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4 reviews for NHRA Motorsports Museum
We had the honor and privilege of being offered the chance to show a car at the Wine and Cars Under the Stars event located at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum and Fairplex.
The event was the awards celebration to announce and honor the winners for best in class and overall winners from the Los Angeles International Wine and Spirits Competition. This yearly event showcases classic cars and hot rods as well as the wine and spirits. It is a fundraiser for the arts as well. Usually it costs $100 per person to enter the event. Because we were showing a car, we were able to get in free.
But let me tell ya, the $100 would be well worth the ticket price. There was lots of wine flowing for "free" tastings (red, white, rose, and sparkling). Lots of gourmet appetizers to nibble on too. The wine cellar was open for touring to see all of the wines and spirits that entered the competition. We saw everything from Charles Shaw (aka Two Buck Chuck) to Carlo Rossi and Target box wine to the high dollar stuff like Frank Family Vineyards and Martin & Weyrich. All of the Best of Class and winners will be available during the County Fair in September.
There was a live band along with live and silent auctions. Tommy Lasorda was there too talking about wine making (he has his own label, which we both sampled). My fella got to meet Tommy and shake his hand.
For another form of entertainment, they had a drive-in area set up (with bench seats) and open snack bar. The feature for the evening was Viva Las Vegas. You know, the Elvis Presley flick with Anne Margaret and race cars.
So whether you're into the cars, into the wine, or the spirits, this is a fun event to attend. You may want to consider it for next year if you're looking for a fun evening out. http://www.lawinecomp....
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I'm really not Mr. Car Guy, so much so that about the only work I can perform on my car is placing my registration sticker and even that is a chore, so you would think that the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum wouldn't be my thing but it was great. Any museum that is well curated is always more interesting and this one is nicely done. I was there for a Charles Phoenix slide show and those are always a blast and when you throw in seeing ZZ Top's Eliminator Coupe as well as Cadzilla you've got a terrific night! Except that unless it's a special event it closes at 5:00 so make that a terrific day!
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My first visit ever to the NHRA musem. The Element Owners Club used this spot to have our first SoCal meet of 2008. It's a pretty cool place, mostly old fashioned to very classic American muscle car. There's drag-racers and some pretty unique land-speed cars. Lots of history and pictures to see, as well as actal cars nd car models.
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I visited Wally Parks' NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona for the second time this weekend. Some of my friends from Vancouver and Geneva were in town, and wanted to check it out after having dim sum in San Gabriel.
This is pretty much THE museum of hot rods and drag racing. The Petersen Museum in Downtown LA also has an incredible collection of cars, but the NHRA Museum in Pomona is your best bet if you're focused on hot rods, nostalgic drag racing, vintage gassers, funny cars, and similar memorabilia.
While I myself am not too huge into drag racing (DRIFTING Changed My Life. Support Drifting! http://www.driftingboo... ), I still found this museum to be pretty incredible both times I visited.
The first time I came here was for a special media event hosted by Scion USA. They invited certain members of the automotive media to drag race their supercharged Scion TC celebrity race cars down the legendary drag strip at Pomona Raceway, and also had a dinner banquet in the hall of the NHRA Museum. I got to meet the founder of NHRA, Wally Parks, and hear him give a speech at this event, which was literally a once in a lifetime experience - he passed away in 2007. I also was able to meet Alex Xydias from SoCal Speedshop fame, who was instrumental in development of Southern Cali's vintage hot rod scene.
On my visit this weekend, we just kind of wandered around the halls - my favorite things were looking at the vintage hot rod memorabilia, the rusted out shell (it's on purpose - vintage patina) rat rod parked outside the museum, looking at the old defunct drag strip and speed shop stickers (i bought some too), vintage racing helmets, and the huge blown up period photographs of racing events and garages back in the day. They gave me an insight into what it was like back then - the cars, the people, the fashion, the go-fast technology... it was all very interesting and inspiring.
I even caught a little side piece on an important photographer in the NHRA drag world - Leslie Lovett. I had never heard of him previously, but I give him immense respect , since he was apparently one of the most influential photographers in the world of drag racing. Seeing the small display of his photographs, magazine covers, custom painted and pinstriped camera case, and even his old camera... it made me wonder if one day, someone might create a museum which might include some of my automotive photography, as the first person to document the culture and history of DRIFTING in the United States, and its impact as it spread across the world. Maybe I could give them access to some of my huge collection of photos, die cast car collection, collection of racing team stickers and race track stickers from all over the world, my magazine covers, my stickered up lens case and a few copies of my photo books. I may just have been daydreaming here... but you never know, it could happen someday.
I guess that's what museums are for. To provoke thought and inspire. Wally Parks' NHRA Museum in Pomona certainly did both for me.
Check out my photos from the museum.
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