Phillip Cole Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 (edited) The Southeastern National Spring Meet at the Charlotte Motor Speedway will be April 7th. The deadline to show and/or judge has been extended to March 21st. Remember free Charlotte Autofair (April 5-8) tickets will be provided for registered owners/judges Edited March 16, 2018 by Phillip Cole (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE A Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Charlotte is a great meet. Good food, reasonably priced hotels, fantastic fleamarket, and really nice people. If you haven't attended, you owe it to yourself to do so!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnniesSS Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Another year we have to miss Charlotte The past few, it has coincided with the St Baldrick's event my husband and I participate in . Hopefully 2019 I can make the trip out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Bond Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 Looking forward too being there again. Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Wahlberg Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 Looking forward to another trip to Charlotte. My wife and I always make a mini-vacation out of Charlotte since there are some very good museums to visit, NASCAR race shops, the Autofair, and judging the SE National Meet on Saturday. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 It's in the mail... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Frazee Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 I received a "Cruise In" card today in the mail. Can someone provide information on the cruise in at the Southeastern Spring Meet? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 (edited) The Cruise-in is Thursday and Friday near the AACA Tent at the front of the Speedway (called the Fanfair area by the Speedway next to Speedway front entrance sign). Autofair opens at 8 a.m. The Cruise-in team will be there to show you where to park. Roger, by "card" do you mean a window sticker? Did you get tickets to Autofair and a Cruise-in letter, as well? Edited March 30, 2018 by Phillip Cole (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Phillip, I received my autofair tickets and all of the rest of the normal packet in one mailing. I received a second envelope yesterday containing just the cruise in window sticker. That mailing did not have a cruise-in letter. Hopefully there were just a few of us who did not get the letter. I think I understand it from the tri-fold information, so I don't think I need the letter, but I assume that is what happened to Roger as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 Thanks, Matt. I'll check with the HNR office and see what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 (edited) Okay, Matt and Roger (and anyone else with that sticker), In my defense my team does not handle the Cruise-in, but I did track this issue down this morning. When you registered for the meet there was a line you could check for Cruise-in parking at no cost. (Free parking right at the Speedway entrance and beside the show field , what a bargain!) The cruise-in team assumed that the persons who checked that box would know what it was for. The owners and judges mailings for the Meet, which my team did send last week, did have maps. The Meet map works for the Cruise-in, as well. And you would have received Autofair tickets for the Meet. As Matt observed, the flyer (and my post above) gives you the info. you need. Sorry for the confusion... The Cruise-in sticker is basically a parking sticker for those who requested it. If you have a problem when you get there, tell the Cruise-in team to ask me what's going on! While I'm at it the dark yellow (?) judges stickers are also for parking. That parking is right next to the AACA tent at the show field. On Saturday, another team (we got teams...) will be directing judges parking. Also, the white stickers for AACA Officials is for parking all week next to the Meet tent. Mel and the HNR Board work hard to improve your experience at Autofair, the Meet, the Cruise-in, etc. At the same time we're trying to keep thousands of vendors, 150,000 attendees, and the Speedway happy. Edited March 30, 2018 by Phillip Cole (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Frazee Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Thank you Phillip and Matt. That 'splains everything. Hope to see you all in Charlotte! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 (edited) Melanie, my two sons, my shop manager Michael, and I will be there in the car corral right by the start/finish line on the track. Please come see us. Right now we're planning on bringing these two cars, but that might change at the last minute: Please stop by and say hello. This is our first time in Charlotte so we're looking forward to seeing some new faces we've never met. See you there! Edited March 30, 2018 by Matt Harwood (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Phillip, I understood what it was, but when you mentioned a Cruise-In letter, I was thinking that maybe some of us missed something. Phillip, don't let me get away from Charlotte without giving you those extra spare 1989 Buick parts. I will be happy to see them go to the guy who can potentially use them and free up a little bit of space on my workbench. Matt Harwood, I am sure you will enjoy your time in Charlotte. Hopefully you will make it a regular venue for you. I hope it serves you well. It is always a great meet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, Matt Harwood said: Melanie, my two sons, my shop manager Michael, and I will be there in the car corral right by the start/finish line on the track. Please come see us. Right now we're planning on bringing these two cars, but that might change at the last minute: Please stop by and say hello. This is our first time in Charlotte so we're looking forward to seeing some new faces we've never met. See you there! Nice cars! I'll stop by. I'll be at the AACA Meet Tent each day. The start/finish line is prime property! You should do well. When will you arrive? Edited March 31, 2018 by Phillip Cole (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted March 31, 2018 Author Share Posted March 31, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, MCHinson said: Phillip, I understood what it was, but when you mentioned a Cruise-In letter, I was thinking that maybe some of us missed something. Phillip, don't let me get away from Charlotte without giving you those extra spare 1989 Buick parts. I will be happy to see them go to the guy who can potentially use them and free up a little bit of space on my workbench. Thanks for offering them. I'm putting the 89 back in HPOF at Charlotte. When will you arrive? Edited March 31, 2018 by Phillip Cole (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 I am not sure yet but sometime early on Friday, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
65KGT Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 I have attended the Charlotte event many times but this will be my first time bringing a car for AACA judging. The weather forecast is not great and I was wondering if they will attempt to judge the cars if there is no break in the rain. Thanks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted April 2, 2018 Share Posted April 2, 2018 On 3/30/2018 at 9:25 PM, Phillip Cole said: Nice cars! I'll stop by. I'll be at the AACA Meet Tent each day. The start/finish line is prime property! You should do well. When will you arrive? We'll be rolling in Wednesday night so we can unload Thursday morning. And as expected, there's a change in the lineup. Obviously the Superbird deserves to be on the speedway, but we're bringing the Zephyr instead of the Ford wagon. It's just too pretty not to. Hopefully the weather cooperates. If it's anything like Hershey, you'll get a prediction for one thing but it'll do the exact opposite. And as with Hershey, the one thing you DON'T do is talk about the weather forecast. Don't jinx us! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnniesSS Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 19 hours ago, 65KGT said: I have attended the Charlotte event many times but this will be my first time bringing a car for AACA judging. The weather forecast is not great and I was wondering if they will attempt to judge the cars if there is no break in the rain. Thanks Judging will start at 11am regardless of the weather 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R W Burgess Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 20 hours ago, 65KGT said: The weather forecast is not great and I was wondering if they will attempt to judge the cars if there is no break in the rain. Thanks * * We "Endeavor to Persevere" ! Chief Dan George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlier Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 2 hours ago, R W Burgess said: * * We "Endeavor to Persevere" ! Chief Dan George Hmmm... I seem to remember someone saying that the last time I judged Chassis in the rain, on grass, at an AACA Meet. Hopefully the weather turns out to be dry for the meet this weekend. I had hoped to make it to this meet (for the first time) this year. Unfortunately, that little thing called work messed up my plans. Oh well, I hope to see everyone at the Grand National or Gettysburg or Hershey. Have a Great time at Charlotte! Charlie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durant Mike Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 I'll be heading out Thursday morning for the drive up. Attending judging school on Friday and then judging on Saturday. Hope the weather is good, long ride both ways. First time attending Charlotte. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted April 3, 2018 Author Share Posted April 3, 2018 We judge on pavement in Charlotte. ? Matt, apparently no one knows the Hershey weather rule... ? The Speedway has a lot of new events planned for this Saturday, including a burnout contest and a drifting exhibit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61polara Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 As others have said, judging will start at 11 am, rain or not. Dave Bowman Chief Judge Southeastern Spring Meet Charlotte, NC 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philip roitman Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 23 hours ago, 61polara said: As others have said, judging will start at 11 am, rain or not. Dave Bowman Chief Judge Southeastern Spring Meet Charlotte, NC Heading out from the NYC area tomorrow morning. Hoping the weather is not too bad. I am bringing a clear plastic cover for the car just in case, and umbrellas for when I have to show the interior. White interiors and water do not mix well. It will be the first time in the rain since the restoration, if it rains! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mark McAlpine Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 I'm looking forward to seeing your 1973 GS again, Phillip. Have a safe drive! As others have already said, the show field is on pavement, so you don't have to worry about mud. The Charlotte Meet and Auto Fair are always great regardless of the weather (although it is nicer at any meet when you don't get drenched). The Hornets Nest does a great job hosting the meet. A well-kept secret is to go to the Speedway Club (located in the Smith Tower (the tinted glass building) for lunch. It's great food for not much more than you'll pay one of the food vendors and you get a great view of the entire track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Holy car corral full of tow vehicles and daily drivers, Batman! I'd say a good 40% of the car corral is new pickup trucks. Is this how it's done here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlier Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 3 hours ago, Matt Harwood said: Holy car corral full of tow vehicles and daily drivers, Batman! I'd say a good 40% of the car corral is new pickup trucks. Is this how it's done here? Are the trucks actually for sale or just using the car corral as parking spaces closer to the action? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldford Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Well, I for one was disappointed in the flea market... I'm an OLD car guy (my newest car is 1931) and there may have been 10 spots in the flea market the did not have hot rod stuff. The experience of the speedway was great, but as a flea market, well I've attended better... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 (edited) 36 minutes ago, charlier said: Are the trucks actually for sale or just using the car corral as parking spaces closer to the action? Just parking. Maybe half the vehicles in the car corral are just late-models there for on-field parking. I have a third car corral sticker I'm not using. If parking is a problem tomorrow, I'm going to put it on my rental car and drive it in. Who cares, right? Edited April 5, 2018 by Matt Harwood (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 These photos were all taken (literally) within 100 feet of my car corral spaces (you can see my cars in many of the photos). Sorry Hornets' Nest Region, but you've gotta put some rules in place beyond just "no duallies" in the car corral. This is embarrassing. Three quarters of the car corral spaces are empty and half the spaces that are filled are guys who are just there for on-field parking. Hopefully Friday is different than Thursday, but if not, I'm going to feel like I've wasted A LOT of money coming here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldford Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 I may have been a bit harsh a while ago when I said it was all hot rods. There was some late model roto tillers in the Red Field and some Chinese whirlygigs in the Green Field. Really??? This stuff should never be allowed in the flea market... Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Frazee Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 When is the judging school, at the Southeastern National Meet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnniesSS Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 According to the brochure: http://www.aaca.org/images/meet_brochures/2018_Southeast_Spring_Brochure.pdf 2-4 today, in the in-field tent. You can't miss it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillip Cole Posted April 6, 2018 Author Share Posted April 6, 2018 12 hours ago, Roger Frazee said: When is the judging school, at the Southeastern National Meet? Media Center @ 2 pm 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCHinson Posted April 6, 2018 Share Posted April 6, 2018 Matt Harwood maybe that was a Thursday thing, I have never been there on a Thursday. Maybe some sellers just bring their cars for sale on Friday and Saturday when more people are there. Sorry I missed you today although I did walk the entire car corral once. While there are some handicapped folks who are obviously paying for a car corral space for a close parking space. Some tow vehicles were actually there for sale, some were apparently just parking, but certainly not 40% today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Frazee Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 I spent all day at the flea market and car corral today and didn't see nearly all of the cars and stuff. This is a great meet. Hopefully the weather will give us a break tomorrow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 First, the complements: the event was well-organized and for the most part, volunteers knew what they were doing. I'm grateful to them for their help and ability to stay cool. It is a flat-out awesome venue and we were thrilled to have such a great location right at the start/finish line. Facilities were really first-rate and things seemed to move rather smoothly throughout the weekend. Parking issues were nonexistent and aside from being told we could bring our trailer into the track area to unload then being told we couldn't, it was painless to load and unload. It was a long walk back to the trailer to get the second car, but meh, a little walking never hurt anyone. Change the caliber of hardware in the car corral and you'll have one hell of an event. I didn't like that as a dealer I had to show my cars' titles to the club. Why do dealers have to do this and regular sellers don't? I'm FAR less apt to rip someone off than a guy who just buys a space and dumps a piece of junk in it. I don't usually travel with titles for security purposes and any deal I make at the event doesn't usually hinge on producing the title instantly. A dealer friend of mine was there (with a modern SUV and a tent) and even though he's local, he won't bring cars because he's a consignment dealer and doesn't have titles and is therefore not welcome. Who are you protecting and from what, exactly? And honestly, I don't mean to be a jerk about the car corral, but it was a little ridiculous. I guess Friday was a bit better than Thursday simply because there were more vehicles overall, but I don't think the percentages changed very much. In the immediate area around us, it was EASILY 40-50% daily drivers and tow vehicles. If this were Hershey, people would lose their minds over just one of these things in the car corral. We were situated right at the start/finish line by the AACA tent, so you can see by the painting on the pavement that most of these photos were taken right around us--I didn't need to go all the way around the track to get this many photos of modern trucks. I probably could have walked all the way around and taken a hundred such photos. I took a few more photos on my walk up the track to the Speedway Club for lunch on Friday at about 2PM (for those of you who don't know where that is, it's about halfway between where I was at the start/finish line and turn 1, so maybe a 200 yard walk). It was clear that everyone uses the car corral as on-field parking. You'll also note that exactly zero of them show handicapped parking permits and only one has a For Sale sign on it (two others appear to have signs, but they're actually advertising cars that weren't at the event): Check it: out of the 15 vehicles visible in this photo of the car corral, 7 of them are modern trucks: It cost me thousands of dollars to be there this year. I brought good cars that were appropriate to the venue and to the AACA's mission. But we were totally boxed in and obscured by brand new giant pickup trucks--it was like being in a canyon. People walked right past a bright orange SUPERBIRD and its 6-foot-tall wing because they couldn't even see it with the giant pickup trucks parked all around it. The guy behind us caused a big fuss and made me move BOTH cars Friday morning so he could back his Blazer in, park it at an angle, and then joked with his buddies that it wasn't there to sell, he just didn't feel like walking (actually driving his scooter) to the parking lot (that's him with one of those ridiculous hair hats). I know you can't control who shows up but people are obviously gaming the system and don't care about the AACA or your event. This is an AACA event, right? How about just saying that any vehicle in the car corral has to be 25 years old or older? Boom! Problem solved! You've already banned duallies, why not the rest? I don't care about hot rods and modified cars or the hot rod stuff in the flea market areas--I don't even mind the guys selling non-auto-related junk. It's all kind of interesting and my kids liked that it wasn't just rusty car parts. Sure, you'd probably sell fewer car corral spaces and make less money by initiating a 25-year-old limit, but I'm not buying any more spaces ever again and conversations with the guys selling cars around me suggests that I'm not the only one who felt it was out of control--several said they've never seen it this bad. You can almost see the '34 Oldsmobile sedan two slots down from me, and that guy was angry enough to spit fire because his car was completely lost among the giant trucks. He could barely open his doors. I'm a first-timer, so I didn't know what was normal, but according to the guy with the Oldsmobile, it was much worse this year than in the past. I was expecting a Hershey-like experience but instead I got Uncle Bill's Used Truck Lot. Sorry, but this IS embarrassing for the Hornet's Nest Region, attendance numbers and dollar signs notwithstanding. What kind of event do you want this to be? Used car lot or genuine collector car venue? Just some thoughts from a newcomer that you might want to discuss at the post-game meeting. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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