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When rolling into Millington, TN you can tell there is a small town (Greenville) atmosphere about. The main drag would be Hwy 51 with smooth roads and 2 lines each way going right by hotel after hotel. This would be the perfect set up for the next great show of our time. As Friday arrived there were already rides out and about although most of them being from RA there were stragglers from other clubs anxious to see what we have put together. The night would be far from mellow with dragging and drinking taking place around the Super 8 and other hotels through out town. One highlight would be Tito taking up donations to gather money to entice Mike from MT into going through the automatic car wash on the back of an Avalanche. If you missed out you REALLY missed out as that had to be one of the funniest things ever. As most of us had to get up and to the show by 6 am we attempted to keep the night short although most of us didn’t get to sleep till after 2am.Come Saturday morning there were already vehicles ready to get into the show and there where already 50+ RA rides parked inside and preparing to get the weekend started. As the entries continued to roll in all day long there was plenty of people to walk around and shoot the shit with and a TON of high quality rides to look at. The final count on show entries were a little over 200 rides and with the RA rides show cased in our own area that would make the total amount of rides to look at around 275 of which 90-95% were quality built rides. The show was a good avenue to catch up with friends I haven’t seen in awhile along with meeting those on SSM that I’ve talked to for a few years. After catching up I’d meet up with Douggie and Ben to go get some features covered for upcoming issues. With the work part of the weekend done everyone would head back to the hotels to get cleaned up and changed and ready for dinner.With everyone cleaned up we’d all meet up at Old Timers for dinner. The back room would hold about 60 of us, which needless to say kept the waitress’s run ragged. With food in our belly and beers kicking in it would be time to head down to HWY 51 for some good ol’ draggin’ action. As we arrived we’d see fullsize and mini trucks dragging one after another by cops draggin on cops and by the locals.
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Some would have drag blocks bolted up for the bright shows, which at times where so bright it hurt the eyes. The dragging would go on through out the night until the locals began the burnouts and stupid shit they are known for doing from town to town. With keeping true to the party atmosphere we’d all move to an old Wal-Mart parking lot where we’d all gather and pack the parking lot full of people getting their drink on and kickin’ it with the cops. After awhile there would be a naked strip off that would end up in a fight followed by harassing of locals from us good ol’ folks. As 3am arouse we’d move on to the Days Inn before calling it a night.As Sunday arouse it would be time for everyone to reflect on the night activities and laugh at many items that happened over the course of the night. With 3pm approaching the judging was done and the Best of vehicles where pulled onto the baseball field in preparation of the awards ceremony. As said over the DJ’s mike (which kept everyone entertained all weekend long with his “Minitruckin” Country Grammer and kick ass tunes) the awards started promptly at 3pm with the announcing of the “Top 50” awards and best of’s. The awards ceremony was quick which was great for those wanting to head home. There were people at the show from Florida, NJ, PA and VA, which are all long travels, which were appreciated.With the show over and people heading home many people would tell us what a great time they had and that they’d be back for sure next year. The police said they had a great time and next year they want to judge a draggin’ contest at a local abandoned airstrip, how is that shit! The town was great, the Police where great and thanks to everyone RA was able to raise around $11,000 for the Lou Gehrig foundation. If you didn’t attend this year I would suggest coming down for next years event as the location of the show is bad ass, the night life is bad ass and the quality of rides is top-notch.By Garrick ArendsNight life photos by Doug Large
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