Bob Ashton: The Maestro of The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals

This is Bob Ashton, I'm the managing member for the McCacken show, the Muscle Car and Corvette

Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois.

Look forward to having you join us November 22nd and 23rd.

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Today, we're revving up for a special episode with a returning guest and long

time friend of the book and the driving force behind the Muscle Car and Corvette

Nationals. If you've ever walked the floor of McCacken, you know it's not

just a car show, it's a living museum of horsepower, history,

and some really cool cars.

Looking forward to peeking under the hood and behind the scenes with him as we

take a look at what's new, what's rare, and what keeps this event roaring year

after year. It's my pleasure to welcome back our good friend, Bob Ashton.

How are you doing, Bob?

I'm doing great, pumped up and ready.

Yeah, I bet.

I hope you're getting some rest because, you know, as we're recording

this, we are, you know, oh, I don't know what, maybe 10, 12 weeks, maybe

about that away from it.

And, you know, the first thing I'm going to say is

such an amazing event.

We're going to talk about the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.

But on a personal note, you know, we were there not too long ago.

It was our very first time there.

And other than the fact that it was snowing on this person when

when we were there, of course, it is an indoor show.

So, you know, not to worry about that.

But yes, there is no Florida wardrobe for

the for the week before Thanksgiving in Chicago and the wind and the and the snow.

And yes, we were not quite prepared for that.

We were as prepared as we could be.

But I can tell you what, going inside of the Stephen Center,

it's it's truly amazing what you guys have been able to to do

and pull off and accomplish.

So I want to give my props to you because it is by far

by far the Super Bowl of car shows, the best one I have ever been to.

So I got to give it to you, Bob.

How do you do it?

Well, thanks for the kind words.

I know you've been to at least a few car shows in your long and storied career.

So that's a high compliment.

And, you know, I really appreciate the kind words.

I often tell people, you know, I can stand here and go on and on

about what a great show I have of being a promoter.

I can see people's eyes roll back in their head and they're like,

yeah, yeah, here's a guy with a great car show, blah, blah, blah.

But when somebody like you says that, I think it really goes a long way.

And, you know, we appreciate that because it does mean a lot to us.

But hey, I'm living my dream.

You know, what can I say?

I dreamt for years of doing a high end specialty show devoted

to American muscle.

And that's what I'm doing.

Here we are, you know, going into 17 years later, 16,

15 shows under our belt coming up to 16 and more passion,

more enthusiasm, more excitement than ever, just keeps getting better.

So, Bob, I know we spoke briefly, you know, before we started our show,

it's been a few years since you've been on.

But one of the things that people ask about all the time.

And I know I just mentioned, you know, what car shows are on your bucket list to see.

And for me, of course, you know, McCacken is at the very top.

But can you tell us?

Tell us about McCacken, what makes McCacken so special?

And again, McCacken, for listeners who may not know,

McCacken is the muscle car and Corvette Nationals.

It is held in Chicago, yes, snowy Chicago just before just before Thanksgiving.

But tell us tell us what makes McCacken so unique and special

and why, no matter what brand you favor or you like,

if you're a car guy or girl or even a kid,

why McCacken has got to be on your must do events?

I love the fact that you said kids because we do a lot to promote the younger

generation, both kids and people that I consider younger,

which is anybody under, well, much younger than me.

You know, we focus on looking for the cars and the owners

that don't usually go to shows or cruise nights or that type of thing.

And through a lot of networking, we've been able to establish

kind of like the ultimate place for collectors to show their cars.

And, you know, our group is made up of eight people.

So I'm on the face, everybody knows me, but there are eight of us.

And the neat thing about our group is that each one of my,

as we call ourselves members, are somewhat unique in their own interest.

You know, we've got Colin Comer, who's a well known in the Shelby world,

authored many books and was very involved in the Shelby world.

We've got Charlie Lillard out in California,

who anybody knows and loves Charlie. He's a great guy.

He's been an enthusiast and a collector for many, many years,

more years than me, Mike Worreese being really well known

currently in the in the Buick world, but his own numerous pro stock cars

and, you know, a lot of really great cars.

And, you know, Stefano Bambi out here in the Chicago area

that is the head of Nikki Performance, Bill Sefton,

well known for Mr. Norm's affiliation and, you know,

being a big Mopar and Corvette guy.

You know, each one of these guys brings something to the table

that I may not have access to otherwise.

So that's open many doors for us.

You know, I also mentioned Steve Schager,

who runs our vintage certification program.

He's just passionate about all things that are unrestored and original.

So, you know, yet another aspect of what we do at Macacken

with our vintage certification program.

So that is probably what makes us different

is the fact that we do have a group of guys

that really are passionate about the hobby.

They're collectors, racers, enthusiasts.

Everybody has hands on involved in the hobby in one way or another.

And, you know, we just want to put together the best possible show,

get the people out, get them to share their cars and their stories

and have a good time.

You know, about one of the things that I know for myself personally,

I've been asked about because, you know, we we've, of course,

promoted Macacken and shared information and photos and and and what not about it is.

Maybe the misnomer because the word Corvette is prominent in it.

And, of course, that that would get the attention of obviously of Corvette owners.

But the the truth is Corvette is incorporated into the name.

And, of course, there are Corvettes very well represented.

But this is truly a all make all model muscle car event.

It's it's not just a few muscle cars and Corvette.

And, of course, certainly nothing about nothing against, you know, Corvette.

But that is that is one of the top things people have asked us about,

you know, is tell us about this Corvette show.

And it's you know, and I have to do a double take and think when was I to

any all Corvette show, of course, you know, we've been the many shows,

but come to find out they're talking about the muscle car and Corvette nationals.

Can you can you tell us a little bit as to why why that is incorporated

into the name and how that came about.

So there is a better understanding for our listeners

that of of what we're really talking about.

Absolutely.

And one of the things that I notice, I get the same thing.

I'll wear a hat or somebody will see our logo and Corvette is actually

about this big and muscle cars about this big.

So somebody will come up and do exactly what you said.

Oh, the Corvette show in Chicago.

And it's like, well, no, not really.

Now, to make a long story short, basically what had happened

when we launched the show, one of our primary sponsors was

Bill Stasek Chevrolet in the Chicago area.

And they had been the sponsor for the Chevy VetFest.

I used to be the show manager for the Chevy VetFest, working for another company.

Now, when we left, this is our show now is not affiliated with that company at all.

And the Chevy VetFest doesn't exist.

But we ended up being in the same building and the same date.

So a lot of people think we took the old Chevy VetFest

and tried to diversify by adding muscle cars to it.

And that isn't really what happened.

So when we started, the plan was to call the show

the obvious name, which would be the muscle car nationals.

But doing a search on the name, we found out that the NMCA

had held rights to that, say trademark muscle car nationals.

So that was off the table. We could not use it.

So in meeting with potential sponsors, when we were launching the show,

sat down with Bill Stasek and he had been the title sponsor

for the Chevy VetFest that I was managing.

When I told him that we were going to be launching

a mixed make muscle car specialty show, he had concerns.

He said, Bob, I love what you do. I love working with you.

I'd love to be a part of it.

But quite honestly, I'm a little concerned about the fact

that it is no longer a Chevy specialty show.

And I said, well, of course, I'm pitching a concept concept

of being able to expose his business

and the Corvette world to a mixed audience.

You know, the Viper guy might consider a Corvette

who may never walk into a Chevy dealership.

And he liked that idea.

So make a long story short, at that point, we were still not

knowing exactly what we were going to name the show.

And as I sat there with Bill, I said, well,

what if we were to add Corvette to the name?

And he was like, what do you mean?

I said, what if we were to call it the muscle car

and Corvette Nationals instead of just muscle car Nationals?

And he said, Bob, if you do that, I will sign a multi-year

sponsorship contract right now.

So that was all I needed to hear.

And we knew that by having a diversified group of cars

with different makes and models and brands,

I could kind of handpick what we did in the Corvette world.

So instead of having, you know, 80 or 100 typical Corvettes,

I could go, let's get the best of the best.

Let's let's really curate what we put in the show.

And obviously, our focus is on 60s and 70s muscles.

So primarily, a majority of the Corvettes you'll see will be

muscle oriented, L88s, 427, 435s and whatnot.

And from 53 to 60, I'll say 71 or 72.

Now, occasionally, there'll be newer ones in the show,

which are normally ones that are going for our triple diamond,

which requires NCRS top flight and Bloomington Gold certification in advance.

So those will generally be the only post 72 Corvettes you'll see in the show.

And those are the absolute best of the best to come from across the country.

So to your point, we have between 550 and 600 cars in the show.

And with last year being a record number of triple diamond contenders,

we had 52 of them, we'll end up with maybe 60 to 70 Corvettes

out of the close to 600 cars overall.

I think it's also important because A, for good or for bad,

I think I led the show with how cold it was when I was up there.

But I think it's very important for listeners to A to understand.

This is an indoor show.

It is at the Stevens Convention Center, correct?

And if you've never been to Chicago,

if you've never been to this facility, particularly the space that is allotted

for the most of car and Corvette Nationals, I can tell you firsthand,

personal knowledge, you can walk through every car.

It will take you three days to see them all.

You cannot literally say, I'm going to see it all in one day because it is not possible.

Certainly, we've been to shows where they've got 600, 700 cars that are outside.

And a lot of times, maybe you're interested in this row of cars over here

and not quite as interested as the ones on your right side.

So you bypass them, not because they're not beautiful, but they're not to your taste.

But if you are a muscle car fan, you are going to want to look at every single car on display.

And it's not just cars.

I mean, you're going to see vendors.

You're going to see unveilings of cars that are first time,

either first time ever or first time since a restoration.

You're going to see those.

And also one of my most favorite places other than the vendors and the band playing

is the barn finds.

We've all heard of barn finds, of course.

You know, sometimes it's an overused word and you see them on a magazine or on the internet

and you think, yeah, okay, but you go to the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.

There's an entire room of barn finds.

I mean, we're talking cars that need to be pushed.

Cars that look like literally a tree grew out of them.

I mean, these are the cars that people are looking for.

And you have an entire room of cars that are completely unrestored just sitting there.

And like I said, many of them, I don't think they've run in our lifetime.

But these are things that you're going to see.

And I can't emphasize enough.

Again, I know I'm pimping the show because I love the show so much.

But you can spend an entire three day weekend and not see everything.

You will come home with Muscle Car overload

because you're going to see things that you didn't even know existed.

It is funny.

Our barn finds in Hidden Gems have become such a popular area in the show.

And it kind of spun off the invitation I gave to a gentleman with a 67 Corvette years ago

that was literally had been parked in a garage for about 25, 30 years.

And he was a regular at our show.

And he said, hey, I got this car.

And I don't really want to touch it and just have this idea.

And he threw the idea of bringing it in.

It happened to be a 427, 435, 67, which is interesting in itself.

But I said, do not touch that car.

Don't wash it.

Don't wipe it down.

Bring it in exactly as you found it.

It had snow tires on it.

I mean, it was awesome.

And we brought it in.

We put it on the end of one of the aisles.

And it was a huge hit.

I anticipated that it would be.

And that's where that concept was born.

So that was kind of, that was about 10 years or so ago.

And the barn find concept was just kind of gaining a little bit of notoriety.

But now what's happened is because of the amount of cars that are coming out of the woodwork

and people actually being out there chasing them down,

the quality of what's in there, not so much that they're pretty, but they're rare cars.

We've got hammy cars and wind cars and copos and yankos.

And, you know, the cars we all dream of finding,

they're coming out of the woodwork.

It's just, it's unbelievable.

And, you know, I know this year we've got Shelby GT350.

I've got a Superbird.

I've got a Daytona.

I've got a Copo Camaro.

I've got a Yanko Camaro.

You know, so they're not just old projects that somebody abandoned

and parked in the back of the garage.

We're kind of hand selecting, you know, unique cars, rare cars.

And for me, what I'm seeing is that a lot of the people that are participating in the barn finds,

the intent is to show the car as found and then to return a year or two years later

with the car fully restored for Premier Unveiling.

So it's very rewarding in that, you know, here's a car that was forgotten and,

you know, left for dead.

It's resurrected and brought back to life and probably restored to fire better than it ever was.

Yeah, that's for sure.

And I know when we were there last, I'm sure many of our listeners have seen the photos of this car

or know the story of this car.

But of course, that year there was a hurricane that hit the state of Florida.

And I'm sure many people saw the wing cars covered in sand

upside down in the street.

It just made you cringe looking at them, especially as a muscle car person.

They go, you know, wow, you know, that's, those cars are just destroyed.

And those cars still full of sand.

Literally, yeah.

On, yes, we're on display at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.

And you can walk up, they were a very big hit.

Everybody was looking at them and taking pictures.

And of course, you knew that shortly thereafter,

it was going to go back and it was going to be restored to its original condition.

And those cars got to come back when they were, when they were complete.

And people can see them and say, I saw them in person just like this.

And now I see them back to their original condition.

And it's, it's a full circle mode to see those cars.

And that car was unveiled with us last year was Mark Secula and the Magnum Restorations Crew

in LaSalle, Illinois, brought it back to life.

And so we were kind of chronicling that it was a two year process.

I mean, that car was hammered literally.

And, you know, through the devotion of the owner,

he wanted to bring that car back to life.

He didn't want to see the thing go to the crusher.

And sure enough, he actually owns a Daytona that was in a hurricane also,

which we're anticipating seeing in the future.

It's not done yet.

But, you know, that one hopefully we'll see unveiled at McCacken also.

But Miller Auto, which is the, the sponsor of our barn finds every year,

he has one or two cars in the barn finds area and then brings them back the next year as

premier unveilings in his sponsor display.

So he's got two Osmobile 442s, one being a W30 convertible that they're going to pull

the cover off Saturday morning this year.

So, you know, again, very rewarding because we see these cars that, you know,

you should go, gee, what happened to this thing?

You know, why did this happen?

And then you find out the full story, whatever that may be, sometimes sad,

sometimes, you know, always interesting.

And that may be another thing that I think makes our show stand apart

is the accessibility of the owners.

You know, we, you mentioned, we've been called the Super Bowl of the Muscle Car World.

And I love that it was Drew Harden from Muscle Car Review Magazine

that dubbed us the Super Car of the Muscle Car World, which I thank him for.

I use it all the time.

But the difference is that the accessibility to these people, you know,

literally the superstars of our hobby, they're just like you and me.

They're passionate, they're enthusiastic.

And I constantly hear stories of people meeting some of these owners

and just it's like meeting your favorite rock star.

And these are the people now that I consider my good friends.

And, you know, I have the ability to go and see these collections

and invite their cars and so many of them literally will say,

hey, Bob, here's a list of my cars.

What do you need this year?

What special displays are you doing?

And that momentum has grown to allow us to become what we are now

and just bigger and better and more diversified every year.

Yeah. And again, it's, for myself, the first time I was there, it was,

I think it was the largest assembly of wing cars assembled.

And, you know, you might see one possibly two, you know, at a show.

And off the top of my head, I don't recall.

I want to say there was probably in the 30s

when we were there and we walked up and down the row.

And it was, again, sensory overload, seeing what's there.

You walk down a row over here and you see, you know, a row of just,

you know, beautiful Shelby's or just amazing Camaros.

I mean, we've seen so much at the Muscle Car and Corbett Nationals.

It's, you cannot describe it.

And what I want to know, Bob, is you've seen all these things.

You've been a part of these.

What keeps you so passionate about doing this?

Well, I grew up in, I guess, surrounded and I'm a little bit younger than the peak years.

But my older brother was of driving age, you know, late 60s, early 70s.

And my father was a vice president at Chrysler.

And that allowed us to have literally three company cars.

So during those peak years, you know, 68 to 72,

dad had a new car every two months or 2,000 miles.

So he would have six new cars every year.

Then my mother had a lease car and my older brother had a lease car.

So, you know, I look at the list of those cars and think back to those days.

And we had a B3 70 Roadrunner convertible, an F8 70 Roadrunner convertible,

a 71 Bahama Yellow GTX 446 barrel.

My mother had a purple 70 Challenger, actually 71 Challenger,

383 Shaker convertible.

And, you know, the list goes on and on.

So that kind of planted the seed as I was outright in my Stingray bike around the neighborhood.

And that never left me.

I just, you know, the sights and the sounds just, that just gets my heart beating faster.

And, you know, now here we are, you know, I've always been a car guy and always loved

wheeled vehicles, motorcycles, minibikes, bicycles.

And it just, you know, like I say, now I'm able to live my dream and go out there.

You know, the people in this hobby are just fantastic because it is a passion hobby.

You know, you don't go out and buy a new Mustang or even an old Mustang,

unless you at least have some passion for the heritage of those cars.

And all the memories, you know, everybody has a story to tell and

the egos get checked at the door.

That's the best part of it.

You know, you can have a guy that has a room with 200 prime examples of American muscle

and he goes, walks in with you with the t-shirt and jeans on just like I do.

And, you know, it's that to me is the best aspect of the hobby is that

that ability to, for people to kind of like not have to brag, not have to show off too much.

Although they certainly can, but I have an example of that.

We have what I'm super excited about this year.

There's a gentleman out of Colorado by the name of Wayne Speckley.

And Wayne is just an incredibly successful business person and, you know, just a great guy.

He and his wife, Robin, they're just fantastic people.

He has literally hundreds of cars in his collection and he loves off-road racing.

So he kind of got into the off-road racing thing with the Strap Broncos,

which he has shown with us many times.

He actually brought the original Strap race team hauler from Colorado with

a Strap Bronco on the back several years ago.

But anyway, he got involved in this off-road thing and ended up meeting Shelby Hall,

who's the daughter of Rod Hall, and Shelby is the granddaughter, actually.

Shelby had always raced with the family and been to all the races with dad and grandad and,

you know, went to Mexico and did the Baja and all that.

Well, that planted the seed with her.

And now with the assistance of Wayne Speckley, she has her own race team.

So they're coming in to do a very special display for us that has

both older Rod Hall race trucks and the newest that she's racing right now.

And she's just a super, super lady that's very passionate again about the hobby,

racing, very big on women's involvement in her hobby.

And they're bringing in this fantastic display with half a dozen trucks and,

you know, a bunch of Rod Hall memorabilia from back in the 70s and things like that.

And here's a guy, he doesn't need to be doing that.

And he comes to me.

We literally sat down at the show last year and he said, Hey, I got this idea you might like,

but if you don't, that's okay.

I understand because it's not really a true muscle car, but it's kind of a muscle related type thing.

And, you know, sure enough, he tells me what he wants,

has visualizing.

And it's like, that is fantastic.

And Matt Shelby, she's just a, you know, just as passionate as you and I are about the hobby

and sharing the stories.

I think it's interesting that you see such a diverse array of things.

Like you said, you know, okay, so the trucks aren't,

I guess, technically what you would call muscle car, but it's, it's all in the same vein.

It's right.

You know, you can, you can see, you know, the personalities and the people that are doing that.

You know, so of course it lends itself very well to, you know, to McCacken.

I know I mentioned, you know, there's so many things to see.

What stand out cars or exhibits are you most looking forward to this year?

Because I mean, there's, there's, I know you're going to say all of them, you know, because,

you know, they're all, they're all amazing.

But, you know, you look at these and it's, you know, these are like the candy items.

These are, you know, if you're not already, you know, if you're not already just overloaded with

things, there's candy and everything.

You know, that's what I like to call it.

And those are things that people are just going to gather around and say,

I, I can't believe this is here.

What are you looking forward to this year?

Well, being somewhat of a Mopar guy, our red carpet display, we always rotate between the

big three because we don't want to be pigeonholed as being a Chevy show or a Mopar show or

Ford show.

We wanted people to know that we have all brands, even American Motors and Studebaker,

as you know, but the red carpet this year, we're featuring B-Body Mopar Hemi Convertibles.

So I have 19 of them confirmed right now in another five pending.

So again, to your point, when we're talking about the wingcars, to see one of those cars

is, you know, something that'll stop you in your tracks.

Imagine walking in the building and seeing two rows, face to face, all Hemi, B-Body,

you know, Coronets, Roadrunners, GTXs, Coronet RTs lined up and they're all Hemi Convertibles,

you know, among the most sought after Mopars of all.

So that, that really gets my heart beating.

And I was just out looking at one that's been hidden away for over 10 years.

It's a black 68 Coronet RT Hemi Convertible that was fully restored to perfection.

I mean, probably far better than perfection and has never been shown anywhere.

And just a stunning car.

And, you know, our friend Joe Jordan from Wisconsin, he's a collector of B-Body Hemi Convertibles.

He has three of them coming.

So he's got a B3 Hemi Roadrunner convertible and 70 Hemi,

70 Roadrunner is my all-time favorite muscle car anyway.

So that one gets my heart beating.

But talking other bands, Shelby, you know, it's the 60th anniversary of Shelby.

So we've got Colin Coburn.

We tapped into his vast network of friends and the cars that he's gathered for the GT350,

60th anniversary display are over the top.

So again, seeing 165 real GT350 is a treat and we've got a whole row of them.

GT350, ours, I mean, just fantastic cars.

So that's that's exciting.

Some of the kind of off the wall things we throw that I would consider unexpected.

We do anniversary displays for the key years.

This year we'll be doing class of 65 and class of 1970.

So 70 is an easy one because there's so many cool 1970 muscle cars between the colors.

And, you know, the new Challenger came out.

You got the redesign on the Camaro and the Firebird.

So that's a no-brainer.

So that was, I hate to say easy, but it was almost easy to find prime examples for that.

But in the class of 65, a really neat thing happened and that I knew I had to have some

Chevelle Z16s in the mix with the ultimate gold to have one of each color.

We managed to do that.

I've got seven of them coming.

So we do have all three colors and I've got restored and unrestored.

I've got a barn fine type car in there.

So it's a real diverse group, but they're all real 65 Z16s.

So I'm talking to one of the enthusiasts.

He said, hey, you know in 65 that Z16 wasn't the only hot thing that Chevy did.

I'm like, okay, I'll bite.

What are you talking about?

He goes, well, talk to anybody who had an L79 and they'll tell you an L79 would

kick butt over a Z16.

Kind of laughed and find out the guy has a collection of 65 L79s.

And he came to the show last year as a spectator.

One of his friends told him he's got to see it and never show the car with us.

And he's like, hey, how about if I load a truck up with some L79s and we put those,

you know, on the opposite side of the Z16s and you let me tell the story of how strong

these cars are.

So sure enough, that's six of those cars come in.

So yeah, it's just, you know, just fun things like that.

And, you know, unexpected.

So another one like for class of 70, everybody knows what an old 442 W30 is,

but how many are really familiar with the, as I call it, the small black little brother,

the W31.

You know, that was another performance offering geared to be a more affordable

alternative for those who, you know, wanted to get into the game.

And my partner, Stefano Bimby had a, of Nikki Chicago.

He is a huge Oldsmobile fan and he owns several W31.

So he put some feelers out and he has a spectacular group of W31s.

And again, it's a car.

First, a lot of people don't know what they are.

So we kind of introduce that.

And those who do know what they are, again, you hardly ever see them.

And we've got a fantastic display of those coming in also.

You know, Bob, when you think about McCacken, what is one thing that, for you, maybe on the inside,

what's one thing that people don't realize about putting a show or an event?

Because it's really an event.

It's not just a show, it's an event.

But putting an event like this together from, I know the answer to this first question,

I know the answer to this first question.

From when did you start planning for the next year?

I already know the answer is the day after this one's done.

But what does it all entail for you to be able to do this?

And do you ever get time off just to kick back and go, okay, I need to break for a weekend?

Well, yeah, I mean, I live and breathe this stuff all the time.

And in my off time, I'm usually at a car show or doing something like that.

I mean, I am an avid water skier and wakeboarder.

And I have grandkids that I'm very involved with.

So that's my downtime or, you know, my alternative is spending time with the grandkids and my family.

Getting out on a boat.

I was out there last night just floating around reading a book, just chilling.

It's super busy here.

I mean, but we have assembled such a fantastic team.

And so many of the members of our team are people that started out as people that showed cars with us.

And, you know, maybe they came to us and said, Hey, I've got an idea for this or that.

And when that happens, my, I'm generally going, Hey, that's a great idea.

How would you like to come in, you know, jump on board and help us out with that?

And a lot of times they say yes.

And because they are people that don't need the job per se, you know,

they don't need to come in and make whatever trivial amount of money we may give them.

They're passionate.

And it's kind of like they want to see, they want to backstage pass.

They want to see the whole thing and how it comes together.

So our team, whether it's the guys that run our outside.

I mean, I've got a family.

They unveiled a super bird with us last year, the Coulson family.

The daughter works in our office with my wife, Vicki, Brent and Jeff run our outside,

which has got to be the most unrewarding thing that you could possibly do.

Because between the fact that you can have any type of weather that you may imagine in November

and in our area and the fact that sometimes people are a little grumpy because they just

dragged a 48 foot trailer halfway across the country.

And they don't aren't used to driving in traffic and, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

And they do it with a smile and they always have ideas and suggestions.

And I say the show is always a work in progress.

So I credit our staff and my partners in making the show what it is, because we all have the

same passion and enthusiasm for the hobby, but we're also willing to dive in and continue

to make the thing work and be a place that's welcoming to the participants.

And I always stress how much work it is for our participants to do what they need to do

to get a car into the show.

So between, you know, the travel and taking time off and making arrangements with the family

and all that, it's a big investment.

And I realize that that may be what makes our show different is that I have been on the

other side, I've shown cars, I've been a vendor.

And when you have that perspective from the outside, a lot of times that will play into

what we do.

And I'll say, well, wait a minute, maybe we need to do this or that.

Or, you know, let's let's look at a better way to do this.

And we have a lot of logistical challenges in the building.

There's basically one way in the building.

It's like trying to put 10 gallons of water through a little funnel and a very

short window of time to do it.

So everybody has to be constantly on their toes and looking every way.

And I'm also incredibly anal about crazy things like putting two red cars together.

Because they're never the same.

Think of the plum crazy mopars you've seen in the many different shades of purple.

You know, and if you put those two together, then you have the potential

that somebody's going to say, Hey, that car's all wrong, whether it is or not,

you know, but so I'll look at little dots on my floor plan.

My wife will laugh at me every year.

I'll spend hours hovering over the floor plan to make sure that, you know,

the colors coordinate, the cars are grouped accordingly and, you know, that there's

flow so that the stories can be told for the different groups, cars and the

different people.

And, you know, but I credit our team.

We have a fantastic team that's come together.

A lot of them have been with us since we started back in 2009.

Yeah.

Again, I know firsthand the amount of work that's going into it because I've seen it.

And again, shout out to everybody that is part of the team because it's,

you can't, you can't not understand something someone says, you know,

we've all checked into shows or events and everything's there.

It's ready to go.

It's not a, let me make a phone call and call this person.

It's, it's so well done and so well organized.

I mean, it literally starts from the moment you, you, and I want to talk about this too.

You arrive at your hotel, you know, the, the, there, this is so well done that

not only are you going to this show, but all the hotels are organized ahead of time.

You know, many of them are connected right to the building.

You know, yes, leave it to me to walk outside in the snow.

But, but however, but, you know, there's, there's walkways and overpasses that,

that are connected to the building.

So you don't ever have to go outside.

But all this is so, is so organized and complete.

It's, you essentially just have to get there.

Everything else is, is done.

And that speaks volumes to, you know, not just obviously yourself,

but the entire team that's doing it.

We've, we've learned, or I could say I've learned through my experience

and doing different shows throughout the country.

I, I worked for a company that did Autoram and World of Wheels

shows all over the United States.

And I used to run Dallas Autoram and Pittsburgh World of Wheels

and started the basement at the Detroit Autorama.

So I've had experience from that side of things.

And when it comes to hotels, for instance,

that's a frustrating thing for somebody who's coming to a show

to make sure that they can get easy accommodations.

So that Rosemont community, which I stress it's Rosemont

because it's really suburban Chicago.

So I know a lot of people are afraid of the Chicago thing.

You know, it's like Detroit.

It's like, no, not really from Detroit.

I live in the suburbs, but you know, that's Chicago stigma.

Rosemont is almost like an island in our event

at the Donnelly Stevens Convention Center

is in the middle of their,

what they call a Rosemont Entertainment District.

So you have, we have literally seven official host hotels.

Five of those hotels are literally directly

across the street from the convention center,

with three of them being attached,

as I call it via the habit trail.

So you don't have to go outside once you get there.

Right by O'Hare airport,

and all of the hotels run direct free shuttles.

So you can literally fly into O'Hare,

take a shuttle over the hotel,

and you never have to leave the community.

Restaurants, you've got everything from Gibson's

in the lobby of the, the Double Tree Hotel

right across the street.

You've got a Morton's attached to one of the other hotels.

If you want a Denny's or a McDonald's,

that's not too far away.

There's a 130 store outlet mall.

It's a couple blocks away.

Bowling, indoor skydiving, you know, a movie theater.

All of that is right there.

So what I always tell people,

if you come with your family,

which we really want you to do,

if they don't want to spend eight hours at the car show,

like you and I might want to do,

there's so much that you can do in that community

without having to call Uber or take a taxi or a bus.

But on the other hand,

if you do want to go down to Chicago,

there's the L train, which is two blocks away.

You can jump on the L, take that right downtown Chicago

and do your shopping at Marshall Fields

and never have to rent a car or drive anywhere.

So it's really a tailor-made community.

And hotel-wise, because we do such a great amount of business,

I literally go into these hotels

and hammer them on rates in extra perks.

So we have direct links to our hotels on our website.

And we have rates starting at like $146

at the crown right across the street,

which is extra perks, reduced-rate parking.

All these things are things that I work on throughout the year.

And they want our business.

That Rosemount community just embraces what we do.

So they know what we're going to bring

and they know that our people are going to come in

and spend some time in the community

and they're going to spend some money.

Obviously, it's a business.

And it's really worked out to be the perfect place for us.

And because we get so many people from out of state,

that O'Hare Airport connection has really worked out well,

because what I tell people, if you have the means,

how you're reliable, have them ship your car.

The car comes to myself or my son personally.

We can load and unload it, have it in your spot.

You fly into O'Hare, take a shuttle over there,

have a nice steak, have a nice dinner, have breakfast.

And it's all easy to do, which is that's really key.

And even if you're a spectator,

those are things that I look at.

Sometimes I look at an event

that I didn't think I was going to be able to go to

and then at the last minute go,

oh, I could make it out to this event or that event.

Get on Expedia, look for a hotel,

and it's like every hotel is $300 a night.

And that drives me crazy.

So I think we did 2,400 room nights last year

in the Rosemont community.

And now the hotels that are outside our regulars

that we've worked with all along,

now they're clamoring for the business.

So it's like, okay, we can get you connected,

but you're going to have to work with me.

I need a good attractive low rate.

I need some reduced rate parking.

I need some extra perks so that our people on the fly

might want to come at the last minute as spectators

and come and see the show.

Yeah, I know because we were right across the street.

And like you said,

I think it was about two and a half miles

from the airport to the hotel,

which was about 60 feet from the convention center.

So I didn't have to go far.

One thing I also want to talk about,

and we touched on it briefly,

is you want the spectators, you want the families.

And something that I know we personally love is the kids.

The kids are very much a part of this,

whether they, you take great steps to welcome them

and make them a part of that.

Can you explain a little bit about what you do

because they sure enjoy their time at the show?

We do try to do as much as we can to keep the hobby going.

That's my idea is always to plant the seeds.

So there's a lot of little things.

First of all, kids get in for free.

So adults have to pay,

but you bring anyone 12 or under,

they're getting in the show for free.

So with that, we do a scavenger hunt,

which a lot of our sponsors participate in.

They'll give the kids something cool.

It's not like they don't hand them a pencil,

they'll give them something really neat.

Sometimes it's a poster,

sometimes it's a Johnny Lightning car,

but it's fun.

It's just made to be a good fun scavenger hunt.

We do a model car make and take for the kids,

which they can get a free model car.

Compliments of Auto World, one of our other sponsors.

We can sit down and build the car at the show

with some assistance from our staff,

or they can just take the car home, totally free.

Going to a little bit older range,

we do a youth judging program presented by NCM Insurance,

where I handpick car owners that are fun.

And there are also people that don't mind

if a kid crawls all over their car.

So I always look for something

that has a pistol grip shifter in it,

because I remember the first time

as a kid, probably 11, 12 years old,

getting in the car,

put my hand on a pistol grip shifter going,

wow, this is cool.

You know, rum, rum.

So we do that and the kids get kind of,

I'd like to call it a behind the scenes look

at the judging perspective.

And they get to meet some of the owners.

And as I say, I always pick fun owners.

So they, you know, they aren't afraid

to have kids jump around in their car

and get in, get in and put their hands all over them.

So that's always a real fun aspect.

And going to a slightly older group,

our participants, we do what we call

a future generation display,

which I'm really happy about this year.

I've got 14 cars registered for that.

And those cars range from, you know,

something that would never be in a show

like ours.

Otherwise it might be an in progress project

or just a car that's not real pretty

to fully restored cars.

In fact, I've got a young guy

I met on PowerTour this year.

Lawrence Tech graduate,

just graduated about a year ago,

opened up his own restoration facilities

22 years old.

So he's bringing not only his own car,

which is a 72 or 73 Challenger,

but the first major restoration job

that they did, which is an over the top Mustang.

So he's bringing both of those cars in.

We've got several young ladies,

which is always neat.

In fact, last year we had a couple of sisters

that brought in a 68 Charter

they'd been working on.

And they contacted me this year and said,

hey, we've done a whole lot of work.

The car is shiny now

because it was kind of like in primer last year.

And I'm like, absolutely come on down,

bring that thing in, you know,

you're more than welcome.

I've got our youngest female car owner,

13 years old,

1982 collectors edition Corvette,

Metta App Bloomington Gold this year.

Everybody was saying,

you love talking to these kids.

You got to see this young lady with this Corvette.

So come to find out,

she's been playing with Hot Wheels

since she was in diapers.

She's always just been a car kid.

And her grandparents are huge into the hobby.

They're big Corvette collectors.

They saw it, they recognized it.

So they actually purchased a car for her.

It is her car.

In fact, they even jumped through

whatever hoops they needed to jump through

to make sure her name is on the title.

So even though she's far from being of legal age

to drive a car,

she is co-owner of the car.

She is just this cute little thing.

And she came into my booth

and her grandparents introduced me to her.

And I said,

how did you get into this hobby?

And you know, what makes your car so special?

She went on to tell me production numbers,

how her car, what engine it had,

how many cubic inches,

how they made 6,502 of them.

I mean, it blew my mind.

And there was no doubt in my mind

that this wasn't just a kid

who grandma and grandpa bought a car for.

So she's another thing.

I'm really excited to put her on the stage and say,

hey, you know,

there is a real positive outlook

in the future of our hobby,

if we pay attention.

So we do a panel discussion with the kids.

I ask all of them to come up.

Matt Avery from Meekum Auctions

is our host for that.

And of course, John Cramon was our original host.

And you know, we unfortunately lost John.

He's a great friend of mine.

But Matt's picked up the reins

and he is heading that up for us now

and does a fantastic job.

And we give the kids a couple minutes

to say exactly how they got into the hobby

and what we can do to get more people

into the hobby at a young age.

So that's another great feature

that I'm really proud of.

Yeah, I think that's,

I know to us, that's one of the best parts

of what you do.

Because of course, we're very big

in promoting the next generation

and the future generations.

I think the next generation is two generations removed

from the future generation at this point.

But yeah, we very much enjoy doing that.

I know when we were there,

I remember very well, a young boy coming up.

Of course, we had all our equipment and headphones

and he just wanted to record his voice.

He was very interested in it.

And but yeah, I recall him seeing him around

just looking at cars and enjoying himself.

And that's something that really stuck in our mind.

The other thing I want to get to Bob is

you've got some great guests scheduled.

Tell me a little bit about them

because I know a lot of our listeners

will know quite a few of them.

Oh yeah.

Well, Peter Brak has become a good friend

and he'll be unveiling a Corvette with us.

So you'll see Peter in this awesome Corvette

that I can't tell you too much about.

I can tell you it's over the top

as you would expect coming from Peter Brak.

It'll be right up front when you walk into the steps.

You'll see it in one of, as I call them, the hotspots.

And we have a couple of unique special guests coming

that in some ways kind of introducing two people in a hobby.

And one is a gentleman by the name of Lee Qnonas,

which may not be a familiar name.

Lee is, I guess you could call him

one of the original New York street graffiti artists.

And my friend Jim Kramer introduced him to me.

He came, again, he came to the show last year,

was blown away.

Come to find out.

He's the owner of a very, very wild 65 Dodge Max Wedge car.

We got to talking.

Well, afterwards Jim says,

hey, do you know who he is?

And I'm like, yeah, he's Lee, great guy.

He goes, oh, you need to Google this guy.

He's like an international graffiti artist

and lo and behold, he is like one of the originals

of New York street graffiti.

And I said, jeez, it would really be fun to have you

talk a little bit about what you do

and how you ended up in the car hobby and that.

So he's joining us with the 65 Dodge

and he's going to talk a little bit

about what he's done in New York with his art.

One that you will recognize, Derek Bieri.

You know, there's a name that everybody knows now

and roadworthy rescues and that.

We met Derek years ago on power tour.

My son and I, before he became well known

and I remember my son Ian saying,

you need to watch this guy.

He's going to be a big deal and he's very real.

He's very hands on.

You know, he's not the typical TV reality goofball.

I mean, he's kind of a goofball, but in a fun way.

But he'll be joining us Saturday and Sunday.

So I know a lot of people are anxious to meet him

and he's one of those guys that comes in early

and stays late and so that'll be a lot of fun.

Another unexpected, another one that you may or may not

recognize the name, but you'll know what he's done.

This gentleman that I met out in Arizona

about a name of Pete Siegel.

So I met Pete because he purchased the Tommy boy movie car

and a good friend of mine who does basically

Mustang and Shelby restoration out in Arizona.

Pete was referred to him to restore the car

and Marcus Angel said, I don't want to do that.

It's a mopar.

I do Shelby's and Ford's.

I'm not interested in that.

Well, he was referred by one of his better clients

and the client insisted this was the guy

that wanted the car done in a particular way.

He wanted it to duplicate the way it was shown

in the movie right down to the deer in the back seat.

And you know, here we are fast forward.

Now he bought the car at auction, real car,

not a clone, not a tribute.

And Marcus restored this car exactly as it was in the movie.

So I got to know Pete and his sister

and they were so enthusiastic

and they had so much fun doing this

that it's like, I need this car and I need you to tell a story

about the making of Tommy boy.

So he's going to be there and he's going to share,

you know, a lot of fun stories

and how they ended up picking that car

and working with David Spade

and you know, so many other people that were in that movie.

But he has produced.

I don't know how many movies that you've seen,

but he is like a big time Hollywood producer.

But again, check your ego at the door

and he's a car guy like you and me

and he's going to be a lot of fun.

So I mean, the list just keeps going on and on.

It's just like, we could be on here all day long

and be nodding off, but it's just,

it's, as you can tell, I'm really excited about it.

Yeah, for sure.

I know we're not even going to be there

and we're excited for every year.

We look forward to photos and people talking about it

on social media and usually it starts popping up

the same day, but then of course,

you get flooded with stuff afterwards

and getting to see it.

I think, you know, the important thing, Bob,

is we want it to make sure that we

reconnect it with you, of course, personally.

Because this is such an amazing event.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

This is a absolute must-see.

Put it on your calendar, plan a vacation around it.

Whatever it is you need to do, if you're into cars,

this is the event you've got to see.

There's plenty of great events to visit,

but this actually makes you part of it.

You're literally intertwined with everything

that's going on there, whether it's yourself,

your family, your friends, your kids.

Everybody's there.

And this is absolutely something

that you do not want to miss.

And if you can't get there this year,

plan on it next year,

because I know it's coming up again next year.

But Bob, tell us again when this is, where this is,

what's the best way to be a part of it, to visit it.

Tell us everything, because I know

people are definitely going to want to check it out.

Yeah, so we're always the weekend before Thanksgiving,

which this year falls November 22nd and 23rd,

where the event takes place

at what's called the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center,

which is in Rosemont, Illinois.

And as you mentioned,

it's just minutes away from Chicago's O'Hare airport.

So it's real easy access.

We do have seven official host hotels,

so it's easy access.

You can book your hotels through our website.

The website is real easy,

just abbreviated version of the name,

which is MCACN, or as we call it,

McCacken, short for Muscle, Car and Corvette Nationals.com,

so MCACN.com.

You can buy, we just put

presale advanced discount tickets on the website

and a couple of area Chicago outlets also,

for those in the area.

We encourage you to be there in person.

I mean, the shows,

the, you know, seeing things on YouTube

and Facebook and whatnot are great.

And there are hundreds of YouTube videos

out there put out by, not just by us,

but by many others,

so you can get a taste of what it is.

But you need to immerse yourself in it,

because it is a show that it's not like

there's 30 or 40 cool cars and 400 fillers.

In fact, I think last year we had more cars

from Arizona and California

than we did from the state of Illinois,

which was kind of a moment of pride for us.

But you do get the opportunity to see a lot of cars

that simply don't go out into the public.

You know, they're from private museums

and private collections with their owners.

Their owners are there to talk and share stories.

And, you know, I often talk about a story

of one of the very high profile collectors

from Northern California

that a friend of mine asked me to introduce him to.

And it ended up they were in the elevator

at the double tree.

And, you know, he saw his Mopar shirt and he said,

hey, do you have a car over in the show?

And Wade answered, yeah, I got a couple of them over there.

And he said, oh, what do you have?

Well, I've got a 70 Hemi Cuda convertible,

a 71 Hemi Cuda convertible,

and a 70 Hemi Challenger convertible.

You know, the guy's job about fell on the floor.

He's like, you're Wade Ogle, aren't you?

And he goes, yes, I am.

It's just another guy in the elevator and a t-shirt.

You know?

That's it.

And now they become great friends.

And, you know, they meet up at the show every year

and they'll do so again

because Wade's bringing his Panther Pink Charger RT-446 back

and his Panther Pink FM-3 Hemi Cuda, you know,

two cars that he, well, he told me the Cuda

hasn't been out of his collection in over 10 years

and, you know, shipping them up from Northern California.

So, and he'll be there with his lovely wife

and their family, his son and his daughter,

you know, talking to everybody.

And, you know, those stories just go on and on.

There's no, and that type of interaction happening

throughout the weekend.

Yeah, that's 100% true.

And a great time has had in the hotels as well.

Oh, yeah.

I can attest to that.

Bob, first of all, I really appreciate you taking the time

to talk about McCacken.

It is always great catching up with you.

I love the stories.

I know I am certainly looking forward to seeing photos

and videos and hearing all about it again.

But again, it's a hats off to yourself

and the entire team on such an amazing job

that you guys do.

It is, I will say it again.

You're going to get tired hearing it.

It is the best event to go to.

I can't say that loud enough.

It's do not miss this one.

Bob, thank you so much for everything.

I really do appreciate it.

Of course, we wish everybody safe travels to McCacken this year.

And we're looking forward to reconnecting

and being back there again, maybe in the not too distant future.

Well, I can't say thanks enough.

And like I say, your endorsement goes a long way.

And we really appreciate it.

And we love what you do.

It's great listening to all your interviews.

And I feel like I'm in great company.

I look at the list of people you've interviewed

over the past several years.

And it's like, wow, that's pretty cool.

So I'm very honored to be able to spread the Gospel of McCacken here.

And again, you know, tell everybody, you got to be here.

You have to see the event in person to really experience it.

I hope everybody will consider joining us November 22nd, 23rd.

Absolutely.

Well, Bob, I will talk to you again real soon.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks for riding along with us.

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Bob Ashton: The Maestro of The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals

Chevrolet Corvette

Shelby GT350

Chevrolet Camaro

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Ford Mustang

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Pontiac Firebird

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Dodge Charger

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