Welcome to final installment – Part 3 of ManCaveSite.org attending the Weekend of Wheels Convention at the Ahern Hotel in Las Vegas. Just to recap, the primary purpose of the trip was twofold, primarily to support Anthony Schmidt who is an Autistic photographer who does amazing work and was being inducted into the Hall of Honor at the event and second to help promote the website.
After a great week of visiting model car enthusiasts and vendors, it was Saturday the day of the main event, the Hall of Honor banquet. It was a star-studded event with most of them being honored during the event.
ManCaveSite.org sponsored a table at the banquet in Anthony’s honor. We met up with Anthony and his mom Ramona prior to the dinner and we got reacquainted. We talked about how excited Anthony was and how well he was handling everything. Ramona was surprised how many people knew who Anthony was. He is really getting a reputation among auto enthusiasts from around the world.
Once we were allowed inside, we picked out a table to enjoy dinner and the festivities. Anthony doesn’t do well with people watching him eat, so the two of them decided to find a better location to view the event. People started to fill the tables shortly after that and we were surrounded by folks very quickly and we started to introduce ourselves.
Johnny Jimenez Jr, the owner of the Toy Shack and a regular on the TV show Pawn Stars sat at the table next to us and he ask if some of his group could also sit at our table. Of course, we said yes. His table filled up quickly with the stars from the Fast of the Furious series and Fit Rich the stunt double for Van Diesel.
At our table we got to know Ryan Ochoa who stars in the Disney series Pair of Kings and Chuck Chambers on the Nickelodeon series iCarly along with his business manager and best friend who describes himself as the “idea guy”. You can find a complete list of some of the notable attendees in our Part 2 article.
There were a lot of highlights at the show. The awards ceremony was hosted by MTV’s Mad Mike from Pimp my Ride along side the show organizer. From our table we could see SGT Slaughter laughing it up Erik Estrada. Catherine Back from Dukes of Hazard was given a customized gift which she seemed to really cherish.
The moment arrived for Anthony to receive his honorary certificate and ring made by Jensen’s. They called Anthony up to the stage and they played a short video of the still photos Anthony had produced. The emcee read a quick bio of all the accolades Anthony had achieved from Magazine features to numerous press mentions. Anthony couldn’t wait to put his ring on and did so right on stage. They said that was the first time anyone put their ring on while on stage and they would like to see more of that in the future. Anthony thanked everyone for all their support and left the stage to a huge round of applause. After the banquet I got a chance to see the ring up close. It was very impressive. Like Super Bowl rings you’ve seen. Before we left, we saw Anthony signing one of his calendars for Catherine Bach. How cool is that.
Overall, it was a good event and a unique experience. We hope we spread the Man Cave word and maybe sparked some interest in the Man Cave hobby. Until next time!
Cave On!