Kansas City car shows, car cruises, and car races for August 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 2012

Another hot weekend brings more hot car events to the Kansas City area.

The Puddle Jumper Days car show has been an Odessa tradition for years, so if you’re east of town, you’ll want to check that out. Abundant Life Church in Lee’s Summit is having a car show, so there’s something for you southerners. And the Falcon Club will be at the City Market, so that’s something for the folks in the heart of the city.

Cruise nights are everywhere. I usually hit the downtown Parkville cruise, but there are others in Harrisonville, Raymore, Blue Springs, and Lenexa, just to name a few. Or hit one of the great local short tracks for some racing action.

The entire Kansas City car show, car cruise, and car racing schedule for this weekend is listed below.

32nd Annual Kustom Kemps Lead Sled Spectacular in Salina. This is one of the biggies

We had every intention of heading to Salina over the weekend and checking out the Kustom Kemps of America Lead Sled Spectacular at Oakdale Park in Salina, Kan. My dad and I were going to meet up with Patrick Casey, a Colorado Springs native, family friend, and someone dad has been hanging out with since high school. The hotel room was even booked.  I was going to dazzle you with a 500 photo slideshow.

Weston Moonshiners Cruise was like taking a trip into the past

The Downtown Liberty Cruise was Saturday night.  I know that's a huge monthly event, and I live north of the Missouri River, so it's only natural that I make that a regular stop.  But this weekend I wanted to try something different.  I mean, I've taken pictures of most everything in Liberty 100 times.  So I looked at the handy weekly calendar here on HMC, and decided to give the Weston Moonshiners Cruise a try.

Quality and quantity at the 39th Annual Show and Shine at the Ag Hall

One of the better car shows of the year was held on Saturday when the Genuine Chevy/GMC Truck Club of Kansas City hosted the 39th Annual Show and Shine at the Agricultural Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs.  You can tell that this is one of those shows that people go that extra step to make sure their cars are perfect.

The Ag Hall of Fame is actually a really picturesque place to hold an event like this.  The show field is surrounded by vintage-looking small town buildings, a big pond with lily pads lines one end of the field, and a miniature train clicks its way around the perimeter taking kids for rides.  And there were close to 100 cars and trucks, so you can bet that there were some cool ones to choose from. 

Checkin' out the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum at Graceland

Like most good Americans, I like Elvis.  Yeah, he was a bit of a nut burger, and his later persona was a little over the top, but dang it, he was The King.  You think The Beatles, or Michael Jackson, or Justin Bieber were the first guys to turn a huge sold-out crowd into a blubbering mass of screaming idiots?  Hell no.  Elvis did that.  He’s the biggest, most enduring entertainer in history.  And he even served in the U.S. Army.  You just gotta have a soft spot for the big guy.

Each year, some 1.4-jillion fans make their way to Graceland, Elvis’ mansion in Memphis, Tenn.  The place still looks about like it did when Elvis died in 1977, and people want to cast their eyes upon the stuff that Elvis cherished when he wasn’t on the road.  Oh, and did I mention that there is a car museum there?

The King of stock car racing meets the King of Rock and Roll at the Tupelo Automobile Museum

If it seems like I didn’t get to any local car shows last weekend, you’d be right. I was in Memphis attending a wedding. But I didn’t forget about you. We actually took a whole extra day to shuffle on down to Tupelo, Miss., and check out the great collection at the Tupelo Automobile Museum.

The museum was the work of southern communications magnate and car aficionado Frank Spain and his pal Max Berryhill. Spain actually started buying cars in the early 1970s, and the collection became so big that the 120,000-sq/ft museum was opened in 2002.

Dreaming of the good life at Drivin' Dreams

Taking a drive through southern Missouri can be an enjoyable opportunity for car aficionados. Once you get away from the big cities, the houses might be few-and-far between. But when you do see one, there are often lots of interesting old vehicles parked around the property.

As someone who lives in a typical landlocked sub-division that is tightly controlled by a homeowner’s association, I’m actually a little envious of people that can spread whatever junk they want all over their property. I’d love to have a lot full of beater cars that I could putz around with.

Attack of the fins!

Na na. Na na. Nananananananana!

I’ll bet reading that sent chills down your spine. Why? It’s the Jaws theme, of course. Scary stuff!

As we know, one of the last things that victims of the massive shark ever see is the ominous dorsal fin skimming over the surface of the water. Which brings us to today’s automotive theme—fins. Usually they aren’t as deadly as an attack from a great white shark (although people have hurt themselves and even died by banging into a car fin), but they’re still an interesting aspect of classic automotive styling, especially in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s.