Weekend Rewind! Goodguys 38th Griot’s Garage Pacific Northwest Nationals presented by Wicked Fabrication
Goodguys has been coming to Puyallup, Washington, for 38 years now and if you were at the Griot’s Garage Pacific Northwest Nationals presented by Wicked Fabrication you’d understand why – it’s three packed days of cruising, car showing, hanging out, and cruisin’ some more. All to celebrate the sweetest vintage cars, classic trucks, and customs in the region along with the coolest people!
The Pacific Northwest has a bit of an abbreviated cruise season compared to other parts of the country and July is prime for hot rodding so it game on! Our fun started Thursday morning as dedicated cruisers shows up for the King’s Men Car Club’s annual poker run, followed by a lot of smiling faces cruising the Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup for the next three days! This event is all about making laps, giving thumbs ups and waving to the crowds snapping pictures and enjoying watching the show roll by.
The special parking areas were shifted around a bit this year thanks to the new space just outside of the indoor show area but that allowed. Matt Jones and his crew at Art Morrison Performance had their work cut-out for them as they were tasked with narrowing down their favorites to just 10 vehicles for their Builders Choice awards. were making selections for the Builder’s Choice Top 10 awards.
The AME group weren’t the only ones choosing their favorite vintage rides as the Goodguys awards crew searched for finalists for several of their regional Top 12 of the Year Awards presented by BASF. This year, they chose five cars and trucks as finalists for the Top 12 Awards including Phil Mitchell’s ’69 Yenko Nova for Snap-on Muscle Car, Tad Leach got the nod for the Vintage Air Custom Rod with his beaming ’56 Lincoln Premiere, Tony Jurado as the LMC Truck (Early) with his ’56 Ford F100, Shane Petit’s lifted ’77 Ford F250 for the Roadster Shop 4×4, and Transito Campos and his wicked-cool ’51 Mercury for Scotts Hotrods ‘N Customs Custom of the Year. The Goodguys media team was Mark Herz with his ’36 Ford coupe for their Feature Pick.
The fairgrounds were buzzing with activity all weekend long, with cool sights and happenings everywhere you turned. A fleet of pro street machines from the West Coast Pro Street Outlaws pounded the grounds as they cruised in parade from around the facility, the Pinstripers Brush Bash was in full swing, live music rocked SillyVille, not to mention the Burnout Competition! After the charred rubber and smoke drifted towards the sky, the crowd awarded Troy “the Postman” Zimmerman as the winner completing a back-to-back win in his ’69 Jeep mail truck which was followed by an impressive lowrider hopping exhibition complementing the indoor lowrider exhibit.
There was even more fun inside the main building where the kids found the Hot Wheels track, fun crafts, the model car display and the popular Auto World model car show and Take-and-Make, surrounded by more vendors and builders. And did you see the sand castle street rod take shape over three days?
And don’t forget the cruising – there was lots of it! Seeing hot rods and customs in motion never gets old, and the steady stream of slow-cruising classics lasted well into the evening on Saturday, helping to fulfill the good-time party vibe this event has cultivated through the years. It’s one of the things that makes the Pacific Northwest Nationals special, and it keeps enthusiasts coming back year after year at the end of every July. Thanks to all of you who joined us for party time in Puyallup again this year – we can’t wait for number 39!
Photos by Damon Lee, Todd Ryden
