Tamworth Country Music Festival Sponsored by Toyota – January 2008
Well this is our first engagement for Toyota and where do we go?
Not to a race dragstrip, not even anywhere near a racetrack, rather we have the car and team on display at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Not exactly what we envisioned when we thought of our first outing in Toyota livery. So how did it go?
The plan was for Gonz to spend the whole 10 days at Tamworth, and as I had work commitments the plan is that I will be there for both weekends.
We left home, taking down the transporter, my TRD Aurion so I can get back to Toowoomba and a vehicle for Gonz to use while he was in Tamworth. The little convoy headed off for the 6 hour drive to Tamworth wondering what to expect from the Country Music Festival. During the drive Sue and I spent the trip discussing what to expect, and more importantly how we would react to days filled with country music. You have to understand that with AC/DC as my favorite group I was a little apprehensive about 10 days filled with country music as did everyone else.
After a fairly uneventful trip down to Tamworth, we arrived and unloaded the car. Toyota shared a very impressive compound with Jayco Caravans. The centre piece of the display was a marquee featuring our TRD Toyota Camry, the TRD Off Road buggy and the original first Toyota Landcruiser 4 wheel drive ever to come to Australia. In addition, Toyota had an off road driving course for interested drivers to take the 4wds for a test as well as a display including each make of car currently available.
We met Dave Fellows and Andrew Kittle from Kittle Motorsport, the driver and navigator of the TRD Buggy for the first time. Over the week ahead we became friends as they are great guys.
Our TRD Toyota Camry was a big hit and attracted a great deal of interest. We all spent a lot of time talking about drag racing, the car and enjoyed putting people into the car and showing them how it works. As you know by now we are passionate drag racers and enjoy talking to people about our sport and in particular our TRD Toyota. During the week we had that many enjoyable conversations with genuine Aussie’s who just enjoy life. One of the most memorable moments was a retired guy of about 65 saying it couldn’t be at all hard to drive in a straight line, Gonz said why don’t you hop in and see how you would go. Well he took up the challenge, and we proceeded to show him what was involved in making a run. He was simply blown over by what was involved in driving the car especially when he struggled to build enough brake pressure just to stage the car. He sat there for about 20 minutes just contemplating what it took to get the car down the track. He left telling us he would try and get to a meeting to see us run – another convert and we didn’t even start the car!
Another time, another older guy asked how much to sit in the car, I said it’s free providing you can get in and out. Well he said lets have a go. After running through how to drive the car, he says well now I have 2 problems. 1 – I can’t get out of the car and 2 – I am sitting on my wallet. Well that broke us up as well as all his mates. Who said you lose your sense of humor as you get older.
While everyone gained an appreciation for our team, each day brought more and more of Tamworth’s younger residents out to talk to us and see the car. I would love a dollar for each one that suggested we fire it up and give it a hit out on the street. As normal we tried to encourage them that the only safe place to race is on the track, but it must be hard living so far away from the nearest track – what do these kids do?
Each day Toyota gave away free cowboy hats and that really bought out the people, some them having a hat for each festival going back well over 10 years, talk about committed. Each day we had hundreds of people looking over the car and discussing the performance of our hot rod. In addition, we kept putting the people into the car. The kids in particular really enjoyed the experience. Each day we gave out hundreds of hand out cards on the car and we gained a whole new group of fans.
Over the week a competition developed between us and the buggy guys to see who could put the most people into the two Toyota’s. With everyone needing to enter the buggy via the roof I’m sure that Andrew worked harder to get the young girls in his car, particularly those wearing dresses!! I’m not sure who won but a great time was had by all.
Each night we went out to a different bar or club for dinner and drinks and the live music was something else, a mix of all sorts of music and styles with some very talented musicians. I even go to hear AC/DC. It just goes to show that your first impression can be so far from the reality. I am now a convert and would recommend the Tamworth Country Music Festival to anyone of any age. That’s part of the beauty of this event, it attracts everyone from 18 to 80 and I am sure that we meet most of them. Even the younger guys on our team, my sons Michael and Ben as well as Andrew had a great time at this event. And for Gonz, well that’s a whole other story, but more on that later.
Work called and I left Monday with Gonzo staying to fly the flag for us and Toyota. Each day I touched base with Gonz and was given a run down of how many people are now fans of both us and Drag Racing. On Friday, we travelled back to Tamworth in time to hear the free Lee Kernaghan concert playing across the road. Gonz gets in later talking about his front row seats, the people he meet and how much fun he had at the free Toyota concert.
Next day back to signing autographs, giving out hand out cards and putting people in the car.
During our time in Tamworth, a number of guys from the local drag racing club came out to see the car and they couldn’t believe the finish of our Toyota. These guys are dedicated racers having to travel to Sydney and Brisbane to race the big meetings. They also travel to one of the smaller country towns to run at the local airport. These guys are committed and eventually want to try and get a track in Tamworth. Lets hope they can get somewhere with that.
The annual event finishes on Australia Day with a huge parade through the main streets of Tamworth and we had organized for both the TRD Camry and the Buggy to be on a tilt tray as part of the parade. With Lee Kernaghan having just been named the Australian of the year, he chose to be in Tamworth and lead the parade with the Toyotas in the first float behind Lee in the lead car. With Lee were the McClymont sisters, who as well as being great singers, also grabbed the attention of most of the boys in the crowd.
The parade was something else, almost everyone in Tamworth lined the streets with estimates of over 30,000 people,
Aussie flags everywhere and the crowds clapped and cheered enthusiastically for both our teams. Dave and Andrew walked one side of the float, Michael and Ben the other side, With Sue and I up the front and Gonz was standing beside the buggy blowing the sirens and horns and generally having a great time. What really blew me away was the amount of people that yelled out from the crowd hey Gonz, hello Gonz, the little bugger was only in Tamworth for 10 days and most of Tamworth already knew him!! What a great Australia Day it made me feel proud to be an Aussie.
What a way to end our time here. If you haven’t been you really must put the Tamworth Country Music Festival on your must do list. We might even run into you there because we will definitely be back.
