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Come For The Muscle Cars And Leave With A Letter Jacket · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:05
  Mike Marrs: From the Texas Gulf Coast, it's in wheel time.
• 0:08
  Mike Marrs: Coming up in this segment, we're going to be talking with Frank Clam.
• 0:11
  Mike Marrs: Now he's got a big event coming up in a couple of weeks that we're going to talk about.
• 0:16
  Mike Marrs: And then we're going to have a look at the race card and we're going to look at some automotive history.
• 0:22
  Mike Marrs: I'm Michael Mars.
• 0:23
  Mike Marrs: Thanks for joining us.
• 0:24
  Mike Marrs: And let's go see what Frank is doing.
• 0:27
  Mike Marrs: Sir, there you are.
• 0:29
  Mike Marrs: Michael, how in the world are you doing?
• 0:31
  Mike Marrs: Doing well, sir.
• 0:32
  Mike Marrs: Well, sir.
• 0:33
  Mike Marrs: Frank Clam with the president of the Spring Branch Alumni Foundation, right?
• 0:40
  Mike Marrs: Correct.
• 0:41
  Mike Marrs: All right.
• 0:42
  Mike Marrs: All right.
• 0:42
  Mike Marrs: I got it right.
• 0:43
  Mike Marrs: Okay.
• 0:44
  Mike Marrs: So uh let's let's start with the foundation and what it is, and then we'll get to the event and get some more information going.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh the Spring Branch Foundation was originally created as a history of the Spring Branch High School, which was closed down in 1985.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: And uh some of the graduates uh talked to the school district and end up purchasing all of the memorabilia from the high school.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, who wanted it?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, except there and there were no more graduates coming out.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: So and in about 10 years ago, under Duncan Klusman, who was the superintendent, he allowed us to create a museum in the old library of the original high school.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Now the high school has been totally torn down, except for the auditorium, library, and gymnasium.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: So in and what they built in its stead is the Cornerstone Academy, which is a charter school for the school district.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it's an active school that has an old auditorium, an old library, which is now a museum, and the old gymnasium.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: So we we've we've collected items over the years uh to help the people understand uh Spring Branch High School, which was the only high school in Spring Branch from 1949 to 1962 when they opened memorial.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, and since that time, we have decided that we need to make this more than a high school museum, and we are now shifting gears, so to speak, to create a memory of the entire school district.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, education began in the Spring Branch area in 1856.
• 2:45
  Mike Marrs: There you go.
• 2:46
  Mike Marrs: Right there, and so you know, and it kind of makes sense the way that Houston has grown and created the different school districts.
• 2:54
  Mike Marrs: I mean, Spring Branch is surrounded obviously by by Houston, and so it makes a little more sense to kind of bring in all those uh things that have been influences on the area, exactly.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and we and we want the the other schools become involved, and we're gonna have a lot of their memorabilia put in there, but it's somewhere someplace where you can go and you can get an entire history of of the of Spring Branch, you know.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: That you know, we we weren't we didn't become an independent school district until 1946, which allowed the school.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, before that, it was the Spring Branch District number 27, the Hillendah District 27, the West Harris County District.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's when Spring Branch and Addicts actually combined together to create a school district, and they ended up getting a divorce because they couldn't agree where the high school should go.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: So that you know, they got together for several years and then they split up.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, the Spring Branch became an independent school district in 1946, which allowed them to create a tax base.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you know, that's what that's what and before that they were always authorized under the the county uh districts, and that's why we were number 27 for many many years.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: It was the common district number 27.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: But we we became in the independent school district in 46, and of course, we built the high school in 1949, and I think the the the first four-year class that went through it was 1953.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, for the longest time, you know, Spring Branch was a I can't say it's a one-room school, but it was a one-building school that had grades one through twelve, and it wasn't until 49 where they actually raised the money to build the school at the current location on Westview.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Where so we the academy is now, but where the academy is now, and we're gonna we're where we're gonna be holding the car show on the 17th.
• 5:09
  Mike Marrs: Uh so I have to tell you, the the time I've been there a couple of times and and I got to go through, and I was amazed at what's there.
• 5:19
  Mike Marrs: Like you say, it's it's got all these years.
• 5:21
  Mike Marrs: There's people have contributed fan uniforms, there's newspaper articles about some of the people that came through there and went on to bigger and better things in the rest of the world.
• 5:31
  Mike Marrs: And and it made me think where I went to school, my Niederland High School started in the early 1920s or something like that.
• 5:40
  Mike Marrs: We've got football rivalries that are over a hundred years old.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: Now, did you say Niederland?
• 5:45
  Mike Marrs: Yes.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: What's interesting, if you look at Spring Branch's Spring Branch High School 1949 football schedule, they played Niederland.
• 5:58
  Mike Marrs: See, that's what I'm saying.
• 5:59
  Mike Marrs: You know, my I went to school and graduated in 71.
• 6:03
  Mike Marrs: That's how old I am.
• 6:04
  Mike Marrs: My children graduated from a different building because they built a new school and they out and grew it.
• 6:10
  Mike Marrs: My grandchildren graduated from a different school.
• 6:13
  Mike Marrs: But I'm thinking all these people, different schools.
• 6:16
  Mike Marrs: My grandchildren have no idea, you know, uh they don't really know who Bum Phillips is, but they don't know that he was a football coach.
• 6:25
  Mike Marrs: Football took us to our first state championship.
• 6:29
  Mike Marrs: I mean, there's there's history like that that's just gone.
• 6:33
  Mike Marrs: Exactly.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: And what one of the things that we've started this year is that we've got some funding, and we have we we are now interviewing prominent graduates from the Spring Branch Independent School District, and we have computer, we have four computer terminals set up there where you can click and you can listen to their interview, or you can download a QR code and listen to the entire interview at your convenience.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, we've got, and one of the things that just added is Roger Clemens just donated his high school letter jacket to the museum.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: So we have Roger Clemens High School letter jacket, and uh, we've probably got about 21 or 22 graduates that we've interviewed.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh Chase Untermeyer was probably no one remembers who he is, but he was he went to Washington and he was undersecretary of state, and he was uh ambassador overseas, you know, very well known in the 1960s, not so much now, but we but now we've got a chance to talk to him while he's still alive.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: And what we're asking each one of them, what was the Spring Branch District like when you went to school?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where I think the people, you know, they don't realize that we were a very rural school when we started.
• 8:04
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, it's hard to tell that from where you're you're physically located now.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, exactly.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: But we were the boondocks.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we were way out in the boondocks when HISD was there, you know.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: We were, and uh so it took the longest time to uh, you know, to I mean, we we grew from probably three or four hundred uh students in the district to in the 70s, we had over 40,000.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then that was whole district and the whole district over 40,000, and that was kind of the peak because what happened was the kids grew up, but the parents stayed.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, so so in the early 80s, we started dropping and dropping and dropping till we were down like 24,000 students.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: Now you drop from 40,000 students and six high schools and go to 24,000.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's why they had to shut down two of the high schools.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: They shut down in 1985, they shut down Spring Branch and Westchester.
• 9:15
  Mike Marrs: I can kind of see that because of the way Houston was growing around you.
• 9:19
  Mike Marrs: You know, when you say we're going to leave, we're going to move off.
• 9:22
  Mike Marrs: Well, 10 miles down the road, you've moved off.
• 9:25
  Mike Marrs: You don't have to move across the country.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: You're in Katy or Cy Fair.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: And now Sci Fair and Katy are doing the same, they're in the same position Spring Branch was in the 1960s.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: They're growing and growing, they're adding schools and adding schools, and eventually it's going to grow past them and they're going to leave.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: And in fact, I just saw an article where they expected SciFair by 19 by 2030, that they're they're going to lose about 10,000 students.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's going to be the same thing from gentrification, where you no longer have young families with little kids joining the school district.
• 10:11
  Mike Marrs: No, they're moving out a little bit further as yes, that that freeway system that runs up through there.
• 10:17
  Mike Marrs: Oh, exactly.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, in 90 in 99 and and all that.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, Spring Branch, you know, you know, our history, like I mentioned, starts in 1856 at St.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Peter's Lutheran, which is still an active church on Long Point Drive.
• 10:34
  Mike Marrs: Wow.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh, so you know, we we've had uh you know a lot a lot of history through there.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh we try to tell people that one of Stephen F.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Austin's old 300 settl uh settled in Spring Branch.
• 10:52
  Mike Marrs: So that's that's there's a lot of history, and there's a lot of reasons to to to support this, and and we kind of got off track a little bit from the car show, but let's go let's talk about the car show before we go.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, the car show.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: This is something that that we started five or six years ago.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this year's gonna be our sixth annual, but we you know we uh we have a couple members of our board that are car buffs and and really enjoy this.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: They said, let's put on a car show.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: And and I'm thinking, okay, what are we gonna get?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: Five or six cars come out.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: No, we had we had a hundred cars show up, and I mean it was just it was it was just so awe-inspiring because it was you know, cars from the the the 20s, 30s, and then of course all the muscle cars, which you and I, you know, I'm a graduate of 68, so you know what what better muscle cars from the late 60s and early 70s, and there's a lot of them there, and and so we started saying in the in the the car show became so popular we kept doing it, it keeps be getting bigger and bigger, and then we've been working with y'all, and y'all have made it famous by getting us on wheel time, so you know we we just love it.
• 12:11
  Mike Marrs: Well, we appreciate it, we're doing what we can.
• 12:13
  Mike Marrs: I do remember the last time we were out there.
• 12:15
  Mike Marrs: In fact, we've got a a picture of it that's in the spot that the promo spot we're running.
• 12:20
  Mike Marrs: I I want to say it was a 19 Italian car.
• 12:25
  Mike Marrs: I mean, it's like I I want to say it's the only one in the country, and it was running and driving, and he brought it out there.
• 12:32
  Mike Marrs: I mean, it was that kind of an antique car that was there, along with you know, 69 Camaros and and 40 mile Ford coups that have been restomotid and oh yeah, and and and the hot rods, you know, the 30s and 40s that have been turned into hot rods that you know, people I mean, that's like their children.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that I just you know, that's one of the things that amazed me is how serious these car collectors take what they have.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: And when I see their everything they have out there, I I can see why.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: But we, you know, we we get it, it gives us a chance to over the museum.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: We have barbecue, uh, good food, uh, and of course we we give uh uh trophies for uh you know best car, and you know, and we have the people.
• 13:22
  Mike Marrs: There's several different classes on it, yes.
• 13:25
  Mike Marrs: Let me see if I can put this flyer up here a little bit bigger.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: So and and this happens at the 9016 Westview location, yes, yes, in the back parking back parking lot, big parking lot, and we fill it up with cars, right?
• 13:41
  Mike Marrs: So so there's you know, we just kind of pull down the side if you're in entry, and there's a there'll be some guys down there to check your registration and get you situated.
• 13:50
  Mike Marrs: Yes, car show runs from 10 a.m.
• 13:53
  Mike Marrs: to 2 p.m.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, 10 to 2.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, they you know the these people get their car there, you know, 7 7 30.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we have to make sure we get there early because they're lined up.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: So we're ready to show up.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: We want the good spot, and they get their chairs set up and their rags to wipe down their car or truck, and it's just uh so but and and then we we get it, you know, and then the public is you know, we go 10 to 2, so a lot of people show up.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: We decorate the front of the the the school so everybody knows something's going on, okay.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: And in the past, we've had like 200 U.S.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: flags line the the Westview.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: So when somebody drives by, they definitely turn to look to see what's going on.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a lot of uh just people that just drive past and and show up, and then a lot of people look forward to this.
• 14:52
  Mike Marrs: So if you want to bring your car, registration is thirty dollars.
• 14:58
  Mike Marrs: Yes, but spectators are free.
• 15:01
  Mike Marrs: You just drive by and you see the sign, say, I want to go to the car show for a couple hours.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly, exactly.
• 15:06
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, we're you're hungry and you want to stop in and grab a barbecue sandwich and sit and watch the cars, and exactly it's a great day.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: It is, and I'm gonna knock on wood because we have had good weather the last five years.
• 15:22
  Mike Marrs: Uh yes, yes.
• 15:24
  Mike Marrs: I remember a nice bright sunshiny day, and sit out there all day, you get a little bit get a little tan going on there.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, but it's it's it's something that if you like cars, if you like history, if you like barbecue, because we have one of the uh the Houston Livestock and Show barbecue teams come out there and cook for us.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: So they know what they're doing.
• 15:48
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:49
  Mike Marrs: So this gets a little bit better shot here.
• 15:52
  Mike Marrs: So 10 to 10 to 10 to 2.
• 15:56
  Mike Marrs: The October 17th.
• 15:57
  Mike Marrs: The October the 17th.
• 15:59
  Mike Marrs: The awards will be at two o'clock.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 145-ish.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:04
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, somewhere around there.
• 16:05
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, and uh got food vendors on hand, got plenty to eat, drink, got lots of cars going to be out there, it's gonna be a great and the mus and the museum will be open if you want to see what what it was like in the past, and you know, you're looking at our whole high school, we could be any high school USA.
• 16:24
  Mike Marrs: Absolutely, but nobody else has thought of it.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it's uh well, fortunately, they still have their high school open.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: This this was kind of by necessity, but well, yeah, we've turned it into something that we want the community to be proud of.
• 16:43
  Mike Marrs: But by the same token, like I say, my high school, they're on the third building since I graduated, and and you know, it's just all gone.
• 16:51
  Mike Marrs: There's nobody been pushed because we keep growing, the school's still there, the kids, the grandkids, great grandkids for some people.
• 16:58
  Mike Marrs: Uh, you know, I had the Friday night tickets to the football game for over 30 years.
• 17:03
  Mike Marrs: My kids were up and gone, but the people that were sitting around this, they their kids were up and gone.
• 17:09
  Mike Marrs: It was just, you know, it was just that's what you did on Friday night.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and yeah, you know, I remember, you know, right now you look at the the football stadium that's behind the current facility, it's called Grobe Stadium.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: That was the spring branch stadium for our high school, and now you look at it, there's a little bit of seating on one side.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: At the time that I went there, it held 15,000.
• 17:38
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, okay.
• 17:39
  Mike Marrs: I think it looks more like it's it's set up for a track meet, really, is what it looks like.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Now, now you have junior high, they come and play, they come and play football or soccer, lacrosse, and and it's you know, it's just it's still there though.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: It is still there.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: There there was a time when it held 15,000 people, and our games were broadcast on radio.
• 18:05
  Mike Marrs: It's amazing, you know.
• 18:06
  Mike Marrs: School district of 40,000 people dissolves because it just gets absorbed into everything else.
• 18:12
  Mike Marrs: It's amazing.
• 18:13
  Mike Marrs: Exactly.
• 18:14
  Mike Marrs: Frank, we appreciate you taking the time and joining us.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, and we wish you the very best.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I hope to see as many people out there as they can make it to see uh a bunch of great cars.
• 18:28
  Mike Marrs: And go in and see the museum.
• 18:30
  Mike Marrs: The museum is worth going in, it doesn't cost anything, right?
• 18:35
  Mike Marrs: That's what I say, it's worth the price of admission.
• 18:38
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, you will take some donations, but it's not open all the time because it is an active school.
• 18:43
  Mike Marrs: So this is an opportunity to to make that visit while you're there.
• 18:48
  Mike Marrs: And uh like I say, check it out, have some food, check out the cars.
• 18:52
  Mike Marrs: It's gonna be a beautiful day at the uh Back to the Past car show.
• 18:58
  Mike Marrs: Yep, October 17th.
• 19:00
  Mike Marrs: October 17th, Frank Clem.
• 19:02
  Mike Marrs: Thank you very much for joining us.
• 19:03
  Mike Marrs: Thank you, Mike.
• 19:04
  Mike Marrs: Sharing this with us.
• 19:05
  Mike Marrs: And we, sir, will talk to you again real soon.
• 19:10
  Mike Marrs: Okay.
• 19:11
  Mike Marrs: Bye-bye.
• 19:13
  Mike Marrs: Thank you for joining us again.
• 19:14
  Mike Marrs: We're going to take a quick break and we will be back after these few words.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's that time again.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Fire up those engines.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Heroes and Hot Rods is rolling into Bastro for Veterans Day weekend.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Friday night, cruise downtown.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Saturday, 400 of the coolest rides in Texas, take over Main Street.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Honor our veterans, enjoy local food and shopping, and help support local charities and scholarships.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Presented by Craig's Jewelry and over 200 local sponsors, November 13th and 14th, downtown Bastro.
• 19:50
  Mike Marrs: It's Back to the Past.
• 19:52
  Mike Marrs: Cruise back in time Saturday, October the 17th for the SBISD Alumni Association's annual Back to the Past car show.
• 19:59
  Mike Marrs: See classic cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more as automotive history comes alive at the Cornerstone Academy, 9016 Westview Drive in Houston.
• 20:08
  Mike Marrs: Bring the family, check out the rides, and enjoy a great day celebrating the vehicles that we remember and the memories that go with them.
• 20:15
  Mike Marrs: That's Saturday, October the 17th, Back to the Past, 9016 Westview Drive in Houston.
• 20:26
  Mike Marrs: So going on today, we're going through this real quick for October the 10th, starting later on today.
• 20:31
  Mike Marrs: It's the Yellow Out Barbecue and Car Show in Pairland.
• 20:35
  Mike Marrs: We talked about this last week.
• 20:36
  Mike Marrs: Registration 11, awards at four.
• 20:39
  Mike Marrs: Get lots of barbecue competition, vendors, music, family activities, or you can run over to the Lake Charles Fall Fest and car show that runs from 8 a.m.
• 20:47
  Mike Marrs: this morning till noon at the historic City Hall.
• 20:51
  Mike Marrs: Got vintage cars with show and shine and lots of market vendors.
• 20:54
  Mike Marrs: Now we're going to take a little bit look ahead and go off to October the 17th, Back to the Pass.
• 21:02
  Mike Marrs: We talked about this.
• 21:03
  Mike Marrs: In fact, Frank Lamb is on the show today talking about this, but we wanted to bring it out.
• 21:08
  Mike Marrs: We like it in wheel time, it's going to be there.
• 21:11
  Mike Marrs: It is the Alumni Association's Back to the Pass car show, truck, and motorcycles.
• 21:16
  Mike Marrs: So put this on your calendar for next Saturday.
• 21:18
  Mike Marrs: Then we're going to buzz out to October the 17th.
• 21:21
  Mike Marrs: Monster Jam is coming into Houston.
• 21:23
  Mike Marrs: You know, if you want something that's got a lot bigger tires, Monster Jam rolls into Houston's Reliance Center on October the 17th.
• 21:30
  Mike Marrs: Pit party begins at 2:30 p.m.
• 21:32
  Mike Marrs: gates open at 5 30, and the main event starts at 7.
• 21:36
  Mike Marrs: Got lots of 12,000-pound Monster Jam trucks competing in the Big Air two wheel and freestyle action.
• 21:42
  Mike Marrs: It's a great opportunity to see these trucks beat drivers during the afternoon pit party.
• 21:47
  Mike Marrs: Again, Monster Jam October 17th.
• 21:50
  Mike Marrs: Then we're going to slide over something a little more family.
• 21:53
  Mike Marrs: October the 17th, Beaumont Touch a Truck.
• 21:55
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is for the younger future gear heads.
• 21:57
  Mike Marrs: Beaumont Children's Museum Touch a Truck.
• 22:00
  Mike Marrs: It's downtown 701 Main Street in Beaumont from 10 a.m.
• 22:03
  Mike Marrs: to 4 p.m.
• 22:04
  Mike Marrs: Now they're going to have a lot of vehicles, a lot of heavy equipment out there, but children will be able to climb aboard and explore some of the emergency vehicles, some of the construction equipment, even utility trucks that are going to be out there, and they can talk to the people who actually operate these vehicles, learn a little bit more about them.
• 22:20
  Mike Marrs: Then we're going to slide over October the 17th to motor mornings in Houston.
• 22:25
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is uh something a lot different on the other end of this automotive spectrum.
• 22:30
  Mike Marrs: It returns on October the 17th, 9 a.m.
• 22:33
  Mike Marrs: to 11 a.m.
• 22:34
  Mike Marrs: It's short, but it brings in a lot of the Houston area exotics, supercars, and collector automobiles, and the public is more than welcome to come out and look.
• 22:43
  Mike Marrs: So the display vehicles are selected through registration.
• 22:46
  Mike Marrs: So it's kind of like some other events.
• 22:48
  Mike Marrs: You got to tell them, here's what I got.
• 22:50
  Mike Marrs: I want to come out, I want to show my vehicle, and they will approve you coming out as part of this high-end machinery show.
• 22:57
  Mike Marrs: It's a relatively short Saturday morning event, but there's a lot of unusual high-end cars here.
• 23:02
  Mike Marrs: And in some of them, this is probably the only place that you're going to see one like it.
• 23:07
  Mike Marrs: Then we're going to stroll over to October the 24th, the Jaguar Club of Houston Concours de Elegance.
• 23:14
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is uh the 48th Concours de Elegance, and it's in Sugarland at the town square.
• 23:20
  Mike Marrs: Cars start arriving at 8 a.m.
• 23:22
  Mike Marrs: judging starts at 11, and the event continues to about 3 p.m.
• 23:26
  Mike Marrs: Usually have a big impressive collection of Jaguars from classics up to some of the newer contemporary models.
• 23:32
  Mike Marrs: October the 24th, we're getting close.
• 23:34
  Mike Marrs: So we're going to see the Halloween Classic Car Show in Houston.
• 23:37
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is the 18th annual Halloween Classic Car Show at the National Museum of Funeral History on Saturday, October the 24th.
• 23:45
  Mike Marrs: It's a week before Halloween, but that's okay because this year's theme is heroes and villains, and they're going to have all makes and models of vehicles are going to be out there welcome.
• 23:52
  Mike Marrs: They're going to have 40 judge classes plus special awards all around 3 p.m.
• 23:57
  Mike Marrs: So this is the rather unusual venue.
• 23:58
  Mike Marrs: It's great for Halloween.
• 24:00
  Mike Marrs: It's amazing the kind of things they've got in there related to funerals.
• 24:06
  Mike Marrs: Funerals on wheels, you might think about.
• 24:08
  Mike Marrs: So that's a quick look at the weekend auto scene update.
• 24:12
  Mike Marrs: All right, now it's time to take a look at where the roads can take us this week.
• 24:17
  Mike Marrs: We got to talking about drag strips, so we thought we'd take a look at what regional drag strips are still around because there was a time when it seemed like just about every town had a drag strip somewhere, not too far away.
• 24:29
  Mike Marrs: It may have been an old airstrip, uh, had that over in Lake Charles, a couple other places around here, a piece of pavement, which was out here uh outside my town for years when I was growing up.
• 24:40
  Mike Marrs: Or it could be just an eighth-mile track where everybody knew somebody that's racing.
• 24:45
  Mike Marrs: So we're gonna take a look around it because because I remember when our town had one, we were just old enough to drive.
• 24:52
  Mike Marrs: We managed to get out there, and it was out on the edge of town, so we didn't have a lot of people to worry about.
• 24:58
  Mike Marrs: So we're gonna start with the Evedale Raceway.
• 25:02
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is up Silsby, Evedale area, and there's actually people that bring their cars over from Houston to do some testing over here because it's out of the way.
• 25:10
  Mike Marrs: Even when Houston Baytown was running, they would come over here because tested two nights, not as much traffic.
• 25:16
  Mike Marrs: It's a little bit easier, a little more relaxed, a little easier to work on the cars.
• 25:19
  Mike Marrs: But we're gonna start here because it's close to home here in Southeast Texas.
• 25:23
  Mike Marrs: It's on FM 105 near Silsby.
• 25:25
  Mike Marrs: It's a lot closer to what many of us remember when somebody says the local drag strip.
• 25:30
  Mike Marrs: It's not a great big giant motorsport stadium, it's a community racing facility where local racers and families can spend an evening at the track.
• 25:38
  Mike Marrs: Evidale has developed a pretty strong reputation for grassroots racing, including junior racers and specialty events.
• 25:44
  Mike Marrs: And for our Golden Triangle listeners, it's also proof that you don't have to make a cross-state road trip to experience old-fashioned Texas drag racing.
• 25:52
  Mike Marrs: We're gonna head north towards Lufkin, and you're gonna find that the Pine Valley Raceway is another track in Texas keeping grassroots drag racing alive.
• 26:00
  Mike Marrs: Now, October the 16th and 17th is gonna be a great excuse for a drag trip.
• 26:06
  Mike Marrs: October the 16th and 17th is gonna be a great excuse for a road trip.
• 26:10
  Mike Marrs: Dragging and pulling in the pines.
• 26:12
  Mike Marrs: He had told us about this event coming up earlier in the year.
• 26:14
  Mike Marrs: And this is one of those events that they're created, they brought in to kind of bring in spectators, kind of get more people acquainted with the track.
• 26:23
  Mike Marrs: So this one goes beyond regular ordinary drag racing because this is diesel drags, this is big rigs, this is tractor pools, and a burnout contest.
• 26:34
  Mike Marrs: There will be a car and truck shows, and there's going to be live entertainment.
• 26:37
  Mike Marrs: Friday and Saturday activities make it almost a motorsports festival rather than simply a night at the strip.
• 26:43
  Mike Marrs: But it's close enough that Southeast Texas to make the trip very easy for the weekend.
• 26:49
  Mike Marrs: From there, a lot of people have heard of this one, Little River Dragway up in Holland, Texas, near Temple.
• 26:55
  Mike Marrs: Now, the track dates back to the 1950s, and October the 17th, it's going to have its vintage drags back.
• 27:01
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is exactly what you're looking for if you want traditional hot rods, stalkers, gassers, dragsters racing on an old Texas drag strip.
• 27:10
  Mike Marrs: The events are geared towards American-made cars from 1975 and earlier.
• 27:14
  Mike Marrs: And racing is on the eighth mile.
• 27:16
  Mike Marrs: Friday night, October the 16th, offers test and tune, followed by the vintage drags on Saturday.
• 27:23
  Mike Marrs: So if you miss this one, it's okay.
• 27:25
  Mike Marrs: Little River continues to race well into November, so there's still time to get in some action before the end of the year.
• 27:33
  Mike Marrs: From there, Houston Motorsports Park.
• 27:36
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is a big place, but you don't have to leave Greater Houston if you're looking for some grassroots drag racing action.
• 27:44
  Mike Marrs: Houston Motorsports Park also operates an eight-mile drag strip on North Lake Houston Parkway.
• 27:51
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is next to the asphalt oval.
• 27:54
  Mike Marrs: Now the emphasis here is exactly what makes local tracks interesting.
• 27:57
  Mike Marrs: They got street nights, they got test and tune sessions, they got grudge racing, and they have specialty shootouts where spectators can get much closer to the action than you're going to get at a national event where there's 30, 40, 50,000 people there.
• 28:10
  Mike Marrs: In fact, October the 10th this weekend features shootout Saturday with several index and truck classes.
• 28:16
  Mike Marrs: There's also going to be junior dragsters and a testing tune.
• 28:19
  Mike Marrs: So this is a kind of a modern version of the neighborhood drag strip that a lot of us remember, but like a lot of others, civilizations closing in.
• 28:28
  Mike Marrs: I like the name of this one.
• 28:30
  Mike Marrs: This is the Yellow Belly Drag Strip up in Grand Prairie.
• 28:33
  Mike Marrs: Now, if we're talking old school Texas drag strips, Yellow Belly Dragstrip deserves the place on the list because its history dates back into the early 1950s, where young racers were reportedly running cars in the sandy Trinity Bottom River.
• 28:47
  Mike Marrs: Property owner O.L.
• 28:48
  Mike Marrs: Nelms eventually provided them something better.
• 28:51
  Mike Marrs: He gave them an asphalt drag strip that opened in 1955.
• 28:55
  Mike Marrs: Yellow Belly still promotes itself as a run what you brung kind of place and says some families have been attending for three or four generations.
• 29:03
  Mike Marrs: Now that's about as close as we're going to get to stepping back into some Texas hot riding history.
• 29:08
  Mike Marrs: We're going to finish this segment by going from the little neighborhood drag strip to the other end of the spectrum.
• 29:12
  Mike Marrs: Texas Motorplex in Ennis is hosting the Stampede of Speed, which is the NHRA Fall National's October the 9th through the 18th.
• 29:20
  Mike Marrs: Now, the Motorplex isn't a small town strip, it's really not, but it's close.
• 29:24
  Mike Marrs: It's not that far.
• 29:25
  Mike Marrs: It's one of America's major drag racing facilities, and it's got a historic, all concrete quarter mile track.
• 29:32
  Mike Marrs: But that's exactly why it's worth including it because you can spend one weekend watching racers at a little eighth mile track and another seeing some of the fastest drag racing machines in the country.
• 29:43
  Mike Marrs: And that maybe this week's road trip isn't really about finding one particular destination.
• 29:49
  Mike Marrs: Maybe it's about finding your local drag strip.
• 29:52
  Mike Marrs: Sometimes where the road can take us is right back to the drag strip.
• 29:57
  Mike Marrs: That's going to wrap up the first half of our program.
• 29:59
  Mike Marrs: We hope you enjoyed it.
• 30:00
  Mike Marrs: We hope that you're going to stay with us for the second half of our program.
• 30:03
  Mike Marrs: If you're listening to this on a podcast during the week, the next episode will be the second half of that program coming out later on this week.
• 30:11
  Mike Marrs: So we're going to be right back after this quick break, and we hope you stay with us.
• 30:16
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• 30:23
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• 30:26
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• 30:31
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• 30:38
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