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NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS, BAKERSFIELD, CA April 25-27, 2025

admin — Sun, 20 Apr 2025 19:38:15 +0000

The 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals were held in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield April 25-27, 2025. There were just shy of 950 cars in the Kern County Fairgrounds this past week-end. The rainy weather took it’s toll on attendance, but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the attendees or the unique cars on display. At the awards ceremony on Sunday it was announced that 53 cars were inspected, with 47 of them passing for safety and 43 meeting the 23 point criteria. The safety inspection offered by NSRA gives everyone the opportunity to have his/her vehicle inspected for safety at no charge. After the awards ceremony, in addition to product prizes, NSRA gave away three $2,000 cash prizes. This year Payton did an admirable job drawing the winning numbers. The three lucky $2,000 winners were Chris Diehl, Richard Vipham and Robert Hollett all from Bakersfield shown below with Payton and event director Mike Adams. The award winning cars were all parked in the winners’ circle Sunday morning giving everyone a chance to look them over. Kingston, shown below, decided this Corvette was his favorite. A new event held this year was the Slow Drags. Hard to believe that any of the high horsepower vehicles in the Kern County Fairgrounds could go slow, but this 1932 Ford Sedan managed to be the slowest. Below event director Mike Adams writes up the paperwork officially designating Harvey from Arkansas as the winner of the slow Drags. There were some not-often seen vehicles in the Fairgrounds, like this 1925 Ford Express Pickup. After the awards ceremony and prize drawing, the 48th Annual NSRA Western Street Rod Nationals was over and folks headed home. SUNDAY APRIL 27, 2025 – Today was the last day of the show and the event highlight was the awards ceremony which started at 1:00 p.m. Prior to the awards ceremony the winners gathered in an area of the Fairgrounds known as the winners’ circle. The winners are parked around 10:00 a.m. so everyone has a chance to take a good look and photos of the winning cars. This year 44 trophies were given out. The trophy winners are shown below – the first car through was this 1959 Chevrolet Impala. The last car through the winners’ line-up is typically the long distance award winner. This year there were two long distance winners – a father and son from Plainville, Michigan each driving a street rod. Their goal is to attend every NSRA event this year. The timingtower.com pick for 2025 is this 1970 Boss 302 Mustang owned by Steve Lantz. Additional photos and information about this outstanding car will be posted tomorrow. There will be more photos and event information posted tomorrow. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SATURDAY APRIL 26, 2025 – The 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals continued today at the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA. The day was rainy, wet and cloudy with limited intervals of sunshine. The picture below demonstrates the wet conditions in Bakersfield today and how this little girl made good use of a puddle to have some fun. Although the rain impacted turnout for the show, there were still some really nice cars in the Fairgrounds. The owner of this roadster found a great way to protect his upholstery from the rain. As did this attendee. While the adults tried to avoid the rain and stay dry on Saturday, the kids had a great time playing in the rain. Notwithstanding the overcast weather we were able to get photos of some great cars as shown below. The hydraulics on this sedan put it as low as a car can go. Early afternoon the sun made an appearance many of the cars took advantage of the sunshine and went cruising. A late afternoon storm with thunder and lighting just missed the Fairgrounds, but some rain did fall and again things got wet there. Although we got wet and cold we had a lot of fun seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be cool and cloudy – but dry. We’re looking forward to the award ceremonies and prize giveaways tomorrow. The award winners will gather in the winners’ circle in the morning and in early afternoon the awards will be presented. And, of course, there will still be cars to see in the Fairgrounds. Check back for photos of the award winners as well as more coverage of the event. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY APRIL 25, 2025 – The 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals hosted by The National Street Rod Association opened today. Vehicles of all kinds were on display in the Kern County Fairgrounds and, as is obvious, folks were having a great time. This was a good day to roam the fairgrounds, there were a lot of cars, but not a lot of spectators. Tomorrow there will, of course, be a lot more cars, but also many more spectators. Today provided a good opportunity to get a good look at the cars, talk to the owners, learn some new tricks and hear about the various shops that provide service. Below are a few of the great cars we saw today. Also some of the unique cars at the show: As always some very creative folks bring along some unique things: Mark209 provided Friday night entertainment and will do so again on Saturday night. We got a preview of the entertainment Friday afternoon while the band was setting up. Around 4:30 pm people started heading out for dinner. We’ll be back at the fairgrounds tomorrow and will post more photos tomorrow night. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ The National Street Rod Association will host the 48th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals, in the Kern County Fairgrounds, in Bakersfield, CA April 25-27, 2025. Vehicles 30 years old and older are eligible to register. Registration will be […]

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DR. GEORGE CHARITY CAR SHOW, FEBRUARY 8, 2025

admin — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 04:12:24 +0000

The 22nd Annual Dr. George Charity Car Show was held February 8, 2025 in the Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. Below we have posted the award winners and the pedal car races. Now we’ll fill you in on the rest of the show. In keeping with past tradition, as the show opened the Palm Springs Air Museum provided a flyover by a Douglas C-47 Skytrain. The C-47 was the military version of the civilian DC-3 airplane and was primarily used as a troop carrier. The C-47 was in use by the military for over 35 years and was retired in 1975. The wings and fuselage of this C-47 were painted with a highly visible paint scheme – alternating black and white stripes. The stripes were added to the C-47 planes used during the assault on Normandy in World War II. The stripes, known as invasion stripes, allowed for ready identification of friendly forces by the allied artillery. Below is the C-47 flyover by the Palm Springs Air Museum. Again this year, the show did not disappoint when it comes to the variety of vehicles in attendance. The newest generation of the Ford GT shown below is but one such car. The new Corvette Z06 with a 670 horse power 5 liter mid-engine. The 1953 Corvette, the first Corvette introduced by Chevrolet is another. Custom creations, such as this 1955 Cadillac, were on display. As was this iconic 1934 Ford hot rod. And one of the most popular classics – the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air. Military vehicles remind us of our history and are always interesting. According the the website Kaiserwillys.com the white 5-pointed star on the bumper identifies this jeep as belonging to a tactical unit. All the visible numbers/symbols mean something. For example, on the hood “Jeeps always had the prefix 20, which stood for ‘reconnaissance’ followed by the vehicle’s registration number. For the first 99,999 jeeps, this was a 5 digit number; later jeeps had 6 digits.” On the front bumper the Arabic numeral followed by a triangle 3 inches high with ¼-inch stroke denotes an armored division. There were many vehicles in the Tennis Garden, however, space allows only a few to be highlighted here. For those who don’t know, the proceeds from this show are donated to the Desert Cancer Foundation. Next year the Dr. George Charity Car Show will be held February 14, 2026. As you can see, it’s well worth attending. TROPHY WINNERS AND PEDAL CARS COVERAGE IS BELOW. The 22nd Annual Dr. George Charity Car Show was held February 8, 2025 in the Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. This year, like all past years, found the Tennis Garden filled to capacity with some very amazing vehicles. A special few of these vehicles took home a trophy. This year in addition to Best of Show and Best of Show Special Interest, the David George Memorial Trophy was awarded. David George, who passed away in 2010, was the son of Dr. George, the namesake of the event. BEST OF SHOW – 1956 FORD PICKUP BEST OF SHOW SPECIAL INTEREST -1957 CHEVROLET PICKUP THE DAVID GEORGE MEMORIAL AWARD – 1947 CADILLAC All of the winners displayed a tri-colored ribbon. Below are other award winners. One of the more popular events held during the show is the pedal car races. The racers line up, get a push start, and race to the end. The racers give it all they’ve got. Below is the winner of the 2025 pedal car races. When the races are over, all the pedal cars are auctioned off with all auction proceeds going to the Desert Cancer Foundation. This year one of the pedal cars sold for $800. More photos and a complete run-down of the show will be posted by Monday evening. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY – FEBRUARY 7, 2025 The Dr. George Show will officially be open on Saturday, February 8, 2025 in the Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA. However, the event began today (Friday) with parking selection. From 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. show participants could pick out and save a parking spot for Saturday and could leave their car in the Tennis Garden overnight. Many participants took advantage of the early parking. Some of the cars in the Tennis Garden today are shown below. T Tomorrow the Tennis Garden will be filled with cars spectators and vendors. The show will kick off with singing the National Anthem. As all the shows in the past have been, we expect tomorrow will be an outstanding event. And if the today’s weather repeats tomorrow, there will be sunny blue skies with temps in the upper 70’s. We’ll post complete coverage of the event with photos Monday night.

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THE 75TH GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW, FAIRPLEX IN POMONA

admin — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:58:53 +0000

The 75th Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) opened on Friday January 31, 2025 at the Fairplex in Pomona and ran through Sunday night February 2, 2025. AMERICA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADSTER The winner of the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 2025 is this 1936 Ford Roadster owned by Ross Myers. THE AL SLONAKER MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER This 1933 Pontiac sedan is the winner of the Al Slonaker Memorial Award and is owned by Bill Barbato. This was the 75th Anniversary of the Grand National Roadster Show. In addition to the 11 AMBR contenders and 11 Slonaker contenders there were about 650 cars in 9 buildings and over the three days of the Drive-In there were a total of 1,000 cars parked outside around the buildings. Below are some of the great cars parked outside at the show. This young car lover is Kent. He found a very nice 1956 Chevrolet to admire. Since this was the 75th anniversary of the Grand National Roadster Show, one building was devoted to former America’s Most Beautiful Roadster winners and former winners of the Al Slonaker Memorial winners. FORMER AMBR WINNERS: Bill Neikamp’s 1929 Ford Roadster was the first AMBR winner named at the show held January 19-20, 1950 in the Oakland Exposition Building. The current owner is the Petersen Automotive Museum. The pair of 1927 Roadsters shown below have a story. The yellow roadster “Shishkabob” and the black roadster “Inky Black” tied for the AMBR title in 1955. Shishkabob was owned by Ray Anderegg and Inky Black was owned by Blackie Gejeian. This was the only tie in the AMBR history. Inky Black is still owned by the Gejeian family. Over the years Shishkabob had been modified until it was unrecognizable. Luis Anderegg, Ray’s nephew, set out to reproduce Shiskhabob and was advised by his uncle. Unfornaturely, Ray passed away before the build was complete and Ray finished it on his own. Shishkabob proudly sits in the show honorably taking the place of the original winner. “Ala Kart” a 1929 Ford Roadster Pickup, shown below, is an iconic show car. It was built by George Barris for Richard Peters and won the AMBR trophy in 1958 and 1959. It has won more than 200 trophies, has had numerous appearances in movies and been featured in dozens of magazine articles. It was reproduced as a 1/25 scale model kit by AMT in 1961 and became one of the best selling kits in history. It was also released as a Hot Wheels car. Ala Kart is now part of the Petersen Automotive Museum’s collection. FORMER AL SLONAKER MEMORIAL AWARD WINNERS: This 1961 Corvette Roadster was the Slonaker Award winner in 2003. The original and current owner is Rich Stadelhofer. Building 9 also had a collection of George Barris built cars. One of his more notable was the Dragula Coffin dragster. The ever popular Suede Palace had many great cars on display. This year the pinestripers auction gathered nearly 50 pinstripers together to create some anazing works which were auctioned off during the show with the proceeds going to benefit the GRS Foundation for childhood blindness. The Grand National Roadster Show of 2025 was another great event. We are looking forward to next year. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This year there are 11 contenders for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR)- all of them Fords and all of them worthy of being the winner. 1932 Ford Roadster – owner John Mumford 1936 Ford Pheaton – owner Mike Curtis 1932 Ford Roadster – owner Scott Lorenzini 1932 Ford Roadster – owner Tony Jurardo 1936 Ford Roadster – Owner Ross Myers 1923 Ford T Roadster – Owner Chuck Stanfill 1931 Ford Roadster – Owner Ken Green 1931 Ford Roadster – Owner Peter Grant 1932 Ford Roadster Pickup – Owner Mike DeVriendt 1936 Ford Pheaton – Owner Glen See 1932 Ford Roadster – Owner Mark Bentley There are 11 contenders for the Al Slonaker Memorial Award. 1932 Ford Coupe – Owner Beth Myers 1971 Volkswagen Thing – Owner Roger Weihel 1963 Ford Fairlane – Owner Dean Nesbit 1935 International Pickup – Owner Bruce Charles 1932 Ford Coupe – Owner Amadeo Angelo 1933 Pontiac Sedan – Owner Bill Barbato 1955 Ford F100 Pickup – Owner Patrick Kelly 1938 Chevrolet Canopy Express – Owner Oscar Munoz 1932 Ford Coupe – Owner Cody Walls 1973 DeTomaso Pantera – Ower Greg Paboojian 1935 Chevrolet Coupe – Owner Greg Heinrich The GNRS continues tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. In addition to the 650 cars in the buildings there will be 1,000+ cars outside between the buildings and around the show gathering for the 19th Annual Grand Daddy Drive In. This is the 75th Anniversary of the GNRS and Building 9 holds 50 past AMBR winners and several past Slonaker winners along with historical memorabilia and displays honoring the GNRS Hall of Fame members. We’ll continue to post and will have the AMBR and Slonaker winners posted Sunday night as well as a complete article with photos posted on Monday night. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The 75th Grand National Roadster Show will be held in the Fairplex in Pomona on January 31-February 2, 2025. Above is America’s Most Beautiful Roadster 2024. The iconic show will also host the debut of dozens of incredible custom cars competing for the 75th America’s Most Beautiful Roadster and Al Slonaker Memorial Award, two of the industry’s most coveted and competitive awards. Above is the 2024 Slonaker Memorial Award. More than 50 AMBR and Al Slonaker Memorial Award winners will come together in the Feature Building, presented by the Petersen Automotive Museum, marking the largest collection of past […]

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2ND ANNUAL GRAND NATIONAL TRUCK SHOW, SEPT. 14-15, 2024, FAIRPLEX AT POMONA, CA

admin — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 04:51:18 +0000

Posted September 9/15/2024: The 2nd Annual Grand National Truck Show came to an end around 6:00 p.m. Sunday night. It was another great event by Rod Shows. The culmination of the show was naming American’s Most Beautiful Truck. The winner was a 1956 Ford F-100 owned by Ed Ganzinotti which is shown below. Further down in this post are more photos of the winner as well as all the contenders. THE WINNER A lot of trucks of all sizes, colors, and customizations were at the event. The very big – The very low – The very customized – The very unique – And everything in between. Also at the event was a group of BMX riders that gave an impressive display of their skills. Their extraordinary control of the bikes as seen below included jumping over four volunteers laying on the ground without the use of a ramp. Several trucks displayed some awesome paint jobs. One truck owner with such a display told us it took a year or more to create the art. Below are photos of some of these exceptional murals. The Grand National Truck Show is a family affair and many kids had a lot of fun choosing their favorite truck and hoping that maybe, just maybe, someday their Dad will buy it for them. This is Roger and as his favorite he chose Thor the biggest truck at the show. The trucks were both inside and outside and offered a wide variety of vehicles. Two days was just barely enough time to see everything. One of the original vehicles we especially liked was this ice cream truck. It’s owner said it still keeps the ice cream frozen and he gave out about $140 worth of ice cream at the show. This jet car is pretty impressive and even more so when shooting fire and travelling down the drag strip at 200+ mph. There were always more trucks to look at and each of them provided something special to see. Another special event at the show was the truck bed dancing. These truck beds lean left and right and spin around in circles. It’s amazing that these trucks don’t tip over. A permanent part of the Fairplex is an outdoor model railway which is open to the public. This was a very elaborate train set up and was a fun way to to take a break in a garden setting. The awards ceremony was the final event of the show. It began with the pinstriper charity aution. Throughout the show the pinstripers were busy creating some very unique panels and items which were auctioned off during the awards ceremony. The auction raised $20,000 for the Volunteers for Veterans Foundation. Before the awards were handing out the color guard presented the colors while the Star Spangled Banner was sung by 16 year old Gavin Stevens. Gavin has been blind all his life but that hasn’t affected his incredible ability to sing. Once the many awards were presented, including the one for America’s Most Beautiful Truck, the show was over. It was annouced at the awards ceremony that there will be a 3rd Annual GNTS, no specific dates yet, but likely about this same time next year. Also don’t miss the upcoming Grand National Roadster Show Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2025 at the Fairplex in Pomona. Below are photos of America’s Most Beautiful Truck and all the contenders. Posted Sunday 9/15/2024: The 2nd Annual Grand National Truck Show is over and America’s Most Beautiful Truck has been named. Out of the eleven contenders at this show only one could take the title. The winner is the 1956 Ford F-100 owned by Ed Ganzinotti. The award not only came with a special trophy, but a check for $12,500. Congratulations to Ed Ganzinotti (far right) and the crew at Classic Car Studio Speed Shop. Its clear why this truck is America’s Most Beautiful Truck. The sign below gives all the information about this beautiful truck. Tomorrow evening we’ll post all the photos from the show as well as an article about the event. it was a great show and we are very pleased to know there will be a 3rd Annual Grand National Truck Show in 2025. Posted Saturday, 9/14/2024: The 2nd Annual Grand National Truck Show opened today at the Fairplex in Pomona. There are eleven contenders for the title of America’s Most Beautiful Truck. Here they are: 1972 Chevrolet C-10, Owner: Mark DeAtley 1966 Chevrolet C-60, Owner: Tony Gomez 1950 Ford, Owner: Rod Bryant 1963 Volkswagen Double Cab, Owner: Mark Amavizca 1957 Ford Ranchero, Owner: Leo Cid 1959 Chevrolet Apache, Owner: Steve Borgogno 1956 Ford F-100, Owner: Ed Ganzinotti 1953 Chevrolet, Owner: Tim Horner 1934 Ford, Owner: Bill Paul 1932 Ford Roadster Pickup, Owner: Gary Holyoak 1956 Ford F-100, Owner: Holden Jung The show will continue tomorrow opening at 10:00 a.m. The awards ceremony will start at 5:00 p.m. and America’s Most Beautiful Truck wil be named. We’ll post the winner tomorrow night. There were a lot of fine trucks at the show, both inside and out. We’ll have photos of many of these trucks posted by Monday evening as well as an article about the event. Check back to see the full coverage of the event. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Grand National Truck Show is back at the Fairplex in Pomona. This is the 2nd annual show and promises to be even better than the first. This year twelve one-of-a-kind custom trucks will compete for the weekend’s most prestigious prize, the World’s Most Beautiful Truck Award. The World’s Most Beautiful Truck in 2023. This year’s entries range from early Fords to C10 Chevys and everything in between. The winner of the coveted Most Beautiful Truck prize will receive $12,500 and a custom trophy. Additional awards will be given in over 75 judged classes. As last year, there […]

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