2012 Bonneville Speed Week – Hot Rods in Wendover
Failed Bonneville Hot Rod Take-over at the Nugget
What do I mean failed? Well, compared to shows at the Nugget years ago, this one was a bust.
First off, it’s been raining on and off since we rolled into Wendover. It’d be easy to say that the show was small because of the weather, but my buddy Keith kept saying, “Well, the cars have to be parked somewhere!” For me, I kept snapping photos. If you see a blurry spot on a pic, it was mother nature’s fault.
Looking closer, we noticed most of the parking along the casino was blocked off. The normal parking spots along the road were filled with the first-come-first-served hot rods, but as new roadsters and heavily chopped coupes rolled in, they found nowhere to park. I bugged the casino manager, “What gives?” He explained that after the show last year where there were too many cars and too many people, the fire marshall shut them down. Sorry, I call BS. I think it’s more likely that the casino’s management blocked off more hot rods from filling their parking lot because 1) They were causing people to hang out outside instead of going inside to gamble and 2) The show attendees were enjoying their own drinks (even a high rev’ing margarita maker) and not buying drinks from the casino. Whaa.
So… the car’s weren’t covered by salt – a glorious site – there weren’t very many anyway and it was raining. That, unfortunately is a fail.
There were a few bright spots.
Check out Nick Hoesing’s newly finished roadster.Nick and his uncle rode out from Omaha, Nebraska, all without a support car! He did have HAMB buddies ready to lend a hand, but still – that’s confidence in your work and some cajones. That’s Nick with the big smile on his face! (Click on any picture to see it full size)
Then, adding some fine detail to the 5-window coupe above, dig the detailed side steering, safety wire work and is that nickel plating? It loked great from every angle.
Then, I really liked these two. This slammed and sleek pickup turned alot of heads:
And this drop tank racer looked ready for the salt except for those tires. Dig the massive horsepower!
Wrapping things up with this pic:
Records WILL fall, but only if the rain doesn’t. Can’t wait for tomorrow.
Click here for all of MyRideisMe.com’s Bonneville Salt Flat coverage.
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I love Nick’s roadster. Not sure which car of his is better, the Galaxie or this Roadster, but he’s not done with roadster yet. And, that #48 truckrod was one of my favorites at the Nugget.
Agreed, compared to previous years, this year’s Nugget show was a big fail!
Keep the pics coming!
They were turrning rods away. We were there and got turrned away it was lame. The second night they must have figured out that many like us decided to not spend any coin at the nugget after the poor reception. I know they are all ran by the same company but the idea that they were turrning people away that first night I decided to keep my money in my pocket. Hope next year they aren’t so uptight.
Thanks for the great web page.
Hey Spuds, I talked directly to one of the managers at Nugget Casino and he made it sound like they had no choice about how they ran the show… something about blocking fire lanes and stuff like that. If they made less money during Bonneville Speed Week this year, then maybe we’ll see a change in 2013. Or… the hot rodders will find another place to hang out.