Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
Friday afternoon will kick off the 3rd annual ‘Northern Roundup’ Car Show and activities at the Gleason Community Club in Gleason; presented by Rooster Six Customs Car Club.
As club president and Northern Roundup organizer Chad Walker explains, the event’s roots stem from what he saw as an opportunity to bring the world of vintage and muscle car show culture, to North Central Wisconsin.
“I go to a lot of different car shows all over the state that draw 5-10,000 people at any given time,” Walker explains.
“One day I got thinking about how we don’t really have anything like this in the area.”
Then during a club meeting in March of 2015, Walker raised the idea for discussion and the wheels for the first Northern Roundup event in September of 2015, started to turn.
“We decided to get started right away with organizing something of our own, we wanted to do something right away,” he adds.
“I had contacts in various areas of interest such as live music, custom cars and so on. We were able to put our first event together in September of that year; with a pin-up girl contest, vintage and muscle car show and live music. It was a lot of fun and I would say it was pretty successful, for the time we had to put it together.
“And successful enough to do it again last year,” he adds with a grin.
But as Walker admits, over the last two years, the scheduling of the event was in competition with other events such as the Tomahawk Fall Ride and other festivals around the area.
“Moving forward, we wanted to find a weekend where we aren’t competing with other major events. We felt we could be more successful than years past if we had a weekend to ourselves so to speak,”
This year’s event will once again span two days, beginning Friday afternoon and culminating Saturday night. Hit events from the last two years will return once again this year, such as the flame throwing exhaust show, mini-bike races along with a vintage and muscle car show.
“The flame throwing show has been a big hit for us both years,” Walker said. “It really is a cool novelty, especially for those who have never seen flames shoot out of an exhaust tail pipe!”
As he explains, the set-up of a flame throwing exhaust can differ, but in its simplest form; is just a matter of altering the engine’s carburetor mixture and connecting a spark plug inside the tail pipe.
“We’re pretty excited to have the mini-bike races again too. So far, we have 25 people with 4 different classes (ladies class, stock, mod and outlaw) entered, so we are looking forward to that. We’re also pretty excited about our vintage and muscle car show. As of now, we have right around 100 different cars coming that we know of.”
For those interested in participating in the mini-bike races; registration opens at 8:30 AM Saturday morning. There will be a $10 fee and a requirement to have and wear all necessary safety equipment, including helmet and goggles. Following inspections of the bikes and a driver safety meeting at 10 AM Saturday morning, racing will begin at 10:30 AM. Trophies will be awarded as well as a small cash payback; depending on the number of entries.
Additional questions can be directed to Chad Walker at 715-302-8222 or visit the Northern RoundUp on Facebook or their website at http://northernroundup.com
The following is a schedule of this weekend’s events. Admission is $15 for the entire weekend or $5 on Friday and $10 Saturday. Free camping will be available.
Friday-
8 AM-Camper and vendor set up
4 PM- Live music by the Bestuls- Iola, Wis. based classic country and bluegrass band.
7 PM-Live Carl Jackson- Local variety musician
Saturday-
8 AM-Gates open
8:30 AM- Mini-bike racing registration opens
10 AM- Mini-bike racing driver safety meeting
10:30 AM-Mini-bike racing begins
Noon-Live music by Sissy Brown-Lawton, Oklahoma based classic country singer
1 PM-Piston Toss Contest (Similar to the game of horseshoes. Competitors split into teams of 2; and instead of throwing horseshoes, competitors throw an engine piston with the rod still attached from 25 feet. Each team is allowed three rods and pistons. Instead of a dirt/sand pit, the target is a barrel. A single point is awarded for striking the barrel; 2 points are awarded for landing the piston and rod inside the barrel, and 3-points are awarded for hanging the piston and rod over the edge of the barrel. $50 is awarded to the winning team.)
2:30 PM-“‘Lil Mr. and Mrs.” Kids Pin-Up contest.
3 PM- PinUp contest- (25 contestants from around the state and as far away as Northern Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.)
4 PM-Kids model build contest
4:30 PM-Raffles and Live auction-(Grand prizes of a vintage mini-bike (Raffle) and a fully restored 1955 Frigidaire efrigerator (Auction)
Fully restored 1955 Frigidaire refrigerator to be auctioned off Saturday afternoon
5 PM-Club Pick awards-(Attending car clubs choose cars for awards based various criteria.)
5:30-Live music by The Krank Daddies-Ottawa, IL based ‘Rockabilly’ band.
7:30-Flamethrowing exhaust show and special guest: a female ‘fire-eater’
8:30-Live music by The Living Deads-Ocala, FL based variety crossover band of country rock.