Friday First Look! Goodguys Inaugural BASF Legends of Hot Rodding Kicks Off in Nashville
Welcome to a new kind of Goodguys event! We kicked off the inaugural BASF Legends of Hot Rodding on Friday and delivered a fresh take on a familiar tune in Nashville, Tennessee, blending old-school hot rods and customs, a restored Fairgrounds Nashville facility, up-and-coming musicians, fun friends, industry honorees and trendsetters, and a whole bunch of Goodguys Good Times!
The party started early for dozens of participants on Thursday with a full-day Reliability Run for the Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year competition. That truly got our engines in tune, and we built on the momentum with a laid-back Kickoff Party Thursday evening at the Sheraton Music City host hotel. By the time Friday dawned, everyone was ready for a fantastic first day at the Fairgrounds Nashville!
The recently reinvigorated fairgrounds is just a stone’s throw from downtown Nashville and provides a great venue for a laid-back and curated car show. With a 1964 eligibility cutoff, we’re purposefully keeping this show more intimate, with a focus on hot rods, customs, and pre-’65 cruisers. Cars and trucks are displayed both inside and out, with an abundance of covered parking outside. It’s a setting that everyone in attendance quickly embraced.
A full playlist of special features is adding to the attraction of this new event. The outdoor Advanced Plating Soundstage presented by Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop provided a focal point for a variety of local music acts throughout the day on Friday, in addition to a panel discussion session with industry honorees that included Alan Johnson of Johson’s Hot Rod Shop, Steve Tracy of Advanced Plating, Dennis Overholser of Painless Performance, and Bobby Alloway of Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop. Inside, you could visit the expansive Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed display, check out the Gasser display presented by Lokar, or relax in the members-only York Speed Shop Speakeasy presented by Ethos Craft Brewing.
The Top 10 Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year finalists were on display at the fairgrounds entry, greeting spectators as they arrived. By early afternoon, the field had narrowed as we announced the Top Five for the competition: Harold Chapman’s ’32 Ford coupe, Scott Lorenzini’s ’32 Ford roadster, Todd Samson’s ’32 Ford roadster, Kent Thomazin ’30 Model A coupe, and John Fairleigh’s ’33 Ford roadster. Anticipation is mounting to see which car will take top honors on Saturday afternoon!
There are many more good vibes and Good Times to come on the second and final day of this all-new event. Besides crowning the Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year, we’ll also distribute dozens of other awards, including the Builder’s Choice Top 10 from Bobby Alloway. There will be more live music, an autograph session of Goodguys Trendsetters, Summit Racing Nitro Thunderfest exhibitions, hundreds of great cars and trucks to check out, and much more. It will all culminate with an awards program at 4:30.
This may be a new tune for Goodguys, but it definitely has a fun and familiar melody. Come sing along with us in Music City if you can, and stay tuned to this spot on the dial for a full recap of the first-ever BASF Legends of Hot Rodding.
Photos by Marc Gewertz and Damon Lee
