Rat Rods – Timing Tower

47th ANNUAL WESTERN STREET ROD NATIONALS, April 26-28, 2024, Bakersfield, CA

admin — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 04:13:56 +0000

SATURDAY – UPDATE Like Friday, Saturday was a great day for looking at cars and trucks at the Western Street Rod Nationals in the Kern County Fairgrounds and there were a lot of beautiful and unique cars and trucks in the fairgrounds to look at – like this Ford truck and those in the slideshow below. Car enthusiasts of all ages enjoyed the day. Below is Levi who said this Ford truck was his favorite. Levi has very good taste. One unique car we saw was this Chevrolet demonstrating it’s hydraulics. This Chevy truck came with a matching camper trailer. This 1932 Ford coupe was reminiscent of the coupe driven by Milner in American Graffiti. This Willys coupe was a drag racer back in the day. Below are a few more of the nice cars at the show today. Tomorrow is the last day of the show and will include the award ceremonies and prize give-aways. We saw some of the cars that will take home an NSRA award and they are spectacular. Monday evening we’ll post photos of all the award winners as well as a wrap-up of the show. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY – UPDATE The 47th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals opened on Friday, April 26, 2024 in the Kern County Fairgrounds. And the weather forecasters were wrong – predictions of rain and wind did not materialize in Bakersfield. The day was sunny, with a few clouds, and the temperature was around 70° Couldn’t ask for anything better. The event registration on Friday was about the same as it was last year on Friday – about 1,000 cars. Saturday is, however, the big day and, no doubt, tomorrow the fairgrounds will be full again. Below are a few of the cars we saw today: The entertainment started around 6:00 pm with Orphan Jon and the Abandoned performing live. Although the band was excellent – the main attraction was the cars and trucks. The cars will keep on coming tomorrow. We’ll be back at the fairgrounds tomorrow and will post again tomorrow night. Take a look again to see more of the fine cars and trucks that will be at the show. ————————————————————————————————————— The 47th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals will be held in the Kern County Fairgrounds, Bakersfield, CA on April 26-28, 2024. Registration for the show will take place at the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield beginning on Thursday, April 25 from 12 noon to 6:00 pm, Friday the 26th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday the 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Throughout the week-end there will be comercial exhibitors, a swap meet, Women’s World, kids games, live entertainment and cruising on Friday and Saturday, The Streets of Rods will be held on Saturday and on Sunday there will be an all denomination Church Service. Also on Sunday the award winners will gather in the Circle of Winners on Sunday before the awards ceremony. Nick Donovan’s Rockin Road Show will provide music all week-end as well as drawing numbers for prize giveaway.. Timingtower.com will be there for the week-end and will post on Friday and Saturday evenings with a full article and photos posted on Monday evening.

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45th NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS, April 29 – May 1, 2022

admin — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 00:10:10 +0000

45th WESTERN NATS, KERN COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, BAKERSFIELD, CA Sunday was the last day of the event. In the morning the award winners gathered in the winners’ circle at 10:00 am and were on view until the award ceremony which started at 1:00 pm. (All the award winners have been posted and can be seen below). As usual a lot of future hot rodders came to the show with their families. Below is a young fellow named Ford – but it does look like he’s a Chevy man Also having fun were (from left to right) Adrian, Michael, Julian, Adalize, and Mariana. And this is Victoria – we predict someday she’ll trade that Radio Flyer in for a Ford. Not to be outdone by the kids, there were some very beautiful cars in the fairgrounds: And there were unusual cars – a stretched ’55 Chevy. – a Model A towing a trailer with a buffalo. The Safety inspectors worked Friday and Saturday providing free inspections looking at 23 different pieces of equipment on each vehicle. Among other things the fuel system, steering, exhaust system, tires and brakes are inspected. This year 64 vehicles were inspected, 47 passed and 46 of those received a Safety 23 sticker. After the awards were given on Sunday, numbers were drawn and the Super prizes were given away. Addison drew the numbers: At the end of the awards ceremony, Addison made three individuals very happy when she drew their numbers and they left with an extra $2,000. Alfred Paredez, Karl Russell and Carolyn Raidor, received their checks from Mike Adams, the NSRA Western Nats program director. This year the attendance was 1,135 – not quite back to pre-pandemic standards. Next year this event will be held on April 28, 29 and 30. As always the Western Nats was a great week-end but it did have to end. Following below are photos of the award winners. This 1967 Corvette owned my Mike and Diane Ferola is the timingtower.com pick. We’ll have a feature on this beautiful Stingray posted soon. More to come Monday evening. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SATURDAY, APRIL 30 Saturday was a busy day at the Western Nats. First thing this morning the safety inspectors got busy going over the cars that lined up for this free and very important service provided by NSRA. This is also the time when the kids games were set up. The kids put together puzzles, colored, and played ring toss. It was a fun time. The adults had some fun too connecting with old friends, meeting new ones and looking at all the fine cars at the show. There were some pretty unique cars at the fairgrounds. In 1958 this ’32 was the first roadster to travel at 200 mph at Bonneville. The car was owned by Chuck Edwards, driven by Tony Waters and is now owned by Doug Edwards. This car not only had FLAMES but the color scheme was outstanding. This early Vette has a custom front end. The highlight of tomorrow will be the awards ceremony and the super prize giveaway. Over $54,000 worth of prizes will be given way this week-end. We’ll have an article with photos of all the award winners posted on Monday evening. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY, APRIL 29 This was the first day of the show. So far 1,050 cars are registered for the event. Since Saturday is always the “big” day, more are expected. If today is any indication, the fairgrounds is going to be filled with a whole lot of nice vehicles. It’s hard to beat the classic lines of a tri-five Chevy. We saw everything from fins .. to “in the weeds”. There were trucks and … panels. Also on hand were depot hacks … and a customized Giha. There will be plenty of cars to see tomorrow as well as other activities such as a swap meet, the Streets of Rods, commercial exhibits, a crafts fair, kids games, and the safety inspectors will be hard at work again. We’ll be back at the fairgrounds tomorrow and will post again tomorrow night. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ An anticipated 1,700 street rods, hot rods, muscle cars, customs, rat rods, and classics will be on hand on April 29-May 1 for the 45th NSRA Western Street Rod Nationals in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA. This will be the 35th time the event has been held at Bakersfield. An all time high number of spectators are expected to attend over the week-end. Additionally, many vendors will fill the buildings in the fairgrounds in addition to those that will set up throughout the grounds. Like past years, this will be an event you do not want to miss. Event registration will be held in the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield. Hours: Thursday, April 28 at 12 noon to 6:00 pm, Friday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Timingtower.com will be at the event all week-end and will post coverage on Friday and Saturday nights. In addition, we will post an article and photos on Monday evening, including photos of the award winners. Check back here throughout the week-end.

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NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS, October 29, 30,31, 2021

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 01:22:49 +0000

THE 44th ANNUAL NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS were held in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA on October 29, 30, and 31, 2021. Five words perfectly describe the week-end: IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK. After lock downs, masks and mandates it was obvious that people were glad to return to normal. The Western Nats provided normal in abundance. There were 1,234 vehicles in the Fairgrounds as well as a crowd of spectators. The show opened on Friday morning and by about 3:00 on Sunday it was over. Between Friday and Sunday though there were so many cars to look at: This is Grant standing next to a tricked out 1957 Chevy. This year the timingtower.com award went to Tony Davidson and his ’34 Ford 5-window high boy coupe. We’ll have more photos and a feature article on this car. Since this was Halloween week-end there were plenty of reminders of the holiday: There were witches: Pumpkins – also known as Halloweenie Trick or Treaters – Spider-man is really Braden. Skeletons – Gabrielle and Mikey. Herman Munster was there. If you use your imagination the rear of this nice, black 1959 Chevy resembles a bat. While Halloween did add some fun, the week-end was all about the cars. Also, as in past years, the NSRA safety inspectors were hard at work. They inspected 72 cars with 59 receiving the Safety 23 pin. These inspectors give up their week-end to make sure others get home safely. Their work is greatly appreciated. Photos of the award winners are shown below. Following the award ceremony, many great prizes were given away. Bradley made some very happy folks by drawing all the winning tickets. In addition to merchandise prizes, NSRA gave away three $2,000 checks. The winners were Dan Hayes of Bakersfield, Ernie Lowe of Wasco, and Charles Ray Shannon of Bakersfield. Standing with the winners is Tom Wilkerson, the event director. After the award ceremony and prize giveaways, it was over. For awhile it seemed the 44th Western Nats wouldn’t get off the ground, but it did, and now the 45th Western Nats is in the planning stage. It will be held April 29, 30 and May 1, 2022 in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA. NSRA 2021 SUNDAY AWARD CEREMONY – this year 43 awards were given. We know everyone is interested in the award winners and we wanted to get those photos up as soon as possible. More photos and an article will be posted this evening. Below are the NSRA 2021 award winners. There were 43 awards given. Photos of the winners are divided into three galleries. The photos are in the same order as the awards were given – if you are looking for a particular car and know it was one of the first to received an award, look in the first gallery. NOTE: We no longer sell photos through Smug Mug despite indications above. If you are interested in photos or digital downloads please contact us at timingtower@gmail.com. AWARD GALLERY NO. 1 AWARD GALLERY #2 AWARD GALLERY NO. 3 SATURDAY OCTOBER 30 UPDATE; There were more cars in the Fairgrounds today, but it doesn’t look like we’ll make the 1,500+that attended in 2019. We’ll get the final attendance numbers tomorrow. No matter how many cars attended, it was terrific to be outside at a car show again. Here are photos of some of the great cars we saw today. The awards ceremony will be held tomorrow. Photos of the award winners, more event photos and an article will be posted Monday night. This year the timingtower.com pick is Tony Davidson’s outstanding 1934 5-window highboy coupe. FRIDAY OCTOBER 29 UPDATE: Registration for the NSRA Western Nats started on Thursday and by Friday nearly 1100 cars were registered – many of them were in the Kern County Fairgrounds on Friday. If today was a sampling of what to expect this week-end, we will be seeing a lot of outstanding cars. Below are a few: Trick or Treat!!! Saturday is always the big day for this event and this year should be no exception. The rest of the week-end is predicted to be like today – perfect car show weather. Check back tomorrow night for more event photos and another update. After lockdowns, masks and mandates, the NSRA Western Nats is back!! The National Street Rod Assoc. will hold its 44th annual Western Nationals in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA on October 29, 30, & 31, 2021. Event registration will take place at the Doubletree Hotel Bakersfield, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield starting Thursday Oct. 28 from 12 noon to 6 p.m. Registration will continue on Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration is also available at the Fairgrounds. The event is open to vehicles manufactured in 1991 and before. In past years about 1,800 cars have attended this event and this year, we hope, will meet or exceed this number. Hot rods, classics, muscle cars, rat rods and other vintage automobiles will be on display in the Fairgrounds. As usual there will be a swap meet, women’s world and dozens of exhibitors set up in the Fairgrounds. Spectator gates at the Fairgrounds will open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday. Each year about 35 vehicles are selected to take home a coveted NSRA award. The winners gather in the winners’ circle on Sunday morning and one by one each car is driven into the amphitheater and in front of the stage to receive the award. For many years, Timingtower.com has been honored to select a vehicle to receive an award. Below is a photo of the 2019 winner selected by Timingtower.com. Timingtower.com will be in Bakersfield again this year for the NSRA Western Nats. Friday and […]

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DONUT DERELICTS, August 8, 2020, Huntington Beach, CA

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 00:34:20 +0000

The weekly Saturday gathering of Donut Derelicts took place yesterday – proving that it takes more than a lock down to keep hot rodders from showing their cars and meeting with friends. Cars started arriving before the sun came up and the coffee and donuts were ready. More than 100 cars took part yesterday – often times there are many more. The event takes place every Saturday in the parking lot neighboring the donut shop at Adams and Magnolia in Huntington Beach, CA. This unofficial show has lately been a welcome relief as most sponsored car shows have been cancelled or postponed because of the California lock down. Pretty much everything about Donut Derelicts is informal starting with its beginnings. The accepted story has the beginning 34 years ago when a few friends met on Saturday morning to have donuts and coffee and solve the world’s problems. It wasn’t long until they started bringing their hot rods, setting Donut Derelicts in motion. Rick Finn, a hot rod artist and car lover, designed the logo and put his artwork on shirts and jackets. Seeing cars in a line is always impressive. Below are some of the cars at the show: This show welcomes everyone – whether you have two legs or four. Donut Derelicts doesn’t last long and by 8:30 am or so folks were starting to leave. But the nice thing about Donuts Derelicts is it will happen again next Saturday.

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