Tribune/Dan McGee
Making sure he got a good parking place Monday morning, early bird Al Oppio sits in his heavily customized 1941 Willys roadster . He started with a coupe and has upgraded the vehicle including a Hemi engine, new interior, air suspension and new electrics.
Tribune/Dan McGee-
Tom Yendes and his wife, from Thousand Oaks, Calif., stand by their replica 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe. Even though it is a replica the car is powered by a Ford 302 racing engine and it's being displayed at Hot August Nights for the first time.
Tribune/Dan McGee-
Another Monday early bird making sure he had a good parking spot on Victorian Avenue was Charlie Gonzales from Hathaway Pines, Calif. Here he's sitting in his 1957 Chevy Bel Air named "Bowtie Madness." Both he and his wife Estella have had the car for 38 years.
Parked in front of the old John Ascuaga's Nugget entrance on the west side of the Victorian Avenue strip, with some nice shade trees to set up lawn chairs underneath, Oppio was ready to defend his territory. A Sparks native and Hot August Nights participant for the past 22 years, Oppio has entered several events at Hot August Nights and won with three of his other cars.
"This is going to definitely be one of the better spots," Oppio said, explaining that the city of Sparks does not allow for the HAN cars to be parked over night so the process of finding and defending a parking spot resumes again every morning.
"I've been out here as early as 4 a.m. before," he said.
And Oppio isn't alone.
By 11 a.m. Monday, there were already 20 cars lined up and ready to show off on Victorian Avenue, with car owners nearby just waiting the heat out.
With the maximum registered cars allowed already at 5,500 and another 3,000 on a waiting list, these early-bird cars all seem to have a preference where their car is displayed.
Sharon Hoff, a Sparks resident and long-time HAN participant, parks her and her husband's late 1930's Chevy convertible alongside the western side of the Silver Club Casino, near the intersection of Victorian Avenue and Victorian Plaza Circle. This spot, which is near five other registered cars, is known as the preferred parking spot for some of the regular HAN cars, Hoff said.
"This group of cars is always here," Hoff said. "You really have to power park around here, so your car gets seen."
Such a competitive nature is quite the opposite on the other side of the Silver Club, however, which has considerably fewer cars. And car owners like Charlie and Estella Gonzales of Hathaway Pines, Calif. like it that way.
Their 1957 Chevy Bel Air, otherwise known as "Bowtie Madness" sits in front of the Cantina Los Tres Hombres, on what they call the quiet part of the cruise strip.
"We've been coming for 21 years," Charlie said, explaining that they always park in the same spot. "Everybody knows where to look for us."
"It's much more quiet on this side, too," Estella said. "There's less traffic and there are too many vendors on the other side."
The influx of vendors has been a topic of discussion among registered car owners, especially as parking space has become limited in recent years.
"It's a sore spot for me," Oppio said. "This is a car event. We've parked our car up and down this area before but now it's hard with all the vendors."
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