Every year compact car fans have one date marked on their calendar for a "must attend" event: the NOPI Nationals. Crowds normally flock to the Atlanta Motor Speedway to show off their rides with the hope of impressing passers-by, but this year was completely different. Four days before the event was supposed to take place, the most horrific tragedy in recent American history took place. I am of course speaking of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C./Virgina. When events like this happen, car shows and drag races seem unimportant in the grand scheme of things. NOPI owners Michael and Mark Meyers needed to make a difficult decision as to whether or not the show should go on. Looking to turn such a negative into a positive, the decision was made that the show should proceed. But would it be the same?
The event was supposed to open on Friday, but the normal slew of people that would line the complex were nowhere to be found. Most of the people that entered the motorplex were vendors. With all flights grounded for the week vendors found themselves having to drive to Atlanta. It wasn't until Saturday that the verdict was in. Sure enough, lines of cars backed up to the entrance gate. It turned out that the 2001 NOPI set an attendance record with over 86,000 people and 6,500 show cars. Some people could be seen smiling and laughing while revving their engines as they waited for their chance to buy entrance to the biggest car show of the season. Did everyone forget the goings on of the week? It was surreal.
But no one had forgotten. As you would mingle among the attendees and the abundance of customized rides you could easily overhear conversations of the week's happenings. Many varying opinions could be heard; however there was something so subtle in the air that had probably never graced the grounds of NOPI before. It didn't matter if you had a jaw dropping show car, or an ugly rust bucket. It didn't matter if you hated the guy next to your car because he bought the latest set of Racing Hart rims and all you could come up with was the Sear's specials. You just didn't see the typical trivial nitpicking that sometimes characterizes the tone of events like these because it just didn't matter. And as the national anthem was sung to open the show, thousands of teens and twenty-somethings just stopped to show respect and give thanks to the wonderful freedoms we had all taken for granted. The terrorist attack was a brutal slap in the face to everybody and it created this phenomenon where most people took the extra time to just care about the people around you.
What this did for everyone at NOPI was to make the day's events that much better. The crowd cheered with delight to the awesome smoky burn-outs provided by those willing to toast the rubber off their tires. Guys ogled at the scantily clad women strutting their stuff down the runway of the main stage in the bikini contest. What got the crowd most riled though had to be the hydraulic competition. This is where owners have modified their suspensions with airbags or hydraulic shocks that can be remotely activated via a control box. Entrants are then given about a minute to dazzle the judges as they command their cars to jump around, trying to get the highest height off their front tires. Broken axles, broken shocks, and even fires are not uncommon when it comes to attempting to win, and this year did not disappoint.
In between all the different activities, Michael Meyers gave everyone the opportunity to contribute to a relief fund that would be donated to the American Red Cross. Droves of people gave what they could as they knew every little bit would help. Between NOPI and Pep Boys' efforts at the show $14,000 was raised. Even though not as many vendors were able to attend, people didn't seem to mind. It was only a small percentage that couldn't make it anyway. NOPI was a nice break from the reality of the tragic events of September 12th, 2001, even as everyone paid respect to the magnitude of what had happened; and it was a terrific opportunity to come together in record breaking attendance and share our common love for cars and our country. Hats off to Michael and Mark Meyers and the entire staff at NOPI for making the difficult decision to go on with the show. In the end, I think it was important that we continued. We can only hope that this year's NOPI will have a lasting influence on the tone for the 2002 event, so people will come together again as one.