May 3, 1998
What a sight! 102 Impalas as far as the eye could see lined up along the back of the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds ready to make a grand entrance to the 1998 Super Chevy show at Pomona. Led by Officer Berri of the Pomona Police Department in his modified D.A.R.E. car, we made a traffic-stopping, jaw-dropping entrance into the fair grounds. "Is this some kind of club or something?"
SoCalSS was the largest part of the caravan with about 75 club members in attendance. Our neighbors from the North, ROD, had about 20 cars in attendance. The remainder of the record-setting group was from NAIL or were innocent bystanders that were captured on their way to the Fairplex.
To create this impressive caravan, we congregated at the Park-and-Ride just off the freeway at Fairplex drive. After everyone arrived, we gathered up show passes for those members who hadn't been to the show on Sunday. Frank and Cindy made a quick run to the SCS ticket office and traded passes for show tickets. When they returned, we were off to form our final caravan by the back of the Fairplex.
While most of the Impala action was at the car show, there was plenty of drag racing going on too. A couple of our members were racing instead of showing. That's Frank Halley's 1995 DCM Impala on the left (number 1865). Frank is standing behind his car (left) talking with veteran racer Bob Shirley, whose 1995 BBB Impala isn't shown.
After two days of racing, Frank made it to the top 8 cars in the street class out of a field of about 200 cars running 12 seconds and slower. Frank lost in the quarterfinals--a victim of a perfect light by his opponent. For his good showing, Frank took home a check from NHRA for $100!
While Frank was battling it out on the track, the other Impalas were competing for top honors in the car-show portion of the Super Chevy Show. After all the quick-detailer had settled, the winners were:
In a major surprise to everyone entered in the show, Autostar decided to set up the award classes totally different than they did last year. Last year, with 76 Impalas showing, Autostar created classes for each year ('94, '95, '96), each color, and then by stock, street, and modified within those classifications. Everyone had a pretty good shot at winning an award last year, and many people went home happy.
Not so this year. With 33 percent more '94-'96 Impalas in the show, Autostar unilaterally decided to cut the number of awards drastically. Autostar gave out a grand total of 15 awards in five big-car classes. Only 3 classes and 9 awards were specific to our cars (1994-1996).
SoCalSS and the other regional Impala clubs are discussing with Autostar what can be done in the future. Our main goal next year will be to ensure that more cars mean more awards. It's hard to see deserving cars and owners go home with no recognition for the hard work that they put into caring for their car all year as well as getting their car ready for the show.
The high-point of the show was our Impalas again taking the SCS Club Participation Award. Kevin Lindsay, SoCalSS President, is on the right holding the trophy. For the past year, we have held the national club participation record with 76 Impalas at the 1997 SCS show at Pomona. We now have raised the bar to 102 Impalas. Thanks to everyone who came to the show and participated in this great achievement.
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