Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
Well, I’ve been gestating about this for nine months, so it seems appropriate that I can call this my baby. Last year the merchants on Dewey sacrificed hard times to make Sapulpa something special for the Mother Road Centennial. They even sacrificed the ever so successful Christmas Chute to re-do the face of Sapulpa for the many cars expected to drive Route 66 to celebrate the 100 year anniversary.
Being a certified car guy, I wanted to help by showing off this awesome community when the opportunity presented itself. I started thinking about putting together as many Studebakers as I could muster since I have a few Studebaker friends in my rolodex.
It really started to fester in my brain when I noticed that a vacancy appeared on the Studebaker Drivers Club Board of Directors. I was a member back in my California days but had to give it up after covid and a move halfway across the country. There was something else that died on the pandemic vine of 2021, and I kinda wanted to revive that too. So, I prayed about it and God opened the doors and the next thing I knew I was having business cards printed again.
The first thing I suggested to the new SDC president was to get some publicity for Studebaker and the Rt66 Centennial. He thought it was a great idea, and he gave the task to me. With the help of the other three Directors, we put together a framework and picked out the best time to do it. We agreed that the day after Mother’s day was the perfect time to leave Chicago for Santa Monica on the Mother Road.
God also answered my prayers by sending Steve Fitzgerald to volunteer to drive the entire way. That took a lot of pressure off me to set up any kind of itinerary, Steve did that, and I was left to organize an event for Sapulpa. It was a two-fold project for me; I wanted to help my community and the Studebaker Drivers Club. I had some grandiose ideas and a few of them fell though but overall it was a huge success.
With help from the Sapulpa Chamber of Commerce, Michael at Gasoline Alley, TeePee Drive-in and the local area TV and Press news people, we got the word out and drew some interest in our arrival. There were some other ideas that didn’t pan out, and I was so focused on those that were missing that I didn’t appreciate all the good stuff that was going on. It took me most of the weekend to chew the cud of success and appreciate all that WAS good.
We expected the group to assemble at the Guardian of the Plains statue but there were some serious road and bridge closings that separated quite a few cars. That is something that you should expect with the old Mother Road, it happens a lot. That monkey wrench totally messed me up and I wasn’t paying attention to all the cool stuff that was going on.
The President of SDC, Don Cox, showed up, and the three ladies from the Chamber came out to meet us at the Bison. Charles Betzler from the Herald came out to interview us, Micah from the Times came out, and Channel 6 News caught up with the group before they even got to Sapulpa. The coolest thing I had arranged was the Drone Jedi, but that didn’t happen either; poor Gabe couldn’t get away from work. He did break away enough to let me know he couldn’t do it. No sweat, Gabe, I remember some days like that during my working career; it happens.
We had about 11 Studebakers at Gasoline Alley and about 9 at the TeePee Drive-in. We also had Alan Meeker’s stretch 52 Studebaker truck show up. In the Studebaker world, when Alan shows up with his truck, it becomes a legit Studebaker gathering. He has only missed maybe two Studebaker International Shows, so having him show up was great. I had to take him out to the drive-in as we didn’t think he could make the turn from the alley to Michael’s car show. He was having some mechanical difficulties anyway.
We had a great car show at Gasoline alley and The Tee Pee Drive-in. about seven cars stayed for the movie but there were only 3 of us left to see the Studebaker movie they played as a second movie. I didn’t want to leave Alan until I was sure that his truck was running right and Tony, from Iowa, also stayed as he helped Alan fix his truck. I think the 3 of us were the last ones to leave the Drive-in. I turned right at Dewey and Mission to go home, and Alan and Tony turned left to Super 8.
It was a long day for me, but a big relief from 9 months of stress. By the time this story gets posted, the Studebakers should have made it to Santa Monica. My Studebaker friends made me proud as did my Sapulpa friends. It was well worth it.