A family wedding on Saturday left Sunday as my only day this weekend to attend a car show. A friend and I decided to stay close to home and participate in the On the Rocks Fall Car Show at Karric Square in Dublin, Ohio.
On the Rocks Bar & Grill has been holding two car shows a year, one in the spring and one in the fall, for as long as I can remember. I participated in my first On The Rocks show in September of 2012. This year marked the 9th annual Fall event. All proceeds from the spring and fall shows go to support the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.
Despite perfect weather, attendance yesterday was down slightly from the spring event. The show registered 108 vehicles in comparison to 131 for the spring show.
Once again there was strong participation from several local Corvette clubs.
Even with all the Corvettes, the show still had a nice mix of both old and new cars and trucks.
This is the second show I've been to this season to have a school bus as an entrant.
This beautiful 1956 Ford Crown Victoria belonging to Joe Brandinges was a standout.
Pete Crusse's 1960 Chevy Impala wagon grabbed a lot of attention.
The blue '69 Camaros of Jill Verona and Shawn Martin were a compliment to each other.
One of the unique cars at the show was Chris Wise's 1999 Saturn Wagon. I bet you won't find many Saturns able to do a 75 shot of nitrous. Chris told me at one point the car had weeds growing up through the seats.
The 2000 Ferrari 360 of Mark Gray and the 2014 Dodge Viper GTS belonging to Steve Venegas were a few of the "exotics" to enter the show.
Some of the other automobiles to catch my attention were the '62 Studebaker belonging to Jay Benedict, the '69 Dodge Charger RT of Mike Holden, and Chuck Davidson's '72 AMC Javelin.
A sampling of adult beverages is always a plus at the On the Rocks shows.
Is this what is meant by running E85?
THE AWARDS
On The Rocks presented 60 "Favorite" and five "Best of" trophies. The "Best of" categories included:
- Best Street Rod
- Best Muscle Car
- Manager's Choice
- Best Corvette
- Best of Show
This has been a good week for Mike Gibson and his 1947 Buick Super Convertible. On Monday Mike's car took the "Ox Roast Choice" award at the West Jefferson Ox Roast show and the "Best Street Rod" on Sunday at On the Rocks.
Bill and Pat Folts and their 1970 Chevy Nova SS "Pro Street" received the "Best Muscle Car" award.
The "Manager's Choice" trophy went to Brandon Taylor and his 2013 Mustang.
The 1958 Corvette belonging to Dave and Jane Winkle received the "Best Corvette" trophy.
Our dear friend, Russ Annis, and his beautiful 1967 Chevy Chevelle SS was picked "Best of Show". Russ bought the car new in 1967 from a dealership in Indiana.
THE GRADE
I give the fall show a solid A. The cheeseburger I had for lunch turned out to be the best tasting one of the season.
I know I wrote some comments in the spring about the show becoming very "Corvette centric". Now that I have a better understanding of what's going on it all starts to make perfect sense. Mike Mitchell, who plays a significant role in organizing these yearly shows, is a member of several Corvette clubs in the area. Mike owns a beautiful, all original '66 Corvette. The club members come out to support Mike, who works his tail off to make sure these yearly shows go off without a hitch. I not only commend the clubs for supporting Mike and his efforts, but also a worthy cause in the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. In the end, raising money for the foodbank is really what's most important.
This was my seventh On the Rocks show and one thing I can say for sure is your car will always be thoroughly judged. You can't say that about a lot of other shows.
Thanks for writing the article and supporting our Show, if you ever need any help Car Show-wise, please feel
Free to reach out. We're always trying to figure out the best possible ways to judge cars and run the show. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Also if you go to On the Rock's Facebook page, there are plenty of pictures of past and present Car shows.
Thanks again
Mike, Thanks for the feedback. I have always felt the judging at On the Rocks to be fair and balanced. I think the biggest issue facing the show is the perception that it is an "ALL" Corvette show. We both know that is not the case. I really liked the way the Capital City Corvette Club had a category for the Corvettes and a category for the other models at their Creekside show. I thought giving out "Favorite" and "Best of Show" awards for each category was a great idea. Maybe something similar could be adapted to On the Rocks. Judge the Corvettes as a group and the other models as a group, and give out favorites and best of show for each group. I know you're sort of doing that now, but make it a little more clear to everyone. Just my two cents.
--Kim