Car show commits to The Ranch

LOVELAND – After an eight-year run at the Pikes Peak International Raceway near Colorado Springs, the Colorado Classic car show will motor into Northern Colorado this summer, pulling along about 40,000 visitors.

Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, the California-based promoter that organizes the Colorado Classic, confirmed that it picked The Ranch in Loveland for the three-day program.

“It would rank as the third-largest event we’ll have,´ said Jay Hardy, general manager for The Ranch, which includes the Budweiser Events Center.

Only the Thunder in the Rockies Harley-Davidson rally, which drew about 60,000 on early September, and the annual Larimer County Fair – 50,000 in August – are larger.

The Colorado Classic, scheduled for June 2-4, is a likely boon to restaurants and hotels near The Ranch because of the composition of its crowd. About 4,000 people at the show will be presenters – owners of classic cars or auto parts and memorabilia vendors – of whom many will travel to the region from out of town, said Harry Daviess, vice president for event operations for Goodguys.

“Half our participants, the show car people, come from over 200 miles way,” he said. “They’ll be getting hotel rooms for three days.”

The heart of the Colorado Classic program is the display of about 1,800 cars at least 30 years old. The lineup includes muscle cars, hot rods, classics and customs.

Features also include an automotive swap meet, a model car show, live music and a children’s area with carnival-like amusements.

Goodguys relocated the event after the Pikes Peak International Raceway closed down last fall. The promoters intentionally sought a site outside the Denver area to simplify ease of access, Daviess said.

As planned, the Colorado Classic will be a “campus-wide” event, using all but the indoor horse arena at 243-acre facility, Hardy said.

The estimated attendance of 40,000 is based on previous attendance figures at Pikes Peak International, and Goodguys’ experience with growing audiences at all of its 25 car shows across the country.

“We’ve annually seen growth of 5 to 7 percent,” Daviess said. “That’s car attendance. For spectator attendance (growth) is more like 3 percent.”

He attributes the crowd volumes to the popularity of older cars with Baby Boomers, the generation of Americans that was born between 1946 and 1964.

“It seems to be the Baby Boomer who has got the extra money,” Daviess said. “They seem to like to go back to the high school car they drove around.”

Car hobbyists are known to spend up to $150,000 to customize cars, he said. Evidently they’ll also plunk down the admission fee of $15 that Colorado Classic will charge at the gate for an experience that Goodguys compares to “walking onto the set of ‘American Graffiti.'”

Goodguys is a member organization, claiming about 70,000 members worldwide and about 2,000 in Colorado. About one-third of the membership is between 40 and 49 years old.

Growing ahead of schedule

The Colorado Classic show also makes it likely that The Ranch, now in its third year of existence, will increase its attendance again.

The Ranch, which opened in September 2003, drew an estimated 780,000 people during its first 12 months in business, and another 850,000 for the period that ended in September 2005.

The Budweiser Events Center, home to the Colorado Eagles professional hockey team and Colorado Chill professional basketball team, saw its usage increase as well. The arena held 165 events during the first year and 174 events in the second year, Hardy said. Some of that increase was due to the Eagles’ long run in the Central Hockey League playoffs last year that led to the league championship.

“As we head into year three, we’ll probably grow that (event total) by seven or eight additional events,” Hardy said.

Total revenue for The Ranch, which includes an annual $750,000 county sales tax allotment that goes toward facility expansion, was $6.4 million in the second year, up from $5.5 million the first year.

The Ranch is two years ahead of projections for attendance and revenue, according to Hardy. For that reason, Larimer County has authorized the next phase of construction – a 26,000-square-foot 4-H building.

Currently, about 390,000 square feet of covered space has been constructed at The Ranch. The long-range master plan calls for 1.05 million square feet.

Another project scheduled for this year is the addition of a five-acre lawn on the east side of the Budweiser Center, designed as an amphitheater for musical programs.

“We see ourselves getting into music festivals, not this summer but possibly next summer,” Hardy said.

Still another phase that could unfold this year at The Ranch is planning for 70 acres of commercial projects on The Ranch grounds. In its original layout, 92 acres of the 243-acre property was set aside for commercial development. To date, only a 20-acre parcel on the south side of The Ranch – the site of a new Embassy Suites Hotel and convention center – has been staked out.

On Feb. 2, Hardy is scheduled to meet with the Larimer County commissioners to talk about the master plan.

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