We’ve all heard of the Tail of the Dragon and have probably heard tales from people that have visited or seen videos of the notorious Dragon events. We have an entire forum dedicated to the fun events that take place on this twisty stretch of tarmac. The 10th DragonBall Run (a.k.a. DBRX) was held this past weekend. On the ocassion of the 10th anniversary and what could very well be the last running of the event, I asked Airgate, the master of ceremonies of all fire-breathing events, to share his thoughts. Click through to read airgate’s thoughts on the Dragon, and once done leave a comment pleading with him to continue hosting this event. 
“DBR (DragonBall Run) started after a group of S2000 owners who attended S2K Days in April 2001 were introduced to the road. The Dragon is an 11 mile section of US 129 on the border of North Carolina/Tennessee and features 318 super tight curves within those 11 miles.
My first experience on “The Dragon” was in April 2001 and behind a group of 3 Honda Goldwing motorcycles and I’m confident we never broke over 30 mph yet I couldn’t erase the SMILE on my face and even let out a few joyful WOOHOOs along the way. The Dragon feels so right in the S2000. It’s as if the car was manufactured for that very purpose. After that first experience in April, I couldn’t wait to get back and helped organize our very first event, “DragonBall Run 2001.”
WestSideBilly came up with the name inspired by the “Cannonball Run” movie. We started planning DragonBall Run 2001 shortly after April 2001. We selected the 4th weekend of September. No one could’ve ever imagined the terror that would strike our country on September 11, 2001. Even with that horrific event, we still came together as an S2000 community to enjoy one another and drive the famed roadway. I remember having custom American flag decals made for every S2000. All 40+ cars placed the decal on the windshield in the top center. The event, even with the somber mood, was deemed a success and plans were made to continue the event. DragonBall Run continued.
DragonBall Run celebrated its 10th annual event this past weekend at Fontana Village, conveniently located within 15 minutes of The Dragon and other great roads. We came together to celebrate the longest running S2000 event. 44 S2000s and 63 people celebrated with a beautiful cake and champagne toast! A special presentation video was played during Saturday night’s banquet. (EDIT: Video will be on tomorrow for Video of the week)
This wonderful community has made every event possible. S2000 owners come together to enjoy not only the car and the roads, but each other. It’s all about the people… and I have the honor (along with some talented help) to bring this event to them year after year. WTD (Wake the Dragon) is our Spring event and will be held this coming April as WTD9 2011 as our 9th Annual Spring gathering. Hope you can make it.
Best always,
-Airgate”
Click Here for the DBRX picture thread.
NOTE: S2KI welcomes the opinions of its members on the S2000 and on all topics related to the S. Should you feel the creative urge to pen a few words then by all means do so and PM Energetic, Aashish2 or Onehots2k OR send us links to what you would like us to write about and we will feature you (or your community) on the S2KI Home Page.
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on Sep 30th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Someone told me that there were bears up in those parts. Can you confirm or deny this claim? Also, I’m told that there are thieves who steal defenseless, fiberglass woodland creatures. Is that also true? I’ve heard through the grapevine that many people get drunk and reveal embarrassing things about themselves. What kind of a gathering is this?
Wish I could have made it this year. I really missed you guys!
Mike
on Oct 1st, 2010 at 7:23 am
Oh man I can’t believe its been 10 years already since the 1st one.
I still have my sticker I got from deals gap on my windshield
on Oct 1st, 2010 at 8:27 am
There is no disputing each and every year the DBR has been an awesome event! I fully understand that two events are just too much work for Airgate and the team to put together, my vote would have been to keep DBR since the weather is usually better in September.
Either way, it doesn’t matter since I plan on attending WTD ’11 in April, there is just nothing like getting together with a big group of S2000 owners! (And a TL owner, and an NSX owner)
.
on Oct 1st, 2010 at 8:37 am
Dear Airgate,
Please continue to host this wonderful meet, so forum newbies like me get a chance to attend in the future.
Good work and it looks like a fantastic event :thumbup:
-A2
on Oct 2nd, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Doing the coordination using Facebook events might lessen the workload.
Hope you keep doing it, or someone else picks it up.
I just purchased my S2000 at the end of July, and was looking forward to making the DBR next year.
on Oct 2nd, 2010 at 6:35 pm
so flattered that you used some of my pics for this raul. thanks again to you sheila, ron and jamie (and everyone else who helps out) for setting up such a wonderful event
on Oct 4th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Raul and his assistants do a great job putting this event together!
I went several years ago and had a great time driving the Dragon with
the other S2000 owners and putting faces to names that before this
event were only pixels on a screen.
Thanks to everyone involved in making the event what it is and I hope
that it will continue for a long time to come!
on Oct 4th, 2010 at 8:44 am
I understand that there will still be a Wake the Dragon run in the spring. Is this true? If so…
Is it time to go yet? :lalala:
I’m honored that my dragon got his picture in the article.
Nice work to all that put so much into making DBR the premier event that it was.
on Oct 5th, 2010 at 4:36 am
It took us 10 years to get to the DBR only to find out we were going to the last one. This was four days (yeah, we got there on Thursday) of amazing people, great times and mind-bending roads. What a great job Raul and Sheila and Ron and Jamie do to put this together. I hate to see it go away but we’ve already reserved our room for WTD 2011 (even though nobody seems to know when it’s going to be held
). Thanks to the four of you for a great event.