Kit Car

Texas Cobra Club's Spring Meet - Texas Tailgating

Texas Cobra Club's 8th Annual Spring Meet

By D. Brian Smith

KIT CAR couldn't resist attending Texas Cobra Club's 8th Annual Spring Meet. The Texas club is comprised of participants from the Houston, Dallas, and Austin Cobra Clubs, as well as members from the surrounding areas. James Yale, the young man who built two beautiful Factory Five Racing cars, a roadster and a coupe, belongs to both the HCC and the TCC. Readers will remember his Type 65 from the March '07 cover. He began contacting me earlier this year and talking up the TCC Spring Meet '07 ad infinitum. James was on a mission to get some coverage of the Spring Meet in the pages of this magazine. When I heard about all the fun activities that take place in Round Rock, a town just north of Austin, I decided to head to the big state of Texas.

What I learned first and foremost is how hospitable Texans are to outsiders. Everyone in this active club of Cobra-philes treated me as if I'd been a lifetime member. Admittedly, the bonds of replicar worship are strong among like-minded automotive enthusiasts. Still, these folks treated me to dinners, let me stay in their house, had me riding in their Cobras and coupes, and even gave me some seat time behind the wheel of a '32 street rod that made me feel like I was Paul Le Mat's character John Milner in American Graffiti.

After making the long walk from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport gate to the baggage claim area, James greeted me in his six-foot Texas drawl. I stayed Thursday evening at the Yale house, and met the family: wife Wendy, and sons Preston (15), Brandon (12), and Cameron (3).

James towed his FFR Type 65 in an enclosed trailer with his Dodge diesel dualie pickup Friday morning. We made great time to the Love's filling station meeting point some 20 minutes away from the Yale home. At Love's, I met some of the Houston Cobra Club members, who'd be caravanning with us to the event hotel in Round Rock. With James leading the way, a line of eight white-boxed enclosed trailers and a couple Cobra drivers made haste to the host hotel, where we arrived in time to go on Friday's 100-mile cruise.

In the morning, I rode with James in his Daytona Coupe. Though I had taken numerous photos of the 600-horse racecar for the March '07 KIT CAR, I never rode in it. What a thrill. The car drives as well as any supercar I'd ever been in and has all the comforts of a C6 Corvette or Ford GT.

The HCC made its way to an idyllic home on the Llano River. We enjoyed lunch, spirited conversations, and a relaxing setting. That afternoon, Randy Thigpen chauffeured me around in his Lone Star Cobra. Chassis dyno'd at 387 hp to the rear wheels, Randy's Cobra was no slouch either. Our destination that afternoon/early evening was a restaurant called "The Oasis." We fortified ourselves with chips and salsa, while sipping libations and admiring the view of Lake Travis with private estates and upscale homes on the surrounding bluffs.

Friday evening, the Dallas Cobra Club hosted the barbecue dinner, served in Texas tailgating fashion. The Austin Cobra Club had hosted the previous night's tailgate barbecue. We talked about how we miraculously avoided rain-filled clouds all day long and reveled in the memories of cruising the Texas countryside in some cleverly and painstakingly constructed Cobras.

Despite hearing weather reports that called for sunny skies all Saturday, we met in the hotel parking lot before the cruise wrapped in multi-layers of clothing to keep the morning chill at bay. James Wagner agreed to let me ride with him in his Ford 460ci big-block V-8 Street Beast Cobra. It's quite a thunderous powerplant that James tamed to produce ample street horsepower and torque. We kept up with any other car in our group and blew away any would-be daily driving interloper that tried to get in our caravan during the cruise. The sun did a remarkable job of burning away the morning clouds and warmed us sufficiently so that we could store our extra layers of clothing in the various Cobra trunks and bins. Taking over the entire place, the TCC invaded the El Arroyo Mexican Restaurant for lunch. Afterwards, we zipped around Austin. We made it back to the host hotel in Round Rock around 4 p.m. I took a fair amount of photos and worked up an appetite for the HCC's hosting of the Texas Tailgating barbecue, which commenced at 6:30 p.m.

This year marked the first time that the three big city clubs that constitute the TCC-the ACC, the DCC, and the HCC-each picked an evening to provide the food and refreshments for the Texas tailgating party. Someone within the HCC had the bright idea to have Hooters cater the party. Served by physically fit Hooters employees, we enjoyed mini chicken and beef burgers, chicken wings, potato salad, celery sticks, tortilla chips, grapes, fruit salad, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and more. As far as refreshments go, there were coolers filled to the brim with soft drinks and beer. HCC resident mixologist, Jim Driesch, made drinks for those so inclined at the open bar. Several TCC members had their photos taken with the Hooters girls, and all of us had an exhilarating time socializing the night away.

At the Texas Cobra Club's 8th Annual Spring Meet, held in Round Rock, Austin (and the surrounding rural roads), I learned firsthand about Texas hospitality. Check out some of the fun times we had in the following photos. You may be so inclined to run with the TCC next spring in Austin. Rest assured, you'll be welcomed most graciously and gregariously.