Western Australia P76 Owners Club 2011

Big Al poker run started back in 1981 as a Hot Rod cruise to raise money for charity, and over the years as grown to the point that, with the exception of American cars, only cars built prior to 1978 can enter.

: Our club has regularly attended over the past 10 years, and this year had 4 cars entered. I took my Am Eye Blue Super V8, Andy Mentiplay took my Home on the O’range Super V8 because his Hairy Lime beast wasn’t quite ready, Adam Woodwards brought along his Bold as Brass Super V8 and Brendon Truman drove his very cool NV Green V8.

: Brendon only got the car registered the day before, racing it over the pits up in Osborne Park, and thankfully it passed the inspection.

: We all met at the IGA car park in Mount Pleasant next to the Raffles Hotel, and then cruised along Canning Highway up to Burswood where the Show and Shine part of the event takes place. We thought we would get there relatively early to ensure parking in the shade, and even though we arrived at 11.30 the venue was nearly full. I was entry number 687, and all the parking in the shade was well and truly gone.

: Never the less we were able to park the four P76’s alongside each other in a prominent location and found a spot under some trees to sit and watch the cars arrive.

: The P76’s drew a lot of attention, and I noticed many people taking photos of our cars. Brendon’s car in particular seemed to attract a lot admiring onlookers. The fact we had such a great choice of colours no doubt helped as well, some of the bright colours that were available back in the 1970’s were truly fantastic.

: I am not sure how many cars finally arrived, but would not be surprised if it was well over a thousand, while the number of people who came through the gates to view the cars was also massive.

At around 3pm cars started to leave to begin the cruise part of the event. This involves being given a sheet of directions as you depart Burswood, and cruise around the Perth metro area to find five checkpoints. At each checkpoint you are shown a card, and at the end of the event you will have been shown five cards to make a poker hand. The car with the best poker hand wins the event. This year the cruise finished at Lathlain Oval, where all the cars were on display again while the punters enjoyed rock bands playing and barbeques were available to cook your dinner on.

: I really enjoyed the event again this year. It is a very casual affair and provides the opportunity to see many cars that you wouldn’t normally see at regular car shows. .It seems a lot of people are tiring of the traditional car show, and prefer an event like Big Al’s Poker Run. There is nothing better than seeing so many cool cars actually being driven, the sight and smell of it all is pure heaven to a car nut like me.

: Hopefully next year we can get a few more P76’s to attend, as I have no doubt the exposure our cars received at this event was huge. And can only help increase the awareness of our cars amongst the general public.

Western Australia P76 Owners Club - 2011

Big Al Poker Run

by James Mentiplay