HOT ROD SUPERNATIONALS Spokesman: Event will take a year off

The promoter isn't looking for another location for the 2005 Supernationals.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
CANFIELD -- There will be no Hot Rod Supernationals next summer here -- or anywhere else -- but the event is expected to return in 2005.
Scheduling conflicts next year make it impossible to stage a quality event, a spokesman for the promoter said Thursday.
The event isn't moving to another location, said Doc Riley, a spokesman for The Promotion Company of Indianapolis. There just won't be any Hot Rod Supernationals at all anywhere.
The event has been at the Canfield Fairgrounds annually since 1987.
The leap year, which means there is a Feb. 29 in 2004, plays a part, he said.
"It throws everything into a big [mess]," Riley said.
The calendar makes it impossible to have the Supernationals and still schedule several other regional and national car shows, he said. Scheduling snags also make it impossible to line up sponsors and vendors and dedicate enough promotions staff to organize the Canfield event next year, he said.
Will be back
Riley said his firm expects to hold the Supernationals in 2005 at the fairgrounds. The company isn't looking for another location, he said. He called the fairgrounds a good home for the event.
The promoter will continue holding two other events at the fairgrounds next year.
The second annual Falken Tire ITB, a sport compact and minitruck event, will be May 22 and 23. The seventh annual Summit Truckstyle 4-Wheel Jamboree, a show featuring four-wheel-drive trucks, monster truck racing and mud drag racing, will be July 24 and 25.
Canfield Fairgrounds was selected from among a dozen Midwest locations in 1987 to host the Supernationals.
The event draws thousands of cars and fans to the fairgrounds annually and the hot rodders regularly take to U.S. Route 224 afterward.
Last year's event drew several thousand cars and 50,000 people to the fairgrounds. Thousands more people lined Route 224 to watch the nightly parade of cars.
The event creates more than $1 million in spending on hotels, food and gas.
rgsmith@vindy.com