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Friday First Look! 2nd Kentucky Nationals

New events add another layer of excitement and although the Kentucky Nationals isn’t brand new, the second running of this exciting event is creating a lot of buzz in the central-east this weekend. The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington is the host for this weekend’s event and fully encompasses the Kentucky vibe with rolling green hills, picket fencing, and roaming horses.

The horsepower at the Kentucky Horse Park looks a little different this weekend as classic hot rods, muscle cars, pickup trucks, and cool cruisers have taken over for the next 72 hours.


We kicked off the weekend yesterday with a great hot rod run through Lexington visiting Hurricane Place which houses roughly 150 thoroughbred horses, got a behind-the-scene tour of Country Boy Brewing which is the first new-construction brewery built in Kentucky since prohibition, then rolled over to Evans Orchard Cider Mill before finally arriving at Shelby’s Speed & Kustom for the official Kentucky Nationals kickoff party.

The gates swung open before the sun came up this morning and the event quickly filled up. The people rolled in and the 2nd Kentucky Nationals got underway. Over 1,000 vehicles were on display today and were joined with a packed vendor midway, an impressive indoor car show, Goodguys AutoCross racing, a Nitro Thunderfest sound off, and bargains to be found at the swap meet.

Tomorrow we’ll add in our Saturday Specialty Parking areas including the Greening Builders Choice selected by Jesse & Jeff, a Burnout Contest, fun activities for the kids, two more Nitro Thunderfest sessions, AutoCross shootout racing and more! Until then, here’s a peek at what we saw today.

Photos by Steven Bunker & Todd Ryden

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A lifelong car kid, Steven grew up around drag strips – his name may sound familiar because his grandfather is Bob Bunker, a Pro Mod pioneer who piloted the “Folsom Flash” ’55 Chevy from the ’70s through the ’90s. Steven’s father, Bob Bunker Jr., heads up Bunker Motorsports and is a regular in the West Coast racing scene, building chassis and race cars for more than 30 years. With genetics like that, it’s no wonder Steven has a passion for both cars and motorsports. In addition to helping his father and honing his fabrication skills at Bunker Motorsports, Steven began shooting photos at the drag strip and capturing the action with his Canon camera. He is now artfully crafting stories around the awesome machines at the shows, as well as the men and women behind them. When he's is not on the road covering events, he spends his downtime out on the water fishing, building his 1962 Chevy Nova, or cruising his 1987 GMC Suburban.

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