The Syracuse Nationals was a blast from the past and I don't mean it in a good way. If gasoline is "made" from dinosaurs, and chickens are descended from dinosaurs, then it seems fitting to think of the Syracuse Nationals as a bumbling headless dinosaur: braindead but shambling forward on the legs of what was once great beast, but without the awareness that the end is near. Readers of this page probably already know I'm not exactly a hardball reviewer. I always try to find what it is about an event that the crowd liked, even it wasn't necessarily for me and there were things that were nice about the Nationals, but overall... OOF. No bueno. Whatever you would have assumed, it is, you're probably right.
A pretty typical Nationals attendee.
Lets set the scene shall we? White. Old. Male. Sad. That's the show in four words. I am 40, and I was on the young end of the crowd. The average age of an attendee was probably 65. I swear, I've seen less uniformity in a marching band: Sketchers and New Balance were the footwear of choice supporting some shade of khaki cargo shorts topped by either a loud Hawaiian shirt, or one of a plethora of cringey Boomer shirts, as if there had been a fire sale at the right wing equivalent of Hot Topic. Strangely enough there was a surprising prevalence of non-ironically wearing Pit Viper sunglasses. There was almost as much variety and number of mobility scooters as there were cars on display. There were tricycles, coolers with motors, and the more traditional 4 wheeled electric carts. Some pathways were almost reminiscent of a parade featuring the Shriners, with formations old men on scooters weaving in and out and through one another as they navigated the fairgrounds. The soundtrack was "true" classic rock: I'm not sure I heard a song over the PA newer than 1980 and there was absolutely no pop or rap. There were few women, mostly clearly the patient partners of gearhead partners. In spite of all the stories I heard from exhibitors who had bought and driven their show car when they were in high school, there didn't seem to be any plans on passing car culture down to the next generation. While kids are generally rampant at other family-friendly events, like Taste of Syracuse, airshows, etc., I saw almost no kids at the Nationals. That is, unless you count creepy "Time Out" dolls. They were EVERYWHERE. Feel free to Google them if you haven't been creeped out enough today.
A feature of the show...
While I knew in this post- #metoo, post-"Barbie" movie era, I figured the word "woke" is probably a dirty word with the show's core demographic, but my mental bar was not set low enough. I still found it darkly comic to open the "Featured Events and Attractions" page to see there was an area advertised as "Womens World", replete with the pink flower logo and bulletized list you see above, promising to deliver "A collection of craft/family-oriented vendors and merchandise displays..." Why not do something tied to the show: feature women racers, a display on the contributions of women to the auto industry, or cars owned or designed by women. We know what they really want: cosmetics and jewelry and health products... from a car show!
Old? Check. White? Check. Hawaiian shirt? Check. Khaki shorts? Check. WE HAVE A BINGO!
As for the cars: I'm not a gearhead by any serious measure but I at least have a working knowledge of car culture and I was honestly disappointed and bored by the display. That's not to say that the cars were bad: far from it, the cars were exquisite. Nor was there a lack of quantity of cars on display: there was acres and acres of them! My issue was, like with the attendees: a certain lack of diversity. My experience with subcultures has generally been that the more they proclaim individuality and rebellion, the more rabidly conformist the adherents are, and by and large the Nationals were no exception. While the show website states that "to maintain the classic image of the Nationals" cars newer than 1999 were excluded. That should have still allowed for a significant variety of cars, but it was not to be. The reality was uniformity. The show dominated by American cars from the 50's, 60's and 70's, impeccable paint jobs and souped up engines. Glorious, expensive, but all in all, oh so very similar. Where were the Datsuns? The MR2 Spyders? The Miatas? The Eclipses? Where were the Skylines, WRX, Brats, Mecedes, Volvos, or even VW bugs?! Let alone true creativity from actually making modifications beyond "go faster." Traditional hot rods were one of the bigger minorities, but what about the Slabs, Donks, or "Stanced" cars? Where were the tuners with neon and wraps which in 2001 would be featured in the very first of the now numerous "Fast and the Furious" movies? I saw not a single Civic or Lancer! There were a few lowriders, but with the exception of the one in the "Signature Showcase," they were relegated to the far corner of the fairgrounds, near the 4H building. The Greased Lightning hot rodding greasers of "Grease" fame were framed as a dangerous subculture, and rebels. Stock car racing got its start with bootleggers running from the cops, yet the Nationals showcases yet another example Boomers taking commodifying rebellion and commercializing outlaw culture, just like has happened with Harley Davidson. I'm sure there are people that might read this and go "sure it's exclusionary but that's part of the rebellion! blah blah something something woke mainstream media!" But c'mon, are you really counter-culture rebellion when your cars are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and just coming to look at them costs as much as a dinner out? One owner I spoke with bought his car for 800 bucks as a teen. Where was the next generation of those people at this show? It's not uncommon for bicycles to cost that much these days!
I might have even been able to let more of this slide had the show been a better run more polished experience. To be frank: when ticket cost as much as a meal out, and the event has had nearly a quarter century to work out the kinks, I expect better. The parking shuttles were woefully inadequate and there were long waits in both directions. The map was woefully inadequate, with almost none of the featured attractions marked on the map. If you look it up on their website you will see numbers on it, but they're just tram stop locations, not attractions. But don't worry, they didn't forget Women's World! I would have figured that the "featured attractions" might have signs to guide the way, or at least be placed at focal points in the show, but nope. Thus, in my aimless rambling around the expansive State Fair grounds, I didn't find the mobile dyno (if it was even there), nor did I see Optimus Prime or Bumblebee. It's pure luck I did stumble onto the bright spots that was the RC drag strip and the Signature Showcase and the charity Brush Fest. And again, it's not like this was free! A "day of" ticket at the gate was 30 (thirty!) bucks plus ten for parking.
That's not to say there were no bright spots. The RC drag strip was a particular bright spot. People of all ages gathered around to watch racers test their cars and reaction times head to head. While the cars were the smallest of the show, at roughly 12-15 inches bumper to bumper, they could hit 90 mph in the blink of an eye and races were decided by tenths of a second. The competition was friendly, with competitors talking shop and troubleshooting each others cars in between heats.
Similarly the Brush Fest was heartening. A combination arts jam and charity auction, artists from all over created pieces to be auctioned off to benefit Ronald McDonald House of CNY. I haven't seen the total raised this year, but in 2023 they raised $72,000. Bidding was fast and furious (har har) at the auction but I was anxious to lift my camera lest it be misinterpreted as my bidding on an artwork.
To close out, it's not too late for the Syracuse Nationals to steer into the skid. With some tweaks the shows future could be as vibrant as the paint jobs that were on display but change is desperately needed. As is, it simply costs too much and offers to little for the money. Cars are a pillar of American culture and all sorts of people of all ages and incomes remain passionate about them! The Nationals could be a crown jewel event for Syracuse for the long haul, but it'll have to evolve. The crowd that was there this year is only getting older. It's up to the organizers: will they coast until they die off like dodo birds and dinosaurs, or with they evolve and adapt in order to continue to thrive? I don't have a Mr. Fusion powered DeLorean, so I guess I just have to wait and see with everyone else.
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