The 16th Annual Event Draws Thousands of Cars

There were nearly 3000 vehicles for this year’s show, featuring a wide range of rides, making it the largest single day car cruise and show in the country. The number of lives CFAC has saved over the years is even bigger than that and that’s the real point of the event. It’s a spectacular get together that provides enough eye candy for car guys to last the whole winter season, but more important than the machines is the free, on-site prostate cancer testing that the organizers have been doing for 16 years now. Read the interview below with Cruisin’ for a Cure founder, Debbie Baker, for more details.

Of course many of the throng attending are there simply to have a good time, check the cars, maybe even buy one, and CFAC does have everything you could want from a car show from its Hangar showcasing some of finest vehicles to the Cacklefest and live music entertainment.

It’s also an opportunity for consumers to connect with their favorite brands. Meguiars, Auto Club of Southern California (AAA), Firestone, Magnuson, MagnaFlow, Allen Tire Co, Connell Chevrolet, Guaranty Chevrolet, Budnik, Farrell’s Ice Cream, Lucas Oil, Interstate Batteries, Theodore Robins Ford, B&M/Hurst/Flowmaster, Mecum Auctions, D&P Classics, Barlow Insurance, D&D Golf, and O’Reilly were all there in support of the show!

Special recognition should also go to Hot Rods Unlimited, Over the Hill Berdoo Gang and the Pickups Limited which collectively give CFAC a huge donation each year as well. This year’s event raised over a million dollars for the cure.

If you missed it, put it on the calendar for 2016, preparations have already started. That’s right, when you’re running a show of this size you pretty much need the full year to get ready.

CFAC — Past Present and Future

an Interview with Debbie Baker

The collection of cars at CFAC was incredible. Can you tell us the number of vehicles that were at the show?

We had over 2800 cars. Yes, the cars were incredible, especially in the Hangar Building, thanks to Rick and Tempie Abate. Rick does deserve recognition for all of his hard work getting the hand picked cars from every show that he attended throughout the year.

Roughly how many people got tested at the event?

We did over 825 PSAs (blood tests) and over 250 DREs. We saved 128 men with elevated PSAs and 16 men with suspicious lumps from the DREs so we saved A TOTAL OF 144 men this year! Next year on 9/24/2016 we will start testing at 6 am for the early birds until 4 pm. In the past it has been 15% of those tested with elevated numbers. The free prostate screening is so simple, and you get the results in approximately two weeks. Then they can also do the DRE (which is the digital rectal exam—the guys call it the “finger way”) and that is the only way the doctors will know if there is a lump. Last year alone, they did about 283 DREs and 24 men had suspicious lumps, so there you go.

For those who don’t know, would you mind giving us a little background on how the show got started 16 years ago? 

I started this show in 1999 when my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer and it was such a “hush hush thing”. No one even knew what it was or where the gland was or what its purpose was. All we ever heard about and continue to hear about is breast cancer. I lobbied while President Clinton was in office and he made September National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. I thought what better way to get guys tested than to get them to a car show and provide free screening. Many were reluntant back then, but we’ve tested well over 10,000 men, literally saving over 4,000 from this simple test. To this day I still get letters from wives, mothers, daughters, saying thank you for saving their lives.

Guys take care of their cars, change the oil, tires, etc., so why not take care of their bodies. Women do it once a year, the guys can do it too. More and more women come out to enjoy the show with them, because most of the time the women help them fill out the simple form of about 10 questions. There were probably 400 guys this year alone that were proudly wearing the light blue t-shirt that said “survivor” on it. In the survivor photo there is a gentleman that turned 100 years old and has been a prostate cancer survivor for 30 years and his son next to him also is a survivor. The son’s name is Tom Baker, who’s a CFAC volunteer.

My husband fought the disease for 12 years but lost his battle seven years ago. I would never want any man to go through this disease. If I had not insisted 19 years ago (we had 16 years difference in our age) that he go in and get his checked, he would not have even lived three years. One of our volunteers for 10 years, who is 60 years old, told me three years ago he could not help anymore. When I asked him why, he said he had prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. I asked if he found out at the show and his reply was “No, never tested, never thought it would happen to me.” It’s so sad.  If men have a family history of a grandfather or father or uncle who had prostate cancer, I suggest to them that they get the baseline blood test at age 35, otherwise start at 40.

What do you think have been some of the contributing factors to the success of CFAC? 

The success of the show is due to all of the volunteers, especially Ross Kroenert, who does the complete show layout and sets each vendor in place on Thursday and Friday. No one gets paid, including me. We are all volunteers. We do it because we believe in it, and love the fact we are saving lives.

We have over 100 volunteers who set up the buildings, mark the spaces, bring all the cars in very organized and quickly, and working the various booths. Our show continues to grow and be the biggest one day event in the nation because of how organized we are. Also, I want to thank Dave McClellan for being our MC all day.

You have some really big show sponsors, can you tell us about their involvement? 

Our sponsors enjoy our event because they know they are helping us save our men. They all know that CFAC is the save-your-life car show. They are all proud to be a part of this, and some of the men that are saved and have been saved are vendors or their employees. All our major sponsors, Meguiars’, AAA, Firestone Complete Auto Care, MagnaFlow, O’Reilly, Interstate Batteries, Budnik, B&MHurst/Flowmaster, Lucas, Mecum, Magnuson, Edelbrock, Connell Chevrolet and Guaranty Chevrolet and Farrell’s, and Bound By Marketing, our website, will continue to be a sponsor. They love the show and they still have their Sunday to relax, being a one-day show.

What goals do you have for CFAC?

Our goal is to continue to save lives. We are moving forward with KSK Cancer Center of Irvine, as our beneficiary for their prostate cancer research program. Many of the doctors had left City of Hope and they are all local here in Orange County and work out of Hoag. We had seven urologists working it this year instead of two; we also were able to have five rooms available to do the DREs instead of one, and I believe we will continue to have more men now doing the DREs at our event, and saving more men each year.

KSK CCOI (KSK Cancer Center of Irvine) is amazing, all the doctors even folded up and carried the heavy 8-foot tables and chairs after the event. Many of the survivors have been treated by the urologists at the event.

What can we expect for next year’s show? 

More lives saved, and an even bigger display of cars in the Hangar, thanks to Rick Abate and Fred DeFalco. The Cars for Sale building sells out quickly, the VIP inside parking fills up quickly, and the event will just be bigger and better.

Like I said before, if it were not for all of the volunteers and our sponsors, I could not do it. Yes, I live and breathe CFAC 24/7, but it is the sponsors and all of the volunteers that deserve recognition.

When do you start working on the 17th show? 

I was working on the September 24, 2016 (our 17th annual) the day of our show this year. I am still trying to input all the names of cars that register the day of; then we have to get our thank you letter and the new flyer ready which will be mailed out to at least 15,000+ participants. So excited about next year!

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