Made a couple of stops on my way to Back to the '50s.....one to a place where a huge show bloomed every June ....and a visit to my Dad.
From 1986-97, the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in Southern Illinois was the site of the Street Machine Nationals. Each year, I'd take my summer vacation there ( + a 2-day road trip each way), seeing the thousands of Pro Street cars and trucks, restos, street-driven musclecars, etc.
This picture is taken where I'd park, which was toward the middle of the grounds near one of the big "lakes" on the grounds. Back in the day, there would be Mopars parked next to Blue Ovals parked next to Bow Ties parked next to...anyway, it was one big, colorful show. My last year there was '97, the year before I moved to California ( & my first full-time magazine job). '97 was also the show's last year in Du Quoin.
There was one other stop to make...this one after my first day at Back to the '50s. From the Minnesota State fairgrounds, I traveled throughSt. Paul to the Fort Snelling National Cemetary...
...the final resting place of my father, who would have turned 88 today
Dad was a research metallurgist in Chrysler's materials lab in Highland Park when I was born, so you could say that being a Mopar guy was in my DNA from the start. (OK, I just said it!) I've got some of.what Dad did keep from his 1953-59 gig with Ma Mopar, and I'll be scanning & posting them here before long.