A great car show isn’t just rows of shiny fenders. It’s the feeling that you’ve walked into a place where everyone speaks the same language, even if they drove in from three states away. We’re coming to you from Hewlett Park in Granbury, Texas during the Lone Star Street Rod Association State Run Car Show, and we sit down with chairman Rick Neely to unpack why this gathering keeps pulling people back year after year.

Rick tells us how the Lone Star Street Rod Association has evolved to stay strong, from its early pre-’49 street rod roots to a pre-’73 era, and now to a rolling 30-year eligibility rule that keeps the field fresh without losing the club’s identity. We talk membership trends, how car clubs and cruise-ins have changed, why some groups never bounced back after COVID, and the bigger challenge of getting younger drivers excited about licenses, wrenching, and showing up in person.

Then the conversation swerves into something every car person cares about: the roads. Rick brings his day-job perspective in highway construction to explain why projects take so long, what “specs” and inspections really mean, and how asphalt and traffic engineering are more complicated than most of us want to believe. He also shares the environmental side, including the kind of endangered-species rules that can pause a job for weeks and the now-famous “lizard wrangler” moment.

If you love Texas car shows, street rods, hot rods, and the real stories behind the scenes, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a car friend, and leave us a review with your take: what’s the right cutoff year for a rolling 30-year show?

Be sure to subscribe for more In Wheel Time Car Talk!

---- -----
Want more In Wheel Time car talk any time?

In Wheel Time is now available on Audacy!

Just go to Audacy.com/InWheelTime where ever you are.
----- -----
Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Podcast and check out our live multiplatform broadcast every Saturday, 10a - 12nCT simulcasting on Audacy, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.

In Wheel Time Podcast can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:

Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music Podcast, Spotify, SiriusXM Podcast, iHeartRadio podcast, TuneIn + Alexa, Podcast Addict, Castro, Castbox, YouTube Podcast and more on your mobile device.

Follow InWheelTime.com for the latest updates!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InWheelTime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwheeltime/

https://www.youtube.com/inwheeltime

https://www.Facebook.com/InWheelTime

For more information about In Wheel Time Podcast, email us at

info@inwheeltime.com