Whatcha Been Doing?

Well Counters, this olelongrooffan must submit an apology to all of you Counting Along With Me. I have been a bit AWOL on By The Numbers this past month.

As I have mentioned previously, I Have A Job and it has been keeping me busy.

Plus between Biketoberfest, The Daytona Beach Dream Cruise, talking about my new truck, The Winter Park Concours and this past Thanksgiving weekend, The Turkey Rod Run, this olelongrooffan has been slammed.

Plus hosting Happy Hour for thejeepjunkie and TheGoodAttorney. Oh yeah, I also installed baseboard in a 2,800 square foot lived in home.

Yeah, I've Been Busy.

And this olelongrooffan did not even wish you Counters a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope yours was fun, fulfilling, and plentiful.

But I bet a whole bunch of money I don't have that none of you did what this olelongrooffan considers himself lucky enough to do on Thanksgiving Day, 2010.

I went to the Daytona International Speedway for the largest automotive swap meet in the southeastern part of these great United States of America.

I woke up Thanksgiving morning, Gave a Prayer of Thanks, showered, put on a pair of khaki shortpants, my "Ford" logo clad oxford shirt, sensible walking shoes and packed a cooler with el cheap diet cokes and bottled water acquired from my local Dollar Store, stuffed it in a backpack I own courtesy of the Kid, headed out to my means of transport for the weekend and made the 20 minute trip to The Speedway.

As I am local to the area, I knew how to get to the Daytona International Speedway and park in the nearly vacant parking lot of the NASCAR headquarters building across International Speedway Boulevard without even getting on ISB, fully laden with touristas.
So I parked TheGoodAttorney's classic 69 Ford Bronco in that lot and headed across that boulevard, utilized my "Get In Free" card and got into that facility with my free refreshment bearing backpack in tow.

As this olelongrooffan walked across the plywood layed upon that newly paved tri-oval I got this shot of it to share with all you Counters out there.
I wandered over to the open air garages where all the legendary race cars are and saw a whole bunch of the same cars so I quickly headed out to the swap meet area to see what was to be seen.

This olelongrooffan has been attending this event for many years but this is the first time I recollect
seeing these ALMS series race cars advertising the Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring which occurs in early March down in Sebring, Florida.
I passed by the Hemmings Motor News booth hawking all of their excellent publications.
And got on out to the grass portion of the infield to see all the quirky stuff that was available, should you need it.
Anybody need a $50 light bar to impersonate a cop?

I then spotted a late 40's Morris, one of which I had seen a couple weeks earlier at the Winter Park Concours.


And Counters this is a mere example of what can be seen in the vendor booths out there in the grass infield.
Willys Station Wagons, trim rings, hub caps off the Bus's old Burb, dashboards, consoles and whatnot.

Oh yeah, any body need some old car bodies?
I also spotted this Aerodeck Monte Carlo that NASCAR required in order to get Chevrolet into NASCAR racing in the late 1980's.
This toy and memorabilia possessing booth always captures the attention of this olelongrooffan. By the way, see that ride upon dump/tow truck on the closest corner of that table?
It was in that location last year and sports it again this year. I wonder if the $375 price tag might have something to do with that?

See that sweet little convertible in the following image. How about a Crosley Hot Shot Super Sport ragtop for your driving pleasure?


I don't remember alot about this old speed boat except that it was a 1957 model. But see those rope encased glass balls?Those are what were used as bobbers for submerged crap traps down around these parts before plastic or styrofoam balls were invented.

And a sweet ole El Camino just because I liked it enough to capture an image of it.
One of the last booths I checked out had this cool old "Big Boy" burgers mascot along with a whole bunch of old signs. And know, they were not cheap. In the far left of this image you can make out the *ss end of a coin operated riding horse that was listed at $1,250!
And once this olelongrooffan decided to head out, I was walking down an aisle and spotted, in a partitioned off area, the tools used to repave the Daytona International Speedway.And, Counters, that was my Thanksgiving Day, 2010. Well, this olelongrooffan did head over to Bellair Plaza to meet up with thejeepjunkie later but that is a whole 'nother blog.

And while it may be not your cup of tea, this is how this olelongrooffan can really

Celebrate Life.