The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 82, Ed. 1 Friday, October 13, 2000 Page: 7 of 24
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Friday, October 13, 2000
The Boerne Star
Page 7A
Largest Rod Run in the state of Texas continues to grow
he Pride of Texas Street Rod Club was donated $750 to the Children’s Inn and $750
J started in August 1995. The constitution to Boy Scout Troop 143. In 1998 a donation
I and bylaws were adopted, and 20 mem- was made to the Johnson family, of Boerne,
bers were ready to cruise in their street rods. In 1999 $950 was given to the Kolb Family,
Of the 20 original members, only one couple and $950 was given to Chuck Brantly, who
is still active — Roland and Trish Funke, of was injured in a motorcycle accident coming
Boerne. back from Luckenbach.
Through the years the club has been very The first rod run was conducted at the
active in charity activities in the community. Kendall County Fair Grounds May 2 and 3,
For three consecutive years — 1986, 1987, 1987. We had 53 registered participants. The
1988 — the club helped with the Annual Air following year the club decided to move the
Force Assistance Fund Benefit and Car rod run to the Boerne Main Plaza and have it
Show at Randolph Air Force Base. For sev- in October instead of May. The second year
eral years food, clothing and toys were col- we had 52 registered participants. Everyone
lected and delivered to needy families in the seemed to enjoy having the run in downtown
Boerne area. In 1994 the club and rod run Boerne, so plans were made to keep it on the
participants donated more than $2,000 to plaza the second full weekend in October
double lung transplant patient Hope each year. Club member Lanne Brehmer
Bondurant, also of Boerne. In 1996 the club decided if this rod run was going to grow we
needed to do some advertising. A beautiful
color brochure was designed, printed and
mailed to street rodders across Texas and
neighboring states. The run has continued to
grow, because of the club’s hard work, the
advertisement and support of local mer-
chants, the City of Boerne, etc. The brochure
has been a trademark of the rod run and has
become collector’s a item.
1987 - 53 registrants
1988 - 52 registrants
1989 - 140 registrants
1990 - 180 registrants
1991 - 247 registrants
1002 - 305 registrants
1993 - 313 registrants
1994 - 341 registrants
1995 - 383 registrants
1996 - 504 registrants
1997 - 350 registrants
1998 - 437 registrants
1999 - 426 registrants
As you can see, 1996 was the biggest rod
run, but we are hoping to surpass that in
2000.
New club officers are elected each year in
January. The current president for 2000 is
Morris Schweickhardt.
Past presidents were:
1985-86 - Jerry Kilcrease
1987 - Roland Funke
1988 - Bill Neely
1989-90 - Patsy Brehmer
1991 - Nancy Bolzle
1992 - Judy Lewis
1993 - Geneva Neely
1994 - Peggy Mason
1995 - Mildred Murray
1996 - Dixie Rossi
1997 - Sally Neil
1998 - Gary Laxson
1999 - Judy Mott
2000-Morris Schweickhardt
Club meetings, cruises and get-togethers
are conducted monthly, and some club
members go to other rod runs nearly every
weekend from March to November.
Because of the success of the “Key to the
Hills” Rod Run, several articles have been
written in national magazines. In September
1993, “Street Scene” magazine printed a
three-page article complete with pictures.
“American Rodder” magazine flew a repre-
sentative in from California to cover the rod
Please see STATS, page 6A
What is a
Rod Run?
• hat are all these old cars
■y^doing in Boerne? Why
W W are they here in town?
The answer is: It’s a street rod
run!”
A “rod run” is a gathering of
street rod enthusiasts for a fun
weekend. You might liken it
to a big family reunion. There
is another opportunity to drive
your car and meet with other
people of similar interests.
There were more than 90 rod
run events scheduled on the
Texas calendar this year.
Since most runs are outdoor
events, the majority are
scheduled between March
and November.
The Key to the Hills Rod
Run in Boerne is the largest,
club sponsored, event in the
state of Texas. More than 438
cars were registered for last
year’s event. The Boerne
weekend includes a barbecue
on the square Friday night, a
Homecoming dance at the
Boerne Community Center,
food booths and door prizes.
The grand prizes include
$500 cash and a set of Budnik
Wheels valued at more than
$1,500. Besides the Boerne
merchants, the main benefac-
tors from the event are the
non-profit organizations who
operate the food booths at the
event.
These include the St. John
LYO, Boerne Sunrise Rotary,
Boy Scout Troop 143 and the
Knights of Columbus.
What is a “street rod?”
Street rodding evolved from
the early 1950s when home
built hot rods were mavericks
of the highways. A street rod
is a car manufactured before
1949 that has been modified
by the owner-fenderless road-
sters and coupes with hopped-
up engines. For many enthusi-
asts this is an opportunity to
own the car they dreamed
about but couldn’t afford dur-
ing their teens. Today these
unique vehicles are created
with a goal of providing fun,
safe and comfortable trans-
portation. And the car better
than the original Ford or
Chevrolet that rolled off the
assembly line.
The average street rod will
cost its owner from $15,000
to $35,000 to build, plus
many hours of labor. These
cars are built to be driven.
Please see RUN, page 6A
14th
con
Welcome
to the 14th
annual Key
to the Hills
Rod Run
2000
RIDE OF TEXAS
STREET ROD
OCTOBER 13-14-15, 2000
Boerne Main Plaza
Sponsored by: The Pride of Texas Street Rods
and Budnik Wheels
PRINTING DONATED BY LEBCO GRAPHICS, INC., BOERNE, TEXAS, 1-800-725-3226
ct. 13 and 14 will once again
the streets of Boerne
adorned with all shades of the
rainbow, plus other eye-catching
colors not ordinarily seen on vin-
tage automobiles. The Key to the
Hills Rod Run will be sponsored by
the Pride of Texas Street Rod Club,
and this year there is an expected
attendance of around 600.
The weekend will kick off Friday
night with a barbecue on the square
for the participants and the mem-
bers of the club. This has been a tra-
dition for the past eight years, and
everyone seems to enjoy the fellow-
ship and seeing people they have
not seen since the last rod run.
Owners of these cars have spent
hundreds of hours building these
beauties and many thousands of
dollars in material. They take great
pride in their cars and enjoy listen-
ing to the compliments of those who
admire their labors. Some have had
them built elsewhere, and they
could have invested as much as
$40,000 or more in their hobby.
These pre-1949 cars will be com-
ing from across Texas, and others
who have pre-registered are coming
from California, Oklahoma, Ohio
and Louisiana. Club members have
been told numerous times that this
is the favorite run of many rodders
because of the uniqueness of the
City of Boerne and the friendly peo-
ple who reside here. It is the largest
run in the state because of this. They
love shopping at the antique stores,
the quaint gift shops and eating at
fine restaurants.
This year, as in the past, the par-
ticipants will be lining up at the
Wal-Mart parking lot Saturday
night for Luckenbach. The people in
Boerne who would like to watch the
parade of old, beautiful cars should
be there by 6:30 p.m. to watch the
parade going down Main Street.
Awards will begin at noon Sunday,
and the event should be finished at 1
p.m. We would like to encourage
young and old to enjoy looking at
these old cars and modern conve-
niences, such as air conditioning,
power windows and seats, stereos
(some have CD players), power
steering, automatic transmissions,
etc.
Brehmer’s insight, hard work and dedication
continue to keep the Rod Run a huge success
a a whenthe Keyto the Hills Rod
lAfRun was struggling in its
WW infancy and its future in
doubt, Lanne Brehmer did what any
car enthusiast would do: he rolled up
his sleeves, looked under the hood
and diagnosed the problem.
What he saw was a sound idea but
one which wasn’t attracting enough
cars and spectators to be a success.
“There were less than 60 cars the
first few times,” Brehmer said. “It
was a complete flop. Something had
to be done.
“Getting the cars and people to
come to Boerne was the big thing,”
Brehmer said. “Once you get them
here, Boerne is a perfect place for a
rod run because the people are
friendly and there are things every-
one can do.”
The owner of Lebco Graphics, cars has grown to a consistent 500 to
Brehmer is a firm believer in the 600.
power of the printed word. He pub- “Most rod runs are not held close
lished a color brochure touting the to people, so the people who go
next rod run, distributed it at other soon get bored,” Brehmer said. “We
rod runs and saw tangible results have so many shops here that it
when about 300 cars participated. gives women something else to do,
“It was almost unheard of for a rod and we bring in vendors such as auto
run to have a color brochure,” dealers and things that guys like.”
Brehmer said. “We sent copies out
and put copies on windshields.
People saw it and thought that if we
had gone to the trouble of printing a
color brochure for a rod run, then it
must be something special.”
That first color brochure helped
the Key to the Hills Rod Run turn
the corner and set the stage for the
event to become what it is today.
Since the initial jump to about 300
participating cars, the number of
Brehmer said he believes the Key
to the Hills Rod Run is nearing max-
imum capacity in terms of partici-
pating vehicles, in part because of
limited motel accommodations. He
said most Rod Run participants pre-
fer to stay in local motels rather than
those nearer San Antonio.
“Almost anyone who comes this
year and who wants to come back
said. What makes a rod run a suc-
cess, Brehmer says, is Americans’
love for automobiles.
“Our generation that grew up in
the 1950s lived for drag strips and
cars,” Brehmer said. “We grew up
with the ‘56 and ‘57 Chevy and
Thunderbirds. As we grew older, we
got out of hot rods and got into street
rods.”
The street rods - such as those on
display at the Key to the Hills Rod
Run - are 1948 or older vehicles
which have been modified with
large, high-performance engines,
radios and other conveniences.
“They have the best of both
worlds,” Brehmer said. “They have
the body and styling of classic cars
will go ahead and make a reserva- together with modern conve-
tion before they leave,” Brehmer niences.”
Lanne and Patsy Brehmer
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Keasling, Edna & Fierro, Jennifer. The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 95, No. 82, Ed. 1 Friday, October 13, 2000, newspaper, October 13, 2000; Boerne, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1626607/m1/7/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Patrick Heath Public Library.