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This was my 7th year attending Automotion. Every year I leave my house at 7:30-7:40 and roll into Automotion at about 9AM with not much of a line … not so much this year …
I made it to about 3 blocks before the turn down the final road at about 8:35AM … I could see cops at the intersection and I could see normal cars (Honda’s … Toyota’s ….)turning down the same road to automotion (WHY?!?) … after about 10 minutes I moved about 100 feet and my car died … gulp … I turned the key and nothing … I was in drive so I put it in neutral and tried again … nothing … not a peep from the starter … on go the hazards …
15 seconds later there are 3 guys jumping out of their classic cars to help push me (gotta love car guys!) … 3 minutes later the line has moved 30 feet … I try to start it again … and it fires right up … I wave to the folks in the left lane to watch out because I’m coming over! I drove a block up and parked at a gift shop … I decided I was going to walk into automotion and check things out and let the line die down a bit. As I walk up to the intersection I can see cars lined up for a half mile in either direction! This is going to be an awesome show!
By 9AM I walked to the far back lot (plenty of antifreeze on the ground around a lot of the cars) … there was about 100 spots left and about 100 spots left in the upper lot as you drive in … so by 9AM there were +800 cars parked … at that point I knew there was no way I was going to make it into the show with my car … So I thought I would walk back to my car and grab my camera and enjoy the show … I get back to my car and see the shop is opening and there is a sign that says “30 minute parking” … Super … so at that point I had no interest of parking my car in the spectator lot … so I jumped in my car … fired it up and drove to the show at Stark in Stoughton (with my AC on) …
Year after year Automotion has issues getting cars parked … and year after year they make no changes. Why?
Each year we offer ideas to help speed things up and they make no changes … Here are some of the ideas from the past and some new ones:
1. Circletrack brought this up last year … why not make the street that turns into automotion 1 way from 6AM to 10AM so cars can be side by side in the same direction.
2. Why do they let normal family cars turn down the street into automotion? The cops should wave them by and tell them show cars only.
3. Why do they park cars one … at … a … time? There was a 1 mile long line to park one … at … a …time. They should park cars in 3-4 locations at the same time.
4. Why make every car make a Y-turn and back into a spot? Everyone, pulls forward (I know that this is not normal car show etiquette), if you have ever attended a brewer game that is how they get cars in and parked fast!
5. There are 3 entrances into Noah’s Ark, but they only use one of them.
6. Allow owners to park their cars overnight from 4-8PM Friday for a fee (say 50 bucks) and then hire a couple of rent-a-cops to watch the cars. This is what they do at other large shows around the nation.
7. What happens when you pre-register? Do they mail you a hot pink card that says, “you’re in!” that you pass off as you drive in? Or do they have to look up your name?
So will I go back next year? Probably only as a spectator, if they don’t indicate that they are going to make some changes … It is exciting that the first couple of shows of 2012 have had record attendance …
I’m interested in what others experiences were today …
Ryan, it was a huge mess this morning. We were in line by 7 a.m. and didn’t get into the show until after 8. Lots and lots of frustrated and overheating cars. We thought things would get better after a cop showed up, but he only made it worse. We complained once we got up to the gate only to be told the parkers were having trouble with all the cars and they were expecting more cars than they had room for?! Hello?! They have been doing this show for years and still can’t figure how to move everyone along?? We offered suggestions to everyone we talked to and they said they will take them into consideration, but I doubt it. Several said this is their last year, listen… When you pre-register you get a letter you have to show to get your info, we suggested today to send the little pink card so you can drive right in, but I don’t know if that will help with the parking problem since they won’t shut down the road for a few hours to get everyone in
It sounds to me like this show has grown beyond their ability to handle. It is a great show, hence why it has grown so well, but I don’t think they ever expected it to get this big. It sounds like they want it to get smaller and more manageable. By creating year restrictions and increasing police presence, they appear to be hoping that it will shrink the show without hurting the show. I wonder, if they continue to have issues, if the show will be another great event of the past, like World of Wheels in Madison from years ago.
I have yet to Rate the Show, but it will be a very colorful report.
First off, traffic was a nightmare. They need more than one Keystone Cop and police explorers directing traffic. It took me two hours to go from my motel to the show (I sat in the motel parking lot for at least 90 minutes waiting for a spot to open up in the street). Then as I’m sitting in line I tell my co-pilot “Look at all the coolant from overheating cars on the street, and someone’s burning oil.” I look in the mirror and the oil burner was me
So now I’m not only pissed because I am inpatient, but I’ve got car issues too. I finally get parked and as I get out of the car I go ballistic on the guy parking. I tell him that everyone in his club better get there shit together, because they’ve got coolant all over the parking lot and a ton of pissed off people. He tells me “We’re doing the best we can.” I said that if this is your best, I hate to see your worst, because every year its a clusterf*** getting in here. Have they learned nothing?! Luckily I had pre-registered, but as we were sitting in line I thought to myself “If I get up there and they start turning cars away, someone is going to owe me $15.” I believe they were able to park every car though. I walk up to the registration tent and get the lady with no teeth that spits on everything while she talks… Again, not helping my already short and lit fuse. I explain to her that there is no reason after 26 years you can’t come up with a way to get these cars parked in a timely fashion. She gives me the song and dance that they didn’t expect this many cars – I call bullshit. They’ve always had anywhere between 800-1200 cars every year I’ve been there.The evening festivities were in force for awhile, and though the cops were present, I did not see as many as past years on patrol. Lots of hillrods and urban hillbillies with there lifted trucks cruising, but lots of nice cars also. Finally the long arm of the law relaxed somewhat.
Today there was maybe 1/3 of the cars from Saturday. I had to leave early, but found an award sticker on my car when I returned to it. The toothless wonder would not let me get my award early, so RivFan was nice enough to pick it up for me (which as I type this, the awards are probably being presented right now).
That oil burner I mentioned earlier…. Let’s just say someone is shopping for a new turbo :angry: :angry: In tradition, I can’t go to the Dells without something on one of my cars breaking the night before, on the way, or after I get there.
I have no desire to attend this show anymore, at least not as a participant. I do not have the patience for this hulabaloo year after year after year.
Toothless wonder
Never understand why she’s at registration, but furthermore… why she has no teeth? Did no one tell her there are options in this world!As for them not expecting that many cars, I was told the same thing when I complained. My response was similar to yours, I don’t think the guy I talked to had a clue what was going on.
I could do without the endless trucks driving around with a box full of kids, that seems stupid and very unsafe. It was nice to see the cars cruising around, I understand the Edge of Dells was really busy with their day long burnout contest.
Congrats on the award, none of us stuck around either.
circletrack wrote:Toothless wonder Never understand why she’s at registration, but furthermore… why she has no teeth? Did no one tell her there are options in this world!
As for them not expecting that many cars, I was told the same thing when I complained. My response was similar to yours, I don’t think the guy I talked to had a clue what was going on.
I could do without the endless trucks driving around with a box full of kids, that seems stupid and very unsafe. It was nice to see the cars cruising around, I understand the Edge of Dells was really busy with their day long burnout contest.
Congrats on the award, none of us stuck around either.
We both had dogs at the kennel that needed to be retrieved, and I was tired of sitting in the sun…. Don’t think I could’ve waited another two hours for them to be late with there awards presentation :whistle:
Dells cruisers really need to remove Motion from the title of their show. Trafficjam might be a better name. This show is not the way I wanted to start the show season.. Good thing there were plenty of friends to make the weekend fun.
This may the only show where having a newer car is definetly to my advantage.
send your thoughts and suggestions to:
Amigo2k wrote:send your thoughts and suggestions to:Don’t worry, I will :whistle:
Yeah………….that was a real clusterf&^* Saturday morning. We set up our swap spot Friday, got up early and waited in line for about 15 mins, I said hell with it and as soon as we turned off the main road I went down the opposite lane (I could see the cop waving at me in the rear view) and turned into the swap meet entrance. Found a nice parking spot in the shade and really had a great weekend after that. We sold about 2/3 of the stuff that I brought down. Great weekend and a great show.
I had a great time it was my first time to automotion and yeah it was hot but we were the 11th car in and got chosen for an award and met alot of nice people
baxter10 wrote:I had a great time it was my first time to automotion and yeah it was hot but we were the 11th car in and got chosen for an award and met alot of nice peopleCongrats on the award!!!!!
baxter10 wrote:I had a great time it was my first time to automotion and yeah it was hot but we were the 11th car in and got chosen for an award and met alot of nice peopleIt is a great time and I’m glad you were able to get in so quickly, what time did you get in line? I’ve heard reports of them letting people in long before the show opened at 7, which I tend to believe as we were in line at 7 a.m. and the line was 1/2 way down Hwy. 12 in both directions and every side street.
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