GOODGUYS NASHVILLE

Photography by Nate Nelson Article & Feature Layout by Jimmy B

Nashville Tennessee is known as the center of country music across the world, but on

Memorial Day weekend there was a whole different kind of music playing in Nashville….HOT ROD MUSIC! After Covid cancelled the Nashville Nationals in 2020, hot rodders and car lovers were ready to return to Nashville for the Goodguys 15th Annual Nashville Nationals in big numbers….and they did turn out! The Nashville Nationals take place at NISSAN Stadium located right on the banks of the Cumberland River and

51 just across from the downtown area known as lower

Broad, where the legendary Honky Tonks belt out music all day and all night.

The show and the weekend started out wet...REALLY WET! When many hot rodders were rolling into town on Thursday to get settled in and ready for a weekend of fun, the sun was shining on them. Lots of car clean up was taking place at al the hotels around Nashville in preparation for the show. Hot rodders woke up to a very soggy Friday morning...SOGGY! Mother Nature did not get the memo about sunshine all weekend long.

Friday saw hot rodders rolling in even though it was raining and at times POURING Rain. One of those times of pouring rain was when the Hot Rod Of The Year (HROTY) contenders took off on their required drive. Kudo’s to all of them for being real hot rodders and driving their cars. We are glad to report that none of the cars melted in the rain and they all cleaned up just fine later in the day.

Saturday dawned cloudy and cool, but thankfully no rain! Show goers were able to explore more than 2,000 of the country's best 1987 and older hot rods, customs, muscle cars, trucks, and classics that were on display all over the show site.

Goodguys had all the buttons checked with the many events within the show going on all weekend long.

One of the favorites of any Goodguys events is the Autocross. In Nashville the “Music City Mayhem” Goodguys Auto-

the best competitors! The Nitro Thunderfest Vintage Dragster Exhibition was a big hit with the Rat Trap, Rat Poison and Brutus Fuel Altereds firing up and giving everyone a good shot of Nitro Fumes. Check out our Facebook and IG page to see videos of them all running and turn up the volume!

There were over 150 vendor exhibits, the Swap Meet and Cars 4 Sale Corral, a FREE Kids Zone, Live Entertainment with the Michael Young Band on Saturday and Sunday playing cool tunes and so much more!

Sunday dawned bright and sunny to close out the weekend. The All American Sunday celebration opened up to late model American made or powered vehicles and also featured an All American Sunday AutoCross Shootout. Over in the Winners Circle all of the cool picks were on display for everyone to check out. Later Sunday afternoon, the Awards Ceremony took place where the weekend winners were presented with custom-made awards, featuring Builder’s Choice Awards by Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop, and the crowning of the Goodguys 2021 Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year.

After the year that 2020 was, it was great to see people be able to come together safely and have hot rod fun.

If you missed the 15th Nashville Nationals, you missed a great event for sure. No worries though, the 16th Annual Nashville Nationals will take place over Memorial Day Weekend in 2022 so make your plans now to be part of this cool event.