Draggin main

Inside This week’s schedule — Page 2

Class reunion ready to rock with Music Festival — Page 3

Custom Classic forges ahead, despite crowding concerns — Page 3

Organizers anticipate huge economic impact.

— Page 7

Q&A: Rogers’ love for Buddy Holly is different.

Music Festival offers chance to hear Clovis Sound.

— Page 6

— Page 3

Organizers: Event offers glimpse into Clovis lore, activity for offline enjoyment.

— Page 2

Main Memories: What various residents remember about their times dragging Main Street.

— Pages 4-5

Q&A: Anthony says appeal for Valens is universal.

— Page 6

PAGE 2B ✦ SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017

DRAGGIN’ MAIN

THE EASTERN NEW MEXICO NEWS

Not a drag at all T

he people of Clovis refuse to let America’s favorite pasttime fade away the week of June 19 with Clovis’s Draggin’ Main.

Draggin’ Main consists of a car races, a parade, restaurant tours and a whole week of other events to celebrate Clovis’ past of dragging cars up and down Main Street.

Organizer Gene Porter said they celebrate it to keep their childhood past time alive and show today’s kids what they used to do.

“Instead of Facebook, we dragged Main,” said Porter.

The event kicks off Saturday, June 17 with the King of 305 Sprint Car races at Ned Houk Park and goes until Saturday night where an anticipated 800 cars will cruise Main Street.

“The young people of today really have no clue how fun it was for us,” said Porter. “I think its important that we have an option for our youths other than the Internet.”

Though several previous events like Miss Draggin’ Main and the drive in movie have been canceled due to expenses, other events have been added this year because of their partnership with the Clovis Music Festival.

Events such as 1950s style concert featuring Roy Orbison, Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly impersonators Thursday night and a heavy metal concert with Winger and Firehouse Friday night have been added.

“It’s important for our community to show not only a pasttime but show that there’s lots of cool things happening in Clovis,” said Porter.

File photo

A view from the 2014 Draggin’ Main event.

Schedule Monday ■ Tour of Clovis’ Classic Drive-ups, Foxy Drive in at 5 p.m.

Tuesday ■ Tour of Clovis’ Classic Drive-ups, Taco Box at 5 p.m.

Wednesday ■ Tour of Clovis’ Classic Drive-ups, Twin Cronnie at 5 p.m.

Thursday ■ Tour of Clovis’ Classic Drive-ups, Weinerschnitzel at 5 p.m.

■ 50’s Rock! Concert feat. Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Richie Valens, Marshall Auditorium at 7 p.m.

Friday ■ Plateau Custom Classic first games, Guy Leeder Softball Complex at 6 p.m.

■ Hair Metal! Concert feat. Winger and Firehouse, Marshall Auditorium at 7 p.m.

Saturday ■ Gearhead Gathering, Marshall Practice Field at 9 a.m.

■ Anti Car Show Car Meet, Marshall Practice Field at 9 a.m.

■ Parade, Main Street at 9:30 a.m.

■ Draggin’ Main, Main Street at 5 p.m.

Sunday ■ Plateau Custom Classic championship games, Guy Leeder Softball Complex at 6 p.m.

Courtesy photo: Ted Glasscock

Ted Glasscock shows a photo of one of his favorite cars for dragging Main Street in Clovis. See Page 4 for his memories of dragging Main.

THE EASTERN NEW MEXICO NEWS

DRAGGIN’ MAIN

SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017 ✦ PAGE 3B

Clovis sound reigns supreme

By Anna George STAFF WRITER ageorge@thenews.email

The Clovis County Chamber is expecting a full house June 23 for the final event of this year’s Clovis Music Festival featuring Winger and FireHouse.

The Clovis Music Festival is held annually to celebrate the artists that recorded at the Norman Petty Studio such as Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Ritchie Valens.

The festival is generally held in September to align with Holly’s birthday but got moved to June 17-25 due to consistent conflicts with home football games. This year it is being held in conjunction with Draggin’ Main.

The Clovis Music Festival will host professional impersonators of the most famous of the Petty recorders, tours of the studio June 20-22 as well as all the Draggin’ Main events from restaurant tours to the gearhead gathering.

Derek Cockrell, event coordinator for the Clovis Music Festival, said the expectation is to fill all 1,500 seats at the Marshall Auditorium for the Winger and Firehouse concert.

Tickets for the June 22 concert start at $20 while the June 23 show costs $30.

Prices rise at the door, though Cockrell does not

File photo

Tommy Vee plays his bass from a different angle during the 2016 Clovis Music Festival opening performance Auditorium. $112,000 because of market- sorships helping offset anticipate it coming to that. est,” Cockrell said.

“We believe in the music He said the two events are ing, artists, equipment and costs.

“It is the chamber’s and have seen a lot of inter- running the chamber around other expenses, with spon-

at Marshall Middle School biggest event and one we are very proud of,” said Cockrell.

Wildcat reunion ready to rock

By Anna George STAFF WRITER ageorge@thenews.email

The Clovis High School Class of 1975 is coming to “rock” the Clovis Music Festival and Draggin’ Main.

The class, one of three reunions taking place the weekend of June 23, could not wait another five or ten years after their 2015 40th class

reunion to meet up again.

“We had such an amazing time that we just couldn’t wait to see each other again,” said Marcy Anaya, an organizer of the event.

The class is coming together June 23 and 24 to celebrate their collective 60th birthday while the class of 1967 and 1977 celebrate their 50th and 40th reunions, respectively.

The class plans to watch the

parade and Draggin’ Main as a class, perched in front of the Curry County Chamber in rocking chairs.

“We want all our old timers to bring rocking chairs because Clovis rocks,” said Anaya.

The 1967 and 1975 class are each expecting 75-100 people to come from across the country. The Class of 1967 are flocking to join in with a banquet and tour of Clovis High

School.

“I am excited to become more acquainted with my classmates after 50 years,” said Class of 1967 Reunion Organizer Ardeth Leslie.

All three reunions take place in conjunction with the music festival and Draggin’ Main in order to give the class mates more to do together.

“I enjoyed my high school experience and made lots of friends. I

always look forward to seeing them again,” said Mayor David Lansford, organizer of the 1977 reunion.

He said their reunion has 50 people currently registered but that they are likely to see that number double by the time of the actual reunion.

“If we get 100 folks, it is likely to be a sweet time for everybody,” Lansford said.

DRAGGIN’ MAIN

PAGE 4B ✦ SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017

THE EASTERN NEW MEXICO NEWS

Main memories ...

W

R

onnie Smith remembers the two lanes going both ways on Clovis Main Street.

“We would go from First to where the Weinerschnitzel is now and then turn around on 14th,” said Smith.

He called Main a “hopping place” remembering all the hot rods and the pretty girls that came with them.

Smith would drag Main with a ‘51 Ford, too slow for racing but that did not stop him from joining in the fun.

“We never stayed home, the Juke box ran constantly,” said Smith.“It was just a fun time.”

Smith worked as a soda jerk at Twin Cronnie Drive-In before his driving years, the place where now the Desert Cruzers car club meets every Thursday night. They are keeping alive the tradition of Dragging Main by doing the best part: seeing everybody.

“You would drive up those two lanes and see everybody. If you were an underclassman, you could look into the cars and see how the upperclassmen did it. It was just about seeing everybody,” said Smith.

e asked some of the original Main Street draggers what they loved about the activity and how it sticks with them to this day.

Stories compiled by Anna George

P

ortales local Gary Lucas remembers hitting Main for the first time on a horse but that definitely was not the last time.

“We didn’t ride from Pat’s to Dubs but I did ride to the swimming pool and gave rides to girls who lived on the East side of town,” said Lucas.

Lucas, shown in a 1980s photograph, said he started draggin’ Main with his mom and eventually moved on to a horse and eventually to his very own car, even if he was not legal driving age.

“The cops were cool but, even so, the motor vehicle department refused to give me a license in the second grade even though I was already parking in front of the Cozy by the first,” said Lucas.

When Lucas was in the eighth grade, his grandfather won a 1951 Pontiac Deluxe in a raffle and brought it home for his grandson.

“Grandpa gave me that automobile and I went draggin’ Main in earnest,” said Lucas.“Dragging Main was having fist fights which tended to determine our pecking order for the rest of our lives. It was having sex for the first time, getting a sense of who we were, courting our spouses, chasing the ones we really wanted to be with, getting divorced, getting up the nerve to leave town and facing our fears about life. It was a way of life.”

B

etsy Jones said her favorite part of dragging Main was the Chinese fire drills.

“We would hit a red light and everyone would jump out of the car and change seats,” Jones said.

“We got honked at a lot but we never left anybody behind.”

She said one practice of dragging Main that always confused her was watching all the other girls “dress to the nines” then ignore all the boys they had dressed for.

“That always just confused me and that wasn’t who I was,” she said.

Jones drove a ‘64 Falcon that she once put 115 miles on in one night going up and down Main street. She recalled that it had nearly no power and they would practically have to will it across the street.

But that would never stop her.

R

oy Devenport remembers getting into trouble dragging Main in his 1955 Chevy.

Devenport said he had the biggest muffler he could get his hands on in his 4-speed Bel Air. He remembers pulling up to a red light and being challenged by another driver.

“He pulled up and said ‘you want to go?’ so I revved my engine as loud as I could and that thing was loud,” said Devenport.

Devenport does not recall whether or not he won the race because that was not the important part. The important part came when he drove back around the block.

“I came back and found that a bunch of the store windows near that light were broken from the sound of my car,” said Devenport.“I didn’t go back downtown for like a month.”

D

iane and George Davis first met while they were dragging main.

Diane is native to Texico and George is from Clovis. Both ventured to Main Street, as so many teenagers did, with buddies of theirs.

Those buddies happened to be cousins and they found themselves stuffed into the same car together. They did this same practice for several nights before George finally willed up the courage to ask her on a date.

“We would drive together for weeks. Let’s just say it wasn’t love at first sight,” laughed Diane.

The couple has now been married 52 years and have two sons.

George said he cannot imagine not getting to drag Main as a kid.

“I just don’t know where kids today go,” he said.“What do they do?”

Diane said her favorite part about dragging Main was that they met people from all over and that is how she was able to meet her husband.

L

inda Hoffman started her draggin’ Main career early. Before she could drive, she remembers begging her mom to take her out on the strip.

“Then I would slide down in the seat so no one could see that I was dragging main with my mom,” said Hoffman.

The year was 1965 and Hoffman, a freshman in high school, was stuck driving among the cool kids with her little sisters in the back seat and her mom at the wheel. Hoffman did not end up getting her license until she was out of high school.

Eventually, she graduated to cruising with her friends and then she actually graduated. But that did not end her cruising Main career.

Years later, the roles would be reversed.

Hoffman, before her mother’s death in 2012, would pick her mom up and they would grab a Coke and cruise the streets, catching up.

“I cherish those times,” said Hoffman.

THE EASTERN NEW MEXICO NEWS

DRAGGIN’ MAIN

SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017 ✦ PAGE 5B

Main memories ...

W

alter Bradley had been waiting years for this. It was him and a Muleshoe driver. Bradley was nestled in the seat of his 1946 Ford, revving the engine at his opponent in a Plymouth as they race down 21st Street in 1963.

They started pretty even on the fourth of a mile drag, the race that was supposed to settle all their trash talking once and for all.

Nearing the end of the race, Walter pulls ahead just two inches, he said. He was actually going to win it, make all that waste of breath worth it.

Then his transmission blew. The Muleshoe guy pulled ahead and won.

“And, well, that blew that, but oh well,” said Bradley.

Bradley, a Clovis native who owns the Twin Cronnie Drive-In, said he worked at a gas station just down the street back in the ‘50s and would use the lift to fix his cars.

“We spent all our time and money on those cars,” he said.

Z

R

onnie and Robert Spence were quite the rebel brothers when they were younger.

“All we did was drink cold beer and chase girls, that’s what dragging main was about,” said Robert.

Ronnie said his rebellion fell into racing between lights in his 1955 Chevy, a practice which allowed him to win a lot.

However, their rebellion could get them in trouble. Robert recalled a time that his girl chasing and beer drinking ended up with a friend of his girlfriend driving his ‘57 Chevy.

“She took a sudden left turn when there was someone coming and we got hit,” he said.

He said it was funny though because as his car was being towed away, he just went on doing the same, fun things.

ane Fullerton enjoyed seeing everybody but that was not why she came out to drag main. She came to meet boys.

Fullerton said she remembers her friends “borrowing” their parents’ cars and going up and down the strip, saying hello to everybody they saw, because everyone knew each other.

“They would all stop to say and gossiped about the people walking by. That was trouble,” said Fullerton.

She said she only dated one local boy because

all the rest of them were naval cadets in training for World War II. Those were the ones she wanted.

She said she specifically members a trumpet player from Cleveland who walked her home after a date.

“When he walked me home, he held out his hand for my key. He was shocked when I told him we didn’t lock our doors in Portales,” she said.

But he was not the first and would not be the last boy that Fullerton met on Main.

P

ortales dragger Ted Glasscock was one of several teens stuffed into the Twin Cronnie Drive-In parking lot in the late 1960s.

“When Pat’s (Twin Cronnies) got too full, the cars sort of spread into the Allsup’s parking lot that had been recently built,” said Glasscock.

“We would watch people shoot the drag; we did not drag Main.”

He remembers chasing cars down to talk to people he knew and sipping Cokes in the parking lot.

But one night particularly stuck out in his mind.

“My buddies and I parked over (at the Allsup’s) to go get a Coke at Pat’s. Before we could get very far, the cops told us we had to move if we weren’t going to buy anything from the Allsup’s,” said Glasscock.

“How dare they run us off our turf!”

File photo

Cars and bikes, young and old, find their way into the annual Draggin’ Main event.

PAGE 6B ✦ SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017

DRAGGIN’ MAIN

THE EASTERN NEW MEXICO NEWS

Behind the Music

Being Buddy?

Oh, boy ❏ Johnny Rogers has plenty of impressions, experiences in 32-year musical career.

By Anna George STAFF WRITER ageorge@thenews.email

F

rom Elvis Presley to Jimi Hendrix, Prince to John Travolta, Bruno Mars to Justin Timberlake, Johnny Rogers uses his “God given talent” to impersonate anyone. But he admits the love he has for Buddy Holly is different.

Rogers, a 32-year impersonating veteran, will be performing the Buddy Holly Tribute at this year’s Clovis Music Festival for the fifth time.

Rogers has been impersonating ever since he was a kid in Jackson, Tennessee, when he first heard Holly and his life was changed.

His favorite song to perform is “Oh, Boy.” “You can just tell when he sings that song that he is on top of the world,” said Rogers.

Rogers said he loves his line of work.

“I’m just a guy that loves life and enjoys what I do for a living,” he said.

Why Buddy Holly?

I can’t explain it because I am a third cousin to Elvis Presley. My father was a (disc jockey) and a song writer who always pushed me towards music and I never wantFile photo: Kevin Wilson ed anything to do with it. But I heard him Johnny Rogers, performing as the late Buddy Holly, entertains the crowd during the 2016 Clovis Music Festival. for the first time when I was 15 and it turned a switch on. little 8-year-old boy’s neck and say, “This is mean to you? members of the Bee Gees to Billy Corgan yours now.” I get a Facebook message from It represents a simpler, more innocent time from the Smashing Pumpkins.

What’s your favorite part of impersonathis mom a few days later and find out that in America. When you hear Buddy Holly, ing? this kid was at my concert last year and has you think of a warm slice of apple pie, of What’s your favorite memory?

Playing Buddy Holly for Buddy Holly’s I used to play concerts for kids at the Surf been asking for a guitar ever since. God just sock hops, of going steady with a girl and brother, playing Prince for Prince’s sister, puts me in the right places. giving her your high school ring. You think Ballroom, where Buddy did his last show, singing “Peggy Sue” to Peggy Sue. It is just and I just got this feeling. So I jump off of driving on Friday nights. This was a time the people I have been able to meet, from when all the stars just aligned perfectly. stage and I put this $1,500 guitar around this What does this generation of music

Valens actor says appeal is universal ❏ Ray Anthony says Latino flavor set Valens apart from era’s other musicians as driving force in 1950s.

By Anna George STAFF WRITER ageorge@thenews.email

T

he life of the Latino scene in the 1950s is coming to Clovis this June in the form of Ray Anthony, a 30-years running Ritchie Valens impersonator.

Anthony is coming along, faux Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, to celebrate the Clovis Music Festival and the people that recorded in the Norman Petty Recording Studio.

Anthony began his career after several audience members told him he looked like Ritchie Valens following the release of the 1987 film La Bamba.

“Everyone knows Ritchie Valens in one form or another,” said Anthony. “His music was a driving force in the 1950s.”

Why Ritchie Valens?

Because his music was different. It had that Latino flavor; it was driving music. I just liked it, especially the drums. His music was special.

What drew you to impersonating?

Nothing beats 50s and 60s music. People understand what the singer is saying, it is not derogatory, it is not political. It is good clean music. You listen to it and you always walk away humming something. I do not get anything from today’s music. I always go back to the 50s and 60s.

What does that generation of music mean to you?

Simplicity, fun and excitement. When I first started playing guitar, I wanted to be Elvis. He did not even play that much guitar but that was the big image. I would stand in front of the mirror and wag my legs trying to be him. Eventually, I moved on to Bill Haley, Ed Cochran, Buddy, Ritchie. There’s just so much to go around.

What is your earliest memory of listening to Ritchie?

I remember watching the movie “American Graffiti,” plus my parents had his records.

Courtesy photo

What style of music influences you most?

I can’t pick any one style because I listen to everything. Music is international. I do not like all of it; Jazz is a foreign language to me. But I listen to everything and play a little of everything.

DRAGGIN’ MAIN

THE EASTERN NEW MEXICO NEWS

SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017 ✦ PAGE 7B File Photo

Steve Hyatt hits a ground ball for a base hit during last year’s Custom Classic Softball Tournament at the Guy Leeder Softball Complex.

Below: Staff Photo: Anna George

Margaret Dziamba, 20, pitches for the Cannon Air Force Base women’s team New Skillz in preparation for the Custom Classic, starting Friday afternoon at Guy Leeder Softball Complex.

Keeping it Classic ❏ Softball tourney director has fears overloading weekend with events will mean diminishing returns.

By Anna George STAFF WRITER ageorge@thenews.email

The Annual Plateau Custom Classic is going on its 34th year, inviting over 100 teams to come compete at all hours of the day and night.

The softball tournament is set to begin at 6 p.m. June 23 with the last games end around 6 p.m. on June 25.

The tournament has seen an average of 115-130 teams registering in past years from all over the area despite a down year of 109 last year.

The tournament is double-elimination in all divisions, with championship games set for Sunday.

Tournament Coordinator Roger Jackson said there is a worry about out-of-town teams having to drop out due to lack of rooms and resources because of the Clovis Music Festival and Draggin’ Main occurring on the same weekend.

“If they can’t get rooms, they don’t come and if they don’t come, the town loses money. But the tournament will go on, like always,” said Jackson.

Taking place at the Guy Leeder

Softball Complex, Jackson said the event is kid-friendly and free.

“Most of our current players came with their parents years ago,” said Jackson.

He said the event is bound to turn out well because of a strong crew and good organization by the Clovis Softball Association.

“We have good umpires, good directors, good leaders and good fields that they take care of,” Jackson said.

He said the best teams in this tournament will prevail because of teamwork and dedication.

“To win this you have to have talent, of course, but you also have to have cohesiveness and a family atmosphere,” said Jackson.

Lodgers have worries about weekend

By Anna George STAFF WRITER ageorge@thenews.email

Local hotels are scrambling to guarantee they have enough rooms to accommodate the weekend of June 23 with thousands of people flooding into town for the Plateau Custom Classic Softball Tournament, the Clovis Music Festival and Draggin’ Main.

John Murphy, the general manager of Comfort Inn and Super 8, said he has worries about scaring potential guests away with so many people in town at once.

“I think when guests from all three entities see how much is going on in Clovis it might shy them away from Clovis,” said Murphy. “When you flood a town, it’s going to be hard to maintain.”

He said his biggest worry is hurt-

“We have a really good working relationship with the other hotels in town. If we run out then we call each other, generally, and I can’t imagine it would be different this weekend.”

— Abbie Virgil, director of sales for Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Clovis

ing people’s loyalty to the companies by not be able to provide them their usual accommodations.

“It’s kind of a black eye for us,” said Murphy.

Roger Jackson, Clovis Softball Association Tournament Coordinator, said he is worried that the economic impact of the Custom Classic will be smaller this year because of all the events.

“Anything that affects Clovis, affects the softball tournament because we are Clovis,” said Jackson.

Jackson said he uses an algorithm from the New Mexico Tourism

Association and the New Mexico Parks and Recreation Association to configure the amount of money being put into the economy by the tournament.

Jackson estimates $448, 875 was flowed into the Clovis economy through food, lodging and recreation last year and the year before when their number of teams were untraditionally low with 109 in 2016 and 110 in 2015.

“A lot of money goes back into this town and that is derived threetimes,” said Jackson, referring to money being spent on people’s paychecks who then spend the money

in town again.

He said he cannot predict the monetary impact of the pile up of events but has seen teams already having trouble finding lodging.

“We don’t know what the effect is going to be yet,” said Murphy. “It could be good and it could be bad.”

Hotels farther from the softball activity are less worried about negative impact.

“Oftentimes we have quiet weekends but with these events we are hoping for a sellout,” said Abbie Virgil, director of sales for the Fairfield Inn by Marriott.

She said they see little softball activity but Draggin’ Main is a big deal in their hotels and they are hoping the music festival will add to that.

She said she is not worried about running out of rooms not only in their hotel but in Clovis in general.

“We have a really good working relationship with the other hotels in town. If we run out then we call each other, generally, and I can’t imagine it would be different this weekend,” said Virgil.

Derek Cockrell, volunteer director of the Clovis Music Festival, said he does not necessarily see running out of rooms as a bad thing.

“That’s a problem that we would like to have,” he said, suggesting Portales as an alternate option for lodging.

Cockrell said he estimates that the Clovis Music Festival and Draggin’ Main will match the Custom Classic at half a million dollars, in a conservative estimate.

“This is the biggest economic of any (chamber) event for the summer, if not the whole year,” said Cockrell.

PAGE 8B ✦ SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017

THE EASTERN NEW MEXICO NEWS