When asked on Tuesday if it was a good time for an interview, the new president of the 91原创 Good Times Cruise-In Society started laughing, then he said yes.
The last few weeks leading up to the Saturday, Sept. 7 event have been a busy time for Eric Taylor and the other volunteers with the society.
So busy that Taylor, owner of Valley Cut Steel, took this week off from work to better concentrate on Cruise-In preparations and was beginning to think he should have taken the week following as well in order to recover.
鈥淭he amount of work that this takes is astonishing,鈥� Taylor said.
鈥淭he people that we have doing this show, I don鈥檛 know how a small crew [like them] can do this.鈥�
The new president took over this year after Riccardo Sestito ended a seven-year run in the top job.
So far, Taylor said, things seem to be going well.
鈥淓verything is coming along as we expected,鈥� he said.
About 500 cars have registered for the charity event, down slightly from last year鈥檚 record turnout.
The weather forecast was calling for cloudy skies on Saturday with a small chance of rain.
And then there is the Friday night before the Cruise-In, when hot rod owners usually stage an informal drive through 91原创 City.
Taylor made a public plea (see letters, page 9) for good behavior, saying the preliminary to the actual Cruise-In should not be an excuse for public drunkenness, or doing doughnuts and burn-outs on residential streets.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want anyone to come along and spoil our party,鈥� Taylor told The Times.
Bad behavior was one of the reasons the Cruise-In was cancelled in 2010.
Since then, a heavy police presence has been a regular feature of the Friday lead-in.
