23rd Annual Veterans Memorial Car Show Raises Thousands for Veterans Benefit

The morning sun shone brightly off the hordes of classic cars in the lot of the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center as thousands of visitors walked the grounds. The annual Veterans Memorial Car Show pulled into town for the 23rd consecutive year last Sunday, Oct. 6, kicking off early that morning through the tree-lined grounds of the hospital. Just about 1,100 street rods, custom cars and motorcycles were on display at the event, sponsored by K&N Engineering, Value Solar, Inter Mountain Mortgage, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Meguiar's Car Care Products, TEAM Rennick, Baker’s Drive-Thru, B&M Racing and Performance, Clark’s Nutrition, Star Auto Parts, KOLA FM, Just Cruizin’ Productions and the AAA. The day kicked off at 8 a.m. and featured opportunity drawings, live and silent auctions, a pancake breakfast, food and other vendors, a 50/50 trivia quiz, a kid’s coloring contest and a model car contest scavenger hunt, along with the car and bike displays. The Automobile Club of Southern California-sponsored NHRA 2009 Championship Funny Car of Robert Hight from the John Force Racing team was also on display. Crowds also gathered around a tribute remembering the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. The display weighed over 11,000 pounds and featured pieces of steel salvaged from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center. For the past couple of years, the event has sold out completely. Event organizer Betty Volk said that all proceeds benefit the Loma Linda VA hospital, and this year the car show committee, a group of 40 volunteers who work year-round to plan and execute the event, one of the most anticipated in the area each year, hope to donate up to $100,000 to help veterans in need. This year the Veterans Memorial Car Show was able to auction off a 2012 Ford Camaro for $30,000. Volk is also a member of the Volunteers for Veterans Foundation, which helps provide services to needy veterans and their families on an individual basis. The proceeds from Sunday’s event will go toward covering a variety of services, including providing wheelchairs, eyeglasses, cable TV, hygiene carts, hospitality carts, and other goods they may need, shared Volk. “In January, the VA hospital gives us a wish list, and from there we decide where the funds [from the car show] are going,” said Volk. Each year the event brings out hundreds of volunteers on top of the 40-person event committee, chaired this year by Butch Schultz, and the nine-person Volunteers for Veterans Foundation, chaired by Betty Volk’s husband, Larry. “People kind of come out of the woodwork to help with this event, and it’s a great feeling to know that many people want to help,” said Betty Volk. Earl Oakday and his wife Diane are Menifee residents who brought their 1952 Chevrolet 2-door Deluxe to show. Earl Oakday is a member of the Over the Hill Gang Car Club in Temecula, and has been for seven years. He’s owned the car for 22 years, he said, and has been showing it for the past three. “I enjoy the people,” he said of car shows. “I don’t go for the trophies. I go for fellowship with other hobbyists. I have a great respect for veterans, and had several [veteran] friends who’ve passed away so I want to do something to give back.” With the car club, Oakday has had the opportunity to volunteer at the Loma Linda Veterans Hospital, and enjoys participating in events that benefit the hospital and the veterans it houses, he explained. Phil Cardozo is an Apple Valley resident who brought his 1953 John Deere Model 40 tractor—the only tractor among the some 1,200 vehicles on display. It’s completely restored, he said, and he built a custom back seat in the vehicle for his eight grandchildren. He enjoyed letting children climb into the tractor at the car show, he added. “I love letting the kids get in the tractor and try it out. I had at least three dozen kids come and sit in the seat,” he said. Cardozo has had an interest in tractors since his youth; he grew up with farmer and dairyman roots, he said. “I’ve always had a softness for tractors,” he said. His affinity for tractors shows in his eight-year membership in the High Desert Antique Tractor Club. While not a veteran himself, he said his participation in Sunday’s show was a way for him to give something back. “Of course, I’d do anything to help people out,” he said. Clyde Willis is a Vietnam veteran who has been a patient at the VA Hospital in Loma Linda for about three weeks. “I liked seeing the really old cars,” he said. “It took me back.” His daughter Keisha, who is visiting him from Illinois, said, “I thought [the event] was awesome, considering it was his first time getting out of bed and going outside,” she said. “It was a beautiful day. What surprised me was my dad knew all the cars before we got [to] them. He pointed out so many [models] he’d had in his lifetime. I never knew that about my dad.” The car show began 23 years ago when Mike Wilburn began working at the hospital and identified needs in the veteran community, shared Volk. He wanted to put on an event to benefit them in some way and rallied help from members of the Over the Hill Gang Car Club, to which Larry Volk belonged. “Larry became a helper. Mike has since passed away to cancer, but we wanted to keep the event up and going,” said Volk. The event has helped raise over $1.5 million since its inception 23 years ago, all going directly to benefit veterans living at the Loma Linda VA Hospital. “We are very blessed to have so much support,” said Volk. “It doesn’t matter how much work Butch, or I or Larry or the other volunteers are willing to do; if it weren’t for those [who register their cars], it couldn’t happen. We all do a great job, and it’s because of the support we get through the community.”