Meet Mike Pt. 1: Woodward Dream Cruise, Challengers and Thai Food

This is the first in a series of thoughts from Mike Accavitti, the director of Dodge and SRT global marketing and self-avowed, lifelong Mopar enthusiast. In these coming installments, we’ll take you along the path Mike followed from childhood fan to key executive in the rebirth of the Challenger. – RLD

Welcome to Red Letter Dodge! I’m Mike Accavitti coming to you live from the Woodward Dream Cruise – the world’s largest one-day cruise — taking place each August along metro Detroit’s famous drag. For those who can’t be here, let me try to capture some of it for you with some quick thoughts from a seasoned vet.

As a diehard fan of all things automotive, I’m one of the thousands who looks forward to this event just for the simple enjoyment of seeing legendary vehicles and their owners enjoy some quality time together. The idea is simple…get out your best car and take a leisurely spin up and down Woodward.

For those driving – as I will be from time to time in my 1970 Challenger T/A – it’s a chance to show off your pride and joy in a place where people truly appreciate the classics. For those watching in lawn chairs up and down Woodward – and believe me, they’ve been set up since last Monday in some places – it’s a chance to sit back and relax as some of the finest sheet metal ever to grace asphalt rolls on by.

The cruise used to be a simple, one-day event when it originated. It has now grown into a week-long extravaganza leading up to the official cruise on Saturday. In fact, the best crusing is done before the big day. Every night for the week preceding the cruise, more and more classics cruise Woodward. People sit along the sides of the roads for miles to enjoy the cruisers going by. Sitting, talking with the friends, eating, smoking a cigar, whatever. Spending nice Michigan summer evenings looking at great cars and shooting the breeze.

My wife and I spent two nights out there last year. On Tuesday, I hurried home, fired up the T/A and drove to a local Thai place, grabbed an order of Chicken Pad Thai and found a great spot road side to enjoy a non-traditional dinner and a show.

The next night, we grabbed a pizza and found a different spot to view the parade. I swear, there are so many cars out there, each night you see different cars. It is a car lovers dream…a car show where you sit back and the classics come to you. All the car nuts are basically the same. You hear them talking to whoever will listen… “Oh that is a 440 six pack, only made that model in 69 1/2″, “that one is a LT-1, aluminum block”, “look at the air grabber hood scoop”… And so on and so on.

So c’mon, grab some pad thai, find a lawn chair and enjoy. For more photos of Challengers and the Cruise, click here.

Coming Next: Mike talks about falling in love with the Challenger as a kid and chasing it all the way to his purchase of a 1970 classic and to his current job helping give the Challenger new life in 2008.