Check out BadStratRT's homepage article wondering what happened to Mopar Nationals? Do you agree with him? What can be done to bring Mopar Nationals back up to speed?

 

I do think with the industry trend moving more towards fuel efficiency and alternative fuel vehicles there are less and less "lovers" of the true hardcore vehicles, like our beloved Dodge models, being born today. Its more about what will get a youngin' from point A to point B and not about the performance ability of the vehicle or the history of the vehicle at the track. Although this is sad, I fear it is true.

 

I can tell you it is the locals in this area ruining the event. Being from this area and now that the super cruise takes place in Heath on SR 79 on sat nights after being there I can tell you it is the local "non mopar" folks ruining this event. The hotels in Heath are filled to capacity a year in advance and SR 79 in the southgate area is packed with spectators. On Fri and Sat nights the state route is bumper to bumper and you reach a max speed of 20 to 25 becasue of all the cars. I have been out there and the crowds get huge. Unfortunately there are a few in the crowd who feel the law does not matter on this day because its the "mopar super cruise". If it were a true mopar cruise with old mopars cruising and a burn out every once in a while I'm sure it would be welcomed by any town. Unfortunately the people getting drunk in the crowd, becoming unruly and encouraging others to do the same you end up with pockets of a mob mentality in the crowd. Then you get locals in their Honda Civic's and Chevy Astro vans trying to do burn outs. (ask anyone who's been to Heath) So I would have to say its the locals wanting to be lawless that are ruining the event. In my experience the mopar machine's don't cause the problems, they care about their vehicles, and just want to show them to people, its not so much about breaking the law, drinking in public and doing burn outs like with the spectators. If they could somehow close the cruise route to non mopars and made it a true mopar super "cruise" it would be wonderful.

 

That's nothing new. When I lived in Reynoldsburg we hosted Mopar Nationals and it was the same way. Every year people got arrested for public intoxication and the cops Caprices got egged. I watched a program on speed and it said more classic Mopar is registered in the Middle East-Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc than here in the US. Truth is too many "collectors" have old Mopars in shops and museums than are on the road nowadays. And when you think that Chargers, Challengers and Cuda's were killed in the mid-70's, there's very few "car guys" that own them and a whole lot of ****-retentive "collectors" that are grabbing them up, it's bound to happen. I couldn't pay $20k for a car that I was going to drive 3 or 4 times a year and that's about the cheapest you can get a classic Mopar for now. I still love 'em, but I'm not going to drive 2000 miles to see fewer and fewer cars-especially when I know my chances of owning one is slim at best.

 

I went to the mopar nationals in Indy and columbus. Niether is central to the country. Move it to ST Louis. They have the Monster Mopar Week End. It is now bigger than the nationals anyway.