Due to the birth of my daughter, my only show in 2000 was Club Hot Water's own HotWaterBlast. It
was held near Houston, TX on March 26,2000. There was an excellent
turn out, over 100 cars, I think. Due to the overwhelmingly high number
of modified VWs, the judging format was changed to a "People's Choice Top
20" instead of separate categories for stock, modified, A1, A2, A3, etc.
Since the vast majority of cars entered were
modified,
guess what kind of cars got voted for the Top 20? You guessed it, modified
cars! It was a little bit of a drag to have such lopsided competition
and not receive an award (s/he who spends the most wins); but I had
a blast talking about the TDI (which is all that really matters,
anyway). Even though I only left the show with a sunburn, the
Stealth TDI turned plenty of heads and commanded lots of questions
and respect. Perhaps I'll make a few more shows in 2001. By then
my daily driver will have over 100,000-miles on it... and still worthy of
showing. |
My first Volkswagen show was "Bug Out 34" in
Dinwiddie, VA in 1996. That was my first taste of VW showcars and VW
drag racing. Years passed before I attended another VW show.
Eventually, I joined a club called
CLUB HOT WATER and decided to meet
them at a show. My first chance was at the "13th Annual Big Bug Shootout"
in Ennis, TX (near Dallas) in September 1999. I decided to show
my car for two reasons: 1) to support the club, and 2) to get a great
parking space so I could keep an eye on my pride and joy. I entered
my car in the stock show class since it had no noticeable modifications.
Little did I know that I was a contender. The name of the game
when showing a stock car is to ensure it is clean, CLEAN, CLEAN.
Apparently, mine was clean enough to take the win. Not bad for
having driven over 700-miles to attend the show. My competitors all
had fancy displays. My display was just the car. One of the judges
recommended displaying my road kit in the trunk. Since I thought a
stock car should look like it had just left the dealer, all the stuff he
was referring to was stashed in a large Rubbermaid container and set aside.
Perhaps I'll have a display at future shows; but it'll be different
than what people will expect.
My first show in 2001 was the
I was up at sunrise to
clean the car. There was sand and dirt in every nook and cranny! I
guess that's part of showing car in the Southwest. I got the car washed
and dried, then drove to the show to do the rest. Judging started at
9am. Luckily, my car was in the back and I had more time to perfect
it's appearance. I didn't have any window cleaner; so my windows had
to slide with just a damp cloth. My "display" has improved to include
a 
Eventually I moved on to slightly more elaborate displays. Although my car is modified, I still pursue stock classes and accept a points deduction for my mods. Even with the points deductions, I still stand a better chance of placing in "Stock" than against all of the highly-modified cars in the modified classes. In addition to the shows listed above, I've also shown the car at the 2004 TDI Fest in Braintree MA (1st Place), 2006 BugOut #59 in Manassas VA (2nd Place), 2006 TDI Fest in Valley Forge PA (1st Place), 2006 H2OInternational in Ocean City MD (3rd Place), and the 2007 BugOut #61 in Manassas VA (2nd Place).