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.
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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.
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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.
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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 held at the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield as follows: Thursday, April 24th from 12 noon to 6pm; Friday, April 25th from 9am to 6pm; Saturday, April 26th from 9am to 1pm. NSRA Member $50.00, Non-Member $90.00
Spectator admission at the Fairgrounds will be Friday & Saturday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m and Sunday 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 pm. Spectator admission $20 for 13 year old and older/$6 for children 6-12 years old. Children under 5 are free when accompanied by an adult. $45.00 – FAMILY – 2 ADULTS & 3 CHILDREN (12 YEARS AND YOUNGER). A special discounted $18.00 admission is available for military personnel with proper military identification, NSRA members with their current membership card or anyone 60 years of age and older. One discounted admission per person.
In addition to viewing the 1,500+ cars that will be on display, many events are planned for the week-end including Commercial Exhibitors, Swap Meet, Women’s World, Spotlight Builder: Old Skool Speed Shot; Friday and Saturday Night Live Entertainment and much more including the Awards Ceremony on Sunday.
The weather will be cooperating with 70° weather and blue skies. The Western Nats as always promises a great week-end of fun. Come and join in.
Timingtower.com will be at the event throughout the week-end and will post up-dates and photos from the event on Friday and Saturday with full coverage posted on Monday night.
