Cruisin’ Utah – Scenes from the 2nd RaceDeck Salt Lake Nationals Hot Rod Cruise
It’s cool when you can host a vintage car event in a scenic area with a mountain range as a backdrop, but it’s even more fun when you can go cruising through those mountains in your hot rod, custom, muscle car, or classic ride. That’s the opportunity we had leading into the Goodguys 2nd RaceDeck Salt Lake Nationals thanks to the Thursday Hot Rod Cruise coordinated by the Wasatch Rods and Customs car club.
The cruise provided a great chance for area rodders and early arrivers to get some time behind the wheel cruising through the beautiful Wasatch mountain range east and north of Salt Lake City. We took off from the Utah State Fairpark shortly after 11am and made a short freeway stint through the city before climbing up through the foothills on Interstate 80.
The route took us past Park City, Coalville, and other mountain towns before breaking of onto two-lane highways as we wound our way toward a lunch stop in the picturesque burg of Huntsville. We had the option of several fun establishments for food, including the Shooting Star Saloon, reportedly the oldest continually operating saloon west of the Mississippi, with roots dating back to 1879.
After lunch, we hit the road back to Salt Lake City, taking a different route rather than retracing our steps. Our destination when we returned was event sponsor RaceDeck, where there was a fun and casual Kickoff Party with food trucks in the parking lot and DJ Hackett spinnin’ the tunes. We also got to tour the RaceDeck manufacturing facility and get a behind-the-scenes look at how the company’s versatile and tough flooring panels are made.
We couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Thursday and kick off the 2nd RaceDeck Salt Lake Nationals. Special thanks go out to Steven Fern of Wasatch Rods and Customs and HotRodTime.com for coordinating the cruise and putting together a thorough and comprehensive plan and itinerary. We can’t wait to come back next year and cruise the Salt Lake area again!
Photos by Damon Lee & Todd Ryden
