Weekend Rewind – 26th Goodguys Summer Get-Together!
Memorial Day weekend may be the unofficial start to summer, but the West Coast car community truly got into the swing of the season this weekend as Goodguys hosted the 26th Summer Get-Together at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton.
Open to all American-made and American-powered cars and trucks, the Summer Get-Together is a celebration of this country’s car culture, from vintage classics and hot rods, to modern cruisers and performance machines. The rumble of American power echoed throughout the Tri-Valley region as thousands of cool rides rolled out under picture-perfect sunny skies!
Muscle cars were the focal point this weekend as we celebrated the legacy of factory-built performance machines. A special indoor muscle car display took over one building, Mopar Madness descended on another, and the outdoor show areas were filled with all forms of both original and modified muscle cars. We even selected a finalist for our Muscle Car of the Year competition, Wade Ogle’s rare ’71 Hemi Cuda, as well as a finalist for Griot’s Garage Muscle Machine of the Year, Chris Von Ritter’s ’67 Camaro. Among the dozens of other awards were Larry Blodgett’s ’52 Dodge panel truck selected as a Fuel Curve Pick, and Frank Gonzales’ ’68 Chevy pickup chosen as a Gazette Pick.
Muscle cars stole the show on the AutoCross course, as well, with dozens of racers competing to make it into Sunday’s Muscle Car Shootout presented by Spectre Performance. Class winners included Brian Hobaugh in PRO-X with his ’73 Camaro, Mike Maier in PRO with his ’66 Mustang, Ken Yeo and his ’65 Corvette taking the Street Machine class, and Martin Pond taking the Truck class with with his ’81 Durango. The Muscle Car Shootout presented by Spectre saw double-up wins in both ladders, with Hobaugh taking the PRO-X/PRO shootout win, and Yeo sweeping the field in the SM, HR & TR shootout. While competitors duked it out all weekend, they also came together to celebrate the life of Tom Smiley, a regular Pleasanton AutoCross racer who died unexpectedly just a week ago.
We packed plenty of additional fun into this 48-hour automotive party, including three Nitro Thunderfest exhibitions, a killer Burnout Competition, special kids activities, Tri-Valley Quarter Midget Association race exhibitions, live music, and an incredible swap meet and Cars 4 Sale Corral. Trust us, it was hard to take it all in!
Car guys and gals love summer, and there’s nothing quite like kicking off the season with thousands of like-minded gearheads. If this past weekend in Pleasanton is any indication, we’re going to have plenty of hot fun in the summertime this year!
