Ford Fun Weekend er, Fords At The Summit & Winter Drive In Theatre Cruise

July 24-26

United Ford Owners were out in “Force” this weekend for the first annual Fords at the Summit over at Norwalk, Ohio, formally known as Norwalk Raceway Park, but then and again, that new NASCAR series will forever be know to me as The Winston Cup Series, along with other name brands that have gone the way of the corporate takeover, such as Gulf and Sohio [where there are still signs around in the more remote parts of The Roads Less Traveled that I have been on, since they have to keep the logo around for I guess what amounts to logo copyrights or whatnot, but I digress per usual] and “journeyed” over to the racetrack all four days [even though the weather was not going to cooperate as well as we would have liked, but I don’t really complain all that much as long as the farmers get what they need rain wise, and when they need it, and besides, it means a free car wash and more “mud baths” to pack on the side fenders later on].

Got there early Thursday evening [per usual] for the Fords at Summit walk through and while waiting for Kevin D and the Gang to make there way over from their hotel, decided to set up my own little personal “Speed Trap” there along Route 18 [just after a huge deluge of rain] and backed the car up to the chained entrance to get behind the United Ford Owners Convoy once they came by [with all of the antennae sprouting from the car and the illegal red light on the front dash – which is actually the rear high mount stop from the ’86 Taurus -- even 5-0 thinks I’m 5-0, but during the day cover it up – just in case], and once they drove by and honked, I got in line with all lights [and headlights – illegal stuff #2] flashing to “pull them over” we headed over to the Budweiser side gate to meet up with our host, and got caravanned around to the Summit side where Rod, Wayne, Dale and the other Happy Campers were already there. Unhooked the golf carts and went over the plan for the weekend, and walked the Swap Meet area to be manned by Dale and Morgan and the rest of the UFO "Gang".

This was the first time since 2003 that I had been there [since the Budweiser side was totally paved over, and being there with the old car club – North East Ohio Stang Gang and all Ford Club that has since disbanded -- had club drag racers including Patrick Cathan Team Racing had a tent site with the banner tied to the fence and it was a distinct difference to be back on the grounds once again, although I do drive out that way a couple of times a year just cruisin’ around and on business and I haven’t taken the Ohio Turnpike in 14 years on my way out to either Toledo or Youngstown since Routes 18, 20 and 224 have sufficed for my cruisin’ needs] and the improvements were very nice indeed! Back during the Fun Ford Weekend Days in their glory days, the club actually had cars on both sides on both the Summit and Budweiser sides, along with a car show that was held on Saturday. The way the field was set up was that general parking was in the far back [where the camping is now], one row was designated for the car show [where the car show was held this year]; which had both rows Plus the side by the fence filled with cars and they had Summit Tech inspections which went over each car show participant [I believe the participation fee was $10], and the other two sections of the field was filled with drag racers and NO Parts Swap, but did have the National Vendors at the same location where it was this year. Camping was over in the lot where the general parking was this year.

The ONLY problem with this set up was that folks driving in to get back to the general parking lot would not be paying attention and looking at all of the cars in the car show as they were rounding the corner, and the race cars coming back from their run down the track would be idling back to their pits on the Summit side and then BOOM!, even though both were going under 20 mph, when nobody is paying attention bad things happen, and between Ford Nostalgia runs I’d be over on the golf cart with my buddy and we’d bet “Hit or Miss” when two yo-yos would be close to “trading paint”, then everybody would run on over to see what’d just happened, since it was an insurance adjustors dream to figure out the blame since both the front quarter panels were like my favorite subject: History. So some kind of traffic control, or at least pavement markings should be there since those Visual Flight Rules don’t always work.

Got there early on Friday at the Budweiser Gate and they didn’t have the clubs credentials there yet, so went out cruisin’, out Route 18 and headed down to Tiffen [and hopin’ that 5-0 chick wasn’t still there that I never called back] and back up Route 53 to look for the Tiffin Drive-In that I missed the late at night last time after going to the Field of Dreams Drive-in at Liberty Center [much easier to find during the day, eh!] and then back around to Norwalk where they should have it by now, probably should have passed out the credentials for those going to be there for the weekend, but whatever whatever. Nice addition by the club for the parking safety vests, which I don’t know if it made us more visible or more invisible, but none the less, with ponchos in hand, so began the 1st Annual Fords at the Summit.

Rain, Rain, Go Away was pretty much the order for the rest of the weekend, which probably was the reason for the low car turnout, but then and again, I’m more of the “Other Side Of The Tracks” kind of guy anyways [having literally been born on the wrong side of the tracks in the nearby town of Wellington on Barker St, where Conrail and now CSX trains literally bisect the town with the many runs that go through daily and hopefully you don’t have an emergency that requires EMS, Police, Fire, etc response] and the car show idea is cool, although one has to be there all three days to be “judged” or something [I just pointed cars to the next guy up the hill] but my thing is Norwalk is all about “Waking up to the smell of nitrous oxide in the morning” and with all of the rain delays, waiting for the track to dry and the occasional breakdowns, did have an overall great time, especially Saturday evening with Rod, Wayne, Dale and everyone over at their site for a great evening of hospitality they all extended to those remaining for dinner!

Went back to leave since it was getting a little “late” in the evening for my 45 minute “Cannonball” back to the “barn”, and they had closed the gates on the Summit side [which they said was a 24 hr gate, but must have meant the Budweiser entrance, so lit up the lights blazing and cruised around the back staging lanes [where we cut through to get the $1 a pound ice cream bonanza] and back through the Budweiser pit area maze and hit the open road.

Sunday was pretty much a “mop up” day [no pun intended] and with the Swap meet what I thought was a great success from my point, the rain held off and didn’t put a damper on the “Ring of Fire” festivities, though I prefer enjoying, driving the snot out of my Fords, breaking it, then enjoy fixing it, then enjoy driving the snot of it again until it breaks [after buying the ’99 Hillbilly Deluxe minus the Deluxe back in 2002 used and now up to 162,000 + miles on it, only having to redo the transmission once back in 2004, and the Good Lord knows how many tie rods have been busted on my back creek adventures, which I would love to do an autocross sometime – but rules state nothing loose on the inside and don’t know where else I could put my “office”, and I love the “bounce” of the car hitting a curve at “??? mph” going up / down on a hill – more on that on the following cruise to the Winter Drive-In down in Wintersville Ohio in Jefferson County – those hills WOW!] Was asked by Kevin which one of the ROF cars I’d like, and without hesitation “The T-bolts” because of guess what, THE SOUND [although it might have been louder with subwoofers I’d put in them, along with a nice large flat screen on the interior of it’s trunk, so I wouldn’t need gas, I’d just vibrate down the highway]. After all was said and done, went up into the Summit stands right next to the start line to watch the remaining drag races [Y block Mercury made it to the DOT finals and unfortunately lost [once the hood went up, that is never a good sign, but love the race crew for giving them the time to fix whatever], and they had the original T-Bolts parked underneath the Summit stands, and whenever one of them left, the ENTIRE stands shook like it was a 10.9 earthquake, so if one ever wondered what it felt like to be inside a T-Bolt when it fired up, the fans in that section of stands got a thrill of a lifetime!

The rain held off for all of the finals, and went back home to unload some of the rain gear and headed out south to Wintersville Ohio to the Winter Drive-in. Didn’t get to the two remaining Drive-Ins there at Norwalk or Tiffin [sometimes, the two movie combinations just don’t jive with what I like to see and get the biggest bang for the proverbial buck], and after this time a 55 minute saunter back home via Route 18 [with the obligatory stop for the train there at Wellington – the line which also runs through Lagrange but just have to get lucky, and lucky for me is stopping for the train, since I get to turn the car off along with the radio and listen to the wheels going over the tracks (another reason I love going to the Aut-O-Rama there at North Ridgeville since the CSX tracks are right next to the drive-in, and although that can be annoying at times, I still love trains just as much as I love cruisn and Fords). Granddad on my mothers side was a conductor for the old New York Central out of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and a couple of years ago almost was hired by CSX for conductor, but as things worked out, if I did get the job I wouldn’t be doing what I do today, although I can’t go out and by a complete locomotive train – yet] and dumped off all of the Fun Ford Weekend UFO stuff that had accumulated.

Then while on my way, got the car “washed” going down Route 94, heading on over to Massillon down Route 21 after a short run on I-76, then ditched the expressways for the Lincoln Highway 172 running thru Massillon to Canton, getting some Go-Go juice and looking at a map for the best way, since it was getting sundown time. Chose to take 172 past Canton and head south on Route 43 which led directly into Wintersville [and hopefully I remembered correctly the map on the website, and thanks to Google, there satellite view, although only 1 dimensional, gives a somewhat accurate account of what is there, and having never been that far southeast before, I knew all of the squiggles on the map demarking the road meant better have good brakes and power steering]. Halfway there, I began to notice that the houses, barns, and even businesses were literally built into the hillsides on the narrow road [NO WAY am I going 55 on these hills, and I don’t care who else is behind me] with the first floor near the road, and the basement at least three stories below. Passed through several small towns, and the houses, particularly in the deep valleys, were scrunched together so tightly in the limited space that was flat, and the houses out in the country were only built where a flat space was available as these hills were worse than the one’s I have experience in Amish Country, and even gave the person I was following a good half mile since my ride doesn’t do to well on steep inclines with all of the extra “weight” it has to haul in speakers and personal “heft”. After an extreme roller coaster ride that seemed to last forever, finally made it to Route 22 and knew it was not much further.

I knew that the Winter Drive-In had 4 screens, and looking up the satellite imagery showed the up close cut of the land, but was pleasantly surprised after I entered, but after driving through all of the hills and valleys, I should not have been, since yes, there are 4 screens, but instead of the area of the drive-in being land flat as is per usual for all of the other drive-ins, because of the topography, the four screens [in four separate corners of the lot] are up on their own hill, and the projection booth along with the concession stand is down in the center of the valley(!) with an emergency access road running thru the first screen (red poles) so hope that the emergency brake is in full function! Since I haven’t been commenting too much on concession stands thus far [with the exception of the Field of Dreams and some others], went inside to use the facilities and both the facilities and concession stand were very well kept!

After hiking back up “Mt. Wintersville”, which was not too much of an incline [but one can always drive down to the concession area, eh?] reclined even further back in the car [which made drinking the soda an adventure, even though there was a straw] to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Transformers 2 [again]. Film critics were right that HP6 was a bridge to the final movie, but it was not a total waste of $7.50 since Transformers 2 hit it out of the ball park once again, along with going to a uniquely designed Drive-in Theatre! Had someone else’s car battery die between movies, so fortunately the trailers ran forever and finally got them started [note to self, better clean the battery terminals] and got back to my spot for T-2.

Got cold down there in the “holler” and although I would have loved to go back on US 250 via Route 22, I knew what those squiggly lines meant on the map, and at that late time with the fog rolling in, and knowing what Route 43 was like, took the roundabout way of heading east along Route 22 to hook up with Route 11 North and literally alongside the Ohio River. Even though it was like 3 am in the morning, foggy and on the road since like 8 am, it was still pretty cool to drive alongside a quite river, past the river locks, oil docks and coal plants which were literally right on top of Route 11, and would love to see it all during the day, although there will be much more traffic. Really didn’t have a real plan as to how to get back west, so followed Route 11 north until I got to Canfield and Route 224 West [although I am no environmentalist and am known to environmentalists by my carbon footprint as “Big Foot”, I do find it a wee bit wasteful to illuminate main street every two feet at 4 am like it is the center of the sun’s corona at high noon and almost needed sunglasses] to hook up to I-480 to I-71 south to Brunswick for another completed journey on the road less traveled.