You’d think Mooneyes has a deal with the big one upstairs.
Chico has been fairly lucky with the weather for the Mooneyes X-Mas Party. A couple of years ago it rained buckets, but this year another heavenly surprise. A Lunar Eclipse. Yep, a Lunar Eclipse for a Mooneyes party. Who’d a thunk it? Only for Mooneyes do the heavens give us a spectacle before the big show.
And it was early. I rolled the ’56 out of the garage at 4:30am (and 39 degrees), limping to the gas station to fill up the beast. The edge of Earths shadow just beginning to darken the top of the moon. A fill-up with 91 proof and we were off to meet the boys at Glory Days. A couple of ladies from Hell’s Kittens car club joined our ten car caravan up the 605 heading to Irwindale Speedway for the party. There was a complete freeway closure and the four lanes were full of hot rods and customs for about 5 minutes while the Earth has shadowed half the moon at this point. I wasn’t until we entered the gates at 6am when the Moon was completely hidden by the Earths shadow in the West as the Sun rose in the East.
I kept thinking this is going to be a great day when I realized it already is.
I knew I would meet up with some of my friends as well as make new ones. Bill brought the grill, Jack and the boys brought hot dogs and all the trimmings, and I brought some bear meat. Yep. My buddy Terry is a hunter and he gave me a couple of pounds of bear meat ground with some beef and we grilled up some bear-meat sliders. Seemed to be a hit, those who dared, liked it and some even had seconds, and we offered some friends some as well. The Hell’s Kittens brought some home-made “crack” cookies and other sides. We didn’t go hungry.
I met up with my friends BOMONSTER, Mary and Joel from Vintage Klass in the vendor village. I introduced myself to two people who I’ve wanted to meet for some time. Duane Ballard is a custom leather worker who has been carving and stitching leather since he was 10 years old. Hairball took me to meet Red Dodge. Red wasn’t at the booth, but I went later and introduced myself. Red was the “Supreme King Pin”, I’ll say Art and Photo Director of Garage Magazine up until it’s untimely demise. She was really nice and she introduced me to her husband Chris who owns Rebel Rouser Vintage with a great rack of vintage apparel and accessories.
I caught up with Dixie and George from the Daggers CC at the races. Then Dixie offered to do a little shoot with the Mercifuls. I also ran into Kristin and Lori from the Gasoline Girls car club. Later-on Smitten Kitten came by our camp and shot some photos with the cars. But it wasn’t until I went to grab my Slik Chik Stingray to shoot Jessica D when I accidentally broke Jacks mirror. I was watching the pedals to not hit the paint when the handle bar bumped the mirror and broke the adjusting screw threads. DAMN!
There was plenty of action on the dragstrip. I missed a car who’s rear window apparently popped out and shattered on the track. And Becky Sue Huff’s ’61 Comet getting towed off the blacktop. There was some great heads-up action though as retro racers ran down the eighth mile.
Of course there were some awesome cars there too. And some you think, WHY? Good or bad, it’s great to see people trying different things and making do with what they got. Isn’t that part of the whole mystique with this event. Hot rodding, drag racing, car show, and much more.
And more there were. Mitzi and Company produced the pinup contest at the end of the show. Christine Fury hosted the show of 13 lovely ladies as they shared their answers to pop-questions about why they are in this contest. Some great answers were:
Q: Describe yourself in three words. A: Oh My God…
Q: What’s your dream photoshoot? A: To have two other pinup models tying me up and spanking me.
But it was the story from Becky Sue Huff who just minutes before broke her rear-end. Not that one. The one on her Comet as she slammed the go-pedal too hard on the dragstrip. That might have slighted the judges a bit to award her first place and the purse of $500.00. Which she quickly stated to get her rear-end fixed.
Check out the video from the pinup contest on our YouTube page.
The show ended with that announcement as the last car rocketed down the track in the background. The ride home in the sunset on the 605 with the Daggers showing the way, was cool after a long day (ten hours) at the show.