Weekend Rewind – 18th Great Northwest Nationals

We celebrated 18 years in the Great Northwest this weekend as Goodguys took over the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center for a jam-packed weekend of hot rod happenin’s. Mother Nature was temperamental all weekend as temperatures ranged from mid-90s and sunny on Thursday to a high of 67 with sporadic light drizzle on Sunday. Luckily, we had an awesome day on Saturday with zero moisture falling from the skies which brought out over 1,000 hot rods and a load of spectators who got to witness all the action offered.

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goodguys spokane, great northwest nationals, gnwn, jacob lusk, 1958 Chevy, 1958 apache, meguiars

The weekend got off on the right foot with a great Hot Rod Cruise on Thursday organized by our local host club, the Dukes Auto Club. That run ended at River City Speed and Kustom for an official kickoff party – and party we did long into the night. The partying didn’t stop there as our host hotel for the weekend, the Mirabeau Park, had the parking lot rockin’ Friday night for the TGIF party.

The gates blew open early Saturday morning and the cars rolled in by the hundreds filling the fairgrounds and special parking areas quickly, including the Builder’s Choice area presented by JF Kustoms. We collaborated with JF on his picks and narrowed it down to these 10 fine rides seen below.

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The vendor booths saw lots of foot traffic as did the sprawling indoor car show, swap meet and cars for sale corral, Goodgals Gallery, and Brush Bash. Nitro Thunderfest action shook the ground twice on Saturday and the Burnout Contest brought the spectators to their feet with an awesome smoke show display. There were plenty of Saturday activities for the young rodders with the model Make N Take, PPG coloring contest, fun games, and a great model car show.

goodguys spokane, great northwest nationals, gnwn, indoor car show

We chose one big winner for the weekend which was a finalist for the 2019 Muscle Car of the Year running – that award went to Carmine Golemme’s 1967 Plymouth GTX. Our Gazette staff went on to pick Scott Thurston’s 1969 Ford F100 for the Fuel Curve award and Lee Badger’s 1974 AMC Javelin for the Gazette Pick – you’ll see more of these fine rides in an upcoming issue of the Gazette.
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The resilient Northwest hot rodders didn’t allow a little rain to deter them from a weekend of Goodguys Goodtimes – from Thursday to Sunday the Spokane area was littered with classics cruising the streets, rolling into the fairgrounds, and enjoying a great weekend in the Inland Empire. Spokane knows how to “hot rod,” and we’re already looking forward to coming back in 2020!

We’re now loaded up and headed East for the 1st Grundy Insurance Great American Nationals in York, PA next weekend. This new event is buzzing and we’re excited to see our east coast friends at the York Expo Center!

Photos by Steven Bunker & John Jackson

Director of Media & Marketing

A lifelong car kid, Steven grew up around drag strips – his name may sound familiar because his grandfather is Bob Bunker, a Pro Mod pioneer who piloted the “Folsom Flash” ’55 Chevy from the ’70s through the ’90s. Steven’s father, Bob Bunker Jr., heads up Bunker Motorsports and is a regular in the West Coast racing scene, building chassis and race cars for more than 30 years. With genetics like that, it’s no wonder Steven has a passion for both cars and motorsports. In addition to helping his father and honing his fabrication skills at Bunker Motorsports, Steven began shooting photos at the drag strip and capturing the action with his Canon camera. He is now artfully crafting stories around the awesome machines at the shows, as well as the men and women behind them. When he's is not on the road covering events, he spends his downtime out on the water fishing, building his 1962 Chevy Nova, or cruising his 1987 GMC Suburban.