No matter how you get around in life, DROPFEST 2008 gives car enthusiasts and casual admirers alike a weekend worth taking the car out for.
Snoop Dogg once said to “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and they do just that at DROPFEST.
Coming to the Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna June 6-8, the annual custom-car show will feature a variety of car-based entertainment, emcee competitions, the Miss DROPFEST/Male Hardbody competitions and an exciting Friday night music lineup featuring national artists. Who could think of a better way to start out the summer? From its relatively humble beginnings in 2001, DROPFEST has quickly evolved into a can’t-miss event. It started with a simple idea. One year, after traveling all over the Midwest attending car shows, local custom-car enthusiast James Sweet and his cousin James Koga suddenly wondered why they should have to drive hundreds of miles to see something that could be set up right here.
“Before the first DROPFEST, we met with the car club members and we came up with a name,” said Sweet. “Then I went out every day for the next four months. I went out and collected sponsorships and everything else we needed to get off to a good start.”
Apparently, the grass-roots effort paid off. That first year, DROPFEST had a turnout of 1,300 spectators ogling 125 show cars.
And every year DROPFEST just keeps getting bigger and better. Past years have featured featured more than eight times as many cars and five times the attendance of car enthusiasts to Kaukauna. And every year the numbers grow.
Of course, people know that DROPFEST is all about the cars gleaming, tricked-out trophies that can cost their owners more than their homes. All the different competitions are represented, from traditional drag-racing to bunny hop to hydraulic hop and dance to donuts to highest three-wheel and gas hop. As far as show cars, everything from lowriders to muscle cars to motorcycles to semis will be on display.
“DROPFEST basically shows off the hard work and creativity people put into their cars,” said Sweet. “For a true car enthusiast, it doesn’t matter if you own an import or a mini-truck or even a hot rod. The same amount of money, hard work and dedication goes into a vehicle to make it your home - a piece of art - something that nobody else will have. It’s yours.”
There’s even a category for cars that remain unfinished. Called the work-in-progress class, it’s reserved for vehicles that may still be in primer paint or missing sound systems or in need of some interior work. Matt Deffibaugh of Oshkosh is planning on entering his 1997 Dodge Avenger in this class. This will be his second year attending DROPFEST, but his first entry.
“I’m into modifying cars - it’s my thing,” said Deffibaugh. “And DROPFEST is great for this. You get to see different cars every day.”
So we’ve established that DROPFEST is about the cars. Ah, but there’s so much more. Every year, event organizers manage to book some great talent, and this year is no exception.
On Friday night, national acts take the stage. It’s one of the things that Sweet is proud to offer to the area. “Last year we brought in Buckcherry and it was a hit,” said Sweet. “This year, taking the stage Friday night is Midnight to Twelve, Shinedown and Saliva.” The concerts are included with the purchase of a Friday ticket. There will also be entertainment with more of a local feel.
“I do put my two hoppers in the show for entertainment value, as well as my truck which has been there for many years,” said Sweet.
While cruising the DROPFEST Web site, www.DROPFEST.com, you might notice that DROPFEST 2008 is dedicated in loving memory to Terry G. Myadze, who passed away in February 2007.
“He was a very close friend, like family,” said Sweet. “No, he was family to many of the workers at DROPFEST. He helped out for many years to make DROPFEST what it is today. DROPFEST, or life for that matter, will never be the same without him. Anyone that had the pleasure of meeting him knows what I mean....He will never be forgotten.”
With DROPFEST being all about the cars, it’s interesting to know what event organizers would have if they could have the cars of their dreams.
As for Sweet, he has a bit more of a classic car in mind. “As any true car enthusiast knows, no car is ever done because you will always find something new that you will want to do to a car,” said Sweet. “But the car I hope to have done in the next 10 years is one that has been in the family for 35 years. It is a 1964 Ford Galaxie XL convertible to be done in traditional low-rider style. The car will be called ‘Times Remembered’ and it will be dedicated to four generations of car enthusiasts: my grandfather, my dad, myself and my son, who is only 4. He is already interested in carsóimagine that. He hit his first hydraulics switch at the age of 3.”
More information for DROPFEST can be obtained through the Dropfest Web site, and tickets can be purchase at your local Express Convenience Center.
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All newspaper articles are courtesy of the Appleton Post Crescent....
DropFest 2007 undaunted by rain
Seventh annual vehicle show set to conclude today in Buchanan
The Post-Crescent
BUCHANAN — About 4,000+ spectators were dampened but unbowed at DropFest 2007 at Wisconsin International Raceway on Saturday.
The show, which features every conceivable permutation of a motor vehicle, takes advantage of the "Pimp My Ride" fad in tricking out or customizing cars, trucks, 4x4s and motorcycles.
"People kind of hunkered down during the rainstorm and after it was over they came back out again," said event organizer James Sweet of Dale.
Sweet estimated there were about 4,000+ car enthusiasts on the grounds Saturday.
This is Sweet's seventh event. DropFest was conceived by Sweet and his cousin James Koga in 2000, both of whom love to customize vehicles.
"We had to come up with a name so we looked at all the other shows around the country and they had names like Slamfest or some other variation, so we called ours DropFest because it wasn't taken," he said.
"Basically it is a show of everything," said Sweet, pointing to a tricked out semi tractor making the circuit around the racetrack.
The event is about showing off. Participants pay to bring their vehicle onto the grounds to either put it on display or make the slow tour around the track.
"As long as it is a classic car that is restored it is allowed in," said Sweet. "It is a hobby for everybody."
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May 31, 2007
Section: Weekend
Page: 06W
Dropfest continues to be a top draw among the custom-car crowd
Eric Klister
The Post-Crescent
When Dropfest began in 2001, it attracted 125 show cars and about 1,500 people. |
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| Last year, about 900 cars and 6,500 people showed up from as far away as Florida, Texas and Tennessee. This year, the custom car show is expected to be even bigger.
How has it happened? Lots of hard work and promoting the event at car shows outside the area, says Dropfest organizer James Sweet, a welder by trade who spends nine months planning this labor of love.
"I think a lot of it's got to do with there's no show like it in the upper Midwest," he said.
Nevermind what the price at the gas pump says. The interest in custom cars is at a peak right now. Import tuners are still hot with the "Fast and the Furious" crowd, and classic cars are seeing a massive surge in popularity among baby boomers who want to reconnect with the cars they drove in their teens and 20s.
Both types of rides, plus trucks, stunt bikes and more will be on display when Dropfest returns Friday through Sunday at Wisconsin International Raceway near Kaukauna. One car will come from Indiana and attempt to bunny hop 8 feet off the ground. Yes, 8 feet. All four tires.
"I like people to know that it isn't just catered toward the 'Fast and the Furious' cars, or it isn't just a bunch of low riders," Sweet said. "It's something for everybody no matter what your taste is, you can see it there.
"Most everybody that builds cars or is really, truly into cars will appreciate any kind of modified car or restored car just for love of the sport. Most people who are open-minded aren't going to say, 'Oh, I've got an old classic car and that's all I'm gonna look at. Forget these imports.' They're gonna look at is as, 'Wow that guy put a lot of work into it (because) that's the kind of car he likes.'"
Each car that shows up at Dropfest is a work of art in its own way, whether it's one person working in his spare time in the garage or a custom shop with a team of fabricators, painters and engine guys. Some owners work two or three jobs to finance their passion. But no matter what walk of life they come from, everyone who enters a car in Dropfest shares a common bond.
"With a lot of these cars, guys have got literally thousands of hours into the build," Sweet says.
ERIC KLISTER can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 423, or by e-mail at eklister@postcrescent.com.
Ready to rock
In addition to pimped-out rides, there will be live music Friday at Dropfest featuring Midnight Twelve and Buckcherry. Opening bands start at 6 p.m.
If you go
WHAT: Dropfest
WHEN: Friday-Sunday. Gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday-Sunday
WHERE: Wisconsin International Raceway, near Kaukauna
COST: With a show car: Friday-Sunday, $75 Saturday-Sunday, $45. Spectators: Friday-Sunday, $45 Saturday-Sunday, $25 Saturday or Sunday, $15 ages 5-10, $5 per day ages 4-under, free. Admission to the Friday concert only is $30 (weekend passes can be purchased for an additional $15).
INFO: www.dropfest.com
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Copyright (c) The Post-Crescent. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
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June 3, 2007
Section: Local/State
Page: 02A
DropFest 2007 undaunted by rain
The Post-Crescent
The Post-Crescent
BUCHANAN &mdash About 4,000 spectators were dampened but unbowed at DropFest 2007 at Wisconsin International Raceway on Saturday. |
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| The show, which features every conceivable permutation of a motor vehicle, takes advantage of the "Pimp My Ride" fad in tricking out or customizing cars, trucks, 4x4s and motorcycles.
"People kind of hunkered down during the rainstorm and after it was over they came back out again," said event organizer James Sweet of Dale.
Sweet estimated there were about 4,000 car enthusiasts on the grounds Saturday.
This is Sweet's seventh event. DropFest was conceived by Sweet and his cousin James Koga in 2000, both of whom love to customize vehicles.
"We had to come up with a name so we looked at all the other shows around the country and they had names like slamfest or some other variation, so we called ours DropFest because it wasn't taken," he said.
"Basically it is a show of everything," said Sweet, pointing to a tricked out semi tractor making the circuit around the racetrack.
The event is about showing off. Participants pay to bring their vehicle onto the grounds to either put it on display or make the slow tour around the track.
"As long as it is a classic car that is restored it is allowed in," said Sweet. "It is a hobby for everybody."
The show continues through 4 p.m. today.
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Copyright (c) The Post-Crescent. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
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June 1, 2006
Section: Weekend
Page: 06W
Gearheads, get ready: Tricked-out rides will be out in force at DropFest
Steven Hyden
The Post-Crescent
·James Koga has the coolest job at DropFest. He gets to park the cars. The parking lot at the largest all-custom car show in the five-state area, returning Saturday and Sunday to Wisconsin International Raceway in Buchanan, is an auto addict's dream. There are low-riders, trucks, imports, classics, motorcycles and 4X4s. There are cars loaded with enough hydraulics to leap over a pre-schooler. Hot rods outfitted with more televisions than the Playboy Mansion. Paint jobs so vibrant the cars can be spotted from Neptune. |
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| "On my hands and toes I couldn't count how many times I said 'wow' at DropFest," Koga, 22, of Medina said.
How did Koga get behind-the-wheel access to some of the most jaw-dropping vehicles in the Midwest? He helped to start DropFest with chief organizer and cousin James Sweet, a 29-year-old Dale man who has overseen the car show's growth from 1,300 people and 125 show cars six years ago to more than 6,000 people and more than 750 cars in 2005.
This year Sweet expects between 900 and 1,000 cars and as many as 10,000 people. No wonder organizing DropFest has become a full-time job for the car-crazy father of two.
"There's no other show like it in the area," Sweet said. "It just gets busier and busier every year."
DropFest has evolved from a labor of love for a group of small-town car club pals sick of traveling to out-of-state car shows into one of the most anticipated auto shows of the year. For fans and builders of customized cars -- with their bumping hydraulics, sleek body modifications and tricked out stereo systems -- it is ‹i›the most anticipated.
There simply isn't anything else like it the Fox Valley. While DropFest welcomes the same kinds of classic cars you will see at any other show this summer, it is best known for car competitions your grandpa never heard of, like best burnouts, best donuts and the highest 3-Wheel Gas Hop, not to mention the most insane machinery ever put on four wheels.
Hundreds of young car enthusiasts spend hundreds of hours (and thousands of dollars) to get their cars ready for the show. For local custom car vendors, whose shops are overloaded this time of the year, it is the best of times money-wise, the worst of times sleep-wise.
"The two weeks before DropFest are usually a really hectic time," Jason Garrett of Automotive Images in Menasha said. "This is the main thing people look forward to in this area."
Garrett isn't alone in being swamped. Norm Austin of Austin's Audio Custom Design in De Pere is hustling to take care of his DropFest-obsessed clientele.
"I see a lot of people saying 'I've got to get ready for DropFest,'" Austin said. "It's the start of the car season."
When it comes to prepping for the big show, there are "people who spare no expense," Austin said, like the customer who recently asked for a stereo system with six monitors and a whopping 32 speakers.
"That's crazy to me," Austin said.
What inspires somebody to pack enough audio equipment to equip Metallica on its next tour into one car? It's a little bit sport, a little bit art and a whole lot of passion.
The cash prizes at DropFest can run into the hundreds of dollars, but they pale next to what it can cost to customize a car. Some guys work two jobs to fork out $20,000 on parts or man-hours at their favorite shop. After the show, "they'll tear down and rebuild because they got beat," Koga said.
While some guys watch football or go hunting, "we sit in a garage," Sweet said. "It starts off with a vision or thought in your head ... and then you use two hands to make the thoughts work.
"A show car is never done," Sweet said. "The mind is the pocketbook's limit."
Sweet expects to see visitors from all over the country this weekend. He recently went down to Indiana and Kentucky to promote the show, and response was positive. "We travel that far for shows. Why wouldn't they travel?" he said.
Local acceptance of DropFest is growing, too. Local fogies have harassed participants in past years, but all that money flowing into the area has a way of quieting dissenters.
"It's not just a bunch of punk kids building cars," Sweet said. "It's not any different from 40, 50, 60-year-olds building hot rods in their day."
Steven Hyden can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 296, or by e-mail at shyden@postcrescent.com.
If You Go
What: DropFest
When: Car roll-in begins at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Entertainment continues until 8 p.m. Saturday and after the 4:30 p.m. award show Sunday
Where: Wisconsin International Raceway, W1460 County KK, Buchanan
Cost: Two-day pass $25, one day $15, kids 5 to 10 $5, kids under 5 free vehicle entry fee $40 at the gate on-site camping $25 per person for the weekend
Info: www.dropfest.com
Five things to look for at DropFest
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·1As many as ·1,000 show cars, including Rob Wolter's bright yellow '92 Honda Civic. The 22-year-old Medina man bought the car for $400 and spent three years and $12,000 restoring it, starting over a few times when he didn't like the results. The coolest feature is the see-through glass floor underneath the driver and passenger side seats. Wolter brought the Civic to a few car shows outside the area, but the car "hasn't really made a local debut," he said. Until DropFest, that is.
·2Want to see a truck leap all four tires three feet off the ground? Of course you do. DropFest organizer James Sweet is psyched about the bunny-hopping ·Project S-10 Air Dancer out of Indiana stopping by the show. "It looks like it just explodes off the ground," Sweet said.
·3Along with hip-hop and R&B acts like Whiteboy, Flaco and Rip, DropFest is branching out with rock this year with Fox Valley band ·Boxkar, recent winner of Artist or Group of the Year honors from the Wisconsin Area Music Industry. The band plays Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m.
·4The best way to make DropFest a 24-hour party is to take advantage of ·the on-site camping. The cost is $25 per person for both days. Hanging out with drunken car nuts is priceless.
·5Not that we condone this sort of thing, but there are ·bikini and male hard body contests at 5 p.m. Saturday. Do what you will with that information.
Somebody call Xzibit:We pimp Steve's ride
·James Sweet and ·James Koga of DropFest know a lot about making boring cars awesome. We asked how they would transform Weekend reporter ·Steven Hyden's supremely dull 2002 Toyota Corolla into something a little less dorky.
·Sweet: He suggested shaving the body lines to make Hyden's chick repeller look a little smoother. Tinting the windows might also help, along with better rims. Sweet also envisioned putting Lamborghini-style doors on the Corolla, "Miami Vice" style.
Sweet is up for whatever the customer wants. "If somebody gives me enough money, I'll do anything," he said.
·Koga: "I'd also like to go with a smooth look, like Sweet said," he said. Koga would put in a new engine and raise it through the front hood, creating a bad-ass veneer perfect for Hyden's regular Diet Coke runs to the grocery store.
"You'd have to do a wicked paint job," Koga added. He suggested having the paint speckled in front and full-bodied in back to create the illusion of color being ripped off the car as it speeds forward. Not sure how convincing that will look when Steve's driving 27 mph down College Avenue, but still, pretty cool.
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Copyright (c) The Post-Crescent. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
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June 4, 2006
Section: Local/State
Page: 01C
Hot cars line up for DropFest
Cheryl Sherry
Post-Crescent staff writer
The Post-Crescent
BUCHANAN -- Rez Jackson likes to be seen, and he's created the perfect vehicle to do it in: A candy-apple red 1995 Cutlass Supreme convertible. |
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| "This is me," said the 31-year-old Chicagoan of his supped up Olds, one of more than 900 low-riders, imports, classics trucks, motorcycles and 4x4s on display Saturday at DropFest, the all-custom car show that continues today at Wisconsin International Raceway.
"The car's not you," Jackson added, "if you buy it fixed up already."
Now in its sixth year, DropFest began as a labor of love led by car club pals James Koga, 22, of Medina, and chief organizer and cousin James Sweet, 29, of Dale.
For a tired Jeremy Kittleson, 26, who began his journey to Buchanan at 3 a.m. from Rochester, Minn., it is "the closest car show I found that is worth it."
Sitting behind the wheel of his red, black and silver 1999 S-10 Extreme Chevrolet, Kittleson said spending a grand here and couple grand there has fulfilled a dream he's had since high school: to own a low-rider.
Likewise, Bill Dieterich, 23, of Malone, who owns Kustom Design Innovations body shop, said customizing vehicles has been in his blood since he was 12. "I picked up my first (car) magazine and looked at it and told my mother I want to have a vehicle like that some day," he said. "So I did it," two years later.
Dieterich was bragging about his 1995 C-3500 black Chevy Dually he bought in Atlanta for $9,000. In six months he rebuilt the truck from the ground up, putting $36,000 into it, he said.
Stuart Sorley, 31, of Rhinelander, who said he's owned 114 cars to date, could "go on forever" when it comes to listing the upgrades he's made to the canary yellow 2001 Toyota MR2 he bought new five years ago. With just 18,000 miles on it, the vehicle has new air-intake scoops and side skirts new brakes, tail and headlights new strut braces and a stainless steel exhaust system.
The vehicle, said Sorley, who is president of Sweet Dreamz Car & Truck Club in Rhinelander, is "just the way he likes it. I got it so it handles perfect it's more for the fun of driving than for looks. The handling is mostly what I'm about here."
Twenty-one-year-old Wausau friends Ben Bryden and Derrick Baptist showed off their all-customized 2002 Suzuki GSXR 600 motorcycle and 2006 Yamaha R6, respectively.
"Stock sucks," said Bryden, who said he put in 800 hours of labor and $3,000 to $4,000 into his bike.
When 23-year-old Shoua Moua of Appleton decided to customize the royal blue flake-painted 1989 Honda CRX he purchased four years ago, he did it "for the girls," from the Lamborghini doors to the transmission to the headlight conversion.
"I like to show off," he admitted. "I'm not really here to look at other cars. I just want people here to look at my car, especially the ladies."
If you go
What: DropFest 2006
Where: Wisconsin International Raceway, W1460 County KK, Buchanan
When: Gates open at 10 a.m., awards ceremony at 4:30 p.m. today
Tickets: $15 for one-day pass, kids ages 5 to 10 are $5, kids younger than 5 are free
On the Web: www.dropfest.com
Cheryl Sherry can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 249, or by e-mail at csherry@postcrescent.com.
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Copyright (c) The Post-Crescent. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc |
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June 4, 2006
Section: Local/State
Page: 01C
DropFest attracts police as well as car fans
Cheryl Sherry
Post-Crescent staff writer
The Post-Crescent
BUCHANAN -- There were two shows going on Saturday morning at Wisconsin International Raceway. |
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| One was inside the raceway, where the DropFest all-customized car show was getting under way. The other was along County KK, where the Kaukauna Police Department, Calumet County Sheriff's Department and Wisconsin State Patrol were busy pulling over festival-goers.
"A lot of people have been getting stopped by the cops," said Kyle Sorenson, 19, of Oshkosh, who was exhibiting his customized 1996 Eagle Talon TSI at the show. "They are just sitting out there waiting for us."
Wisconsin State Trooper Scott Reignier, who said he issued warnings only to 75 percent to 80 percent of the drivers he dealt with, insisted that was not the case. Enforcement details are sent out wherever and whenever large groups of vehicles are entering a small area, car show or not.
"When you take a road like KK or CE or 55 where a majority of these cars are coming into the show, you've in some ways quadrupled the traffic on that road in a matter of a couple of days," he said. "The more vehicles in one specific area, the more chances for accidents and other things like that."
Reignier said traffic enforcement efforts focused on safety.
"People tend to make modifications to their vehicles for these shows but they don't take the time to do the research as to what they can and can't do to their vehicles before they do it," Reignier said.
"What we end up seeing are people who make modifications that make their vehicles illegal to operate on the roadway. ... We're issuing warnings and equipment notices to make their vehicles legal again. (And) we are obviously issuing citations for things like seat belts and if driver status has been suspended or revoked or if they are being reckless."
Troopers also made two drug arrests following the traffic stops.
DropFest organizer James Sweet, 29, of Dale, thinks the young average age of exhibitors -- most are under 30 -- draws attention from police.
"A lot of the people with these kind of cars tend to be stereotyped as being bad people," he said. "But most everyone who built these cars has a lot of money in them and worked their butts off for them. They're not out dealing drugs or getting into trouble. A lot of these people have families and children."
James Kelley, 30, a member of Positive Force Custom Cruisers of Oshkosh, said police don't put the same energy into enforcement for events that draw older crowds, such as License to Cruise. "The cops don't screw with any of those guys."
Reignier said citations and tickets are issued only because of equipment and safety violations and not because of the driver's age.
"The more modifications they make, the more chances are they're doing something to make their vehicle illegal," he said.
Sweet is worried police presence will scare exhibitors away in the future.
"I don't know why (the police) have to act like that when it's bringing a lot of money into the community," he said. "Why scare them away? Some of the people may look different from the 'normal' people but they are some of the most polite people you'll ever meet."
Cheryl Sherry can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 249, or by e-mail at csherry@postcrescent.com.
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Copyright (c) The Post-Crescent. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
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June 2, 2005
Section: encore
Page: 04A
Car nuts ready to roll out for DropFest
Steven Hyden, Post-Crescent staff writer
This story will be of no use to local car fans. |
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| They know already about DropFest Saturday and Sunday at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. They know about the variety of contests, the live music, the beautiful women wearing very little clothes, the whole shebang.
"For car fans, it's the biggest show in the area," said Jason Garrett of sponsor Automotive Images in Appleton. "It's the one show everybody works all winter to get ready for."
For five years DropFest has been a labor of love for James Sweet, a soft-spoken 28-year-old car nut from Dale. He hatched the idea after guys from his car club talked about having a show here instead of driving several hours to shows in other states.
At the time, area car shows catered to classic four-wheelers dating back at least 25 years, effectively locking out custom-crazy 20-somethings like Sweet. His 1991 Chevy Caprice wouldn't be considered a show car at most local shows, even with the bumping hydraulics and ornate paint job on the hood.
"It's like the older generation was into building hot rods," Sweet said. "Now kids are doing the same thing. They take the cars they drive every day and build something they like."
Sweet likes that DropFest doesn't have the same rules as other car shows. He allows newer customized cars along with classics. DropFest also has car competitions you won't find most other places. Take the Highest 3-Wheel contest, where drivers pump the hydraulics as high as they can and drive around on three wheels. There also are competitions for the best burnouts and donuts.
"It's different from the normal car show where you pull in, park, walk around and see cars you see everywhere else," Sweet said.
For area cruisers, DropFest is a coming-out party for the summer season. Car fans prepare for the two-day showcase like runners train for the Fox Cities Marathon. Custom car vendors like Austin's Auto and Custom Design in Oneida have been swamped for weeks as fans get ready.
"For the past three months, I can't even breathe because they're bringing in vehicles for DropFest," owner Norm Austin said.
Before moving to WIR last year, DropFest took place in Dale where attendance grew from 1,300 people and 125 show cars the first year to 3,200 people and 450 cars the third year. At WIR, turnout skyrocketed to more than 6,000 people and nearly 750 cars.
Now DropFest is the largest all-custom car show in the five-state area, Sweet said. More than 2,500 out-of-state visitors come from as far west as Nevada, as far south as Texas, and as far east as Ohio.
DropFest is so big that Sweet is talking about expanding it to three days. Andy Clemins of Appleton, who has helped Sweet with DropFest since the beginning, "knew it would get bigger but I didn't think it would get as big as it is now," he said.
While DropFest was conceived with younger car enthusiasts in mind, the event has grown because its reaches car people of all ages.
"It's attended by young people, old people and middle-aged people," Clemins said. "Everybody is into it."
As DropFest moves forward, Sweet is focused on doing a "show that's safe, fun, and family-oriented." After hosting hip-hop group the Ying-Yang Twins in 2004, Sweet pursued tamer R&B acts for this year's event. Parents still will want to steer the kiddies clear of the bikini and hard body competitions, though.
At DropFest age mostly is just a number. What's most important is the love for building, customizing and showing off beautiful machines.
"Any guy that builds cars knows what that love is," Sweet said. "You cruise around and show off and say, 'I built this.'"
Steven Hyden can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 296, or by e-mail at shyden@postcrescent.com.
WHAT: DropFest 2005
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday show car roll-in begins at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday
WHERE: Wisconsin International Raceway, W1460 County KK, Kaukauna
COST: $20 for Saturday, $15 for Sunday and $25 for weekend pass. Children ages 5 to 10 is $5 per day and free for children ages 5 and under
INFO: www.dropfest.com
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Copyright (c) The Post-Crescent. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc |
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June 5, 2005
Section: Local & State
Page: 01C
Auto lovers revved up by attention
Heather LaRoi, Post-Crescent staff writer
BUCHANAN -- In the see-and-be-seen world of auto shows, cars have never been just a way to get from point A to point B. |
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| "Cars are something you can put yourself into, you know?" said Corey Banda, of Appleton, whose gleaming '97 Volkswagen Jetta GTI sat in the sun Saturday afternoon drawing admiring looks from fellow car lovers who gathered by the thousands for DropFest at Wisconsin International Raceway.
"You can put some nice rims on the car, put a TV or audio equipment in it, just make it part of you," Banda said. "Then having everybody look at you when you're driving around and saying, 'Hey, look at that car. Boy, that's a nice car,' it feels good. There's a lot of TLC that goes into making them look good. And I love the cars that make people look."
And Racine's Andrew Holland wasn't too shy to point out that having a nice cars has another perk: "Women," said Holland, with a laugh, as he did some last-minute polishing on his custom-painted orange '92 Civic 4-door. "I come here for the women, mostly."
DropFest, which continues today, is the largest all-custom car show in a five-state area, according to event founder James Sweet. He said the event offered plenty to ogle, regardless of taste.
Against a backdrop of throbbing bass speakers and the rumble of idling engines, almost 1,000 vehicles were on show for the opening day of the weekend extravaganza, with their lovingly polished paint jobs, mirror-perfect chrome and hoods popped open to reveal spotlessly clean engines.
Andrew Pape of Chilton figures he's invested six years of work into his '91 Cavalier.
"I've done just about everything you can to it," said Pape, a landscaper in real life. "It's got engine mods, interior mods, the big stereo, the suspension with air ride, to little things that just show quality and make the car unique.
"I've done probably 90 percent of the work myself. I hardly let anybody touch it. Turning it into something you can truly say is yours, it's very special."
Owners are eager to share what makes their car special.
"This is my baby right here," said Chris Siolka, 18, of Bonduel, as he glanced over at his pride and joy, a bold red customized Pontiac Grand Prix with white striping.
"Everything's done by me," he said. "It's got Lambo (Lamborghini) doors on it, 18-inch ICW racing wheels and a custom-painted interior. People just stop and stare. That's all I'm in it for, to make people wonder what I'm going to do next."
As Banda -- whose Jetta boasts three televisions -- points out, there's a deep bond between car lovers that transcends differences in taste.
"There's all different kinds of people here. The guy with a Mustang here, he likes American muscle. I've got a Volkswagen, I like European cars. Then there's a Mitsubishi over there. At shows, you look around and get ideas," he said.
"You always go around and find little secrets, where you get the stuff to put on your car. It's just car culture."
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Copyright (c) The Post-Crescent. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
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