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I'd love to, but all the National Olds events are always east of the Mississippi. Thousands of miles away from me.....
Edit: I lied only 828 miles away, hmm.
Last edited by madmax442.com; Mar 19, 2024 at 03:15 PM.
For me it's 850 or so. Looking forward to making the trip as we're not trailering this year. Will be getting 24 mpg instead of 8, that was the game changer.
You people who live west of the Mississippi, especially west of the Rockies, or who live anywhere along the edges of the country, like Florida or Maine, etc., will always have a problem in this regard. It behooves the OCA to hold meets where the likelihood of high attendance is the greatest, and that often means where the density of OCA members is the highest. That means the upper midwest. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and a few surrounding states. Yes, shows have been held out west, most recently in Albuquerque in 2017, but doing that always comes with a price as far as attendance.
I went to the ABQ show, and it was great, but I think there was maybe one-third the typical attendance at a little over 100 cars, and maybe half the normal number of vendors. Fusick, for example, gets to many Oldsmobile-themed shows, but I don’t recall they made it all the way from Connecticut to New Mexico.
Holding shows there is great for the people who live in New Mexico or Arizona or Colorado, but that’s a relatively small number, and even most of those people have a relatively long distance to travel. The west is sparsely populated and spread out compared to the east, and holding shows there makes for long distance travel for a proporitionately much larger number of members. That discourages attendance.
I think the OCA recognizes that they need to occasionally hold shows in some of the far-flung locations, and they do that perhaps once every five years or so. At least, they used to. Now with local chapters no longer being involved with hosting and running a show but rather having everything handled centrally, they likely have to choose places that will yield the biggest bang for the buck, attendance-wise. It’s a fact of economic life for the OCA.
As one totally anecdotal example, I have a friend who routinely drives his late '60s Oldsmobile to OCA shows whenever they're anywhere near where he lives, which is outside of Philadelphia. He went to Dayton, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, Kingsport, etc, but he won't be going to Springfield, Missouri this year because it's a just a bit farther than he wants to drive his old Olds. No matter where the show is, it's always a long distance away for someone.
Here’s a listing of the OCA show locations since the year 2000, which is a total of 24 shows since there was no show in 2020. I’ve put them loosely into four categories in regard to location:
1. In the heart of the country (no asterisk).
2. West of the Mississippi River but east of the Rockies (one asterisk).
3. At the Rocky Mountains or west of there (two asterisks).
4. Held well to the east (three asterisks).
Of the 24 shows, 12 of them, or exactly half, have at least one asterisk, which I think is actually pretty good as far as the OCA spreading shows out around the country. Eight of the shows, or one-third of them, have at least two asterisks, which is also pretty good when it comes to the OCA putting shows in farther-flung locations.
OCA has to put these shows in the highest concentration of Olds owners I understand. For me I don’t own a truck and car trailer so neither of my cars will ever be shown. Living in south Florida it’s just too long of a drive in a vintage Oldsmobile. Be my luck the car would break down, get stolen or something crazy lol. I definitely want to try to come this year as I have never attended an OCA show.
You people who live west of the Mississippi, especially west of the Rockies, or who live anywhere along the edges of the country, like Florida or Maine, etc., will always have a problem in this regard. It behooves the OCA to hold meets where the likelihood of high attendance is the greatest, and that often means where the density of OCA members is the highest. That means the upper midwest. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and a few surrounding states. Yes, shows have been held out west, most recently in Albuquerque in 2017, but doing that always comes with a price as far as attendance.
I went to the ABQ show, and it was great, but I think there was maybe one-third the typical attendance at a little over 100 cars, and maybe half the normal number of vendors. Fusick, for example, gets to many Oldsmobile-themed shows, but I don’t recall they made it all the way from Connecticut to New Mexico.
Holding shows there is great for the people who live in New Mexico or Arizona or Colorado, but that’s a relatively small number, and even most of those people have a relatively long distance to travel. The west is sparsely populated and spread out compared to the east, and holding shows there makes for long distance travel for a proporitionately much larger number of members. That discourages attendance.
I think the OCA recognizes that they need to occasionally hold shows in some of the far-flung locations, and they do that perhaps once every five years or so. At least, they used to. Now with local chapters no longer being involved with hosting and running a show but rather having everything handled centrally, they likely have to choose places that will yield the biggest bang for the buck, attendance-wise. It’s a fact of economic life for the OCA.
As one totally anecdotal example, I have a friend who routinely drives his late '60s Oldsmobile to OCA shows whenever they're anywhere near where he lives, which is outside of Philadelphia. He went to Dayton, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, Kingsport, etc, but he won't be going to Springfield, Missouri this year because it's a just a bit farther than he wants to drive his old Olds. No matter where the show is, it's always a long distance away for someone.
Here’s a listing of the OCA show locations since the year 2000, which is a total of 24 shows since there was no show in 2020. I’ve put them loosely into four categories in regard to location:
1. In the heart of the country (no asterisk).
2. West of the Mississippi River but east of the Rockies (one asterisk).
3. At the Rocky Mountains or west of there (two asterisks).
4. Held well to the east (three asterisks).
Of the 24 shows, 12 of them, or exactly half, have at least one asterisk, which I think is actually pretty good as far as the OCA spreading shows out around the country. Eight of the shows, or one-third of them, have at least two asterisks, which is also pretty good when it comes to the OCA putting shows in farther-flung locations.
I went to the 2017 one in Albuquerque, my home town!
Last edited by madmax442.com; Mar 20, 2024 at 07:51 AM.
Thanks for the correction. That's not a bad showing, considering.
I went back as far as 2012 in cars registered at the Nationals. In some instances, the report in the magazine just said something like "around 400 cars" or "over 250 cars" or something like that while other times an exact number was given.
Here's the list in descending order of attendance. I note several things.
1. The lowest attendance was for the 2019 show in Wichita. This was a show that was well west of the Mississippi and in a city that probably was seen by some as in the middle of nowhere and not having that many tourist things to do. I attended that show (not with a car), and it was the second time the show was held indoors. It was a nice show, for sure.
2. Second from the bottom is the second of the two Murfreesboro shows that were held in successive years. The first year, in 2021, saw 259 cars, while, in the second year, it dropped to 208. I attended the first one but not the second. I heard a number of people say that, if they had to travel any distance, they didn't want to go back to the place they had just been. So there was probably a bit of Murfreesboro-fatigue going on.
3. The third from the bottom is the aforementioned Albuquerque show. Not a bad number, but still well below the eastern shows, which were basically in the high-200s to 400 range. The Cincinnati, Springfield, IL, and Milwaukee shows, all in the heart of membership country, had very healthy attendance.
Thank you for the history lesson Jaunty. It’s interesting to see where the show has been.
Run to Rund…I look forward to seeing you race again this year!
I’ve only been attending shows for the past 4 years…it took me awhile to see the appeal, but now I’m hooked.
(owned 8 Olds in all, raced 1 for over 20 years)
I don’t look forward to a show I’d either have to miss or fly to due to distance.
One question…would a North Florida show do well in y’all’s opinion?
Its a place that millions come to vacation every year anyway…
It’s worth noting that I’ve been to the Florida BOPC show for the last 3 years and it is SAD that they can’t get more than 50-60 Olds to attend. Being that it’s the retirement capital of the country, filled with people with a little money, and have a 12 month car season.
(I’m not asking this because I live here…just wondering if you think it would get people to participate)
