Re: Official Date & Location
First, BG is 90 minutes from me so this post may not pass the common sense test.
Second, this has probably already been considered but perhaps not.....
Since the events are so close in proximity, could Nats not be combined with Carlisle? Yes, Carlisle is 13 hours from me and I plan to attend this year, as well as some others that have not been yet. If the main thrust of Nats is to assemble SyTy enthusiasts together, that goal can be achieved at Carlisle. Like Gary stated, most folks have limited leave and financial resources that will force them to eliminate one of the events.
BG is a well oiled machine and quite close but I am thinking out of the box for the welfare of other forum members AND what facilitates the greatest turnout with minimal impact.
Perhaps a poll would ease the difficulty of determining what to do: who plans to attend what event and who can attend both :dunno:.
Shaun,
First, it will be great to see you at Nats. I don't even know what trucks you have at this point, but hopefully we can see one or some of them in action this year (fingers crossed for sun)
As for Carlisle/Nats, it has been thought of and discussed multiple times, there was a while thread on it somewhere on here last year and it was brought up in another thread this past month.
It is not a horrible idea which is probably why others like yourself have brought it up. Tom himself will admit that Carlisle does not have the same vibe as Nationals. You have to remember that at Carlisle, we are a tiny part of a much bigger show, in many ways that's a good thing...... don't need to stare at SyTys all weekend, other cool trucks to look at, big swap meet, etc. Nationals is OUR SHOW, its just us, banded together, good or bad, we are all there for the same reason, we were stupid enough to purchase a Syclone, Typhoon or Sonoma GT :rotf:
Could Carlisle replace Nats down the road, certainly, especially if Nats does not continue after this year. Part of the reason who cancelled Nats last year and made it this year was because of the 25th Anniversary of the Syclone, we figured if we were gonna go out, go out with a bang. It is my understanding that attendance for the GS Nationals has dropped in recent years as well and they are much bigger than we are.
Like your friend Jimmy said, these trucks are dead. Maybe that's not the best way to phrase it, but it is true. I however, like Tom, Adam, Hood, Renz, Harmon, Mark, you and many others, are not ready to throw in the towel on these trucks or this particular event just yet.
Yes, it sucks that its two weeks apart from Carlisle, but we felt it was better to have Nats BEFORE Carlisle as attendance for a regional event would be less impacted that way. They only possible way to not have it impact Carlisle is to have it in April or May, but that wasn't going to provide good numbers either.
Speaking personally, I am going to attend both events. Bowling Green is 14 hours from me, Carlisle is about 3 hours. Last year I drove out to Carlisle after a morning dentist appointment, hung out all afternoon, went to dinner, then drove home. It was a long day, but I'm glad I went, hopefully this year I can make more of a weekend out of it.
Everyone on here has a life, we can't always just drop everything to go play with trucks. Just the same, there will be people that are going to be unhappy with the date, some people are going to be unhappy with the location, some people are going to be unhappy that their significant other won't let them go, some will be upset that their truck isn't done yet..... there is no way everyone can be pleased at the same time, this is the battle that has been going on year after year.
Either way, these events are not the same, they should not be compared and they are not in competition with each other. Carlisle is a yearly thing now, Nationals is biennial at best and who knows if there will be another, so if someone wants to say they attended SyTy Nats that has never gone before, this may be their last chance.... :squint:
![Quickstop [UK]](/data/avatars/m/5/5165.jpg?1570199786){kind=avatar}
I'm glad I went, but.... At least the car has changed, so there may be something new to see with the C7.
