Iowa State Fairgrounds

Goodguys 25th Heartland Nationals

Sunday at Goodguys 25th Heartland Nationals …

The weather held out to make it a great show as the Goodguys 25th Heartland Nationals closed out their final day at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Sunday. It was great cruisin’ weather as everyone got in line to parade throughout the fairgrounds.

Cars On Line.com was here in Des Moines this weekend to cover all the action at this giant Goodguys event as they celebrated their “Silver Anniversary” for this show. It was big … with over 4,000 vehicles pre-1972 here on Saturday. The Iowa State Fairgrounds is so big you have to cruise the grounds just to see all the cars. Cars On Line readers were checking in on this page for the last three days to see all the top cars at the show. You can also catch our posts on Facebook and Twitter. We did several Periscope broadcasts on Twitter here at the show. You can replay them by clicking on the video window on our Twitter page.

On Sunday they awarded the:
Meguiars Magnificent Masterpiece Award
Goodguys 2016 Vintage Air CUSTOM ROD OF THE YEAR
Goodguys 2016 MSD MUSCLE CAR OF THE YEAR
Goodguys 2016 Griots Garage MUSCLE MACHINE OF THE YEAR
Goodguys 2016 Scotts Hot Rods TRUCK OF THE YEAR – EARLY (through ‘52)
Goodguys 2016 LMC Truck Parts TRUCK OF THE YEAR – LATE (’53 through ‘72)
Here are the winners:

The winners of the Builders Choice Awards were in a special display on Saturday and Sunday north of the VI building. See the winners here in a slide show:

Five regional winners will be picked at the Goodguys 25th Heartland Nationals to compete in the Goodguys Top 12 competitions at the end of the year. Regional winners here at Des Moines will have a chance to compete for the Top 12 in Scottsdale, Arizona during the 19th Annual Southwest Nationals, Nov 18-20, 2016. However the winners will not be announced until October, 2016. Cars On Line.com will show you all of the top cars in the running from Des Moines this weekend.

Here is a slider to show you some of the show quality cars and trucks we’ve seen so far:

Of course, there are always some great cars that just show up in Des Moines. Just for “braggin’ rights” here are some of the cars we spotted in Des Moines that deserve mention:

The most popular event at the Goodguys shows this year has been the Goodguys Autocross sponsored by Optima Batteries. It will be called the “Duel in Des Moines” as mid-westerners get a chance to shake out the cob webs and go fast on a fairly difficult autocross course. Celebrity drivers such as Al Unser, Jr and Bobby Unser even took the course laying down some fast times.

The first 5,000 spectators through the turnstiles on Saturday were given American flags to celebrate the 4th of July, and our nation’s independence.

Watch for our broadcasts on Twitter. Here is a live streamed interview with one of the Builders Choice Award winners:

And if you think this was a big show, wait till you see where we’ll be next week when Goodguys holds their biggest show of the year at the Goodguys PPG Nationals in Columbus. Click the link for a preview of the show.