If you like Corvettes, you might want to be in Spearfish this weekend. The 37th annual Black Hills Corvette Classic kicks off today. Organizers are expecting about 500 cars and 1,000 people from all over North America.
The Vette rally has become a tradition in Spearfish, the whole Black Hills actually. After all, what’s the point of having a sleek, curve-hugging sportscar if you don’t get it out on the winding roads of the Black Hills?
And get out they do. During the Vette rally you see Corvettes tooling around all over the Black Hills. Mount Rushmore, Rapid City, Hill City, Custer, Keystone. They’re everywhere. However, it’s not exactly the cluster we get with the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. During Vette week, you can still find a parking place or a seat in a restaurant.
I’m not sure how this developed, but the Black Hills have become a popular gathering place for gearheads of every shape and size. Spearfish used to have an Impala Rally every year. And a few years ago, Rapid City hosted the big national Studebaker convention — old Studebakers, by the way, are great cars.
Rapid City also hosted a larger group of Ford Retractables one year. (They’re best described as hard-top convertibles. The trunk opens up and the metal car top slides back into it.)
And Spearfish hosts a big tractor rally — yes, tractors — every year.
Honda Goldwing riders will gather in Custer for the annual High Steaks Rendezvous, which is Aug. 21 to 24.
Each June, Black Hills Overdrive sort of amalgamates the whole car-lover scene into one big event spread across the Black Hills.
And Deadwood’s Kool Deadwood Nites, which is Aug. 21 to 24 this year, is essentially a car show. Very cool cars.
There’s even a Toyota Prius club in Rapid City.
If somebody ever forms a national club for owners of slightly rusted 1993 Toyota pickups, I’m ready to sign up. However, I hope the convention is in the Black Hills. If it’s too far away, I’m not sure my old truck would make the trip.
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