Rockabilly Reigns at the Hot Rod Roll N’ Bowl
By Hollie Gibbs
They might be driving your grandfather’s car, but this ain’t your grandfather’s car show. Full of hot rods and rockabilly from a time when both were loud, dangerous, and dripping with latent sex — when safety took a backseat to power, and cars weren’t designed to hold back emissions. The rumble of V8s outside will echo the growl of a hollow body Gretsch inside, with the occasional crash of pins flying off the lanes.
Whether you drag or cruise a lead sled, classic, shoebox, or tail dragger with four on the floor or three on the tree, if you prefer kick panel vents and chopped tops to air conditioning, chrome to plastic and a carburetor to fuel injection — this is the event for you. More than just gear heads and grease monkeys, Yorktown Lanes’ fourth annual Hot Rod Roll N Bowl celebrates all aspects of greaser culture from hot rods and rockabilly music to bowling.
Hosted by the Vagabond Kings car club, the event expects to see 70 to 100 classic cars, hot rods, and bikes in the parking lot of the bowling alley. Although the cutoff for vehicles in the club is 1960 (and American made), there is no cutoff for this show. “We are welcoming any year car, truck and bike,” Dale Seibel, founding member of the Vagabond Kings, said. “Also, we are targeting cafe, custom, bobber, chopper, and classic bikes and custom, gasser, classic, low rider, and interesting trucks and cars.”
There is a $5 fee to enter a vehicle in the contest. The money will pay for the bands and awards. The Vagabond Kings will present 10 to 13 awards at 4:30 p.m. for best in show, best paint job, and honorable mentions, among others. “We have some awards that I want to hold close to the vest for surprises,” Seibel said. “We did an award for the best veteran’s vehicle. Also, Yorktown Lanes will be giving out an award for their choice of best of show.”
Jeff Varga, A-Train & the Steamers, Blue Ribbon Bluegrass Band, The Dead Enders, and Lost State of Franklin will be ripping it up in the air conditioned bar, and DJs Hot Trash and Wolfboy Slim will spin vintage vinyl between bands. They will also pipe the music outside where cool customs will tear up the lot.
What initially began as Yorktown Lanes 50th anniversary celebration four years ago has now turned into an annual tradition.
“A friend of mine who was a member of the now-defunct Motor Psychos motor club approached me with the idea of doing the event — mixing cars/bike, bands, and of course bowling — with the thought that if it was successful, we’d possibly host one every year. Playing in two bands, and knowing lots of folks in other bands, the live music aspect was a no-brainer,” Jeremy Cottrell, manager of Yorktown Lanes, said. “The first year was pretty packed with car folk and bowlers and bowling car folk. We had live music on the lanes and in the bar; everyone had a blast.”
After hosting the event for the first two years, the car club disbanded. Last year, the show went on without a car club. Then, in August of 2011, a fire threatened to destroy the business Cottrell’s grandfather had built in 1959. The community gathered in the parking lot to watch helplessly as black smoke poured out of Yorktown Lanes, shutting it down for the better part of a year. Instead of simply replacing that which was smoke damaged, the Cottrells renovated almost everything except their classic lanes. It re-opened in April 2012.
Restored to retro ’50s glory, Yorktown Lanes now affords bowlers the chance to enjoy their burgers in red vinyl booths, or atop a neat line of chrome bar stools emerging from red and white checkerboard tile. Want to throw back a shot and a beer? Have a seat at the custom metal flake bar detailed with candy red hot rod flames (made by Vagabond Kings member and part owner of Badass Cleveland Enterprise Tim Ellis and Dan Koja).
“With the exception of the lanes and machines, everything inside is new,” Cottrell said. A slap bass player himself, the family’s lifestyle and business reflect a similar rockabilly mentality. “We definitely wanted the new place to have that kind of feel, something slick-looking that people would talk about.”
Yorktown Lanes’ Fourth Annual Hot Rod Roll N’ Bowl will take place rain or shine, Sat 7/21, from 12 p.m. until 12 a.m. at Yorktown Lanes, 6218 Pearl Road, Parma Heights, Ohio, 44130. Prizes will be awarded at 4:30 p.m. There is a $5 fee to enter the contest; looking and listening are free. Yorktown Lanes’ snack counter, bar, and bowling lanes will be open throughout the show. For more information, visit http://YorktownLanes.com.
Hollie Gibbs has a BS in journalism from Kent State University and studied photography at School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan. Her articles and photographs have appeared in numerous local and national publications. She can also be found playing guitar with various bands and building life-size monster props.Cleveland, OH 44130
One Response to “Not Your Grandpa’s Car Show”
Jpop
This article really pumps up what was/is a low-number and boring car show in a parking lot. Nice tryin’, tho. AND it’s competing with the biggest car show in the midwest the same weekend…Blue Suede Cruise in Norwalk.