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Never been to the Grand Nationals? Read Doug Bailey's earlier primer about this 2018 Grand National! |
TIP #1: The drive up there will be cool. Even if we don’t get a caravan together (it’s hard to coordinate), the folks who pay attention to you on the road are like parade attenders: They don’t know squat about your car, but they do know it’s COOL. They want to talk about it if you’re gassing up, and they will track with you for miles out on the road.
TIP #2: A GN is a terrific time all around. Imagine being surrounded by folks of all stripes, from all corners of the country and world, who think like you do about Cadillacs and cars in general, and whose focus is those things. Not politics or other tripe – I for one need to escape that stuff.
TIP #3: You will meet folks whose interest in the ’63 matches yours, and who are either dealing with your exact issues, or already have. Lifelong friendships can and will be built. I am buds with Cadillac guys in SC, NC, VA, TN, FL, OR, IN, OH, and NJ because I spent time with them at one GN or another… I’m talking friends I talk to regularly, who help me, and not mere acquaintances.
TIP #4: The local entertainment is good too, and DC will be a great venue. But those things are secondary in my mind. I mean, for example, in St. Louis we did BBQ joints and a cowboy ranch, and so forth. But the visits to car collections, museums, and clinics (and the field of Cadillacs) were what kept my attention. I’ve been to DC lots of times, as has Barb, but you never get enough of DC. Still, I will not be doing all the events planned by the local hosts. Most of the sites I want to see I’d just like to see with a handful of my friends, from the front seat of my car, and not on a bus full of people looking out the windows.
TIP #5: I’ve only done about six of the past ten GNs. The four I missed were too far away to drive. A LONGTIME GN attender who became a close friend in 2007 (Ron Zahn) told me “It’s just not the same when you don’t have a car at a GN.” Ron was in my back seat when he said it. He wasn‘t talking about being judged or winning, he was talking about the jazzed feeling you get from driving around in a Caddie when many are bumming rides or riding buses… I won’t drive an old Cadillac farther than say the Midwest. Been to Philly, Savannah, Boston, Columbus OH, St. Louis, St. Augustine. Skipped Wisconsin, two to Vegas, and upstate NY. Frankly, I am thinking now that a National Driving Tour would be preferable to a GN unless I had a car for judging. More to do, less focus on the show cars, smaller crowds. The one I’ve done (IN and MI) was really awesome. I wish I could afford to do the Route 66 tour this June, from Chicago to St. Louis. But it’s too much in one year for us. I am on the CLC’s national driving tours committee and they are going to be disappointed I’m not coming. But a GN is expensive and I committed to this one years ago. If Peach State ever hosts another national event during my tenure it will be a National Driving Tour, not another GN!
TIP #6: GN Judging: I think I would always want to enter a car I own at least once, just to hear what the judges say needs attention. I’ve been lucky enough that just cleaning them up and driving to the venue was good enough to grab some sort of trophy. The Turk won a first in Touring in ’07. The Tux won a second in primary in St. Augustine. The Brougham took second in primary in Boston. I wouldn’t keep spending money just to keep entering and moving up the Primary and Senior ladders though… I don’t want to enter my ’66 YET because I know it would be humbled by the $50k entries. So, I will drive it, register it for Display Only, and wait for the day when I can enter it for judging (if I ever get it decent enough to do that). Display usually gets you on the field less expensively than general parking, although they are worried this year about the number of cars entered. They are thinking about only having room for the first 400 or so judged entries. There is a chance the display only cars will be the first to be dismissed – but I’ve heard from the hosts that they will be charging display cars the same as the judged cars, and parking them with their classes.
TIP #7: I think most guys, especially young whipper snappers, should get trained to be a judge and do that at least once. I’m too old to do it, but I wish I had when I was younger. Talk to Sandy Partridge about it. He got trained, did it a few times, and then dropped out. But he has the experience and could do it again if he wished. Judging can be tiring, and it cuts down your time to browse the show cars.
TIP #8: Staying in the main hotel is important. When you’re in the backup hotel you miss a lot of stuff. If you don’t already have hotel reservations in the main hotel it’s probably too late for this one, but next year get reservations early. I was late registering in Savannah and although the backup hotel was a really neat, quaint place full of character, we were never there. And we still missed out on some quality Cadillac chatter…
TIP #9: My list of must-do activities is short, so we will not be signing up for a ton of those expensive activities:
TIP #10: Shared experience. The good times will last long after it’s over and we are back in Georgia!
TIP #2: A GN is a terrific time all around. Imagine being surrounded by folks of all stripes, from all corners of the country and world, who think like you do about Cadillacs and cars in general, and whose focus is those things. Not politics or other tripe – I for one need to escape that stuff.
TIP #3: You will meet folks whose interest in the ’63 matches yours, and who are either dealing with your exact issues, or already have. Lifelong friendships can and will be built. I am buds with Cadillac guys in SC, NC, VA, TN, FL, OR, IN, OH, and NJ because I spent time with them at one GN or another… I’m talking friends I talk to regularly, who help me, and not mere acquaintances.
TIP #4: The local entertainment is good too, and DC will be a great venue. But those things are secondary in my mind. I mean, for example, in St. Louis we did BBQ joints and a cowboy ranch, and so forth. But the visits to car collections, museums, and clinics (and the field of Cadillacs) were what kept my attention. I’ve been to DC lots of times, as has Barb, but you never get enough of DC. Still, I will not be doing all the events planned by the local hosts. Most of the sites I want to see I’d just like to see with a handful of my friends, from the front seat of my car, and not on a bus full of people looking out the windows.
TIP #5: I’ve only done about six of the past ten GNs. The four I missed were too far away to drive. A LONGTIME GN attender who became a close friend in 2007 (Ron Zahn) told me “It’s just not the same when you don’t have a car at a GN.” Ron was in my back seat when he said it. He wasn‘t talking about being judged or winning, he was talking about the jazzed feeling you get from driving around in a Caddie when many are bumming rides or riding buses… I won’t drive an old Cadillac farther than say the Midwest. Been to Philly, Savannah, Boston, Columbus OH, St. Louis, St. Augustine. Skipped Wisconsin, two to Vegas, and upstate NY. Frankly, I am thinking now that a National Driving Tour would be preferable to a GN unless I had a car for judging. More to do, less focus on the show cars, smaller crowds. The one I’ve done (IN and MI) was really awesome. I wish I could afford to do the Route 66 tour this June, from Chicago to St. Louis. But it’s too much in one year for us. I am on the CLC’s national driving tours committee and they are going to be disappointed I’m not coming. But a GN is expensive and I committed to this one years ago. If Peach State ever hosts another national event during my tenure it will be a National Driving Tour, not another GN!
TIP #6: GN Judging: I think I would always want to enter a car I own at least once, just to hear what the judges say needs attention. I’ve been lucky enough that just cleaning them up and driving to the venue was good enough to grab some sort of trophy. The Turk won a first in Touring in ’07. The Tux won a second in primary in St. Augustine. The Brougham took second in primary in Boston. I wouldn’t keep spending money just to keep entering and moving up the Primary and Senior ladders though… I don’t want to enter my ’66 YET because I know it would be humbled by the $50k entries. So, I will drive it, register it for Display Only, and wait for the day when I can enter it for judging (if I ever get it decent enough to do that). Display usually gets you on the field less expensively than general parking, although they are worried this year about the number of cars entered. They are thinking about only having room for the first 400 or so judged entries. There is a chance the display only cars will be the first to be dismissed – but I’ve heard from the hosts that they will be charging display cars the same as the judged cars, and parking them with their classes.
TIP #7: I think most guys, especially young whipper snappers, should get trained to be a judge and do that at least once. I’m too old to do it, but I wish I had when I was younger. Talk to Sandy Partridge about it. He got trained, did it a few times, and then dropped out. But he has the experience and could do it again if he wished. Judging can be tiring, and it cuts down your time to browse the show cars.
TIP #8: Staying in the main hotel is important. When you’re in the backup hotel you miss a lot of stuff. If you don’t already have hotel reservations in the main hotel it’s probably too late for this one, but next year get reservations early. I was late registering in Savannah and although the backup hotel was a really neat, quaint place full of character, we were never there. And we still missed out on some quality Cadillac chatter…
TIP #9: My list of must-do activities is short, so we will not be signing up for a ton of those expensive activities:
- Welcome reception and auction
- Clinics, even repeats on AC and speedometers are worth attending
- Maybe one large group event. We are thinking about the river cruise. But the large dinners are sometimes not what they are cracked up to be. (Boston’s was pretty good though, Maine lobsters at picnic tables.) I would not care to ride a bus to WVA for a visit to USA Parts Supply.
- Barb likes the women’s shopping events. Most of the gals say good things about them.
- Saturday’s car show and judging – it’s the reason for going. You have never seen so many beautiful Cadillacs. It will take your breath away, and I mean that.
- The awards banquet. It’s LONG, a huge crowd, lots of blather from the podium. Food is rubber chicken no matter how hard they try. But the slideshow, the national awards, and the trophy awards are awesome. Just the looks on the faces of the winners is worth the price of admission – genuine JOY.
TIP #10: Shared experience. The good times will last long after it’s over and we are back in Georgia!