June 2020 • By Tony Thacker

It’s hot man, damn hot and humid, humid as all heck but if you enjoy quarter-mile drag racing as it used to be the Holley National Hot Rod Reunion (NHRR) is the place to be if you want to see AA/Fuel Altereds Gassers, Nostalgia Pro Stock as well as nitro-powered Nostalgia Top Fuel and Funny Car.  

For the past 17 years the NHRR has been held on Father’s Day weekend, however, because of recent events this year the three-day event has been pushed back to Aug. 20-22 at BeechBend.com, Bowling Green, KY. Note: The NHRR is a Thursday, Friday, Saturday event. It is not open on Sunday.

Besides the Reunion, Bowling Green is also home to Holley.com, the Corvette plant, though neither currently offers tours and the National CorvetteMuseum.org that is always worth a visit as is the amusement park attached to the Raceway.

Just an hour south is Nashville ‘Music City, USA,’ a convenient transport hub and a fun city to visit. If you make it to Nashville try to make time take in the American Pickers’ AntiqueArcheology.com store in the old Marathon car factory and the LaneMotorMuseum.org  You can even pick up parts from TennesseeSpeedSport.com which is an excellent, traditional speed shop just off I-65 on the way north to Bowling Green.

The NHRR is the sister event to the California Hot Rod Reunion so you can be sure of plenty to see. Last year there were more than 400 racecars and probably close to 1,000 show cars. The sheer diversity of cars is enough to please anyone especially if you like Gassers, door cars, straight-axle cars and muscle cars. There are just hundreds of them as well as a bunch of short wheelbase Anglias, Austins and Prefects that you just don’t see everyday as they smoke the back tires with their front wheels high in the sky. Those alone are worth the price of admission but there’s also a huge swap meet and non-stop drag racing action as it used to be.

Spectator entrance to the NHRR is $65 for all three days if you purchase in advance on-line.  Single day entrance is $25.

Note #1: There is an AAA discount so remember to ask for that.

Note #2: Entrance at the gate is cash only as there are no credit card facilities at the gate.

Children 15 years old and under are FREE with a paid adult. 

For more information visit https://nhramuseum.org/holley-national-hot-rod-reunion/