A Cruisin' Good Time

by Nancy DeWitt

What a weekend! The Midnight Sun Cruise-In was a great success, thanks to an excellent variety of cars, cooperative weather and a large turnout of spectators for the car show. Wedgewood Resort proved to be an excellent venue, and it was fun seeing the cars spread out throughout the resort's campus.

Friday evening started off with a cruise to the Alaska Salmon Bake. Willy and Alan Kelso led the way in the museum's 1910 Stanley Steamer, but had to cut short the route when they literally started to lose steam. The Stanley made up for it, though, by leading Saturday's "Tour de Fairbanks" out to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Goldstream Valley and the UAF campus.

Special thanks go out to Rick Larrick and the Vernon L. Nash Antique Car Club for organizing the Tour de Fairbanks and an especially fine car show. At least 150 vehicles were entered, along with some dragsters on display. Alan Kelso gave two demonstrations of how to fire up a Stanley Steamer, Alan James demonstrated his 1906 Fairbanks-Morse engine and Bub Larson gave free hay rides to spectators. The museum was a busy place too, with record attendance set both Saturday and Sunday.

Congratulations to the following People's Choice award winners:

Ford Model A: 1930 Model A Truck,  Robert Bartlett, Anchorage
Pre-War: 1930 Willys Knight, Scott and Donna Culbertson, Fairbanks
Post-War: 1957 Corvette, Terry Whitledge, Fairbanks (photo at right*)
Classic: 1973 Dodge Challanger, Brett and Cindy Helms, Fairbanks
Hot Rod: 1950 Mercury Coupe, Alan and Beccy Monsma, Fairbanks
Motorcycle: 1990 Harley-Davidson FXRLR, Chuck Mitchell, Fairbanks
Miscellaneous: International Harvester Super MD, Bub Larson, Fairbanks

Of course, a huge highlight of the weekend was having Dennis Gage from the Speed Channel here filming for his "My Classic Car" television show (we'll write more about this next). After a surprise visit by Governor Sean Parnell at the awards dinner, Dennis graciously presented the People's Choice plaques. That was followed by an entertaining musical revue by Mr. Whitekeys - all in all a very fun evening.

Many thanks to everyone who made the Cruise-In a hit. You know it's a success when even babies show up in hot rods!


For more photos from the Cruise-In visit:
http://ow.ly/22OPC and http://ow.ly/22OMA

* photo by Ronn Murray Photography