Weekend Rewind – 1st Grundy Insurance Great American Nationals
Goodguys took over the historic grounds of America’s first fair to host an incredible inaugural event this weekend at the 1st Grundy Insurance Great American Nationals in York, Pennsylvania! It was one of the best first-time events Goodguys has ever held and we packed the York Expo Center with cool hot rods, bitchin’ customs, powerful muscle cars, clean classic trucks, and fine vintage iron of all styles and genres.
Anticipation was building for weeks and pre-registration numbers were strong even before we got the weekend started with a fun and festive kickoff party at Winters Performance Products on Thursday afternoon and evening. From that point on, the momentum just kept building as Northeast rides cruised into the facility all weekend and created a truly great American hot rod scene!
Things were in full swing by Saturday, with cool cars cruisin’ and showin’ off and a full host of events to keep everyone entertained. This included popular attractions like our Nitro Thunderfest and a fantastic Burnout Competition – Northeast rodders really know how to put on a smoke show! We also had live music, kids activities, a Goodgals Gallery, and all-American fun in the form of a kids Watermelon Eating Contest. An expansive indoor car show inside the arena building offered even more cars and a chance to cool off while checking them out.
Our friend Mark Giambolvo from Creative Rod & Kustom was out scouring the grounds on Saturday looking for Builder’s Choice Top 10 selections and came up with a great group of rides. Check them out below and see if you agree that he did a fantastic job of choosing some first-rate machines!
The Goodguys crew was also making picks and award selections and found dozens of vehicles to earn special honors. Top among those were George Fischer’s ’65 C10 earning the LMC Truck of the Year Late finalist nod, Nick Weber’s ’60 Corvette racing to earn the Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year finalist selection, and Joe and Tina Buono grabbing the Muscle Car of the Year finalist spot with their ’69 Boss 429 Mustang. The media team got in on the action, as well, selecting Jeff Ludwig’s ’55 Chevy for the Gazette Pick and Floyd Dutton’s ’58 Edsel Roundup wagon for the Fuel Curve Pick.
The York Expo Center asphalt was put to the test by AutoCross racers tearing up a tight and fast cone course on the west end of the grounds. They were all gunning for a spot on the ladder for Saturday afternoon’s Steel Shootout presented by BASF. The action was tight as Corey Williams and his second-gen Camaro grabbed a narrow victory over Dustin McNeill in the Detroit Speed Corvette in the PRO-X/PRO portion of the shootout. Street Machine class winner Bill Graves Sr. took the win on the Street Machine, Hot Rod, and Truck portion of the shootout in his ’66 Corvette, topping the Truck-class-winning Ranchero of Pat McGinnis in the final round for the victory. Other class winners included Ken Hiebert in PRO-X, Bob Bertelsen in PRO, Nelson Marrotte doubled up on All American Sunday by winning both the class and the Sunday Shootout in his 2018 Camaro.
The weekend momentum entered a third day as All-American Sunday presented by Spectre Performance brought in a wide range of modern machines to join the fun. It all led up to our customary Sunday afternoon awards ceremony – a fantastic way to cap off a stellar car-crazy weekend. We’d like to thank all the Northeast rodders for embracing this first-time event and making it such a success! We’re already looking forward to a return trip to York and even better Goodguys good times next year!
Photos by Damon Lee and Todd Ryden
