The 42nd NSRA Western Nationals finished about 2:00 p.m. Sunday, April 29. As always it was a fun week-end. NSRA was host to 1,680 vehicles of all kinds this week-end at the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA.
We always knew that hot rods were neat; however, this week-end we also learned that hot rodders are neat too. We stayed in the fairgrounds for a couple hours after the show ended and by then the majority of the cars were gone. Looking across the vast expanse of grass which had so recently held hundreds of hot rods, we saw well — grass – no beer cans, no paper cups, no plastic bags, no napkins…, no trash at all, just grass.
All of the photos shown below are on our SmugMug site and are available for purchase. Click on the SmugMug icon:
On Friday afternoon many cars owners chose to participate in a cruise to the Kern County Raceway. The Raceway is about 20 miles from the fairgrounds. Hopefully, this will become an annual event. Many years ago the Western Nats included a cruise to the Mesa Marin Raceway. Unfortunately, Mesa Marin was closed in 2005 to make way for a housing development.
We ran across this terrific truck on Saturday which was brought to the show by the builder’s daughter. Clearly, her Dad’s talent at car building was nothing short of genius. We hope she’ll bring it back to the Western Nats again.
Below are a few of the great cars at the fairgrounds this week-end.
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This year the Streets of Rods handed out awards in the following categories: 29 below (for cars owned by someone 29 years old or under), White Wall Way, Four Door Freeway, and Chevy Pickup Country (to honor the 100th anniversary of the Chevy Pickup). The beautiful 1936 Plymouth below was the White Wall Way winner.
This ’55 Chevy pickup was the winner of Chevy Pickup Country.
Saturday included a seminar presented by Al Huizer about the Battery Saver. A product made to extend the life of a car battery.
There were so many notable cars in the fairgrounds this week-end and below are a few.
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Friday and Saturday the NSRA safety inspectors were kept busy. This year they inspected 143 cars, 116 passed and 105 received the 23 point inspection sticker. Since 1980 the NSRA safety inspectors have inspected 440,000 cars. Hot rod drivers owe them a big “thank-you” for all the time and effort they have expended to make sure these cars are safe. No doubt many cars have made it home without mishap because of their efforts.
All week-end Wings Callahan (Cruisin’ with Wings) provided music and posted numbers for the super prize drawing. Over $66,000 worth of super prizes were given away this week-end. Saturday evening Vendo 81 was in the bandstand playing live rock and roll while the cars out cruising filled the fairgrounds with the sound of horsepower.
Both commercial buildings were full of vendors. One vendor even displayed of a reproduction of the Mysterion built by Ed Roth.
Sunday was a short day. The awards ceremony started a hour earlier this year – at 1:00 p.m. After the awards, all unclaimed super prizes were given away, as well as four cash prizes of $2,000 each. Cypris, whose job was to draw the winning tickets from the barrel, made some very happy folks.
The four cash prize winners are shown below. The lucky lady on the right hit the trifecta on Sunday. She not only won one of the $2,000 cash prizes, she won a super prize and her car was picked by Classic Instruments for the Pros Pick award.
Below is a photo of her award winning Nova.
Below are photos taken at the awards ceremony.
All of the photos shown below are on our SmugMug site and are available for purchase. Click on the SmugMug icon:
The 1947 Kurtis shown below is the Timingtower.com pick. We will have a feature on this amazing car shortly.
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The Ford below is the winner of the Long Distance award. This car traveled 2,674 miles from Pennsylvania to attend the event.
SATURDAY APRIL 28, 2018, NSRA Western Nationals, Bakersfield, CA
The NSRA Western Nationals continued today with more cars than yesterday. Cars were cruising the fairgrounds all day. Also today NSRA held its Streets of Rods which highlighted various cars including cars with whitewalls.
There were a lot of great cars on display today, including those below.
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Monday evening we will post an article with photos of many more cars, including the awards ceremony.
FRIDAY APRIL 27, 2018, NSRA Western Nationals, Bakersfield, CA
By Friday 1620 cars had registered for the NSRA Western Nats and many of them were in the Kern County Fairgrounds today. Below are a few of the unique cars at the Nats today.
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We’re looking forward to tomorrow when the Fairgrounds will be full of cars like those shown above. We’ll have more photos posted tomorrow night.
On April 27, 2018 the 42nd Annual Street Rod Nationals will open at the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA. The show will end on Sunday, April 30, 2018 at the conclusion of the awards ceremony and the super-prize giveaway. This show usually attracts about 2,000 vehicles – hots rods, customs, tri-fives, trucks, pick-ups, rat rods – you name it, and you’ll find it at the Fairgrounds.
The gates are open on Friday and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Spectators are welcome. In addition to all the amazing vehicles, as always Women’s World with its unusual items will be open, and there will be a large number of commercial vendors at the show.
Timingtower.com will be there all three days and we’ll post photos and info from the event on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings and a full article with photos will be posted by Monday evening.
We’re looking forward to another NSRA Western Nats. This is one of the better events in Southern California.
