36th NSRA Street Rod Nationals

Just about everyone who has been to the NSRA Street Rod Nationals has some comment on the scope of the event. But one of the best descriptions we've heard came from a first-time participant we were talking to. When we asked him to comment on his first "Nats," he looked at us with a furrowed brow and glazed eyes and just said, "wow!"

While a slightly less eloquent commentary than we expected, the truth is, that sums up the event precisely. With over 11,333 registered participants and 300 manufacturers and dealers on hand, "wow" pretty much says it all.

A seemingly endless parade of street rods began rolling into the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center on Thursday, August 4, and for the next three days the epicenter of the street rod world was Louisville. Every conceivable make, model, and color of the genre was on hand. And while there were lots of great cars outside, there was a pretty spectacular selection of them in the exhibit hall as well. General Motors had a number of special interest vehicles on display, and for the first time, all the STREET RODDER magazine Road Tour cars were together in one spot.

For those starting or completing a project, there were a record number of commercial vendors on hand. By the time you walked from one end of the exhibit building to the other, you could gather everything necessary to build a street rod from the ground up. For those who like to go treasure hunting, there's the annual swap meet. This year's was one of the best we've seen at the Nationals--it was packed with parts, pieces, and complete cars.

As in years past, there were a variety of special awards given to those who chose to compete in specific areas. We don't have room to list them all, but a few of the notable were the UPS Commercial Way award won by Australia's Rod Hadfield (watch for a spotlight feature on his unique truck). Vintage Air's 29 Below big drawing winner was Nathan Pederson, and Club Participation went to the Memphis Street. Along with the long list of awards, $99,600 in prizes was given away to registered participants. Wings Callahan, the original street rod deejay, played great tunes all weekend and posted the prize-winning entry numbers.

Over the weekend there were a variety of celebrities on hand: Tony Pedregon, NHRA Funny Car Champion, made a personal appearance and had an autograph session on Friday; Barry Mequiar, host of "Car Crazy," filmed the entire weekend. On Friday, The Return, a band that pays tribute to the Beatles, and Elvis impersonator Travis Ledoyt provided night entertainment in Freedom Hall; both put on great shows. Saturday night, the comedy and impressions of Keir and the legendary Ronnie Milsap wowed the audience.

One of the frequent topics of conversation every year at Louisville is the weather. In '04, it couldn't have been better--this year it could have been. Thursday was hot, and Friday started off that way, but there was a surprise on its way. When the clouds rolled in, it was obvious there would be rain; the surprise was how much rain. To get an idea of what it was like, turn your shower on full blast and then jump in with your clothes. You'll have to imagine the wind that made a few tents turn into kites. But as the old saying goes: If you don't like the weather, just stick around 'cause it'll change. It wasn't long before the sun was out again.

On Saturday afternoon, most of the crowd was off to Freedom Hall to see if they were the lucky winner of this year's grand prize, a '37 Ford pickup built by Downs Manufacturing. Everyone who registers for the Nationals, and has a car on the grounds, is eligible to win. This year there was a fair bit of drama involved in picking a winner. The first ticket was pulled, the number was called, and everyone in the crowd looked around to see the winner and there was no response. Everyone realized they had another chance and almost simul-taneously, the group inched forward in their seats. A second number was called and there was no response, and unbelievably a third! With everyone sitting on the edge of their seats, a fourth number was selected and a man in the crowd let out a yell and made his way to the stage. Unfortunately his excitement was short-lived as the hapless hot rodder had misread his ticket and the numbers didn't match. Finally, on the fifth draw, there was a winner: Matt Klingler. Ironically, Matt is a close friend of last year's winner, Richard Geis.

Sunday afternoon, the 42 vehicles in the circle of winners were put on display. Along with the awards mentioned previously, there were seven NSRA field force selections, two long distance awards (continental and outside the continental USA), and seven safety selections. (There were also awards given to manufacturers for the best new products; see Ryan Manson's story, "A Dozen Delectable Deals," on page 116.)

Next year the 37th NSRA Street Rod Nationals will be back in Louisville August 3-6. If you've never been to this event, you owe it to yourself to go; if you've been, it's time to go again. In either case, we'll bet you'll take one look and think to yourself, "wow!"