Road Worthy and Track Proven! Recapping The Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year Reliability Run
Hot rods should be driven – and sometimes driven hard! That’s one of the driving philosophies behind the Goodguys Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year award, which is why competition for this prestigious Top 12 honor has historically involved a Friday Reliability Run during the BASF Nashville Nationals event weekend. It’s one of our favorite days of the year, and it proved to be another spectacular road trip outing yesterday.
More than two dozen hard-charging hot rods rolled out of Nashville Superspeedway first thing Friday morning for a 125-mile journey that made stops at Smithson Speed and Engineering, Advanced Plating (where our group was treated to a delicious barbecue lunch), and Team Witt Customs. It’s almost a rite of passage for our Hot Rod of the Year contenders to be baptized by rain, and sure enough there was a late-morning downpour that drenched our caravan. The rain was short-lived, though, and most of the drive delivered clear and easy cruising.
The pack of hot rods made its way back to Nashville Superspeedway by late-afternoon, where we converted the tracks pit road into an impromptu 1/8-mile drag strip for burnouts and side-by-side drag passes. It was one more opportunity for these cars to open up the throttle, show off, and earn some style points! It’s a blast to see these hot rods ripping big-time burnouts and tire squealing launches – something you wouldn’t think many of these cars would be out doing – but isn’t this why we build hot rods!
The accompanying photos provide an overview of an amazing day on the Hot Rod Reliability Run with amazing rods blasting down some Tennessee two-lane roads. Which car do you think will find its way to the top of the heap? Check back in on Sunday for the Weekend Rewind to see which car takes the 2025 Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year title.
Photos by Marc Gewertz
