MSRA’s Back to The 50’s

From the December, 2012 issue of Classic Trucks

By Wes Drelleshak

1212Clt 01 O Msras Back To The 50S Event

From what I hear, the ’50s were great times. Cars and trucks were being designed to have style and function. The potential to create your own American dream was at an all-time high. Work hard, start a family, buy a house or something like that, right?

Now we are stuck in an age where social media rules over human interaction. Things like iPhones, social networking sites, email, and the Internet are all great things, but only if you moderate your time spent using them. According to data from a 2010 www.comscoredatamine.com poll I found, the average person 45-54 years old spends 39 hours on the Internet per month. Compare that to an 18-24-year-old person who waists seven hours less doing the same thing.

My point is, what if you could go back to your childhood, or if you’re around my age, visit a time that your parents said was better? I didn’t travel back in time by any means, but it sure felt that way.

The Back to the 50’s is held by the MSRA at the beautiful Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul. This is the place you want to travel to, not because it’s a normal parking lot type fairgrounds, but because it has really nice surroundings. Trees are everywhere you look and the buildings reminded me of that old hand-craftsmanship and wealth.

The first day I arrived, the event promoter and staff kindly scooted me around the massive fairgrounds via golf cart. That is when I got a chance to take everything in. The only regret I had about riding on the golf cart was my emails kept coming in, and of course, my lack of willpower kicked in and I checked each one of them.

By Saturday morning I was getting more into the spirit of things and the storm of classic cars and trucks came in like a flashflood. One minute the fairgrounds was empty, the next minute there were vehicles around every corner. The streets were also filled with vendors with just about every truck part you could imagine and the smell of sweet BBQ sauce filled the far corners of the fairgrounds.

Time was spent walking around looking for feature vehicles and cool trucks to put in our show coverage, but I must be getting old because I needed to rest my feet. That break came in the form of driving Tim Tullo’s pickup truck around the fairgrounds with Brent VanDervort of Fatman Fabrication riding shotgun. With the A/C blasting, Brent and I took in all the scenery and with a giant smile on my face I said to Brent, “Now this is fun, I’m having a great time.” I realized that it took something more than just looking at the cool classics; it was about driving one and living in the moment. At that point my cell phone was turned off and the rest was history. Get it? Lol.