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Editor: Rich Bailey
Last updated: 1/2/24

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2024 WINTER ROD AND SPEED SHOW INFORMATION AND APPLICATIONS

2024 Winter Rod and Speed Show Information Click Here!

Winter Rod and Speed Show is a GO! Returns to Albany Jan 19-20!

The roads in the valley are now clear up and the show will go on as scheduled this Friday Night and all day Saturday!

Indoor Car Show and Food Drive to Benefit FISH of Albany

The 17th Annual Winter Rod and Speed Show presented by AA Towing and Anderson Enterprises returns to the Linn County Fair and Expo Center in Albany on January 19-20 and will benefit FISH of Albany, a mid-valley food bank.



Over one hundred street rods, custom trucks, classics, roadsters, and race cars will be on display for the public to inspect and view up close.


Appearing at the show will be actress Candy Clark. Clark was one of several now-prominent Hollywood stars who got their start in the film American Graffiti. Candy has now been in over 50 movies and TV shows and was up for an Academy Award for her role as "Debby" in the American Grafitti film. She will be meeting show patrons and signing autographs both Friday night and all day Saturday. 


Also at the show is NHRA Funny Car and Top Fuel driver Buddy Hull who was recently selected to be the driver of the Jim Dunn Racing funny car. Garrett Bateman along with his nitro dragster will also be at the show as will five-time NHRA World Champion Joey Severance.


On Friday only, is KLOO FM Night and the Friday Night Food Drive. Show patrons who bring a non-perishable food item will get in for half price. The band "Back Again" who has opened for such bands as 38 Special will be playing classic rock on the show floor.  


On Saturday, the show continues with a swap meet in an adjacent building and a giant model car contest and scale auto extravaganza in the lobby. The first 50 children receive a free Hot Wheel car on both days and tickets to both Willamette Speedway and Woodbrun Dragstrip will be randomly given away to adults. 


Admission is only ten dollars and children under eight get in for free. Parking is free. The Linn County Fair and Expo Center is located in Albany, off I-5 near the Albany Airport.

 

3.00 Off Car Show Coupons Here!

DOWNLOAD DISCOUNT COUPONS HERE

 

Wheels Up Capitol Dragster Dazzels in Spokane!

The Capitol car reaches for the stars! Photo by Doug Crann from Doug's Photography.

Two weekends ago we took the Capitol Auto Group Dragster to the "Hot Rod Nationals " at Woodburn Dragstrip and made a test run in order to be ready for our biggest race of the year in Spokane. The test run went alright but we had some starter issues to address and after five shims and two new batteries, the engine now turns over flawlessly and the car was ready for the Spokane event. 

The following Friday morning, we left for Spokane, and on the way there we stopped at Chester's Chicken near Othello where my new crew member, Jeremy Young found a wallet that appeared to have well over 500.00 inside! He turned the wallet in because it was the right thing to do and because we were expecting to get some good karma out of it for the weekend. The karma didn't last long, however. With the extreme heat, it's tire-popping season as we have learned in the past, and sure enough, we shredded a trailer tire right out of Ritzville! And, speaking of tires, we bought some Hoosier Tires for the dragster in Seattle and they worked great on our test run at Woodburn so we were excited to use them in Spokane. 

Once we reached Spokane, we dropped off what was left of the tire at a Les Schwab and got a replacement mounted on the rim. On Friday night, the track was unable to hold the horsepower of the pro cars so we opted to wait until the main event on Saturday night rather than risk something happening on the Friday night test session. On Saturday, we were ready to go and in the first round we beat our opponent in a great side-by-side race but we knew we had to hop up the engine if we had any chance of making it into the final round. Between rounds, we put on a smaller pulley which would spin the blower harder.  We got everything done including pacing the chutes and fueling the car just in time for round two.

This time we had a more familiar opponent in Alvan Behar in the "Reaper" blown alcohol roadster.  This would be one of the most spectacular runs of the night! At the hit, I had a good .0056 reaction time but then the car went up into a long and very high wheelie. The car carried the front wheels quite aways until it finally came down about 500 feet out. Nevertheless, I stayed ahead of Alvan and got the win with a 7.49 and 181 MPH. The crowd, mostly concentrated on the left side of the track loved it!In spite of winning both my rounds, we came up short as neither of our runs were quick enough to get into the final round. Regardless, it was a great outing for our team. I was interviewed by OJ Stephens up on the announcer's deck and we sold a lot of shirts which is always a big plus in Spokane.

On the way home we popped the final trailer tire that had not been replaced east of The Dalles. But ten minutes later and the spare was back on yet again. We then arrived home safely late in the afternoon.



- Rich Bailey

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