Festival Vibes
Written by Steve Turner
Photography by the FSC staff
We’ve recently wrapped up the 24th Annual Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Competition Clutch
Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival and The SEMA Show. As the latter event came to a close the show producers announced that the event would expand from just a trade show into a weeklong event, including an outdoor automotive extravaganza known as SEMA Fest.
Great minds think alike, as the aforementioned Intergalactic Ford Festival infused the already successful NMRA World Finals with the kind of automotive excitement that turned Bowling Green into a must-visit stop for fans of Blue Oval performance.
Traveling to southern Kentucky for the close of the Ford drag racing series has long been a pilgrimage that I looked forward to. I even had to dodge a hurricane to make it to this year’s installment, but it was well worth it. There is something about driving down the winding roads, over the hills, and through the rolling grass on the way into the facility. It still takes me back to the days of the first World Ford Challenge and the initial NMRA race at Beech Bend Raceway.
In recent years the anticipation leading up to the event grew. Of course, I love the drag racing side of the event, and it is always exciting to see who survives the championship battles to ascend into the Top 10 and the championships. Also, depending on the weather, some racers let it rip in hopes of setting one last record before the season ends.
Seeing that all framed by the track’s wooden stands and familiar tower gives the finals a retro vibe that seems fitting for grassroots drag racing. Yet as much as I love straight-line competition, I have an appreciation for all forms of motorsport. When I am away from the desk here at FSC I can often be found at car shows, drift events, and other performance showcases.
When Holley expanded the event with the festival vibe, that hit home for me. Seeing tire shredding drifting, autocross corner carving and off-road dirt slinging all at the same facility is the sort of too-much-is-just-right that I can dig. Add in a burnout contest, a crazy circle track race, and the fun vibe of the newest addition — Retro Meet — and this event is the kind that I would love to attend even if I wasn’t covering it.
That said, covering such a huge event keeps our media team on its toes. There is action at every corner of the facility. We do our best to capture the spirit of all the events, but it is a challenge to gather it all. Likewise, there is a matter of available space to cover it on these pages.
That’s why we separated the Intergalactic Ford Fest coverage for this issue. It deserves a proper document, and we think you’ll agree that, even if you weren’t there, it looks like a lot of fun — because it is! As we head into the holiday season, I can’t help but be thankful that we are looking to add more of this vibe across our event portfolio in the months and years to come.
Likewise, I am interested to see what SEMA Fest brings to the trade show experience. The show itself makes for a busy week, so it will be intriguing to see if the industry embraces the event or if it is of more interest to enthusiasts who don’t typically attend the trade show for business reasons.
Either way, I am already getting excited about 2023. As I type this, we still have to put a bow on the 2022 season at the PRI Show in Indianapolis, but that is only a week away. Before you know it, we’ll all be getting together in Orlando to kick off a fresh season, and I already can’t wait to see what unfolds.
Written by Steve Turner
Photography by the FSC staff
We’ve recently wrapped up the 24th Annual Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Competition Clutch
Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival and The SEMA Show. As the latter event came to a close the show producers announced that the event would expand from just a trade show into a weeklong event, including an outdoor automotive extravaganza known as SEMA Fest.
Great minds think alike, as the aforementioned Intergalactic Ford Festival infused the already successful NMRA World Finals with the kind of automotive excitement that turned Bowling Green into a must-visit stop for fans of Blue Oval performance.
Traveling to southern Kentucky for the close of the Ford drag racing series has long been a pilgrimage that I looked forward to. I even had to dodge a hurricane to make it to this year’s installment, but it was well worth it. There is something about driving down the winding roads, over the hills, and through the rolling grass on the way into the facility. It still takes me back to the days of the first World Ford Challenge and the initial NMRA race at Beech Bend Raceway.
In recent years the anticipation leading up to the event grew. Of course, I love the drag racing side of the event, and it is always exciting to see who survives the championship battles to ascend into the Top 10 and the championships. Also, depending on the weather, some racers let it rip in hopes of setting one last record before the season ends.
Seeing that all framed by the track’s wooden stands and familiar tower gives the finals a retro vibe that seems fitting for grassroots drag racing. Yet as much as I love straight-line competition, I have an appreciation for all forms of motorsport. When I am away from the desk here at FSC I can often be found at car shows, drift events, and other performance showcases.
When Holley expanded the event with the festival vibe, that hit home for me. Seeing tire shredding drifting, autocross corner carving and off-road dirt slinging all at the same facility is the sort of too-much-is-just-right that I can dig. Add in a burnout contest, a crazy circle track race, and the fun vibe of the newest addition — Retro Meet — and this event is the kind that I would love to attend even if I wasn’t covering it.
That said, covering such a huge event keeps our media team on its toes. There is action at every corner of the facility. We do our best to capture the spirit of all the events, but it is a challenge to gather it all. Likewise, there is a matter of available space to cover it on these pages.
That’s why we separated the Intergalactic Ford Fest coverage for this issue. It deserves a proper document, and we think you’ll agree that, even if you weren’t there, it looks like a lot of fun — because it is! As we head into the holiday season, I can’t help but be thankful that we are looking to add more of this vibe across our event portfolio in the months and years to come.
Likewise, I am interested to see what SEMA Fest brings to the trade show experience. The show itself makes for a busy week, so it will be intriguing to see if the industry embraces the event or if it is of more interest to enthusiasts who don’t typically attend the trade show for business reasons.
Either way, I am already getting excited about 2023. As I type this, we still have to put a bow on the 2022 season at the PRI Show in Indianapolis, but that is only a week away. Before you know it, we’ll all be getting together in Orlando to kick off a fresh season, and I already can’t wait to see what unfolds.