Weekend Rewind! Goodguys 24th Summit Racing Nationals Presented by PPG

Sometimes you just gotta go big. Real big! That’s just what Goodguys does every July at The Big One – the Summit Racing Nationals presented by PPG. And we had a double dozen doozy of a good time this year in Columbus during the 24th edition of this big-time mid-summer celebration!

The Ohio Expo Center was rockin’ all weekend long as we brought Goodguys Good Times to town with thousands of the coolest rides in the country. From vintage-style hot rods and cool customs, to muscle machines, trick trucks, stylish classics, and even ’80s and ’90s specialty rides, this was a three-day celebration of the finest iron to ever cruise down American roads.

One annual highlight – well, two actually – of this automotive extravaganza are the competitions for PPG Street Machine of the Year and Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year, both of which are part of the Goodguys Top 12 Awards. These coveted awards always attract the best fresh builds of the year and this year was no exception, with more than a dozen incredible candidates in each category. When the dust settled on Saturday, Jeff Breault’s ’34 Chevy roadster built by Devlin Rod and Customs came away with the Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year title, and Brad Sather’s ’69 Firebird built by BBT Fabrications was named the PPG Street Machine of the Year.

Big-time wins were also bestowed to two different sets of Builder’s Choice Top 10 winners. The first ten were selected by the talented team at Roadster Shop:

And a bonus Top 10 was chosen by the Goodguys Rod & Custom staff:

The Goodguys team also selected finalists for several regional Meguiar’s Top 12 awards. This included Carl Rossler’s ’66 Nova for the Snap-on Muscle Car of the Year finalist; Chris Smith’s ’70 Camaro for Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year finalist; and Jason Mode’s ’68 Chevy C10 for the LMC Truck of the Year finalist. We also added two more names to the list of Chevrolet Performance Builder of the Year finalists – Big Oak Garage won the GM Iron finalist award for Dan Duffy’s ’61 Impala, while Nitro Manufacturing won the Retro Iron finalist award for Dan Timmons’ ’32 Ford coupe. The Goodguys media team tapped Jon Hall’s ’29 Model A Tudor as the Goodguys Feature Pick.

This is always an intense weekend for the Goodguys CPP AutoCross series, too, with lots of action leading up to Saturday’s Buckeye Shootout presented by Forgeline. Jared Leisinger topped the Speedtech Performance PRO-X class in his Summit Racing ’64 Corvette, while Robby Unser claimed the PRO-X shootout victory in the Team Speedway ’67 Camaro. Chris Smith won the Summit Racing PRO class in his ’70 Camaro, with Ron Scott Jr. claiming the shootout win in his ’63 Corvette. The Forgeline Street Machine class was won by Chris Mulberry in his ’73 Corvette, while Mike Goodman raced his ’81 Camaro to the Street Machine shootout win. Ryan Mathews was the only double-up winner, winning the Gearstar Sports Car class and shootout in his ’94 Corvette, while the LMC Truck class was split between Rob MacGregor (class win) and Jeff Kunk (shootout). Mark Golovin made the most of Tremec All American Sunday competition by winning both the class and shootout in his 2001 Camaro.

In addition to winners on the track and in the show car field, the Summit Racing Nationals is where we award the Goodguys Grand Prize Giveaway vehicle to one lucky winner. Finalists from all across the country travelled to Columbus to draw a key during the Sunday awards ceremony for the Goolsby Customs-built ’85 Chevy C10 pickup. Only one key would fire up the LT1-powered beauty, and that key was in the hand of Gary Damm, who came all the way from Spokane, Washington for his chance at the truck. And he’s planning to drive this road-proven truck all the way home, too! Congratulations, Gary!

We were also excited for Roadster Shop to unveil the freshly finished ’88 Chevy pickup they built for the Goodguys 2022/2023 Grand Prize Giveaway vehicle! Based on RS’s new Low-Pro chassis and rolling on 22- and 24-inch Billet Specialties wheels with power from a Chevrolet Performance E-Rod LS3, this stylin’ sport truck is flashing us back to the ’90s and is sure to turn heads at Goodguys events in the coming year!

With hundreds of vendors in attendance in Columbus, it’s the perfect venue for the annual Goodguys Best New Products Exhibit. This allows manufacturers to showcase their latest products, from which we select winners in several categories. Look for a full recap on the New Product showcase winners later this week right here on Fuel Curve.

Those highlights just scratch the surface of a weekend blowout that included thousands of fantastic cars and an extensive list of activities. We’re talking a special Mustang Madness display, Nitro Thunderfest exhibitions, a killer Burnout Competition, big-time swap meet, nightly parties at the Crowne Plaza and Hilton Polaris hotels, live music, kids activities, a huge vendor display, and endless cruising through the Ohio Expo Center grounds.

Yep, we had a big time at The Big One this year! A huge Goodguys thank you goes out to all of you who joined us for this massive automotive celebration – our biggest of the year. We hope you enjoy these highlights and are already looking forward to returning to Ohio for the next Big One next year!

Photos by Damon Lee, Steven Bunker, John Jackson & Terry Lysak