Rub a Dub Dub is an aging bit of VW scene slang that earned a double meaning at the 2015 New England Dustoff, when showers washed across the show for nearly the entire day.  We had been watching the forecast for about a week prior, and prepared for the worst when it came to the electronics we brought.  Even though they were predicting 100% chance of rain, we knew that wouldn’t keep us from hitting up this huge VW themed car show.

This year organizers moved to a larger venue than previously set up, at Thompson Speedway in beautiful Thompson Connecticut.  When the show started, what we feared seemed to be true.  The line that we had seen at previous shows wasn’t there, and when 9:30 came by, turnout looked like it would be thin.  After the first string of dark clouds went by, shedding the first significant rainfall, all seemed lost.  That was until an errant beam of sunshine revealed a huge string of cars showing up.

First generation VW Bugs and Buses joined ranks with Wolfsburg’s finest, including a right hand drive MKII Polo, an Audi SQ5, and Harlequin Golf.  We withheld the urge to ask if it was real and just assumed it was, it’s more fun that way.

Better late than never, the speedway was suddenly filled with sparkling cars, from the stunning gazillion hour builds to the proud daily driven.  We were situated with other vendors in the speedway pitlane near the entrance, very near Air Lift Performance’s spread that required the entire end of the speedway to setup.  It’s no wonder, the theme of the show was most certainly the glory of air-ride suspension.

Be it fad or a serious evolution of technology, one thing is certain, the sheer quantity of top notch bagged VDubs was staggering.  Chilling near the entrance to the show sounded like being next to a steam locomotive (albeit a very slow one) due to cars continually cresting over the banking, turning into the show field, and immediately dropping their cars straight to the pavement with one loud PSSHHHTT.

Joining us for the day was David and Kathi of Bakers Dozen Racing, alongside Jesse and Max of Banchwerks/Flying Burrito Boys.  They brought a pair of cars that stood tall (literally) as a testament to functionality and speed.  Fresh off the off-road race circuit, one must realize that Rally cars must also be street legal, and it was very cool for them to drive out and join us from their bases in Rhode Island.  The rain definitely did not scare them away.

We were happily giving out $15 gift cards to any show goer that decided to come out, and it made us glad to be the only vendor selling OEM and OES parts.  Except for the small percentage of cars that had been completely rebuilt using all custom made pieces, every car there was running on parts that we sell.

Sure a few of the other vendors had displays with Euro license plates, stickers, rims, shirts, a billet shift knob here or there…but in the end, it was the parts that we sell that keep these cars on the road.  That’s something everyone can be happy about.

To show your car, you first must get there, and to win a race you first must finish.  You’ll never make it if you put off that water pump replacement in favor of a set of 19’s.  We hope that as show season goes on, we can be around to make this point a few times.  With many more shows in front of us, we have barely begun!  To everyone getting a car ready to race or show later in the season, remember this too, and make sure to have your maintenance done so we don’t hear from your friends that you broke down on the way.

So even though at times Thompson Speedway felt more like a bathtub than a race track, there was no shortage of fantastic dubs rolling in to be part of the community and rock out with us.  Special thanks must go out to our rally crew coming out to rep with us, the show organizers Blake and Tom, the volunteers that helped with traffic, and the diehards that couldn’t be dissuaded by a little rain.

With the show complete in the books, we hit the road to prepare for Monday, only to encounter the most torrential downpour we have seen this year was only about 20min away.  Lucky us, we will be back and ready for sunshine next year!