Not yet a teenager, but showing all the maturity of a well-seasoned adult, the 12th Annual Dr. George Show was a well run event with 800+ cars held in a beautiful setting in the sunny Coachella Valley.
The Dr. George Show is hosted by the Palm Springs Crusin’ Association (PSCA). The PSCA is a 300+ member, non-profit organization which started the Dr. George Show as a tribute to Dr. Sebastian George, a nationally prominent oncologist and co-founder of the Desert Cancer Foundation. Dr. George was killed in a traffic accident in 2002 and in 2003 PSCA hosted the first Dr. George Show. The proceeds from the show go to the Desert Cancer Foundation which serves cancer patients throughout the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas. Last year the hard work performed by members of PSCA made it possible for them to donate $50,000 to the Desert Cancer Foundation.
This year the weather was perfect for the show with clear sunny skies and 75 degree temperatures. And to add to the day’s perfection was nice green grass at the Indian Wells Tennis Center. This was a great place to park a car and have a picnic and with more than 800 cars the view was magnificent. Every type of vehicle was on display: hot rods, customs, classics, rat rods, low riders, vintage fire trucks and motorcycles. A contingent of PT Cruisers showed up as did a large number of Prowlers. Even a Tesla was parked in the grass. If you didn’t bring anything to eat — no problem; there were numerous vendors selling all kinds of food and drink including kettle corn, grilled sandwiches, lemonade, and beer. As in past years, the Queen and her Court from the Riverside County Date Festival made an appearance. The Date Festival will be held February 14-23, 2014 at the Riverside County Fairgrounds.
The past several years the local fire department has been at the show with a ladder truck and one of the firemen has always been kind enough to climb the 100 foot ladder and take an overview photo of the event. This year the firemen kindly agreed to do so again, but just as the ladder was about to be raised for the photo, they got a call and had to leave. Another fire truck was at the event, and although it didn’t have the 100 foot ladder, a fireman climbed on top of the truck and took an overview photo from about 15 feet up. (That’s the lead photo.) While we didn’t get our meme overview photo, we are very thankful for the great overview photos that we did get.
Below are some of the fine cars at the show.
An interesting car on the grass was a Mercury Comet brought by the Santa Maria High School Drag Race Team. This car races Sportsman class and runs in the 12-13 second range. Last year the Team raced with ANRA at Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield. For liability reasons the cars are driven by alumni of the Team, rather than its current members, and the Comet is now raced by female alumni. The program director of the Drag Race Team is Art Foster who sets strict standards for team members including the requirement that they have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and that they perform community service. In their spare time, team members use the shop at Santa Maria High School to build and maintain the drag cars. The Team owns the Comet, a rail and it just purchased the Hawaiian Punch which they intend to transform from a funny car into a fuel altered. The Hawaiian Punch is a national title winning funny car once owned and raced by “The Hawaiian” Roland Leong. The cars are all purchased and maintained with donations raised by the Drag Race Team.
The gates opened at 9:00 a.m. and raffle tickets were sold throughout the day. A 50/50 raffle and a silent auction were available. This year there were four celebrity judges: Sam Foose, Dick Guldstrand, Gary Meadors, and Dick Messer. Below is Gary Meadors.
At 3:00 p.m. the awards started and the winning cars lined up to receive a trophy. This line-up included 39 spectacular cars. Each award is sponsored and the Best of Show award is sponsored by the PSCA. Each sponsor selects a car to receive its award. All of the award winners can be seen at http://timingtower.smugmug.com/ Best of Show went to Tom Carnevali with his 1949 Cadillac. While the exterior of the Cadillac is stock-appearing, the running gear is all new.
This award-winning cab-over is another example of the exceptional cars to be found at the Dr. George show. In this photo Aidan poses next to the truck.
When the last award was given, the Dr. George Show was over for another year. This show is always held on the second Sat. of February. Next year the Dr. George Show will coincide with Valentine’s Day – so plan to attend with your valentine.
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