Nearly 2,500 cars packed the Kansas Speedway this fall, and save for the slight rain delay on Friday, the rest of the weekend proved to be a home run with moderate temperatures and loads of eye candy. The entire infield of the 1 1/2-mile oval was covered in not water, like the day before, but hot rods, musclecars, and street machines by lunchtime Saturday afternoon. Just goes to show you that in Kansas, they don't let a little rain ruin their fun!
By Saturday morning, though, the sun was shining and guys were lining up outside the speedway to cruise and peruse the weekend away. Like other Goodguys events, specialty parking areas like Homebuilt Heaven; Deuce Doin's; Low, Smooth, Cool; and Youngguys, for rodders 25 and younger, provided everybody the opportunity to park amongst their peers. Hot rod seminars were also in full swing with the guys from Air Ride, DuPont, and Detroit Speed & Engineering sharing their area of expertise with fellow rodders. Like some of the other events at various speedways throughout the country, one of the highlights for a lot of people is the chance to "open it up" on the NASCAR-sanctioned paved oval. This event usually takes place during Saturday afternoon, and judging by the line of cars waiting to gain access to the track, this is one popular aspect of the show.
The Winner's Circle was in full effect on Sunday, with all the awards chosen and the respective cars positioned within their chosen categories. The level to which some of those cars were built was astronomical, especially considering that most were garage-built as well as high-mileage drivers. The quality of cars seems to get better and better each year and I can't image what it will come to 10 years from now! Sunday also saw a return of the track cruise for a few hours in the morning, giving an opportunity to those who didn't get a chance or simply wanted to make one more round. By Sunday afternoon, those who had a Sunday Lucky ticket were entered to become one of the finalists for the 2005 Western Grand Prize Giveaways with items from nearly two dozen manufactures. The awards program closed out the weekend's events with nearly 100 winners walking away with trophies, hats, or jackets. We spent the weekend in the sun and even got to pick our own Top Ten winners-check 'em out!