a race tack. It is a great feeling. We ran into our friend, and fellow photographer Steve Koleter as we were heading into the pits. One of the many good things about dirt tracks in PA is the infield access for the fans. With a general admission ticket you can sit in the grand stands or head into the infield with you chairs and coolers to get a bit closer to the action. 

​​Tammy set up camp on the backstretch and I headed over to turn two to get hot laps shots from the outside of the track. The track was heavy, so I was pelted with red clay as the cars flew by. 

At first I found it a bit tough to shoot. I was so close and the cars were so fast it took me a bit to catch up to the cars. The night’s racing got underway in time with time trials, heat races and the feature events.  

Tammy watched in turn three from the infield. I was shooting just on the other side of the fence so we still hung out during the night.


As the night went on the tempetures cooled down a bit from the high 90’s earlier in the day. As far as the racing went it was a great race. T-Mez ran his way to the front passing Jarrett Andretti, Chad Boespflug on his way to the win. 


It was a great night of racing. Lincoln Speedway is a great place to see a sprint car race. Well worth the drive. We are planning on going next year for sure. 


Hello friends! 

 This week john and I went to the iconic dirt tracks in Pennsylvania, williamsgrove, and lincoln motor speedway. This was a trip that took us outside CNY , and we got a little bit of sunshine too! You are not going to believe this, but there was actually minimum construction in PA! Whaaaat???!!! I know, I was pleasantly surprised too. 🙂 

In route to Lincoln motor speedway, we stopped at this AMAZING pizza place. It is a nondescript place just on the side of 15* in Enola PA called Al’s pizza and subs. They have 40 beers on tap, with some specialty local brews. But for me the real story here is the food. Everything was made fresh and from scratch. They have pizza, subs, pastas, and a salad bar. it is a good size menu, and has something for everyone. I was ready to just grab a couple of slices, until I saw the table next to us getting a calzone from the waiter. This is what I do,  I’m a bit of a copier,  I look at the plates around me to see what looks good and copy them, the calzone looked wonderful, and it tasted even better! crunchy crust, fresh Parmesan on it, and just the right amount of ricotta! YUMMMMM . and of course the sauce to dip it in was homemade and fresh and chunky. This meal was simply well done, not too fussy, just delicious. John  got cecilian pizza, and which was crunchy and puffy, and just so good. I’m wanting to make another trip to the racetrack while I’m writting this, just to eat there again. I’m sure john wouldn’t mind another trip to the track. 🙂 I skipped the homemade tiramisu (which I regret. ) because I was so full from eating 1/2 of my calzone. (yay leftovers!) Their portion sizes are very generous! I am attaching a link to their website in case any of our motor heads / roadside foodies are traveling in Pennsylvania. Stop in! Your taste buds will thank you.


we are giving this place 5 out of 5 trophies. 
thank you for joining us on our adventures. See you on the road.
http://www.alspizzaenola.com/