Most hot rodders are the type of people who really love their cars and love to cruise their cars, and there are those few who like to drive ’em like they stole ’em. Such is the case for a group of old-school traditional rodders from up in the Northern Midwest. Since most of them drive their hot rods everyday, to them an 8-10 hour drive to a car show seems like a great idea.
The Cruise
The Tin Militia, The Roamin’ Chariots, and The Aces car clubs along with a few others got together and figured they might as well make it an adventure if they were heading down to Louisville for the Beatersville Car and Bike Show anyways.
Mitch Huffington, who is part of the Tin Militia Car Club, based out of Northern Illinois, told us that every year his club has one long haul show the club must travel to. And since they have always wanted to get down to Beatersville, they decided this would be the year.
With this thought Huffington started asking around to find out who would be interested in a cruise down south. The response was overwhelming and this is how the Bourbon Blitzkrieg Run was born. When we found out a bunch of hooligans where going to drive up to 800 miles to hit the Bourbon Trail, we could not pass up the opportunity to get some free shots of some Bourbon whiskey.
Some of you may know that Central Kentucky is known as Bourbon Country. Kentucky being the only place in the world where Bourbon can be made has a rich and deep heritage for all things of the spirits. Mitch thought it would be great to take a bunch of hot rodders on as many distillery tours as possible. All together he was able to line up five full tours over the weekend. We caught up with them in the capitol city of Frankfort, Kentucky.
It was a cool and foggy morning, which is a little unusual for early June and we were rolling down the winding, tree covered road to Buffalo Trace Distillery. We arrived a few minutes before everyone else, so we started looking around a bit when we heard the rumblings that could only come from a pack of hot rods. Seeing them coming at us with the black picket fence on both sides of the road was almost like we had fallen back in time.
Fourteen old school rods and a couple rusty rats slowly rolled past the 150 year old barrel houses which were filled with thousands of gallons of Bourbon. One of the very cool things that Mitch was able to work out was to be able to have some behind the scenes action at a few of the distilleries. Buffalo Trace allowed the whole group with all the cars to drive around the grounds in order to have some incredible shots taken in front of the historic buildings.
All together we visited three distilleries on Saturday; Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey and Four Roses. It was awesome running down the road with bad ass hot rods and people turning their heads thinking it was a parade going through their town. It seemed everyone had a great time, after all, we were able to get a shot or two of some fine bourbon at every stop. After a long day running the back roads of Kentucky, it was time to hit up a few of the Beatersville pre-parties.
The Pre-party
We hit the 6th Annual Pre-Beatersville BBQ Hootenanny, hosted every year at Pete and Holly Stone’s house in Louisville. Several years ago he realized how expensive it was to stay in hotel rooms around Louisville during Beatersville. So Pete did what any neighborly hot rodder would do for their fellow travelers and he opened his house and back yard up for anyone coming in from out of town for the show.
This year was special for one very happy couple; they were married at the Hootenanny. Several months ago Vyvian and Beth from South Bend, Indiana contacted Pete and told them they wanted to get married down in Louisville. Of course Pete was all for them being united at his house, but there was one detail he was not expecting and came as a little surprise. They wanted Pete to become ordained and perform the service himself. He was very happy to become the “Minister of Peace” for such an occasion and “Pete’s service was the perfect mix of ceremony and fun,” an elated Beth shared with us.
To Pete, this whole group that stops by is like his big extended family. People bring their tents and sent up out back, while Pete, his wife and mom whip together a massive feast and of course a whole lot of ice cold beer. It’s a great time to hang out with friends, make some new ones and talk about cars, girls and music. Pete shared, “We consider everyone family and everyone is welcome, come one come all.”
The Show
Sunday morning bright and early we were ready to head a few miles down the road to the big event of the weekend. As we drove down Broadway in downtown Louisville towards Beatersville we could see the cars piling through the gates of the closed off street in front of the Phoenix Hill Tavern.
This year promised to be the biggest show yet. Even at 9 o’clock in the morning the massive amount of people walking in and the line of cars going around many blocks, was a sure sign that the rumors were true.
After we made it through the gates we began to make our way around the maze of cars and people. We have been here several years and know the lay out of the place quite well. To explain, it goes something like this; there’s a massive club called the Phoenix Hill Tavern that is surrounded by four parking lots within this historic residential district. The city of Louisville allows them to close down Baxter Ave., in front of the bar and one block on Broadway and somehow they are able to fit about 800 cars, 200 bikes and close to 10,000 people in this place.
Here you will find some of the coolest pre ’70s customs, rats and old school bikes (except for that 1980 El Camino that somehow slipped in). Joey D who is in the Instigators Car Club and was also one of those who cruised down with the Bourbon Blitzkrieg Run told us, “As a northerner (or Yankee), it’s an interesting experience. There are a lot of surfboards on stuff. Up north I have one on my ’58 Ford, but most of the time I’m the only one at a show with a surf board.”
One of the guidelines to having your car in this show is that you have to be able to drive it in – absolutely no trailer queens. However, everyone is welcome to come and enjoy the fun and there is a whole lot of that to be had here. Whether you just hang out around the cars, head inside to listen to some killer rockabilly or check out the pinup contest (a must), there is something for everyone and every taste and style.
We headed inside to cool off and listen to some of the toe tappin’ rockabilly being played on the stage. Throughout the day there were incredible bands like the Nuly Dedz, Jane Rose and the Dead End Boys, and Hellfire Revival. All have a different flavor from a hillbilly-rockabilly sound to downright hard thrashin’ psychobilly.
Jane Rose has been playing this gig for four years now and told us, “I will keep coming back because it’s that awesome and it’s family. This year there is a lot more people than last year. This show keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.” After running over to Spinelli’s Pizza to eat some hand tossed pie, we walked back into the show just in time to catch the adorable and sexy girls who are competing in the pinup contest making their way around the venue. Each one doing their best to get your attention in hopes of grabbing your vote. If it was up to us, everyone one of them would be crowned Miss Beatersville, but unfortunately there can be only one.
Over this action packed weekend we were able to meet some very cool people from all over, including Dennis and Vicky Oliver, who were part of the awesome group that cruised in the Bourbon Blitzkrieg Run. Dennis told us that he drove over 800 miles in his 1954 Plymouth station wagon from Des Moines, Iowa just to have some fun down here in the south.
Every time we visit this show it just gets better and better. So if you are ever sitting around wondering what you are going to do on Memorial Day weekend, you can either hook up with the Bourbon Blitzkrieg Run, head to Louisville to spend the night over at the BBQ Hootenanny or just get yourself to Beatersville, one way or another. No matter how you choose to enjoy the weekend, we promise it will be a weekend you will never forget.
There’s no way we could pack all of our shots from the weekend in the article above, so be sure to take a look through the massive GALLERY below:
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