EMILY KALKA Editor What was meant to be a fun day of classic cars and breaking world records, all in celebration of Route 66, turned out to be a nightmare of traffic and heat for a decent portion of participants.
“It was a complete and utter failure of epic proportions,” said Chandler resident and business owner Shane Massie.
He was just one of multiple Lincoln County car lovers who planned to take part in Tulsa’s Route 66 Capital Cruise, which was set to break the Guinness World Record for the longest classic car parade on Saturday. And then never made it in due to a traffic jam leading up to the staging area.
The event organized by Visit Tulsa and the City of Tulsa did eventually break the record with 3,596 vehicles after deductions for cars that didn’t qualify and gaps in the parade. It beat the previous record set in Puerto Rico by 1,105. Over 5,000 vehicles were registered, according to Senior Director of Communications with Tulsa Regional Tourism Jonathan Huskey, while 4,300 made it into the parade. It’s estimated that less than 1,000 cars didn’t make it into the parade.
Massie arrived on Friday andcheckedin,thenarrived to line up for the parade around 8 a.m. Drivers were told to arrive between 6 and 9 a.m., with the cutoff being 10 a.m., though organizers later extended that to 11 a.m. The packet issued to all drivers upon check-in recommended that they stagger their arrival as “arriving later in the staging window may help reduce wait times before entering the route.”
Massie said once they arrived, they didn’t move until almost 11 a.m., and cars were “melting down” after idling for so long. An older couple in front of them drove all the way from Denver with a 1957 Chevy to take part -- the gentleman was retired from the National Hot Rod Association.
Massie expressed irritation that organizers refused to issue a genuine apology at first, saying that’s all he really wanted. In earlier reports, it was stated that drivers who didn’t make it in simply didn’t arrive on time. Organizers also said a refund for the $25 registration fee would be available to participants who didn’t make it in the parade, but Massie called it “just a drop in the bucket” compared to what was spent on closing down his business for the day, turning down a catering job and paying for hotel rooms and food while in Tulsa.
On Monday evening, the Tulsa Route 66 Commission and Visit Tulsa issued a statement on the Visit Tulsa Facebook page that they would offer a refund to all participants, whether they were in the parade or not. They also acknowledged that the unprecedented event in size and complexity presented unique challenges that made the experience negative for many.
“On behalf of the entire Capital Cruise team, we apologizeto anydriverwho registered and checked in but was unable to participate,” the statement said.
The disappointment still hits hard for Massie. He grew up on Route 66, owns a business on the historic highway and owns proper- ties on it as well. One of those is Westfall Station in Chandler, which he and his family fixed up themselves, as well as Big Willy’s Hot Dogs.
“Route 66 is a part of everything I do, and this was like a big FU,” he said. It was a far cry from the excitement Massie exhibited in an interview on May 28. He and his family were set to drive the parade in a 1969 Impala station wagon that he’s restoring himself, which is the only vehicle that Massie has ever sold and bought back. He is a lifelong car enthusiast who has owned and worked on over 40 vehicles.
“If you ever talk to me very long, I love old cars, old buildings, old machinery, anything that’s mechanical,” he said. “Anything that is structurally complex or not even necessarily complex, but built in a fashion that it’s not built in today.”
He was looking forward to being part of history as well as the large gathering of classic cars. Mostly, he was looking forward to spending the day with his wife and kids.
“The only kid that I’ve got that actually likes like old cars and stuff is going, and I know he’s stoked. Little sister’s going just to go because she wants to go to stuff, you know,” he said. “But just for the kids to get to see all this stuff, like, I would have loved something like this whenever I was a kid.”