NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018

NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018
Circle of Winners Awards Ceremony

The NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018 proved every bit as exciting as we expected. Street rods and custom cars packed the Kentucky Expo Center for all four days, August 2-5, 2018. We saw everything from old school hot rods to high tech state-of-the-art builds. There was plenty of eye candy here in Louisville. 

The Circle of Winners awards ceremony is a tradition here at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018. The top cars entered in the show were invited to be part of the Sunday display inside Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Expo Center today in Louisville, Kentucky. Here are the top cars honored as the show wrapped up on Sunday:

High honors went to Boesch Auto Body out of Humphrey, Nebraska when the custom car shop was selected as the Builder of the Year at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018. They custom fabricated this 1936 Ford Roadster for Dana and Marge Elrod working on it off-and-on for about eleven years. We caught up with Dale Boesch at the Harold Workman Lobby at the Kentucky Expo Center where the Builder’s Showcase competition was held. Dale walked us through some of the fine points of the build that won him the Builder of the Year Award.

Here is how it looked on display in the Builder’s Showcase in the Harold Workman Lobby at the Kentucky Expo Center: 

The Builder’s Showcase at the NSRA 2018 Street Rod Nationals is where you will find some of the street rod hobby’s best custom hot rod shops. We found Joe Spano of upstate New York as he was talking about his 1962 Corvette Custom Fuelie in the Harold Workman Lobby. In this interview he told us the story of the car he bought when he was 19 years old. He recently had it completely redesigned by Steve Holcomb at Pro Auto. 

Mike Boerma, the owner of Gas Axe Garage in Grand Rapids, Michigan took a 4-door 1947 Cadillac and magically turned it into a 2-Door Convertible Street Rod with a Carson style top. He calls it the Crystal Cadillac. In this video he tells us how he built it for owner Kevin Anderson. 

In the Builder’s Showcase we interviewed Kenneth Denney from Hot Rod Specialties in Indianapolis, Indiana about their 1941 Willys with a 572 ci Blown Hemi engine. They built the car for Jon Brissman. (Click the video window to learn more about the build.)

We caught up with Karl Schulman of Garrett’s Rod Shop in Columbus, Ohio in the Builder’s Showcase. He told us about the 1966 Dodge Super Charger they built for John McConnell. Wait till you see the blown 440 Gen II Hemi engine with Kenne Bell Supercharger in this car. Click video window below if you are not faint of heart:

Cars On Line’s Car Show team is reporting on the NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018 for our readers. The NSRA is one of the oldest and largest street rod clubs in the U.S. They really know how to put on a car show. So our photo journalists, Bob and Donna Boberg of eClassicAuto.com, are on hand to take photos and video of the event. Watch for their posts on Facebook and Twitter.  If you love the American hot rod, you’ll want to see the NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018 through our camera lens.

Today the officials here at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018 confirmed for us that there were 10,190 street rods and customs registered here in Louisville for the show. This is the hot car show to attend in the U.S. this weekend, August 2-5, 2018. It’s big!!!  Click through the slideshow below to get a taste of the kind of action we are seeing here this weekend:

Street rods were thundering in to Hot Louisville all morning for the Sunday finale of the 49th Annual NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018, August 2-5, 2018. We thought you’d like to see how the day started here.  (Click the video window below.)

You can imagine our excitement here in Louisville, Kentucky anticipating one of the biggest street rod shows in the country. It is the signature event of the year for the National Street Rod Association.

Yesterday they just announced the winner of the Give A Way Car, a 1932 Ford Victoria, here at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018. Charlie Senn, a local resident of Louisville, will be coming home in a beautiful ’32 Vicky Deuce Coupe. It was custom built specially for the NSRA Give A Way drawing. Charlie’s registration ticket was drawn here this afternoon.

Waycool Customs of Pittsfield, Illinois built the 1932 Ford Victoria designed by Eric Brockmeyer of Brockmeyer Designs. The state-of-the-art ’32 Vicky now has a new owner. The drawing was held at Freedom Hall Saturday afternoon.

In addition to the 10,000+ street rods, customs, classics, muscle cars and resto mods, there was a giant manufacturers area with all the new innovations and equipment related to custom car building. They say over 300 manufacturers are here to show you their products during the NSRA Street Rod Nationals 2018. In addition, there was a giant swap meet, an arts and crafts show, Woman’s World, and NSRA StreetKhana Auto Cross racing.