45th WESTERN NATS, KERN COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, BAKERSFIELD, CA
Sunday was the last day of the event. In the morning the award winners gathered in the winners’ circle at 10:00 am and were on view until the award ceremony which started at 1:00 pm. (All the award winners have been posted and can be seen below).
As usual a lot of future hot rodders came to the show with their families. Below is a young fellow named Ford – but it does look like he’s a Chevy man
Also having fun were (from left to right) Adrian, Michael, Julian, Adalize, and Mariana.
And this is Victoria – we predict someday she’ll trade that Radio Flyer in for a Ford.
Not to be outdone by the kids, there were some very beautiful cars in the fairgrounds:
And there were unusual cars – a stretched ’55 Chevy.
– a Model A towing a trailer with a buffalo.
The Safety inspectors worked Friday and Saturday providing free inspections looking at 23 different pieces of equipment on each vehicle. Among other things the fuel system, steering, exhaust system, tires and brakes are inspected. This year 64 vehicles were inspected, 47 passed and 46 of those received a Safety 23 sticker.
After the awards were given on Sunday, numbers were drawn and the Super prizes were given away. Addison drew the numbers:
At the end of the awards ceremony, Addison made three individuals very happy when she drew their numbers and they left with an extra $2,000. Alfred Paredez, Karl Russell and Carolyn Raidor, received their checks from Mike Adams, the NSRA Western Nats program director.
This year the attendance was 1,135 – not quite back to pre-pandemic standards. Next year this event will be held on April 28, 29 and 30.
As always the Western Nats was a great week-end but it did have to end.
Following below are photos of the award winners.
This 1967 Corvette owned my Mike and Diane Ferola is the timingtower.com pick. We’ll have a feature on this beautiful Stingray posted soon.
More to come Monday evening.
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SATURDAY, APRIL 30
Saturday was a busy day at the Western Nats. First thing this morning the safety inspectors got busy going over the cars that lined up for this free and very important service provided by NSRA.
This is also the time when the kids games were set up. The kids put together puzzles, colored, and played ring toss. It was a fun time.
The adults had some fun too connecting with old friends, meeting new ones and looking at all the fine cars at the show. There were some pretty unique cars at the fairgrounds. In 1958 this ’32 was the first roadster to travel at 200 mph at Bonneville. The car was owned by Chuck Edwards, driven by Tony Waters and is now owned by Doug Edwards.
This car not only had FLAMES but the color scheme was outstanding.
This early Vette has a custom front end.
The highlight of tomorrow will be the awards ceremony and the super prize giveaway. Over $54,000 worth of prizes will be given way this week-end. We’ll have an article with photos of all the award winners posted on Monday evening.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 29
This was the first day of the show. So far 1,050 cars are registered for the event. Since Saturday is always the “big” day, more are expected. If today is any indication, the fairgrounds is going to be filled with a whole lot of nice vehicles.
It’s hard to beat the classic lines of a tri-five Chevy.
We saw everything from fins ..
to “in the weeds”.
There were trucks and …
panels.
Also on hand were depot hacks …
and a customized Giha.
There will be plenty of cars to see tomorrow as well as other activities such as a swap meet, the Streets of Rods, commercial exhibits, a crafts fair, kids games, and the safety inspectors will be hard at work again.
We’ll be back at the fairgrounds tomorrow and will post again tomorrow night.
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An anticipated 1,700 street rods, hot rods, muscle cars, customs, rat rods, and classics will be on hand on April 29-May 1 for the 45th NSRA Western Street Rod Nationals in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA. This will be the 35th time the event has been held at Bakersfield. An all time high number of spectators are expected to attend over the week-end. Additionally, many vendors will fill the buildings in the fairgrounds in addition to those that will set up throughout the grounds. Like past years, this will be an event you do not want to miss.
Event registration will be held in the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield. Hours: Thursday, April 28 at 12 noon to 6:00 pm, Friday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Timingtower.com will be at the event all week-end and will post coverage on Friday and Saturday nights. In addition, we will post an article and photos on Monday evening, including photos of the award winners. Check back here throughout the week-end.
