Planes, cars, no trains

Tonight was Cruise Night in Rensselaer, That and several other events made today one of the busier days of the year. I began the day by checking out the EAA Fly In at the Airport. There were not a lot of planes there, but I thought the large wheels on this one very strange. Someone told me who owned the plane and that he needed to land it in farm fields, which the large wheels let him do.

Brookside Park was hosting a car show. The most interesting car I saw was this 1908 Buick that has been in the Obermeyer family for over a century. It has been restored to its original condition. Next to it is another very old car, a 1931 Ford. Both of these cars were in the evening Cruise

 Mustang Roundup at Ricos always has something interesting besides lots of Mustangs. This year it was a Top Alcohol Dragster owned by Paul Fishburn. He races it throughout the US and though he has never crashed, he has had it catch fire. I think he said he has gotten to 265 mph in a quarter mile, with most of that in the first eighth mile. It burns over five gallons of fuel in the quarter mile run, and after a run it takes three or four guys about half an hour to get the engine back in shape so it can do another run. Paul took a class or two from me about twenty five years ago at SJC and though we both have remained in Rensselaer, this was the first time I have met him since he left college. Here are more pictures of the dragster.

Another event today was a motorcycle ride and block party for Steve Roberts sponsored by Sprigz.

 At the start of the evening, the new Jasper County Fair Queen was at the front of the Cruise pack in an old red car.

 The Dr. Balvich car was the smallest car in the Cruise.

 I think this was the only tractor in the Cruise. I wonder if we will see more in the future.

I did not see any low riders this year, and I do miss the truck that looked like it was going backwards. I also missed the free hotdogs that Trinity United Methodist Church was handing out--by the time I stopped by, they had gone through their entire stock of 600 dogs.

What did you consider the highlights of this year's Cruise Night?