OTHELLO — Slow drags, fun cars and the Spud Run return to Othello on Friday and Saturday at the 29th All Cities Classic Car Club Show and Shine. Longtime organizer Jim Purdy said it’s open to all vehicles with wheels.  

“Cars, bikes, pedal bikes – bring them down,” Purdy said. 

The slow drags are on Main Street, starting at 6 p.m. Friday. The car show is in Kiwanis Park, with the Spud Run at various locations. It's the 29th show, but not the 29th annual, since the car show was canceled in 2020. But it’s old enough that it has its own traditions, starting with the slow drags. 

The slow drags use the principles of physics for a car race that’s a reverse of normal practice – instead of going fast, the idea is to go slow. The key is managing momentum and inertia. 

“You give it a little bit of gas, then you coast to the finish line,” Purdy said in an earlier interview.  

The car that gets closest to the finish line without crossing it wins, Purdy said. Getting the right amount of acceleration takes some practice, and contestants get a practice run as well as multiple attempts, he said.  

Advance registration for the car show will be open at the slow drags. Saturday morning registration opens at 8 a.m. in the park. Registration is $15. 

Traditionally, the show has welcomed vehicles no matter their condition – some vehicles haven’t been running, and some didn’t even have engines. Drivers have displayed a wide range of vehicles, from large buses to small scooters.  

The club sponsors raffles throughout the day. Jim Rogers always ran the raffle table, but he passed away in the year since the last show, and there will be a tribute to him on Saturday. 

The Spud Run takes participants on a hunt around the Othello area for the highest poker hand. 

Purdy said he thinks car shows are a lot of fun because every car has a story. That’s true of the truck he’s bringing for 2025. It belonged to the family of his twin sister Jill, and it had been damaged.  

“She came to me 12 years ago and asked if it would restore her husband’s pickup,” he said.  

It took him three months to fix, but he got it done, he said.  

“Three months later, she died of cancer,” Purdy said. 

Recently, Jill’s widower contacted him, asking about selling the truck. Purdy said he would buy it, and he did, he said. After more than a decade, it needs additional restoration, and it’s not finished, but it will be there Saturday, he said.  

“There are a lot of cool stories like that,” he said.  

    A 1950 Ford Mercury gleams in the sun at the 2024 All Cities car show in Othello.
  

    Cars and trucks of every era, including a mid-fifties Ford truck, filled Kiwanis Park for the 2024 All Cities Classic Car Show.