Crowd hits Speed limits
By BRANDON WORF
SPEED -- They drove many miles to a small town in northwest Kansas to have a party and show off some really cool cars.
At least that's what it looked like Sunday as the 40th anniversary Hot Wheels Road Trip rolled in to Speed to celebrate the second edition of the Need for Speed event.
Geoff Walker, senior vice president of Wheels Marketing, wasn't quite ready for the response they would receive.
"We showed up Saturday night to hold a special barbecue for our local volunteers, and they came with more food than we did," he laughed. "I think it ended up being held for us instead of them."
It impressed the traveling posse of executives and Mattel employees so much they're more than eager to do it again.
"This is just absolutely awesome; it couldn't be better," Walker said. "I absolutely had so much fun last night."
The show in Speed was part of a five-stop tour across the country that included other locations such as the Bonneville salt flats in Utah, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the auto mecca of Detroit. While the town of Speed really doesn't have much to do with the development of the automotive industry -- or the related toy sector -- it was the name that landed it on the tour.
"This kind of started as a PR event," Walker said. "Now it's turned into a place that we're already looking forward to for next year."
It was estimated that nearly 10,000 people arrived in Speed during the course of six hours, despite the weather and some spots that were overly muddy.
"I'm impressed with the amount of people that drove from all over to see this," said Gary Swisher, vice president of design for the Hot Wheels brand. "And this event is a great way to share with everyone, and Hot Wheels is a big catalyst for sharing."
Walker agreed.
"You know, when you spend most of your day in an office trying to market this stuff, you lost sight of who you're really trying to get these things to," Walker said. "This is the best way I know of that we can get out and hang out with friends and family."
Thousands of adults and children alike stormed the event to not only see pieces of their respective childhoods but to also get in on some free limited-edition collectibles being given away as part of the event. Others came for the car and motorcycle show right next door.
"I played with Hot Wheels as a kid, but I have a bike in the show," said Billy Kasparie of Russell.
Kasparie was out with his wife, Pam, and their three kids to see what it was all about.
"We've been here all day, and other than it being really humid, it's been pretty cool," he said. "You kind of have to watch out for the mud though."
For some, that proved a little harder to do.
"You know, I just saw the biggest tractor I've ever seen struggle to pull a 30-foot RV out of the mud down by the car show," Walker said. "That was quite interesting to watch."
The event encompassed a handful of attractions, including the car show, centered around cars and speed. Hot Wheels traders and collectors came from in and out of state to set up and conduct business, while the Hot Wheels entourage set up their special displays, which included a 1967 Pontiac GTO, a group of seven separate one-fifth scale models each designed by a major auto manufacturer, and a specially-made, diamond encrusted Hot Wheels car weighing in at nearly 23 carats and more than $140,000.
"That's one of the coolest things I've seen," Swisher said. "Between that and the special seven cars, I don't know which is more fun looking at."
The seven scale models were created as part of the company's special request to 12 different automotive manufacturers to design their own Hot Wheels car.
"Oh man, those guys went wild on those," Walker said. "It was a chance for some of these designers that are always having to design for function rather than fashion to get some of their wildest ideas put into a tangible object."
Swisher expounded and said almost every large automotive designer was a Hot Wheels fan as a kid.
"I know I was," he said. "The funny thing is, I went and got a degree in industrial design to work on the real thing, and instead I ended up working with the very things I played with as a kid."