The Western Swing – Goodguys 2019 Hall of Fame Road Tour
The annual Goodguys Hall of Fame Road Tour has become a “must attend” road trip that covers over 1,500 miles in typically 7 days en route to the Lone Star Nationals event at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. With limited space available and a steadily growing demand year after year, the decision was made to do two Hall of Fame Road Tours in 2019 – one starting on the East, and another in the West, with both meeting in Texas.
We tackled that trip a couple weeks ago and we’re here to relive the experience we conquered on the West Coast tour that departed Goodguys headquarters in Pleasanton, California, on September 20 and arrived in Fort Worth on September 26 – some 2,300 miles later.
The West Coast Hall of Fame Road Tour began with over 40 vehicles ranging from early-’30s hot rods, classic trucks, muscle cars, and a slew of cool ’50s cruisers. As with any road trip in your hot rod, the destination isn’t the most important part – it’s a great sight to keep your eye on, but it’s all about the journey while making new friends. For our group, most of those new friendships began on the side of the road when a fellow cruiser stopped to help with another’s car troubles – the West Coast tour had its fair share of breakdowns, but luckily most were easy repairs and they safely completed the drive to Texas!
Our first leg of the West Coast Hall of Fame Road Tour led us as far West as you can go in an automobile and hopped on Pacific Coast Highway after checking out the amazing Canepa Collection. We detoured to the historic 17-Mile Drive through Pebble Beach before heading south on 1 to stay in Paso Robles for the first night.
On the second day we ventured over to Ironworks Speed and Kustom in Bakersfield then made way to Las Vegas to check out Nostalgia Street Rods and post up for the second night at a beautiful resort on Lake Mead. The next three days were all about the northern desert scenery as we drove through Arizona and New Mexico, getting closer to west Texas. Not only were those three days filled with beautiful scenic miles and historic stops such as the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon, but we also visited premier hot rod shops and manufacturers such as Centerforce Clutches, Baer Brakes, and Martin Auto Museum.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
The final two-day stretch through west Texas took us into Lubbock to check out Hill’s Hot Rods after swinging by Al Knoch Interiors and the War Eagles Air Museum in El Paso. The final stint of our journey to Fort Worth took us to Cooks Garage and the Albany Car Museum before meeting up with the East tour group at Summit Racing in Arlington and cruising as a whole over to the Lone Star Nationals event host hotel for the weekend.
Day 6
Day 7
Covering 2,300-plus miles in your hot rod can be an intimidating thought at first to many, but Goodguys is all about getting your car out of the garage and on the road like our founder Gary Meadors was famously known to do. With support trailers, plenty of gearhead individuals who can MacGyver a temporary fix until something more permanent can be done, backroad two-lane highway routes, and a variety cool stops along the way, the West Coast Hall of Fame Road Tour was nothing short of an incredible adventure with lots of thumbs up along the way.
Photos by Steven Bunker & Todd Ryden
