(Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) I had a wonderful Thursday evening the other week. It has been a hot and muggy August here in Southeastern Pennsylvania but on this night in particular the temps and humidity relented just long enough for a bunch of friends and like-minded folks to get their hot rods out for a nice relaxing gathering at our local Sonic Drive-In.

The Sonic in Morgantown, Pa was hosting a large Thursday night cruise night for many years, I have even chronicled a few on BangShift, but like many things, the pandemic put a halt to them. Yet, even as we mostly emerged from that nightmare and things returned to normal, the weekly cruise nights never really got going again. A few stalwarts would show up and hang out but not even close to the original numbers from previous years. But this particular week a buddy of mine, James Joyce made post on Facebook, stating simply, “Let’s hang out at Sonic this week! Who’s in?” Others commented that they were in and suddenly it seemed like it could be a real happening. The weather cooperated and about 40 cars showed up. A bunch of real life and Facebook friends gathered for a fun night of bullshitting and bench racing. It was said many times that evening how much this type of thing was missed and I agreed.

I spend an inordinate amount of time at racetracks and big car shows but the small, relaxed mid-week hangs can’t be beat sometimes. If you have local cruises and Cars and Coffee style events near you, support them or they can go away. Get out and do some shit!