For two days, October 2–3, Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, became the epicenter of the Blue Oval world as Ford owners, racers, builders, enthusiasts, and spectators descended on the facility for Holley’s annual celebration of everything Ford.
More than just a car show, Holley Ford Fest encompasses virtually every aspect of the Ford performance hobby, from True Street racers to some of the wildest 2,500-horsepower doorslammers. There’s drifting, Grand Champion competition, and off-road mayhem, too.
And talk about a festival. There was drag racing at one end of the facility while autocross cars attacked the cones, Broncos and other off-road Fords tackled the dirt, and drifting demonstrations filled the air with the unmistakable sound and smell of tortured tires.
In between it all was a massive car show filled with everything from immaculate Mustangs to patina-covered pickups and wildly modified Ford-powered creations.
Nonstop Action
From the gates opening for Thursday’s test and tune through Saturday night, the action rarely stopped. Friday’s drag racing was rained out, but there was still plenty happening on the oval, show field, pits, and midway. Saturday brought better weather, and qualifying got underway shortly after sunrise. Bracket and Index racers got tuned up to the tree while the heads-up racers began sorting themselves out for Saturday’s eliminations. Meanwhile, the autocross course was already buzzing with corner-carvers getting quicker with every lap.
In the Grand Champion competition, drivers had to perform in autocross, the 3S Challenge, and drag racing. That required more than a quick vehicle, as driver skill played a major role. A car that dominated the quarter-mile wasn’t necessarily the car that could win the weekend. Grand Champion rewards the combination of acceleration, braking, handling, and driving ability, which helps explain why the competition attracts such a wide range of vehicles.
Then there was the off-road course, where Broncos and other Ford-based machines got their opportunity to leave the pavement behind. Drivers kicked up the dirt during open laps as participants put their vehicles through their paces. There were plenty of high-flying antics and smiles for miles.
Smokin’ & Sliding
The Ford Fest drifting exhibition brought professional and amateur drivers onto the track to showcase their skills while shredding tires and generating plenty of fan-pleasing smoke. RTR Vehicles was in the spotlight with side-by-side drifting, and the company was deeply involved throughout the weekend, bringing its community and vehicles to the event.
Just when you thought the spectacle couldn’t get any bigger, BIGFOOT showed up. The legendary monster truck was front and center in the Holley booth before taking to the track as part of the drift exhibition.
Moving from the track, the massive car show provided a completely different kind of entertainment. This is where Ford Fest really demonstrated the breadth of the Ford hobby. Mustangs shared space with F-Series pickups, Lightnings, Broncos, Mavericks, hot rods, and heavily modified street machines.
Some were polished showpieces that looked like they had never seen rain. Others wore their history proudly, with weathered paint and patina hiding serious mechanical upgrades underneath. That’s part of the magic of Ford Fest: There’s no requirement for every car to fit the same mold.
A six-figure show car and a backyard-built Ford can sit side by side, and both can draw a crowd and take home an award. The show wrapped up Saturday afternoon, with the winners making a trip down the famed drag strip and giving spectators one final look at some of the weekend’s standout builds before the competition ended.
Straight-Line Saturday
Drag racing moved to Saturday after foul weather washed out Friday’s action, but the Ford Fest team hustled to get the entire program wrapped up. Time runs, qualifying, and eliminations were contested along with True Street and the Index classes. The weekend also featured the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout, giving Ford-powered manual-transmission cars an opportunity to settle the score.
A tight track and cool weather provided the combination racers chase with plenty of power and plenty of grip. So much grip, in fact, that some racers had a hard time keeping their front tires on the track. The wildest example came from Matt Fink, who got all four tires off the track before the Mustang came down on its side and ultimately landed back on its tires. Thankfully, Fink was unharmed, and the Mustang escaped with minimal damage.
Saturday night concluded with the Ford Fest 50, a 50-lap Crown Victoria race that packed the stands and thrilled the crowd. The Crown Victoria-based competition has become one of the event’s signature spectacles, taking something as unlikely as a full-size Panther-platform sedan and turning it into a legitimate racing machine.
It’s exactly the kind of ridiculous-but-awesome idea that works at Ford Fest. With drag racing, autocross, drifting, off-road action, a massive car show, and everything in between, Holley Ford Fest continues to prove that there’s more than one way to have fun with a Blue Oval machine.
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