Darryl Starbird, who this year celebrates his 50th year as a customizer, continues to organize and put on some of the oldest indoor car shows in the country (only the Sacramento Autorama, the Grand National Roadster Show, the Detroit Autorama, and Darryl's two other shows in Wichita and Oklahoma City are older). Recently, the 40th Annual National Rod & Custom Car Show and Monster Truck Races were held inside the massive (its one room is roughly 450,000 square feet) Expo Square Fairgrounds building in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Once used for displaying huge oil derricks to conventioneers, the expo building can hold roughly 1,000 vehicles when Starbird's show rolls into town, with enough space left over for the monster trucks (the race-prepped pickups with 6-foot-tall tires) to compete against each other at one end of the facility!
As anybody who has been in business as long as Starbird knows, you have to change with the times or your event will become stagnate. Thinking "What do people really want?" Starbird came up with the answer: $20,000. For the first time at any indoor show in the country, first prize for the newly formed "Go For The Gold" class was 20,000 somolians, and the First Place cash prize was enough to jump start nearly everyone in the country who has ever built a customized vehicle!
The stack o' cash was to be presented to the owner of what the judging staff felt was the most innovative in its design (a Starbird trademark), regardless if had ever been seen elsewhere before, contrary to the rules of some other car shows. Starbird's bet paid off, as droves of Tulsa-area residents flowed through the doors to see what kind of car could win the top prize.
But after being in the car show business for more than 4 decades, Starbird already has a clue on what it takes to put on a great show. He was one of the originators of adding the razzle-dazzle to what could be an otherwise sedate indoor parking lot of chrome and pearl. Famous-named bands (from Ricky Nelson to Eric Burdon and the Animals), celebrities, and special features have all helped Starbird's shows become nationally renowned in year's past, and the 40th show didn't disappoint.
This year, freestyle motorcyclists performed on the same dirt track as the monster truck races. (For those who have never seen monster trucks race, the sound, energy, and overall spectacle is something to experience.) Starbird himself was on hand at one booth signing autographs and taking pictures with his fans of many years, and bands played on stages at both ends of the car show. The Pinhead Wizards (a group consisting of well-known pinstripers from around he country) had a large display of their finished handiwork as well as demonstrations of their particular talent.
But what everyone wanted to know was, "Who would win the 20 grand?" Judging for the elite Fine Nine (the group of nine finalists culled from all those entered in the show) was tough enough, but narrowing it down to one car was really tough! The four judges (the offspring of Darryl and Donna Starbird) made the difficult choice of getting the Fine Nine together, then slowly narrowed the field. Each of them, Debra, Cliff, Cristy, and Rick Starbird have all grown up living and breathing car shows for more than 4 decades, and each has had many show responsibilities over the years (Cliff has built, painted, and judged shows along with his brother, and both daughters have helped run and organize the events with their mother). It's a lot like being the son or daughter of a senator-you'd expect them to follow in the family business, except with the Starbirds, it's custom car shows.