I recently received the following letter from Ed Buczeskie. Ed has been the manager of the Import and Replica National for the past several years and has always had our best interest in mind and has worked well with us. I believe this will be a bigger and more successful event for all of us to enjoy:
EVENT UPDATE!!
By now I'm sure you've heard about the combining of the Import & Kit Nationals (IKN) with the Performance& Style event to create a new show called the Import & Performance Nationals. .Since I will be co-managing the new event it is my personal goal to make sure the new show retains as much as the feel of the original IKN event as possible. All of the IKN features and activities will remain intact such as the Passport Program, autocross, seminars,, kit manufacturers, clubs, Toys for Tots drive, parking by country of origin, Race Paddock, Invitational Displays, etc.
Showfield participation is trending up and the current year-to-date numbers are up over 49%. Our estimate for the new show is over 2,500 cars and we'll see more attendees through the gate. Those larger numbers will give us the ability to attract more Midway vendors and possibly more sponsors for the show. More people at the show will also be good for the current swap meet vendors and could result in more vendors in the future.
The new show will have some new activities such as drifting, Low Car limbo, Rolling Exhaust Contest, Beauty Contest and Burnout Contest. The drifting will be mixed with the autocross while the Limbo and Exhaust contests will take place later in the afternoon on Saturday. Low Car Limbo is simply driving under a limbo bar at low speed. This has been won by lowered Miatas but I'd love to see an Austin-Healey 100M participate this year. The Exhaust contest is not based on volume; rather it is based on the quality of the exhaust note. Each car is driven past a team of judges, at low speed and under load.
The burnout and beauty contests will be held Saturday evening after all of the traditional IKN activities have ended. Those who are interested in these contests are welcome to come to the stage/grandstand area to check them out. It should be noted that our beauty contest at this event follows all of the same rules as all of our other events. NO nudity is tolerated and we don't allow thongs, pasties, etc to be worn. The participants are also NOT allowed to shake or dance. There will be an earlier round of the beauty contest where the girls are to dress as beer maidens (think St. Pauli Girl) but the swimwear round will be later in the evening. This contest is as family-friendly as possible and there will be nothing that you wouldn't see at any public pool or beach.
The new show is going to be a huge event and a lot of fun! All of the IKN clubs that I've spoken to are planning to attend and give the new show a fair chance. There is also some clubs that are very excited about the new format. My hope is that the new show is much like a 3-day long Cars & Coffee event where we have a wide variety of cars.
If you have any question/concerns/comment, please feel free to let me know.
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you May 20-22, 2016!!
Ed.
Ray
