Holley National Hot Rod Reunion Returns to Bowling Green June 13-16

By: Todd Veney06/04/2018 < Back to Blog Home

Don't miss the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance at historic Beech Bend Raceway Park over Father's Day Weekend, June 13-16. Top nostalgia drag racers from around the country will converge on Bowling Green, Ky., home of Holley Performance, for open competition in a variety of classes, including the top-of-the-line Nostalgia Top Fuel dragsters and nitro Funny Cars.

Two thousand vintage hot rods, muscle cars and race cars will fill the beautiful acreage of Beech Bend Raceway, and drag racing legends from around the country will be present and available to sign autographs. Holley tech and sales staff will be on site to troubleshoot and answer questions, and vintage T-shirts, hats, and neon clocks will be available at the Holley race trailer. All sorts of hot rod hardware will be up for grabs at the vintage parts and memorabilia swap meet and via the massive vendor midway.

Former NHRA world champion Larry Lombardo, who drove Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins' Chevy Monza to the 1976 Pro Stock title, will serve as Grand Marshal. He'll be joined at Beech Bend by this year's honorees – six-time national event winner Joe Williamson, 1967 Super Stock world champ Ed Miller, 1968 Winternationals and Springnationals winner Bo Laws, Funny Car pioneer Jay Howell, and longtime NHRA Division 1 Director Greg Xakellis. A special Honoree Reception will take place at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green on Friday, June 15, from 6-8 pm. (Admission is free.)

The event celebrates the American hot rod culture in a family-friendly environment and includes vintage drag cars and classic hot rods and customs. Show-car owners can enter the Axalta Show-N-Shine and compete to be able to display their machines at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals, the biggest event in drag racing, over Labor Day Weekend in Indianapolis.

New for this year's event is the Nashville Road Tour, which starts Wed., June 13, in Spring Hill, Tenn., stops in Goodlettsville, Tenn., and winds up at the Fan Fest at Bowling Green Ballpark, where there will be a huge display of hot rods and race cars. Immediately after that is a baseball game between the Bowling Green Hot Rods and the Fort Wayne Tin Caps. (If you use the discount code ‘REUNION,’ tickets are only $5.00.)

A new category, 6.0, will be featured this year that's open to front-engine dragsters, center-steer altereds and 1965-79 Funny Cars. The flame-throwing jet dragsters of Dwayne Hill and Elaine Larsen will also compete in a head-to-head match race. Thursday night, a special street-legal drag race event will be open to all Axalta Show N Shine entrants. The weekend wraps up with the always exciting Cacklefest, where a giant assortment of nitro-burning dragsters and Funny Cars fire their engines at the same time before the grandstands under the night sky.