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Slammin' and Jammin' in Lebanon, Tennessee has gone through a lot in the past several years. Having originally been started by Kenny and Pat Oliver, the show was sold to Ken Buckner a few years ago and now has been sold again, this time to Charlie Cobble, known for his Mini Truckin' Nationals show in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This show always seems to draw in many rides and many spectators. For the most part, the rides are of good quality. You can find just about anything you are looking for, from compact cars to minis to fullsize trucks and even street rods. Everything from daily driven "stock and drops" to the full blown custom show vehicle was in attendance. Charlie has his crew had the weekend planned full, starting on Friday with a show-n-shine for anyone who wanted to attend. Saturday morning, the gates opened early and the rides started flowing in. I arrived around 9:30am, with my Nissan on the trailer, ready to get it unloaded and hang out with my Relaxed Atmosphere buddies. After making my way through the crowds of rides, I finally got the Nissan unloaded, parked with my Relaxed brothers and sisters, and started kicking it. Relaxed Atmosphere brought out several rides, but many other clubs brought some of their finest out as well, including Negative Camber. Many smaller, less known clubs were also there with their finest, displaying new projects from the long winter months.Charlie and his crew always manage to have many activities on hand to keep the crowds of people entertained. This year was no different with the Bikini Contest and Lowest car and truck contest being held on Saturday. There was also a burnout contest held on Saturday, allowing for some great, smokey burnout fun. I walked around with my buddy Joey Realmuto for a while and snapped a few photos here and there and did a some P.R. work. We took a stroll through vendors alley and checked out some of the things that could be purchased at the show. After heading back to our camp, the real fun began.
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My long-time friend Steve showed up just in time with the grill and some burgers and boy did we get our cook on! Man the burgers were smelling up the place good and we grubbed hard. After eating a few burgers I had to get my ass in the long judging line so I could get my bucket judged. This is where S&J faulters.With this many rides in attendance, drive-thru judging is a pain. Nearly everyone that went through judging had to wait at least an hour and a half, myself included. When I first got into the judging lines, I had a half of tank of gas. By the time I got judged, I was down to a quarter of a tank. From just sitting in line. That's bunk. Drive-thru judging has good intentions, but unless you've got about fourteen lines to ride through, it takes incredibly too long. Saturday afternoon we all decided to goto a rod run in another town, so I loaded up the Nissan and went home to get freshened up for the night's events. Sunday, I didn't make it to the show until after 1pm after an unexpected visitor decided to keep my focus elsewhere that night. But as soon as I got there, I snapped more photos and met up with my Relaxed homies for the awards ceremony. The awards went very smooth and everyone packed up and headed out. Slammin' and Jammin' has been around for a long time and continues to prove itself has a viable show to the southeastern region. Make plans to check it out for yourself. Bobby Stewart
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