The Race of Gentlemen: Rock You Like a Hurricane

"JGrabowMSt" (jgrabowmst)
10/06/2015 at 16:41 • Filed to: Race of Gentlemen, TROG, Wildwood, New Jersey, Vintage Racing

For the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , The Oilers Car Club & Motorcycle Club descended on Wildwood, NJ. For a long weekend, hot rods and motorcycles tear down Atlantic Avenue from the Starlux to The Deck causing mayhem and madness in a way that only real steel and vintage horsepower can do. From early in the morning and late into the night, the sound of overhead valves, shorty headers and tires screaming for mercy takes the town back to the late 1940’s when Marines brought their hot rods to the beaches to get together and find out who had the fastest ride.

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This year, The Race of Gentlemen had an unexpected, unanticipated, and unwelcome attendee that ended up forcing the races back a full weekend. Hurricane Joaquin. From all around the world, racers had cars built and brought to the Wildwoods to participate in vintage beach bracket racing, and a few of those racers had to watch their opportunity to race wash away.

Cars, motorcycles and their riders and drivers arrived from across the United States all the way from the South Jersey area to the opposite coast in California. Then there are the international visitors, racers who come from Switzerland, Norway, Canada and Japan. With racers coming from about as far and wide as it gets, photographers from magazines and across the world had battled for the pit and starting line passes from Hemmings Motor News to Hot Rod Magazine, to capture the essence of what vintage beach racing would have been, 70 years ago.

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The Race of Gentlemen couldn’t be brought down by a weekend of poor weather; rain, wind or otherwise. Reservations that could be changed and extended were, and for everyone that was stuck with a weekend of rain, wind and gloom, got together for dinner, drinks and dancing in an effort to make the most of the gusty weekend that put a halt to the real fun of putting the pedal to the metal.

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Gifts were exchanged, free tees were handed out, and to the lucky few who were out hanging out with the racers early, we got a chance to see some Sunday morning mayhem of TROG attendees putting on a small show for the photographers, riders and racers who were spending their last morning in Wildwood. The weather had provided a slight consolation prize for those who held out through the rough weekend as well. The clouds broke, the sun started to shine, and riders went out to claim what sand they could before having to pack their bags for this year.

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Despite the terrible weather on the way down to Wildwood, the car accidents, flooded roads, detours and u turns required to make it down, I’m glad I made the trip down for the first weekend. Next weekend I’ll be down again to watch The Race of Gentlemen make history for itself once again. I was able to get my first ride on a custom built chopper, meet one of the four riders preparing to change the races forever.

How will four riders change !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! forever? You’ll just have to wait until next weekend for the races and for when the real surprises drive up to the starting line and wait for the flag to drop.

DISCUSSION (14)

The Powershift in Steve's '12 Ford Focus killed it's TCM (under warranty!) > JGrabowMSt
10/06/2015 at 10:59

I really need to see this. Last year was my friend’s wedding, this year is mine. Hopefully next year I’ll make it to AC and out to Hershey for the AACA swap meet.

Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig > JGrabowMSt
10/06/2015 at 17:01

Would you look at that? A reason to go to New Jersey.

Patrick Nichols > JGrabowMSt
10/06/2015 at 17:12

Just a heads up, I don’t know if you noticed the handle of the poster in the top picture or know for a fact that he is not looking to be associated with Nazis (in which case he probably should have used the sanskrit, “svastika”), but it might not be a great look for a post that is otherwise very good.

unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > JGrabowMSt
10/06/2015 at 18:08

Isn’t there supposed to be a lady racing this year? Hemmings Muscle machines have had an ad for her craftsman sponsored run.

JGrabowMSt > The Powershift in Steve's '12 Ford Focus killed it's TCM (under warranty!)
10/06/2015 at 18:17

Where are you in NJ? Or are you close enough to travel? There are a number of automotive events in other areas all through the year.

JGrabowMSt > Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig
10/06/2015 at 18:18

There are a large number of reasons to go to NJ, all over the state, all year round, with plenty of automotive related attractions.

JGrabowMSt > unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins)
10/06/2015 at 18:19

The tip of the iceberg, but I hope to meet and talk about the event with Jessi Combs, and talk about her absolutely insane hot rod built for this event.

JGrabowMSt > Patrick Nichols
10/06/2015 at 18:28

I understand the overall concern, but its the instagram of that racer, and he was among the group that had lost their chance to race due to flight schedules and weekend reservations. With respect, I included him because his group had made a long trip and did not deserve to lose their opportunity to race.

His username is his business, and while I understand there will be those offended by it, there are people out there who will be offended or agitated by absolutely anything. I will not censor it, nor will I leave it out over a decision that was not mine. I certainly appreciate the diligence and concern enough to raise the issue, but do understand that the individual behind the username grew up in a different culture, and its wrong to judge him based on a totally different culture. Nothing personal, but so youre and others are aware of my reasoning and intentions behind leaving that image.

iSureWilll > JGrabowMSt
10/06/2015 at 19:37

I live in Cherry Hill, NJ. Where do you find out about all the automotive attractions throughout the year? I just moved here in 2014 and haven’t seen much info online about events around Jersey related to cars/bikes.

The Powershift in Steve's '12 Ford Focus killed it's TCM (under warranty!) > JGrabowMSt
10/06/2015 at 19:48

Woodbridge. Atlantic City is maybe 2 hours away from me, so it’s easy enough to get there...I just need time to go for this!

JGrabowMSt > iSureWilll
10/06/2015 at 19:55

Cherry Hill, I was actually out there recently picking up parts for the HEMIWagon.

You’re close enough that bombing down 95 to the Turnpike wouldn’t be so bad.

Many NJ events are word of mouth unless you’re on a mailing list that can sometimes be hard to find. North Jersey really has a huge amount of events. Way up in Sparta you have the Chatterbox Drive In which is a Saturday evening show between May and September. Then you have Cars & Croissants which is Morris County, and then there’s the Bergen County C&C that also happens. There’s a Central Jersey one as well, and then a smaller one that meets up in Brick. As far as South Jersey goes, I’m not 100% sure. I’m going to bring up the idea of hosting a large C&C that coincides with The Race of Gentlemen next year, and see what The Oilers say, or whether it’s attention they want to have. There’s a couple huge parking lots that could fit plenty of cars, and it would give them a huge amount of exposure as well.

I’ve pushed pretty hard to get enough Oppos together to have a group section at a Charity show by me, but every year I bring it up, not much interest is shown.

I also live near a couple exotic brokers that host or attend with absolutely awesome cars from pristine 190SLs to hulking S65 AMGs. One of them organizes a huge show called Driven by Purpose which is a massive exotic show that’s taken up all of Liberty State Park before.

Englishtown isn’t too far away from you, and they host a lot of events throughout the year, you can keep an eye on their website for more details. Bimmerfest was hosted there this year, and I was there with a few other Oppos. Finally, you have NJ Motorsports Park down in Millville which also hosts events throughout the year, and just this past weekend was a LeMons race that Jalopnik was covering.

I live around a unique area that hosts a huge amount of events very close to where I live, but NJ isn’t all that big, so for example I was down at Wildwood, it’s about a 2.5 hour drive for me, I’ll be back down next weekend, and I have to hit the road at around 5am to make it there before the racing begins, but it will happen.

You should have my email as well, you should get in touch sometimes. I send out periodic emails about events that other Oppos (or even just myself) are holding or attending so that we can arrive in the largest possible group. I’ve gone with Oppos all over NJ, out to Bethlehem, New Canaan and many places in between for photos, shows or just to hang out. If you’re not busy this weekend, maybe head down to Wildwood for a day or afternoon and we can meet up! It’s always awesome meeting more Oppos. I was going to organize a dinner meetup this coming weekend, but those plans now have to change, so I’ll be sending out an email later tonight or tomorrow regarding that.

JGrabowMSt > The Powershift in Steve's '12 Ford Focus killed it's TCM (under warranty!)
10/06/2015 at 19:59

The HEMIWagon broke in Woodbridge just about a year ago! That sucked actually.

You’re only about 45 minutes or so from where I am up close to Randolph. There’s actually a pretty big number of Oppos in the Morris County and even greater NYC area. The mailing list I have is about 50 Oppos. If you’re not on it yet (you would know if you were), shoot me an email [username]@gmail and I’ll add you! I periodically send out emails about events I attend with other Oppos, or events I organize. There will be a few really cool events coming up soon, so if you’re not on the list, you should get yourself added soon!

Patrick Nichols > JGrabowMSt
10/06/2015 at 20:06

Totally understand and after looking into his profile I think it’s pretty clear that his culture is more aware of the true meaning of the swastika as it relates to eastern religion and culture. Great post by the way and thanks for taking time to respond to address something that I just didn’t want to take away from your post.

The Powershift in Steve's '12 Ford Focus killed it's TCM (under warranty!) > JGrabowMSt
10/07/2015 at 08:14

Funny, I’m actually moving up to Morristown after I get married this weekend, so I’ll be pretty close by. I’ll drop you an email and hopefully I can join up when things calm down a bit.