Elic Brymer has been in the West Texas Street Rod Association for about five years now and one of the things he loves most about being in the group is going to different car shows and meeting new friends.
He describes the association as a family.
“We help each other out when there are situations like if someone’s car breaks down or needs something done,” Brymer said. “We go to car shows and travel together when we can. There’s like 10 or 12 of us going to a show in Vernon in August and a bunch of us will travel together.”
Brymer will be one of many people who will be participating in this week’s Father’s Day Car Show fundraiser that the West Texas Street Rod Association will be doing to raise money for the West Texas Hope House.
The event will take place from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday at Crossroads Church with benefits going to the West Texas Gifts of Hope Inc.
Located at 700 W. First, the Hope House, which is part of the West Texas Gifts of Hope, is a place of lodging for patients who are seeking help during cancer treatment. The goal is to provide comfort for cancer patients who are referred by the West Texas Cancer Center.
“We work closely with Texas Oncology of Odessa and we handle over 300 square miles of West Texas, which includes Terlingua, Presidio, the Big Bend area and Carlsbad N.M., too,” Executive Director of Hope House Brenda Medlock said. “Hope House is a home where, if you’re from out of town, 30 miles outside of Odessa or Ector County, and if we have openings, you can come and stay here if you’re receiving your treatment.”
Brymer has 10 cars with five of them Chevy Corvettes. His collection ranges from a 1941 Plymouth to a 2022 Corvette.
He says he’ll be bringing all five of his Corvettes to the show on Sunday.
Working on cars is not just a hobby for him, but rather one that runs in his entire family.
“It’s a good hobby,” Brymer said. “It’s a family hobby. My daughter’s in it and my son-in-law is in it and my stepdaughter likes them. My son has three cars himself. My son-in-law has two. It’s a good group of people. You meet a lot of good friends. We go to car shows and you get to meet new people and fun people.”
His favorite car of all time is the 1963 Split Window Corvette, very similar to the one featured on the 1980s show “Stingray.”
“They had a black Corvette (in that show) and I loved that car and fell in love with it like that,” Brymer said.
This will be the second consecutive year that the West Texas Street Rod Association will be putting on a car show for Hope House.
“This year, with everything lifted, we said we wanted to do one and do it in June,” Medlock said. “They got together and collaborated on this. It’s exciting. Hopefully, there’ll be about 100 cars that’ll show up. But also, they will have games and food trucks for over 1,000 men. It’s going to be a lot of fun to honor the dads and to give back to the community.”
One of the West Texas Gifts of Hope’s board members, Lance Temple, has talked about his experience when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and how he came to know the organization through its lunch program.
In that program, volunteers would go up to a person who was receiving chemo and ask them if they wanted a sandwich, drink, cookie or Jell-O or other items. Temple remembered the two women who volunteered and how kind they were and they offered empathy. He didn’t realize it was West Texas Gifts of Hope that was serving lunch at the cancer center and he never forgot their generosity.
“It’s one of those things that’s really a difficult time in people’s lives,” Temple said. “They need something to look forward to that’s positive and you need these people that are involved … When you have something like that, it’s an awesome thing.”
“A lot of people don’t know that we do new patient care bags and it’s for radiation and for chemo, or we assist with transportation,” Medlock said. “A lot of people don’t even know about Hope House. We have been 100 percent occupied which is a blessing that we can give assists to people from out of town so that they don’t have to drive back and forth to receive their treatment.”
Temple, who is also the general manager at Shamrock Steel, is now cancer-free. He has served on the board of West Texas Gifts of Hope for about two months and has been a car fanatic for years.
“My dad and I worked on a Barracuda when I was in high school and we’ve been to drag races and car shows and worked on (other) cars,” Temple said. “Our newest project is the 2019 Hellcat. It’s fun to drive. All the money will go to the Hope House, so it’s an awesome deal.”
West Texas Street Rod Association President Chuck Leckbee said they are expecting around 100-120 cars at Sunday’s show.
“Hopefully there’ll be more,” Leckbee said. “The more cars, the more money we raise for the Hope House, which is a great organization here in Odessa. I’m afraid that the 100-degree weather will keep some out, but let’s hope they come out and enjoy it.”
Leckbee says the West Texas Street Rod Association tries to appeal to all car lovers.
“Our group has anywhere from the 1920s to the 2000s model cars,” Leckbee said. “The club was established in 1972 as mostly a street rod type of cars that were in the 30s, 40s and 50s. But now, with the way things are going, we don’t have a limit on cars or year makes. If you love cars and if you love good family fellowship, that’s what we do at West Texas Street Rods.”
Leckbee said the Street Rod Association usually does car shows for different charitable groups and it wasn’t long before the Hope House and Crossroads Church approached them about doing a car show for a fundraiser.
“This year, we’re working on the show and were looking at a date and Crossroads Church approached us about doing a Father’s day show and a benefit at the same time for the Hope House which I thought was a great idea,” Leckbee said. “That’s how we got this going with Father’s Day. We’re working with Crossroads and Hope House and we got everything flying like we need to.”
Lead pastor at Crossroads Church Jeremiah Ramer said they are excited to partner with the Hope House and create some excitement with what the organization is doing. He views it as a perfect way for the church to help give back to the community.
“As a church, we’re for the basin and that means we’re for the Permian Basin and for the people of the Permian Basin,” Ramer said. “We want to find organizations that are helping people and we want to help carry their mission further faster. Hope house is a great organization and they’re doing great work in the community. When we connected with them we asked how we could help them and this was a small way we could raise awareness and support for them.”
If you go
- What: West Texas Street Rod Association Father’s Day Car Show.
- When: 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
- Where: Crossroads Church, 6901 E. Highway 191.
- Price: $30 registration fee.
