The planned growth of a sizable hot rod show foundered earlier this month when the people behind Hot August Nights canceled the inaugural expansion show and the CEO of the event resigned.

Hot August Nights, which has been based in Reno, Nevada, since its inception 25 years ago, announced last June that it would put on a second show in Long Beach, California, and had inked a deal with the city to hold shows there through at least 2016. According to Tony Marini, the managing director of Hot August Nights, the Long Beach show was intended only to expand the brand, and the organizers of Hot August Nights expected a sell-out crowd of about 6,000 cars in Long Beach – or about the same number of cars that flock to Reno every August.

Instead, less than 500 cars were registered for Long Beach by the beginning of May. And to make matters worse, many Reno residents believed that the board of directors for Hot August Nights planned on moving the show out of Reno entirely.

“It was a huge ordeal in Reno for the last few months,” Marini said.

That situation probably wasn’t helped by statements that then-CEO of Hot August Nights, Bruce Walter, made to a Long Beach newspaper in June 2010, claiming that the Long Beach event would surpass the Reno event in size and attendance, and that Hot August Nights was establishing an office in Long Beach. Nor was it helped by Walter’s claim last October that 2,000 cars had already been registered for the Long Beach event.

On May 3, then, Chris Kilian, the president of the Hot August Night board of directors, announced that the Long Beach show would be canceled and that everybody who registered for that show would be given full refunds.

We have made the determination that this is the best decision for the Hot August Nights organization both financially and for the longevity of the event in the community. The cancellation of Long Beach has been under review by the board for some time and we do believe it to be in the best interest of all involved.

At the same time, Kilian announced the resignation of Walter from Hot August Nights. According to Marini, Walter had been with the organization for four years. To assure those in the Reno area that Hot August Nights will not leave The Biggest Little City in the World, the organization also added two new members to its board of directors: Reno Mayor Bob Cashell and Geno Martini, the mayor of nearby Sparks, Nevada.

“We’ve killed all that talk (of Hot August Nights leaving Reno) with this,” Marini said.

This year’s Hot August Nights will take place August 9-14. The companion South Lake Tahoe Experience will take place August 6-9, immediately before Hot August Nights. For more information, visit HotAugustNights.net. (via)