The success of last year's show at Ontario California's Citizens Bank Arena brought Traffic Car Club back to the venue once again for their 2010 date. In 2009, the show was held on an auxiliary parking lot across from the arena. This year, the show was moved to the parking areas on the main arena grounds. The show participants started arriving at 5:00 A.M on the morning of the show to make sure they got the prime spots to set up.
By the time registration was closed at 10:00 A.M., the participant count was over 400. Even after registration closed, quite a few participants showed up to be a part of the show. Los Angeles, Groupe, Together, Elite, Showtime, Good Times, Klique, Maniacos and Reality were some of the clubs that showed up to support the event. There were clubs from outside the Los Angeles area like Members Only from San Diego, USO from Las Vegas, and Aztec Image from Bakersfield on hand as well. The long distance award went to Miami Florida's Diesel Wheels for their second cross country trip to attend the show. Now that's a road trip!
A couple of car clubs chose the Traffic show to debut new rides. Rare Class Car Club debuted a clean 1971 Monte Carlo, and Together Car Club's President, Adam Amarillas, busted out his latest 1980 Buick Regal. Thanks to the great attendance, this was definitely the perfect show to debut a new ride. The foot traffic throughout the day was nonstop, and these guys were definitely lucky to seize the moment to make a splash on the scene.
One thing you can always expect at a show or picnic from the generous Traffic Car Club are raffles; and a whole lot of them! Not only do they do the 50/50 raffle, the club also raffles off some great prizes thanks to the many show sponsors like Napa, Martin Senour Paints, and Hoppos Hydraulics. If you were looking for something to eat or drink, you had more than one option, which kept the lines down to a minimum. Spectators were also able to buy some music, hydraulic parts, hats, tees, and diecast collectables from one of the many vendor booths on the show grounds.
Traffic had a car hop demo this year for the first time, and they gave the car owner who hit the highest mark some cash for his accomplishment. The club also made sure the deejay kept the music playing and made sure that the show attendees were kept aware of any important announcements. Traffic also had some "best of" trophies made, which they handed to winners during the show. These awards were decided by a panel of Traffic Car Club members, and not given based on the judging sheets. I thought this was unique, and the winners of the "best of" trophies really liked the fact that they didn't have to wait until the end of the show to receive them.
The last thing to take care of before the show ended for 2010 was to hand out the specific trophies and awards. Many of the show participants went home with a trophy, and in some classes, cash to go with the trophy! Once again, Traffic Car Club's hard work paid off and the show was a success. On the night of the show, the Internet message boards were filled with people posting photos from the show and commenting on the great time they had. We were right there in the mix as well, since we had a great time again covering the show for the magazine. We are already looking forward to 2011's show. One week down, 51 to go!