By Ken Walker

Photos by Doug Pawlak of Cafe-Pics and Ken Walker

What do the Texas Hill Country, bluebonnet blooms, savory BBQ, and raging Cobras have in common? More than you might think, if you joined the Texas Cobra Club at its 15th annual Spring Meet in San Marcos, Texas. This year the event pulled in more than 135 Cobras and GT40s for some hot laps and good times. Actually, it was really hard to pinpoint the number of cars onsite because the cars are never parked in one place very long.

This yearly event takes place in late March, before central Texas gets too hot to drive a Cobra. Attendees hail from 18 different states, along with Canada and Mexico, making it a truly international event. Probably because it’s not just a car show, but a place where fellow Cobra enthusiasts can stomp the throttle and fry the hides.

Friday featured a track day at the Harris Hill Raceway, where drivers could prove their mettle (and metal) on the 1.9-mile, 11-turn road course. Kevin O’Grady coordinated the track event, and lunch was catered by Wish For Our Heroes, a non-profit supporting wounded soldiers.

This year’s function kicked off in grand style. For the first time SCOF (Superformance Cobra Owner’s Forum) joined the TCC Spring Meet and hosted a welcoming party in the hotel’s parking lot (see sidebar for more details). Randall Thomas of SCOF helped coordinate the event while James and Terri Walker dispensed some Out-of-this-World margaritas. The party lasted until they ran out of ice, tequila, or consciousness!!

For those less adventurous, hundreds of miles of narrow, shade-covered, twisting Hill Country backroads awaited them.  While no “official” cruises were planned, Cobras could be seen from Bandera, to Fredericksburg, to Lukenbach, and even on the Austin F1 Track, the Circuit of the Americas

Friday evening, the Austin Chapter of the TCC, along with The Central Texas Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, held a fundraising Hamburger Cookout at the hotel. Jackie Riobi of Finishline Accessories donated the food while volunteers from CFF did the grilling. George Daulton of the Ohio Cobra Club was on hand selling raffle tickets for London Cobra Raffle Car.

On Saturday, Hershal and Paula Byrd hosted a BBQ picnic at their recently opened Crooked Oak Ranch just outside Fredericksburg. A scavenger hunt/poker run/Road Rally kept the attendees busy on the trek to Crooked Oak for the first ever Gumball Road Rally.

Saturday evening, a sit-down banquet was held at the hotel.  Almost 190 folks attended the dinner. Slideshows, videos, prize drawings filled the evening’s event. Tito’s Vodka and Finishline donated many prizes for the raffles. Bill Boeker of Corpus Christi, TX was selected as the 2014 TCC President and Laura Klestinec was elected to be the 2014 Texas Cobra Club Queen.

Brian Alexander of Lonestar Classics, James Yale of Radical Roadsters along with Keith Craft, and Lance Stander of Superformance were available to show their wares as well as participate in all of the events.  

This year’s Meet was the largest and most successful ever.  It was hard to say goodbye to so many good friends on Sunday morning but knowing that in only 360 days we would do it all over again made everyone happy!