Friday First Look! 14th Nashville Nationals
Goodguys rolled into Music City today, making a mechanical melody with a symphony of hot rods, cool customs, slick street machines, muscle cars, classics, and vintage rides as the 14th Nashville Nationals took over Nissan Stadium!
After kicking things off with an open house Thursday night at Advanced Plating’s new facility in nearby Portland, Tennessee, the celebration continued in Nashville this morning, filling the east stadium lots with cool vintage iron. The Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year competition is a highlight of the weekend and brought out a great lineup of fresh iron to compete for the crown. More than two dozen rides went on the Hot Rod of the Year reliability run today, taking a tour around the greater Nashville area and making a series of scenic stops, including Music City Raceway for some blasts down the 1/8th-mile strip!
Back at Nissan Stadium, the cars and trucks continued streaming in throughout the day. A few raindrops in the morning helped some of the rodders with their detailing efforts, but the weather stayed mostly dry and comfortable, with bursts of sunshine through the afternoon. AutoCrossers took to the track all afternoon, aiming to make it into tomorrow’s Music City Mayhem Shootout. There was also a Nitro Thunderfest exhibition, kids fun, and a full slate of vendors offering cool products and services.
It’s sure to be an action-packed weekend as we select five top finalists – and ultimately a winner – for the Tanks Inc. Hot Rod of the Year competition, plus finalists for Custom Rod of the Year, Muscle Car of the Year, Muscle Machine of the Year, and Truck of the Year Early. There will also be a Builder’s Choice Top 10 selected by Bobby Alloway, a PPG Dream Car pick, and a Fuel Curve award. On top of all that, we have a Burnout Competition scheduled, as well as more Nitro Thunderfest sound-offs, AutoCross action, and much more. So, stay tuned – there’s much more mechanical music to come this weekend from Nashville!
Photos by Damon Lee, John Jackson & Steven Bunker
