If not, take a look at some of the fun you missed—including Troy Trepanier, Chip Foose and our juried, “Dream Show” competition with custom chrome trophies (“Best of Show” weighed 68 pounds), live entertainment (thank you MotorCity Casino Hotel) and cars, cars, cars.

Enjoy.

Blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the very low 80s (no humidity in Michigan in August—are you kidding me?) and a light, cool breeze made the people and car watching more enjoyable than any year in recent memory. Many attendees, in fact, suggested to me that it might have been the best weather in our 14-year history.

From “Woodward Dream Cruise Day” at Comerica Park and Monroe Street in downtown Detroit to the inaugural Woodward “Dream Show” at Northwood Shopping Center (13 Mile & Woodward), the cars and chrome never looked better. For a good peak at the top show winners, click here and, then, once onto the Free Press site, the “Photo” links on the right of the page.

Our volunteers, judges and “Show” organizers were all incredible and, with the cars and competitors,
really made the day—they are all the best at what they do.

I also just heard from Goodwill Industries (who cleaned up in Royal Oak and Berkley this year) that all went well through the overnight hours and cleanup was completed by 8:30 a.m.

More photos (and video) from this year’s event to come in the next couple of days, including the amazing custom chrome trophies for our Show from Dick Ruzzin and Don Sommer.

Then on Saturday, Troy Trepanier and 50 of the best cars on the planet will convene at Northwood Shopping Center (13 Mile and Woodward in front of Kroger) for the first-ever Woodward Dream Show. This will be 10 classes, including a “Green Car” trophy plus “Best of Show” and “People’s Choice.” Stop by the festivities and vote for your favorite.

Complete categories, in day-of order, are as follows:

Hot Rod Racers
Street Performance
Traditional Hot Rods
Street Custom
Muscle Cars
Sports Cars
Engine Swap Cars
Factory Muscle Cars
Street Customs
Green Machines
Spirit of Individual Achievement
People’s Choice
Best of Show

Day begins at 9am with judging from 12-2pm and awards from 4-5pm.

After the game, you’ll be able to check out classic cars and entertainment along Madison Avenue in front of the Opera House and DAC. Among the groups performing Thursday night between 4p and 10p will be RG Dempster & The Drivers, performing songs from our official Dream Cruise CD, as they open for headliner Rare Earth. RG performed live on Channel 7 today. You can check out their performance here.

See you Thursday!

We always recommend taking in as much of the Dream Cruise as possible. If you are in town Thursday night, take in the Ferndale ribbon cutting and press conference at 5pm followed by the police and fire parade. Then, head up to Berkley for the parade of only classic cars along 12 Mile Road west of Woodward, from 6-8pm. Pleasant Ridge and Pontiac have entertainment courtesy of MotorCity Casino (check Events) through the evening hours.

On Cruise Saturday, again refer to our Events guide but try to visit each and every city. Ferndale closes off portions of 9 Mile Road at Woodward for a great street fair. Pleasant Ridge will feature some of the best in new, green automotive technology to check out. At 13 Mile and Woodward at Northwood Shopping Center, you have to visit our “Dream Show,” featuring some of the best classic and future cars anywhere, along with live entertainment from the Viceroys, Countours and RG Dempster & The Drivers (creators of our official CD).

At our Royal Oak location, you’ll also see some of the hot cars, on display, that are available via our first-ever online classic car auction. Royal Oak also features the EATON Performance Park with aftermarket displays galore. And, Pontiac features scores of classic cars around the Phoenix Center and Plaza that you won’t want to miss.

Our first-ever Grand Marshal, Troy Trepanier was in town to speak, meet and greet, including a throng of media, VIPs and a host of classic cars.

We also announced that Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit is partnering with us to clean up after this year’s event. Spreading their important mission of “putting people back to work” Goodwill is well-known, in particular, for its high-profile cleanup efforts for the Belle Isle Grand Prix, Super Bowl and Detroit Zoo. Southfield-based Guardian Alarm Company, with a rich 75-year history in Metro Detroit, is underwriting the costs of this effort—to be focused this year primarily in Royal Oak and Berkley—through their 2008 event sponsorship.

Safe, clean, free and fun—a few key themes of a Dream Cruise poised to be unlike any before.

• The majority of sales of official Woodward Dream Cruise merchandise benefit scores of area charities that sell merchandise during the Cruise. Unofficial merchandise sales benefit only the shirt and hat manufacturers.

• Official Woodward Dream Cruise merchandise sales help underwrite costs incurred by the nine host communities (largely cleanup and public safety services) that go well into the six-figures each year (and growing).

• Sales of official merchandise help keep the Dream Cruise FREE and open to all participants.

Check out this year’s stuff, including our first-ever official program and CD—all feature a logo created (for the first time) by an actual long-time automotive designer.

T-shirts or other items that say: “Woodward Cruise” or “Dream Cruise” or “Woodward Avenue Cruise” aren’t the real McCoy. Look for “Woodward Dream Cruise” merchandise, both here online and at booths along the route on Saturday August 16th. Each booth will display a seller’s certificate of authenticity.

Sorry for the commercial but these merchandise pirates are the modern day equivalent of Black Beard and Long John Silver—they take what is not theirs, for only their benefit. We thought you should know.

Before actually being introduced to Troy Trepanier at Cobo, I observed him in front of his car display as the reigning Riddler Award winner. Though surrounded by a steady stream of enthusiast autograph seekers and media cameras he was laid-back, unassuming and approachable. As we had lunch, I discovered what a truly huge fan he is of the Woodward Dream Cruise. Would he be our first-ever, official Grand Marshal? Absolutely. It would be, he said, an honor.

Today we officially announced that he will, indeed, oversee our event. And, speaking of firsts, he also graces the cover of our inaugural Program—soon to be a collector’s item.

If you know of Troy, you’re as ecstatic as we are that he’ll be an integral part of the Dream Cruise this year. If you don’t, check him out online. You’ll see forums and debates on who is the greater custom design king—him or Chip Foose. Far from rivals, they are actually good friends.
Also, be sure to visit his official sites at Rad Rides and Hub Garage, and, stay tuned for more on where and when you can see Troy in person on August 16th.

Each year, this event gets bigger and better. At the same time, it also gets more and more costly for the host communities, from Ferndale up to Pontiac, to put on. While it is easy to bemoan seeking underwriters as “commercialism,” we truly want to keep the Cruise free and open to everyone. That’ where our sponsors come in.

Underwriting hundreds of thousands of dollars in public safety and cleanup costs, our long-time, top supporters MotorCity Casino, General Motors, Eaton and SMART make the Woodward Dream Cruise possible.

They are joined this year by Flagstar Bank, announced this week, who has signed a 3-year commitment and will be among the first to participate in our Woodward Dream Show juried car competition at Northwood Shopping Center (13 Mile and Woodward). Also new this year are Farmer’s Insurance, Turtle Wax and Guardian Alarm Company (more on them later).

We hope you’ll take a moment to check out the sponsor section of our site and patronize the many, many area companies that go the extra mile in footing the bill for this great event.

Dempster played the Old Grande Ballroom in Detroit back in the day, opening for such acts as the MC5 and Yardbirds. Also involved with the project: former Funk Brother Johnny Trudell. You might recall that the Funk Brothers were the official backup band on all of the great Motown Records hits of the late 60s and early 70′s, including for Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes and more.

You can download the song or purchase an advance copy of the official CD the song will appear on when it is completed later this month. Another former Funk Brother, legendary session guitarist Dennis Coffey also just signed on this week to play on the record and we are thrilled.

It’s cruisin’ music featuring artists that truly understand and have lived it locally. Check it out.