WALDORF, MD – Frequently at shows I see visitors walking around our cars and leaving flyers in our interiors for future events, and I usually review these later. Some tell us about new events that potentially could be worthwhile. One flyer I was given in June was for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs Stadium's 2nd Annual Car Show, to be held in the Regency Furniture Stadium's parking lot in Waldorf, in southern Maryland, which is 60 miles or just over an hour away from my home. This stadium is used by a baseball team that takes its name from our locally famous Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, and their motto is, "Clawsome Times Await!” This show was hosted by the DMJ Corvette Club on Saturday June 28 and it featured Top 60 trophies, as well as many other 'Best Of' awards.
The Blue Crabs team is a part of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball that was formed in 1998, consisting of 10 teams within two divisions, of which the Blue Crabs are part of the South Division. They play 63 home games at Regency Furniture Stadium, the same location as this event. As time goes by, we are seeing more show activity held at southern Maryland locations, such as Waldorf and nearby Mechanicsville and other destinations that are relatively close by. Many of these shows are very successful with large turnouts. Although I was not familiar with this event before or of the club hosting it, their show flyer looked promising, and so I decided to go!
In the week leading up to this event we had several days where our temps easily broke the 100-degree mark making outside activity difficult, but our show day forecast promised only clouds in the morning and sun by the afternoon. But when I looked out my window early that day, the cars outside and the roads nearby were still wet from overnight showers and it was humid, and now there was a light fog. When I pulled my Mustang out of my garage at 7:30 a.m., our secondary roads were still wet with low-lying fog.
This fog persisted for most of my drive to Waldorf. In fact, the huge water tower at Joint Base Andrews, as seen from the Capital Beltway, still had remnants of this haze. When I arrived at the stadium, we had a moderate cloud cover that felt cooler, but no signs of rain, and this helped with getting our cars ready. My Mustang managed to stay relatively clean topside, but the lower doors, the front and the wheels needed attention. Because this was a judged show of all areas, including our trunks, out came the glass cleaner and towels again for an hour-long cleanup.
I had only recently learned about the DMJ Corvette Club, but they were very well organized and ran an excellent show. Their registration, judging and trophy presentation were all well done. We also had the opportunity to walk around inside the Blue Crabs stadium, which was an excellent minor league location, and see their baseball diamond. The club later told us to have our cars ready for judging during the morning, and one or two of their members walked around with a sheet of paper for every car and looked at all areas (although I do not believe they used a points system) and each car was reviewed during a space of possibly five minutes each. The key was that they took the time to review all areas of our cars, rather than just glancing over them.
The club increased its Top 60 trophies to a Top 85, along with 15 “Best Of” awards. This was incredible! There were just over 100 entries in this show, and so our chances for success were good if our cars were well-cared for. Since this was a Corvette club, there were, of course, many Corvettes of all years in attendance, but because this show was also open to all makes and models, too, possibly half of their entries were not Corvettes, but rather everyone's everything. In my group there were five Mustangs, and a sixth joined us later. One of the most impressive cars seen at this show, however, was a restored 1969 Dodge Charger that was taken to this event by its original owner. He had kept it for 56 years!
The cloudy weather finally dissipated by one o'clock and out came the sun. This was followed by the temps climbing into the low '90's, and it got hot! About an hour later we were called forward for trophy time, and all five Mustang friends in my immediate group were fortunate to receive an award. A humorous side event that occurred during the trophy presentations was when one of “the other guys” remarked about half way through, that he heard, "There are no Fords in heaven!" To which one of my friends replied, "That's because they are all still alive here on Earth!"
Soon thereafter we headed back to our cars to pack up. I did take a moment to tell the club's president how much we enjoyed their show and how well run it was, and it certainly was that. I will look forward to returning to Waldorf again next year for the Blue Crabs Stadium's 3rd Annual Car Show.
FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTSEY RICK MITCHELL
