Weekend Rewind! Goodguys 28th Summit Racing Nationals Presented by Grundy Insurance
We’ve got to tip our hats to Midwest hot rodders – they don’t let a damp weather forecast affect their plans when it comes to the cool cars, cool people, and the good times that the Goodguys Big One delivers! Clouds loomed Friday and Saturday, but the 28th Summit Racing Nationals Presented by Grundy Insurance cruised through the weekend with thousands of enthusiasts enjoying the show with a bright, sunny Sunday to cap off a stellar weekend!
For a small group of road warriors, the fun started on Monday with the Cruise to Columbus that followed the Goodguys Heartland Nationals in Des Moines. There was also a poker run on Thursday followed by several different kickoff parties at the host hotels Thursday evening.
Come Friday, rodders were rolling into the Ohio Expo Center Friday morning ready to take in a weekend of car-guy bliss with a full menu of family fun to take in. There was the Goodguys Autocross, a huge swap meet and even bigger Manufacturer’s Midway plus indoor vendors, AMD’s Ultimate GM Truck Display, New Product Awards, Goodgals Gallery, Family Fun Zone, SEMA’s HRIA Tech Days, and of course, the crowning of two of the Goodguys Top 12 of the Year Awards presented by BASF. Whew!
Columbus is the place to be for fans of street rods and street machines as Goodguys selects two of their signature Top 12 Of The Year Awards at the show: the Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year and the Forgeline Street Machine of the Year. These awards bring out the heavy hitters with their newest builds and the competition lived up to expectations! Goodguys selected the top 10 of each class on Friday followed by a fun ceremony on Saturday evening by narrowing each class to a top five.
The top five for the Classic Instruments Street Rod of the Year included: Cal Auto Creations 1933 Pontiac sedan, Harold Chapman’s ’32 Coupe, the Caetano’s ’32 Roadster, and Scotty Hooper’s ’40 Ford. The winning ride went to John and Jennifer Fairleigh with their ‘33 Ford Roadster built by Big Creek Restoration.
On the other side of the Celeste Center was a gathering of high-powered, cutting-edge rides vying for the Forgeline Street Machine of the Year title with the top five rounding out to include: Darrell Lee’s ’69 Plymouth, Scott Young’s ’86 Mustang, Dennis King’s ’69 Ford Torino, and the ’67 Chevelle of Shawn Rice. The winner of the Forgeline Street Machine of the Year went to Matt Jewell’s ’70 Chevelle built by Eddie’s Rod & Custom.
Rounding out the Street Rod and Street Machine awards, Goodguys also named several regional finalists for their Top 12 Awards program presented by BASF. These Finalists include: Zach Strait’s ’67 Camaro as the Snap-on Muscle Car; Kevin and Wendy Flondor’s ’68 C10 for the Dakota Digital Truck of the Year Late, and Jim Bridgewater’s ’66 Thunderbird for the Vintage Air Custom Rod of the Year. The Goodguys editorial team selected Bob Hastreiter’s Ford F1 Pickup as their Feature Pick.
The Goodguys coveted Builder’s Choice Top 10 Awards is also bigger in Ohio as they include 20 cars at Columbus! Half of those were picked by Dutchboys Hotrods andthe other half by Roadster Shop. First are Paul VanNus of Dutchboys’ selections.
And here’s a look at Roadster Shop’s Builder’s Choice Top 10.
Speaking of award winners, the Goodguys Nationals also hosts the In the Garage Media New Product Showcase, where manufacturers could show off their latest, greatest products – and there were a lot of ’em! We’ll have a complete feature on all the products next week, but to give you an idea, here’s a look at the winners.
One area that the foreboding skies did affect was the autocross action. Racers were able to get some laps in on Friday, but the decision was made to run the Forgeline Buckeye Shootout on Saturday morning just in case the skies opened up. The Shootout and class winners included: Ron Scott Jr. in Speedtech Performance Pro X, Chris Smith in Summit Racing Pro, Rob MacGregor in the No Limit Engineering Truck class, Tom Farrington in Forgeline Street Machine, Bob Bertelson in the Corvette class, Tim Elswick in Challenger, and Sports Car was Ryan Mathews. Sunday morning brought the All American Sunday cars in to compete with the shootout title going to Pat Leatherman.
Another special event held only at the Goodguys Summit Racing Nationals is the presentation for the 2026 Grand Prize Giveaway car, the incredible ’40 Ford Coupe built by Roseville Rod and Custom. Seventeen people were given a key to start the car, with only one being the “magic key.” It was down to just a few people left when Ted Bauer tried his key which cranked over the supercharged Cadillac motor to life! As one Giveaway car drives away, the next one rolls in and for 2027, Goodguys will be giving away a sleek street machine in the form of a 1966 Chevelle built by GAP Industries! (Follow here for all the details on this incredible build.)
The Goodguys 28th Summit Racing Nationals Presented by Grundy Insurance was another one for the books! Thousands of cool cars and trucks, even more cool people, and the good times just kept rolling! Thanks to all of you who joined the fun this weekend – we can’t wait to see you all again next year!
Photos by: Damon Lee, Terry Lysak, Todd Ryden
