by Jon Mikelonis

Introduction
A few years ago my wife and I relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to Sparks, Nevada for more affordable living and a better environment for raising family. If you are not familiar with Sparks, its virtually part of Reno. While the area was never high on my "favorite places to live" list, it has proven to be a great area with superb benefits like close proximity to Lake Tahoe and a more connected and neighborly community feel. In my modest working-class neighborhood, I actually know the owners of the five homes in my cul-de-sac. There's no doubt, Sparks is a great place to bring up children.

From the perspective of an automotive enthusiast, there are two additional benefits to living in Northern Nevada. First off, Summit Racing Equipment's Western Distribution Center is 5 miles from my house which nearly eliminates project downtime. Secondly, each year over a half million people come to Northern Nevada for the 9-day celebration of 50's and 60's American Hot Rod Culture called Hot August Nights, also known as HAN. While many locals escape town during the event, I look forward to it and am sure to stick around.

	Hot August Nights 2006 drew 5,500 pre-1973 Domestic and European cars from 36 states and deposited more than 240 million dollars into the local community. Here, spectators are shown walking Sparks' Victorian Square on Saturday August 5th, 2006.

Cars are Stars & Rock n' Roll Rules
Hot August Nights 2006 took place this year between July 29th and August 6th. The event drew 5,500 cars from 36 states and deposited more than 240 million dollars into the local community. On top of the 5,500 pre-1973 Domestic and European classics formally registered for the event, almost 2,000 were on a waiting list and another 5,000 collectible hot rods and musclecars crashed the event. This year, 800,000 people were reported to have attended HAN. There's no doubt, this thing is huge.

Promotional materials for Hot August Nights claim that "Cars are the Stars and Rock n' Roll Rules" during the entire week. Having walked the event for the past three years I can say that this claim is a fact. Never before have I seen average spectators react so fanatically for the 50', 60's, and a few early 70's American cars cruising the main strips of Reno's Virginia Street and Sparks' Victorian Square. I mean, it's understandable for a Ford musclecar goon like myself to get excited. However, when a harmless cruise turns into a burnout contest on public streets because a large group of wild-eyed spectators are applying a heavy dose of peer pressure, then fanaticism has reached a new level.

Spectators at HAN have a deep admiration for what are commonly referred to as the "good old days". Many car owners go further than restoration, the drive-in mockup here connects the car with a culture that has been replaced with drive-thrus and cars with much less personality

The most interesting part of the spectator enthusiasm at HAN is that unlike you and I, most of those attending are not hobbyists with a "nuts and bolts" connection to cars. Their perspective is obviously less mechanical and more emotional. The energy expelled by those packed three deep to watch 50's and 60's cars during "controlled cruise" are fueled with a deep admiration for what are commonly referred to as the "good old days". Whether they lived it, dreamed it, or just pieced it together through film and media bites, 50's and 60's American cars and culture when contrasted to today's homogenized freeway filler, serves to get a lot of people excited. The Hot August Nights organizers have done a fine job making sure their event has a strong appeal to emotion by defining the "entertainment". At HAN, the entertainment is predominantly the combined effect created by so many perfect examples of classic American automobiles. While music and special events, like "Prom Night", intertwine Hot August Nights, it's really the cars that capture most people's hearts and minds.

	All generational groups following the Baby Boomers can best associate with what Hot August Nights has re-created through films like American Graffiti. A movie which regardless of its age is still cool among today's teenagers and 20-somethings.

A Baby Boomer's Dream Come True
HAN is a relatively tame and very respectable tribute. The event is primarily geared for Baby Boomers, defined as anybody born during the post WWII years of economic prosperity (1946 to 1964). In addition to actual Baby Boomers, HAN also attracts a percentage of Generation X'ers (Baby Boomer offspring like me) and younger admirers from more recent but less defined generations (Generation Y and The MTV Generation). All generational groups following the Baby Boomers can best associate with what Hot August Nights attempts to re-create through films like American Graffiti. A movie which regardless of its age and the unavoidable redefinition of what is cool, still is cool according to today's teenagers and 20-somethings. No matter what a teenager defines as "exciting" today, the stimulation brought on by your own set of wheels, a hot summer night, and the mystery of who's going to be there, are immune to generational degradation.

	While HAN accepts applications for domestic and European vehicles with a model year of 1972 and older, the event is heavily focused on the 50's era. Here a 1957 Bel Air inside one of Saturday's HAN Show N' Shines is juxtaposed to a Gran Torino unable to enter the event due to its 1973 vintage.

HAN accepts applications for American and European vehicles with a model year of 1972 and older, the event is heavily biased as a celebration of soda pop, dooh-whop, and poodle skirts. In other words, as a Ford enthusiast you'll fit in much better at HAN with a 1957 Fairlane than a 1972 Mach 1. To take it one step further, if you've got a 1984 SVO or a 1979 Fairmont and intend to crash the event, you better plan on keeping it on the perimeter streets and frontage roads. And no, there's no special accommodations made if your running slicks and a 460 in the Fairmont or wearing a bomber jacket while driving your Fox Body. Steering clear of the main event would be in your best interest since your car would only be contributing to the dilution of the 50's and 60's flashback that HAN organizers have worked so hard to reconstruct for these 9 days of August each year.

In some sort of cruel attempt to reach out to the 70's subset represented by the 1970, 1971, and 1972 models years permitted by the organizers, the Village People were booked.

Hot August Nights Musical Entertainment
If anything is an indication of the generational focus of HAN, it's the
entertainment. This year, just like every other year, the artists selected
were a mixture of 50's and 60's original and tribute bands like Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Temptations Review, Papa Clutch and the Shifters, Lonnie and the Lugnuts, Johnny Slick and the Cheaters, and Lil' Elmo and the Cosmos. Bands who's names and styles are perfectly suited for a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air equipped with the infamous fuzzy dice.

So what about the musical appeal for the balance of late 60's and early 70's street machine owners attending the event? Well, there's not much. The guy who graduated high school in 1977 and modified a 1970 Plymouth Satellite is going to have to settle for Papa Clutch and Shifters but something tells me he'd rather hear Boston or an equivalent cover band. And what about me? I graduated high school in 1989 and my first car was a very appropriate Hot August Nights entry, a 1960 Oldsmobile Super 88 which was known to throw down some Run DMC now and then intermixed with Eddie Money, who still tours by the way.

For 2006, HAN organizers reached out to the 70's crowd by booking two thunderous rock n' roll bands from that era. The Village People and America. The 50's and 60's cover band Ronny and Classics also supported more contemporary tastes by breaking rank and cranking out Hootie and the Blowfish tunes amongst "Blueberry Hill", "Crying", "Don't Be Cruel", "Earth Angel", "For Your Love", and "Great Balls of Fire". You see where I'm going?

	Hot August Nights 2007 - 70's Get Dazed and Confused at Hot August Nights 2007. You lived it in the 70's and now it's back. Late 60's and early 70's American muscle machines are paired with the pulse pounding classic rock sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Steve Miller Band. (hypothetical)

Where Will HAN Go From Here?
All right, it's no time to bash on an event that for all intents-and-
purposes is very appealing for a 30-something Ford musclecar enthusiast. From a marketing perspective, the organizers deserve applause for clearly defining what Hot August Nights is and what it is not. I can't expect the whole thing to be tailored to a disconnected Gen-X'er who happens to be into musclecars, but I do have a pearl of wisdom on how Hot August Nights can maintain its forward momentum 5 years from now, all without diluting the essence of a hot August night. Its important to realize that if Hot August Nights does not evolve with those who have the energy to participate, it will one day fade away. While HAN still has a lot of life in it's current format, organizers cannot expect that Baby Boomers passing their memories and cars down to younger generations will keep the energy up. Today's 20, 30, and early 40-somethings will want to associate with the music and cars they drove or dreamed of in high school. See the associated 70's (above right) and 80's (below left) storyboards.

Hot August Nights 2007 - 80's Get turbocharged at Hot August Nights 2007. You lived it or maybe just dreamed it in the 80's, now chase those memories back down with the modern sounds of Men at Work and the big guitar blasts of Def Leppard. Intercoolers, integrated bumpers, and the best examples of futuristic domestic automotive design are back in pristine form. (hypothetical)

The most brilliant part of Hot August Nights is the name itself. It's timeless and despite the current emphasis on the 50's, the name suits every generation and everyone who enjoyed cars they owned or dreamed of, summertime, and their youth. Most can agree the event should always be a tribute to American car culture of decades gone by and give or take a few years, it takes about 20 for a car to become nostalgic. With that said, how about a "soft introduction" of cars and music from 1973-1986? By "soft introduction" I mean, select a specific area where these cars can be shown in the Reno/Sparks metro area. It's not important that they are intermingled with the 50's and 60's classics. Sign a few more "hard hitting" recent classic rock and 80's bands. There are plenty still touring like The Greg Rollie Band, Journey, Queen, Def Leppard, The Steve Miller Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Finally, it might help for HAN organizers to put themselves in the shoes of a guy who graduated high school in 1976 and drove a 1969 Mach 1. Since most high schoolers back then dove cars at least 7 years old, book a few bands he might have listened to in '76. Don't worry, loosening the reigns on Hot August Nights doesn't mean compromising the tradition of cool American cars and Rock n' Roll.