Last weekend, I traveled by airplane for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic effectively shut down the world for most of 2020. Even though flying while wearing a facemask definitely won't top my to-do list anytime soon, the trip seemed worth it because I'd received an invitation to cover an incredible weekend of supercar fun on the East Coast. Saturday morning, I joined the Fueling Bright Futures Supercar Rally for a day trip from Washington DC to Philadelphia. And once in Philly, we joined up with the annual CF Charities Supercar Show put on by Dr Larry Caplin, who made news the world over this past January when he drove his SSC Tuatara to a new two-way speed record of 282.9 miles per hour.
Closer to home, Dr Caplin is better known as a supercar collector who regularly shows some of the world's greatest cars to raise money for philanthropic endeavors like CF Charities, which he founded almost a decade ago with his wife, Kelli, dedicated to the mission of providing underserved communities with support, scholarships, and mentorships within the healthcare industry. The drive up from DC involved some high-speed pursuit in a Golf GTI and, unfortunately, plenty of stop-and-go traffic, but I was lucky enough to survive and after arriving in Philadelphia, I got a chance to speak with Dr Caplin and his wife ahead of Sunday's main event.
Supercar Beginnings For CF Charities
Trained as a dentist, Dr Caplin now heads DOCS Health, delivering healthcare to children in schools, juvenile and adult detention facilities, dependents on miliatry bases around the globe, and major swaths of the Army National Guard, as well as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. His efforts with CF Charities began almost ten years ago when he purchased another former world-record holding supercar built by SSC North America, the Ultimate Aero.
“In 2012, I bought the SSC Ultimate Aero and that was the first exotic car I ever owned," Dr Caplin recalled. "And people started calling me wanting to see it because there are only three in the United States andd the other two are parked somewhere. So I realized that I could utilize it to raise money for the charity, and that launched the very first car show."
CF Charities events draw in other owners to participate in drives, show their cars to the world, and raise funds to finance the 501(c)(3)'s variegated efforts in the healthcare arena, which generally focus on education and include Kelli's Angels, a highly personal mentorship program run by Kelli Caplin herself.
“We founded CF Charities a little over 10 years ago," Dr Caplin explained. "The mission was to help kids find a path into healthcare as a career. That evolved into building programs in schools where kids are trained as dental assistants, pharmacy techs, med techs, things like that at the high school level. And also getting care to kids who didn’t have access, providing care for them, providing scholarships for them and mentorship programs. Really just being a champion for them and providing support, so they can see that path is actually possible. It’s really about having them understand the opportunities in front of them are real, and give them the support that they may not otherwise have, whether it’s family-related, school-related, financially-related... That’s really how the charity evolved."
Capital Auto Club Lining Up For The Drive
The Ultimate Aero purchase spawned car shows that now include a full weekend of festivities and as we spoke the evening before this year's return after last year's Covid-19 hiatus, Dr Caplin constantly juggled texts and calls from excited owners looking to get in on the fun, from just parking in the venue to joining the morning's flagship drive through the streets of Philadelphia. I got a chance to experience the drive alongside my compatriots from the Capital Auto Club and the Fueling Bright Futures Supercar Rally, though we ended up arriving a bit late after a bottleneck exiting the hotel's garage parking lot.
By the time we joined at just about the end of the lineup, a few hundred cars ahead of us wore big CF Charities stickers on their windshields and the sounds of revving engines seemed about ready to perforate eardrums. I ran up front to catch some footage as the four-car-wide staging area prepared to take off.
The Stars Of The Show
At the front of the line, Dr Caplin led in his Ferrari FXXK Evo, a track-only hybrid V12 racecar he drove because his SSC Tuatara suffered damage during a trailer rollover due to high winds in Utah. Flanking the Ferrari, a Bugatti Veyron and a Porsche Carrera GT rolled by, followed by an incredible cacophony of dozens more Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, Porsches, and more. To be fair, though, not every single car on the drive truly earned supercar status, as I spotted more than a few Mustangs, Supras, and even a Ford Fusion that somehow snuck into the mix.
The Full Lineup Taking Off
These attendees donated extra to join the drive, which in past years provided plenty of photogenic moments throughout Philadelphia, blasting up Broad Street to City Hall and then out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (where Rocky ran up the steps). Dr Caplin himself drives the whole route beforehand, pointing out rougher patches of pavement where the owners of these lowered, carbon fiber cars might not feel most comfortable. Then, at least so far as the plan went, the police would shut down freeways for a bit of higher-speed fun.
“We don’t break the speed limit," Dr Caplin said, almost winking. "We follow and obey all the rules. What will happen is, in the morning, we’ll have about 150 cars form up including race cars, and we’ll do a parade through the city, down Broad Street, around city hall, out the Ben Franklin parkway towards the art museum. We’re going to add a drive down Kelly Drive this year, a twisty turny road that runs along the Schuylkill river."
Stuck In Traffic (Again)
As we discussed the original CF Charities car show, Dr Caplin knowingly laughed, “We had 80 cars and 400 people show up... It’ll be a little different this year."
And in fact, the massive showing seemed to overwhelm the police escort charged with blocking off cross streets and clearing traffic. I climbed into a Dodge Charger Hellcat with Dr Caplin's Head of PR, Antone Barnes of The Brand Architects, but our delays leaving the hotel and position near the end of the line meant that all bets were off by the time we actually got moving. Trapped in traffic, struggling with minimal police guidance, and confused by the new route, many of the stragglers ended up just heading back to the staging area rather than running red lights and blasting through crosswalks trying to keep up.
Back To The Venue
Back at the parking lot, directly next to Lincoln Financial Field, those cars that didn't make the drive (or tried to but turned around) began to fill out the cordoned-off parking areas. Meanwhile, spectators steadily filtered in and the whole lot began to rumble with engines and the chatter of voices. The previous night, I'd brought up to Dr Caplin that every car-related event I've attended in the past few months has been absolutely swamped. He responded that the weather in Philadelphia had been awful until the CF Charities weekend, but also explained how much Covid-19 changed the planning phase for the show.
“We were not sure we were going to move forward with this until about two months ago," he revealed. "We would normally, on Saturday night, have a big gala. And 300-plus people attend that gala and we’d have auctions and raise money for the charity—raise a lot of money for the charity, that’s actually the biggest fundraiser, normally. We decided not to have the gala because we didn’t know whether you would be able to have 300 people inside a venue anywhere. Nor did we know whether people would want to."
Highlights Of The Show
Clearly, an outdoor event and some of the world's greatest cars overcame any potential hesitancy—and the cars that did show up truly ran the full gamut of the world's best. A few early arrivals dropped off by trailer included Dr Caplin's personal collection other than the FXXK Evo, plus some stunners seen above like a Koenigsegg Agera XS, a Pagani Huayra, two separate Ferrari F40s, two separate Jaguar XJ220s, and two Saleens. Two Bugattis, a Veyron and an EB110, drew big crowds, as did the loudest and widest of the Lamborghini Aventadors, McLarens, and even an Ultima GTR that I barely recognized.
Dr Caplin's Collection
For his part, Dr Caplin brought out the big guns once again, in addition to the FXXK Evo and Ultimate Aero, with a high-spec variant of perhaps America's first true supercar, the Saleen S7 Competition, plus three different versions of Ford's venerable GT (two 2005s and a 2020 in heritage Gulf livery), a one-of-one Mosler RaptorGTR, a Nissan GT-R Nismo (which Kelli drove to and from the show), and a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera that he proudly told me has over 110,000 miles on the clock.
Not All Street Legal Cars
Dr Caplin's FXXK Evo wasn't the only track-only car on site, though somehow the Group C Porsche racer above wore dealer plates, suggesting it could maybe, somehow, drive on the streets. And perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised when Dr Caplin told me that a smaller, more exclusive track event the previous Thursday had preceded the CF Charities Supercar Show Sunday.
“We routinely will have a track event at either Pocono Raceway or New Jersey Motorsports Park," he explained, "Which we have had for the last several years. We’ll have anywhere from 20 to 50 men and women bring their cars down and drive them on the track, so they get the opportunity to drive their cars the way they were designed to be driven."
Also, in place of the annual gala, Dr Caplin told me, "We decided to have a select group of people do a small event of just 11 couples and we did that two weeks ago. And that was fantastic, it was a ball. We rented out a small resort, we all came in with our cars, we had drives and runs from there, to there, and we just hung out and laughed and had a good time. And that’s a big part of this event, people coming together and supporting a cause that is important and meaningful to them, as well as to us, and getting to spend time together."
The FXXK Evo Still Drawing Crowds
Still, no matter what else showed up, the biggest crowd always circled around the FXXK Evo, with its aggressive aero package and doors sticking straight up allowing anyone to take a peek inside. Any car that costs $2.6 million, blasts out over 1,000 horses from a hybrid-enhanced V12, and comes with Ferrari factory support for track days always draws plenty of looks. Unfortunately, Dr Caplin seemed to suffer from some issues with his fuel gauge on the morning's drive and had to turn around partway through. But fueling issues didn't stop him from letting plenty of kids sit in the carbon-fiber cockpit and take their pictures, even if they didn't get to hear the full banshee wail.
Carbon Fiber On Display
Personally, I also enjoyed getting a chance to check out some other attendees' cars, like the Ferrari 488 GTB above with plenty of carbon fiber sparkling in the sun. Counting a reflection on the window between the engine bay and passenger compartment, I counted fully six different Ferrari badges—and the interior almost looked more pristine, believe it or not.
Keeping An Eye On The Overflow Lot
Whenever I go to events like these, I always make sure to check out parking lots nearby to see what might turn up. This technique recently brought me face to face with my first Mitsubishi Pajero Evo outside the Petersen Automotive Museum's Japanese Car Cruise-In, but in Philadelphia, CF Charities set up a dedicated overflow lot crammed with tons of muscle cars, tuned and modded sports cars, and even a fully customized cab-over Chevy pickup.
Packing Up After A Long Day
While the claim that it never rains on a CF Charities event held, the weather got pretty brutal as the hours ticked by, with temps well over 90 degrees (and humid!) and very little shade available. Plenty of owners climbed into their cars, put up their convertible tops, and started blasting AC just to beat the heat, which naturally led to the crowd thinning out a little early. A crowd gathered alongside the exit to watch burnouts and listen to redline revs, as trailers arrived to pick up some of the more exotics vehicles on display.
Dr Caplin himself loaded up his Ultimate Aero, the 2020 Ford GT above, and the Mosler into trucks, cranking at wrenches and getting pretty sweaty in the noonday sun. But when you're the owner of such an incredible collection and showing in public to raise funds for charity, demonstrating that you're willing to do the work that comes along with such otherwise glamorous ownership goes a long way. I stuck around and watched, if just to hear the Saleens, Fords, Jaguars, and the Ultimate Aero and Mosler fire up.
CF Charities Attendance And Funds Raised
Despite the blistering heat, a Phillies game starting in person a few blocks away, and a Sixers playoff game on the TV—not to mention receding coronavirus restrictions—the event drew over 300 cars and more than 8,000 spectators in attendance. Call it a big success, even without the gala that would usually lead the charge the night prior.
“Routinely, on a normal year, we would raise about $300,000," Dr Caplin said, "Between the private event and what we’ve already got going, we’ve surpassed that this year."
As the rush of the weekend faded, real life set back in. CF Charities already has plans for another car meet in Washington DC in August, essentially the mirror image of my trip, as word of Dr Caplin's cars and charitable efforts spreads nationwide alongside the growing legend of the SSC Tuatara. But for now, I faced the prospect of flying back to LA (masks on) and asked what Dr Caplin has lined up personally in the coming months.
"After this weekend," he revealed, "We’ll be focusing on getting the Tuatara prepared to break 300. I’ll be in Pebble Beach this year, I’m doing a rally in California, I’m doing a rally in Sicily. There’s a bunch of good stuff."
Sources: youtube.com, capitalautoclub.com, instagram.com, docs.health, and sscnorthamerica.com.