bakersfield – Timing Tower

47th ANNUAL WESTERN STREET ROD NATIONALS, April 26-28, 2024, Bakersfield, CA

admin — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 04:13:56 +0000

The Kern County Fairgrounds was brightened both by the appearance of over 1,000 hot rods and by the weather which changed from a rainy Friday to a Sunny Sunday. In addition to trying to see 1,041 cars, A lot of activities went on throughout the week-end; i.e. The Safety Team was busy inspecting cars; Women’s World offered a lot of hand-made items, a Swap Meet offered many needed parts as did numerous vendors. More photos of cars that were at the show are below. Sunday was the final day of the show and the day of the awards ceremony. The ceremonies started at 1:00 pm but in the morning all of the winners were gathered in the Winners’ Circle. The Winners’ Circle gives everyone a chance to see the cars up close and to talk with the owners. The first award, was not to a car, but to Dave Cahill (on the right in the photo below). After 37 years, Dave retired this year from his position as the NSRA Division Director. Those of us who have been used to seeing Dave every year at the Western Nats, will miss him. We wish him well and hope he’ll return to the Western Nats as a spectator. This year the timingtower.com award went to David Fleeman and his 1932 Ford Coupe. This Coupe brings back memories of the Coupe driven by John Milner in the movie American Graffiti. David’s Coupe only improves on the American Graffiti Coupe. There will be more photos of this car as well as a feature article posted soon. Here are the award winners in the order of presentation: Once the awards were given, it was time for the prizes to be handed out. Nick Donovan, who provided the music for the week-end, was on hand to give out the prizes; and as always, a willing, young volunteer was recruited to draw the numbers. In addition to merchandise prices, three cash prizes of $2,000 each were given away. Mitchell Guillen, Chuck Perdue and Jimmy Shannon, II, all of Bakersfield were the winners of the cash prizes. The three winners along with event director, Mike Adams are shown below. Once the prizes were all given away, the show was over and we waved goodbye to another great week-end. Next Year the Western Nats will be held April 25-27, 2025 in the Kern County Fairgrounds. ____________________________________________________________ SATURDAY – UPDATE Like Friday, Saturday was a great day for looking at cars and trucks at the Western Street Rod Nationals in the Kern County Fairgrounds and there were a lot of beautiful and unique cars and trucks in the fairgrounds to look at – like this Ford truck and those in the slideshow below. Car enthusiasts of all ages enjoyed the day. Below is Levi who said this Ford truck was his favorite. Levi has very good taste. One unique car we saw was this Chevrolet demonstrating it’s hydraulics. This Chevy truck came with a matching camper trailer. This 1932 Ford coupe was reminiscent of the coupe driven by Milner in American Graffiti. This Willys coupe was a drag racer back in the day. Below are a few more of the nice cars at the show today. Tomorrow is the last day of the show and will include the award ceremonies and prize give-aways. We saw some of the cars that will take home an NSRA award and they are spectacular. Monday evening we’ll post photos of all the award winners as well as a wrap-up of the show. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ FRIDAY – UPDATE The 47th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals opened on Friday, April 26, 2024 in the Kern County Fairgrounds. And the weather forecasters were wrong – predictions of rain and wind did not materialize in Bakersfield. The day was sunny, with a few clouds, and the temperature was around 70° Couldn’t ask for anything better. The event registration on Friday was about the same as it was last year on Friday – about 1,000 cars. Saturday is, however, the big day and, no doubt, tomorrow the fairgrounds will be full again. Below are a few of the cars we saw today: The entertainment started around 6:00 pm with Orphan Jon and the Abandoned performing live. Although the band was excellent – the main attraction was the cars and trucks. The cars will keep on coming tomorrow. We’ll be back at the fairgrounds tomorrow and will post again tomorrow night. Take a look again to see more of the fine cars and trucks that will be at the show. ————————————————————————————————————— The 47th Annual Western Street Rod Nationals will be held in the Kern County Fairgrounds, Bakersfield, CA on April 26-28, 2024. Registration for the show will take place at the Doubletree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield beginning on Thursday, April 25 from 12 noon to 6:00 pm, Friday the 26th from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday the 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Throughout the week-end there will be comercial exhibitors, a swap meet, Women’s World, kids games, live entertainment and cruising on Friday and Saturday, The Streets of Rods will be held on Saturday and on Sunday there will be an all denomination Church Service. Also on Sunday the award winners will gather in the Circle of Winners on Sunday before the awards ceremony. Nick Donovan’s Rockin Road Show will provide music all week-end as well as drawing numbers for prize giveaway.. Timingtower.com will be there for the week-end and will post on Friday and Saturday evenings with a full article and photos posted on Monday evening.

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45th NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS, April 29 – May 1, 2022

admin — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 00:10:10 +0000

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. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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.

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NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS, October 29, 30,31, 2021

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 01:22:49 +0000

THE 44th ANNUAL NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS were held in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA on October 29, 30, and 31, 2021. Five words perfectly describe the week-end: IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK. After lock downs, masks and mandates it was obvious that people were glad to return to normal. The Western Nats provided normal in abundance. There were 1,234 vehicles in the Fairgrounds as well as a crowd of spectators. The show opened on Friday morning and by about 3:00 on Sunday it was over. Between Friday and Sunday though there were so many cars to look at: This is Grant standing next to a tricked out 1957 Chevy. This year the timingtower.com award went to Tony Davidson and his ’34 Ford 5-window high boy coupe. We’ll have more photos and a feature article on this car. Since this was Halloween week-end there were plenty of reminders of the holiday: There were witches: Pumpkins – also known as Halloweenie Trick or Treaters – Spider-man is really Braden. Skeletons – Gabrielle and Mikey. Herman Munster was there. If you use your imagination the rear of this nice, black 1959 Chevy resembles a bat. While Halloween did add some fun, the week-end was all about the cars. Also, as in past years, the NSRA safety inspectors were hard at work. They inspected 72 cars with 59 receiving the Safety 23 pin. These inspectors give up their week-end to make sure others get home safely. Their work is greatly appreciated. Photos of the award winners are shown below. Following the award ceremony, many great prizes were given away. Bradley made some very happy folks by drawing all the winning tickets. In addition to merchandise prizes, NSRA gave away three $2,000 checks. The winners were Dan Hayes of Bakersfield, Ernie Lowe of Wasco, and Charles Ray Shannon of Bakersfield. Standing with the winners is Tom Wilkerson, the event director. After the award ceremony and prize giveaways, it was over. For awhile it seemed the 44th Western Nats wouldn’t get off the ground, but it did, and now the 45th Western Nats is in the planning stage. It will be held April 29, 30 and May 1, 2022 in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA. NSRA 2021 SUNDAY AWARD CEREMONY – this year 43 awards were given. We know everyone is interested in the award winners and we wanted to get those photos up as soon as possible. More photos and an article will be posted this evening. Below are the NSRA 2021 award winners. There were 43 awards given. Photos of the winners are divided into three galleries. The photos are in the same order as the awards were given – if you are looking for a particular car and know it was one of the first to received an award, look in the first gallery. NOTE: We no longer sell photos through Smug Mug despite indications above. If you are interested in photos or digital downloads please contact us at timingtower@gmail.com. AWARD GALLERY NO. 1 AWARD GALLERY #2 AWARD GALLERY NO. 3 SATURDAY OCTOBER 30 UPDATE; There were more cars in the Fairgrounds today, but it doesn’t look like we’ll make the 1,500+that attended in 2019. We’ll get the final attendance numbers tomorrow. No matter how many cars attended, it was terrific to be outside at a car show again. Here are photos of some of the great cars we saw today. The awards ceremony will be held tomorrow. Photos of the award winners, more event photos and an article will be posted Monday night. This year the timingtower.com pick is Tony Davidson’s outstanding 1934 5-window highboy coupe. FRIDAY OCTOBER 29 UPDATE: Registration for the NSRA Western Nats started on Thursday and by Friday nearly 1100 cars were registered – many of them were in the Kern County Fairgrounds on Friday. If today was a sampling of what to expect this week-end, we will be seeing a lot of outstanding cars. Below are a few: Trick or Treat!!! Saturday is always the big day for this event and this year should be no exception. The rest of the week-end is predicted to be like today – perfect car show weather. Check back tomorrow night for more event photos and another update. After lockdowns, masks and mandates, the NSRA Western Nats is back!! The National Street Rod Assoc. will hold its 44th annual Western Nationals in the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, CA on October 29, 30, & 31, 2021. Event registration will take place at the Doubletree Hotel Bakersfield, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, Bakersfield starting Thursday Oct. 28 from 12 noon to 6 p.m. Registration will continue on Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration is also available at the Fairgrounds. The event is open to vehicles manufactured in 1991 and before. In past years about 1,800 cars have attended this event and this year, we hope, will meet or exceed this number. Hot rods, classics, muscle cars, rat rods and other vintage automobiles will be on display in the Fairgrounds. As usual there will be a swap meet, women’s world and dozens of exhibitors set up in the Fairgrounds. Spectator gates at the Fairgrounds will open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and open at 8:00 a.m. and close at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday. Each year about 35 vehicles are selected to take home a coveted NSRA award. The winners gather in the winners’ circle on Sunday morning and one by one each car is driven into the amphitheater and in front of the stage to receive the award. For many years, Timingtower.com has been honored to select a vehicle to receive an award. Below is a photo of the 2019 winner selected by Timingtower.com. Timingtower.com will be in Bakersfield again this year for the NSRA Western Nats. Friday and […]

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NSRA WESTERN NATIONALS – Bakersfield, CA April 26-28, 2019

admin — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:11:25 +0000

Who put the bake in Bakersfield? Bakersfield had unusually hot temperatures all week-end – in the 90s every day of the Western Street Rod Nationals at the Kern County Fairgrounds. This year attendance was down a little with 1539 vehicles registered; and maybe the temperature had something to do with it. However, there were still more cars there than you had time and energy to look at. This year there were way more rat rods than usual. These cars are always unique and exhibit some interesting features. As always the Safety Inspectors were hard at work on Friday and Saturday. This year 119 cars were inspected, 91 passed and 71 earned the 23 point inspection sticker. Everyone owes these folks a big ‘thank you’ for their efforts year-after-year to keep this hobby safe for the rest of us. Below are photos of some of the cars in the fairgrounds: Embossed soft drink logos were cleverly added to panels of this truck. The timingtower.com pick this year was a 1939 Ford crew cab. Below are a couple photos of this exceptional vehicle owned by Jennifer Brazil. We will post a separate feature article about this truck. The awards ceremony and super prize giveaway started about 1:30 Sunday — after the award ceremony. At the end of this season NSRA will have given away $28 million worth of prizes at it’s events since the start of the program. Amelia drew the tickets to give the prizes to the lucky winners and she made several folks happy. In addition to products, this year four $2,000 prizes were given away. The lucky and happy winners were James Chambers, Kyle Shannon, Victor Hager and Ron Hudson. At the ceremony it was announced that Mike Chrispyn, the event director of the Western Nats for the past 15 years was retiring. While Mike’s successor, Mike Adams, has been selected and we know he will do a good job, we will miss seeing Mike Chrispyn at the event. Below Mike A. on the left is getting a tour of the fairgrounds from Mike C. Recognition for the great job he did over the years, Mike C. was presented a plaque by Dave Cahal. Another retirement was announced on Sunday – after 40 years of keeping the music playing at all of the NSRA events, Wings Callahan is retiring. He will be replaced by Nick Donovan, a DJ from Pueblo, Colorado. Dave Cahal also presented Wings with a thank you plaque. We have been at the Western Nats every year since 1989 – and Wings filled the fairgrounds with great music for all of them. Thirty-seven cars were chosen as award winners. At 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, the winners put their cars on display in the Circle of Winners. This gave everyone a chance to take a look before the award ceremony started at 1:00 p.m. Below is the timingtower.com pick sitting in the Circle of Winners. Photos of all the winners in the Circle of Winners can be found on our SmugMug site. The long distance award went to this ’41 Ford which came 750 miles from Bend, Oregon. All photos of the photos shown here, and more, can be seen our SmugMug site and are available for purchase. Click on the SmugMug icon: Photos of all of the winners at the awards ceremony are below. Additional photos can be seen on our SmugMug site. The photos above, as well as additional photos of the award winners, can be seen our SmugMug site and are available for purchase. Click on the SmugMug icon: SATURDAY – April 27, 2019: Saturday is always the busiest day at the Western Nats and today was no exception. Once the gates opened cars and spectators poured in. Temperatures were in the mid-90’s today, but that didn’t seem to deter either spectators or vehicle owners. This year there were a fair number of rat rods in attendance which always provide a unique perspective. Tomorrow is the last day of the 43rd Western Street Rod Nationals. We’ll have a complete article with photos, including the award winners, posted Monday evening. FRIDAY – April 26, 2019: Cars started filling the Kern County Fairgrounds today. Since most of the spectators will come on Saturday, today was a perfect day to walk around and see the cars. So far about 1,500 cars are registered and there will be more tomorrow. There are a lot of commercial vendors here including Mooneyes, Classic Instruments, Sanderson Headers selling new parts, and a there is a swap meet selling used parts is going on. As always there is a lot to do and see at the Western Nats. Below are a few of the cars we saw today: Check back again tomorrow night when more photos will be posted. By tomorrow evening all the award winners will have been selected and the awards ceremony will take place on Sunday. We’ll have a full article with photos, including the award winners, on Monday evening. ___________________________________________ COMING – WESTERN STREET ROD NATIONALS – APRIL 26-28, 2019. This event typically draws about 1,800 cars – and not just hot rods. You’ll see classics, tri-five Chevys, muscle cars, customs, rat rods – pretty much everything. In addition there will be many commercial vendors, women’s world, and the swap meet. Gates open at 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Event Registration Hours: Thursday, April 25th-‐noon to 6 p.m.; Friday April 26th 9:a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Saturday April 27, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The weather is forecast to be sunny and warm – a perfect week-end for a car show. We’ll be there and will update this site every evening with a full article and photos to be posted on Monday evening. […]

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