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Rumble and Roar...
The thunder roared while fire and smoke filled the air Sunday as hundreds of people gathered at Carl Miller Park to check out a collection of classic cars, souped up stock racers as well as newer vehicles and motorcycles.
Hosted by the Mountain Home Lions Club, the 12th Annual Rumble and Roar car show serves as a fundraiser to benefit local scholarships. Over the years, proceeds from the show have also benefited eye-related medical research and treatment and other community projects.
Classic cars and trucks originally built in the 1930s to 1960s comprised a majority of the dozens of vehicles on display. During the day, car, truck and motorcycle owners alike held countless conversations as they shared stories on the challenges associated with restoring this respective vehicles.
Among them was Mike Bradbury, who brought his 66 Ford Mustang to this year's show. While the car ran fine when he bought it many years ago, it needed a lot of interior work, "which was trashed," he said.
It took him nearly two years to fully restore the classic muscle car. Aside from the custom headers that give the V-6 engine a little more power, the car contains all stock parts. It's as if his Mustang had just left the factory.
"It came back from the grave," Bradbury said.
Nearby, Ilene Rounsfell was showing off her 1957 Austin-Healey. She received it as a Mother's Day gift back in 1995, which she admits was not by choice.
A pair of photos on display next to the car illustrated how much was needed to restore it to its current, like-new condition. When it was purchased, all that was left of the body was a stripped down shell, she said. The rest of the car -- from the transmission to the engine -- was stored in assorted boxes.
Rounsfell and her husband ended up taking the car to a person from Oregon who specializes in restoring these specific cars. Even then, it still took eight years to get the sports car ready to run.
In addition to car shows, she enjoys driving it to church every Sunday followed by weekend drives through the countryside.
While most of the classic cars on display had a strict "hands-off" policy for visitors, Steve Broden had no qualms about letting children climb inside his 1930 Ford Model A hotrod while their parents took photos.
A Boise resident, Broden built the handbuilt hotrod 12 years ago. It includes a combination of parts and accessories, including an engine from a 1963 Buick
"It was a childhood dream... a dream since high school to build one," he said.
He brings the car to various shows across southern Idaho to help children appreciate these types of vehicles.
Broden considers this obsession for classic cars and hotrods "a dying deal" if future generations don't continue to share this passion.
However, children like Karmen Martinez seemed like they were already hooked. Checking out the interior of a 1937 Chevy Coupe, she grabbed her father Cesar Martinez, by the arm to look at the next car in line.
"They're really clean, daddy," the youngster said regarding the condition of each car she checked.
Not every entry at Sunday's show was a true classic or vintage vehicle. Members of the Treasure Valley PT's -- a group of people united by their love of the Chrysler PT Cruisers -- showed up in force again this year. Carrying on their own tradition or sorts, the Cruiser owners turned the trunk space of their five-door hatchbacks into small showcases displaying everything from elephants to a summer beach theme.
Among them were Bill Nye and his wife, Debbie, who went with an M&M theme for their passenger car. With the trunk packed with candy-related memorabilia, their display came complete with a one-of-a-kind candy sorter that took two weeks for Bill to assemble.
In addition to showcasing their pride of their respective vehicles, each owner hoped to walk away with one of a dozen awards presented during the day. Judges rated each vehicle based on factors like best paint and engine work to interior and exterior restoration. Meanwhile, visitors were invited to vote for their personal favorites for this year's "people's choice" award.
Meanwhile, several others sought to add their own thunder and smoke to the Rumble and Roar theme as they participated in a burn-out competition. Held next to East Elementary School, the goal of the contest was fairly straight forward. With their car, truck or motorcycle secured to a concrete pad, each person took turns spinning their wheels -- literally -- in hopes of generating the most crowd appreciation.
Ron Doerr from E-K Cycle Repair in Mountain Home was one of the adventurous souls. A motorcycle rider since he was a child, he admitted that he joined the competition simply out of peer pressure -- his friends kept saying he wouldn't compete simply because he just put brand-new tires on his bike.
Wanting to prove them wrong, he switched out his new tires with an older pair Saturday evening specifically so he could join the contest.
Like other competitors, he knew there was a strong possibility that the friction between the spinning wheels and the concrete could cause a tire to simply explode.
"That's the plan," he said. "If they give me enough time, it's going to blow."
Strapping his 2009 Harley-Davidson Road King down to the concrete pad, he revved up the engine and engaged the rear tire. With the bike held firmly in place, the spinning wheel produced a few wisps of smoke at first.
That quickly changed as he increased the throttle to make the wheel spin even faster against the concrete, causing the subsequent friction to build up a thick cloud of white smoke that nearly enveloped Doerr and his bike before he eased back on the throttle.
The sounds of thunder continued during the day at the city park as Ed "The Outlaw" Jones fired up his unique fire truck -- and quite literally, too. Keeping curious children and adults back a safe distance behind a roped barrier, the Malad, Idaho, native brought his dragster to life.
With the truck's engine and sirens reaching near-deafening levels, the youngsters suddenly jumped back as flames measuring up to 20 feet shot from the back of the vehicle.
The wheelstanding fire truck is one of two trucks that Jones and his wife, Wendy own. For the past 37 years, they've raced both dragsters in competitions across the United States as well as Canada, Japan and Germany.
"Everyone thought we were nuts," he said regarding his racing dreams. "However, it's been a pretty good career."