Every year in June when the Dos Palos Lions Club hosts its annual Hot Summer Nights Car Show, it is always “a roll of the dice” as to how the weather will cooperate—pleasant, hot, or extremely hot.
Well, this year’s edition of the popular event rolled a “7-11” with a beautiful day of weather with temperatures in the mid-80’s and a nice breeze.
This made for another very successful event on June 20th as the community of Dos Palos welcomed summer to the Westside, according to Peggy Jelen, one of the show’s organizers.
“We had 105 cars and trucks as well as 14 motorcycles signed up and participating,” Jelen said. “And we had a great crowd.”
Participants vied for several awards, including Best of Show, People’s Choice, and Biggest Car Club.
The Best of Show and Low Rider awards went to Julio Cardon, and Art Prieto won first place in the Stock category. Jill and Augie Scoto placed first in the ’79 and older Truck, and Wes Rentfrow took first in Under Construction.
Jason Shelley won the Motorcycle class and the Best Antique Car award went to Billy Brazzille. Tara and Bill Davis swept the Restored Mod division, and the Custom Car award went to Joe Silverra. Other first-place finishers included Rachel Day (Classic 50-65) and Nick Goodman (Truck 80 or newer).
The popular Muscle Car division was won by Mark Orozco, and Jim and Jackie Lobach won the Street Rod title. Dan and Kathy Godinez won the Jerry Avila Family award, and the Arena Family Award was given to Larry Miller.
One of the more popular categories, the Biggest Car Club, was won by the Luxurious Club, made up of Merced County residents.
With Mother Nature cooperating fully, the car show turned out to be a banner day, said Jelen.
“We had food and craft vendors and a band that played for most of the day,” she explained. “I feel like it was another great success, especially for only my second year helping put it on. It will be bigger and better next year.”
