The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association is the largest association in the U.S. catering to street rods, custom cars and show cars. The Goodguys Association has over 70,000 active members worldwide. Goodguys stages 20 annual rod & custom car show events throughout the United States as well as vintage drag races.
Founded by Gary and Marilyn Meadors, Goodguys corporate headquarters are in Pleasanton, California. Their son, Marc Meadors serves as company president.
The largest event Goodguys produces annually is the PPG NationalsArchived 2010-06-02 at the Wayback Machine in Columbus, Ohio, at the Ohio Expo Center. It attracts over 6,500 rods, customs, classics and street machines through 1972 vintage. The Goodguys Street Machine of the Year and the Goodguys Street Rod of the Year awards are presented at this event.
Rod and custom events
Since 1987, Goodguys has held what are known as their National Summer Series events. Held at fairgrounds and super speedways around the country in cities such as Pleasanton, California, Del Mar, California, Scottsdale, Arizona, Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana, Des Moines, Iowa, Fort Worth, Texas, and other cities, these rod and custom events feature thousands of hot rods and custom cars on display as well as vendor midways, live nostalgic music and stage shows, model car competitions, how-to seminars and even some vintage drag racing. In 2012, Goodguys will stage 21 rod and custom events in 12 states.
Vintage drag racing events
Goodguys has been the leading promoter of vintage or nostalgia style drag racing competition since their first such vintage drag race,[citation needed] held in April 1989 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. From 1994 through 2006 Goodguys staged the West Coast Championship Series which at the time was America's premier points circuit for vintage drag racing. Also in 1994, Goodguys resurrected the March Meet drag races at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California, tapping into the event's rich heritage. Over time, the Goodguys March Meet became the world's largest vintage drag race attracting over 600 competitors and a crowd in excess of 50,000.[citation needed] Goodguys staged their last March Meet, over two weekends in March 2006. The event was never concluded as rainouts and track preparation problems forced the cancellation of the event.
Today Goodguys holds Friday Night Drag Race programs catering to sportsman racers who race vehicles through 1972 vintage. The events feature gassers and super stockers and hundreds of popular drag machines in vintage trim. Another event, the Goodguys Nostalgia Nationals held at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky also features vintage drag arcing.
Goodguys founder Gary Meadors
Gary Meadors is the founder and former Chairman of the Board of the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association. Gary grew up in the small central valley farming community of Dinuba, California. He built up his first hot rod at the age of 14, taking a 1947 Plymouth and installing a modified flathead Chrysler Six engine and then lowering the suspension until the car nearly scraped the ground – a Meadors rodding trademark to this day.
Meadors has accomplished several milestones in his hot rodding career including membership in the prestigious Bonneville200mph (320km/h) Club when he drove the Dozier & Hegarty blown flathead Chrysler-8 powered streamliner to a record speed of 223.220mph (359.238km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1994. In 1995, Gary was given the STREET RODDER Magazine Lifetime Achievement award. He was inducted into the Street Rod Marketing Alliance Hall of Fame in 1998 and at the 2004 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Meadors received the Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) “Lifetime Achievement” award for his contributions to the world of hot rods and customs. He died on December 27, 2015, at his home in Arizona.[citation needed]
History
The first Goodguys event was staged in 1983 in Pleasanton, California at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It was a one-day car show which welcomed all years, makes and models of American Cars and Trucks. It was called the All American Get-Together. Held on a Saturday in March, the event attracted over 650 cars. In 1987, Goodguys went national with a small team of employees staging ten events across the country during the spring and summer catering to hot rods and custom cars and has continued this tradition ever since, expanding the schedule to include 24 events in 17 states in 2008. Throughout the 21-plus year run of the Goodguys summer series, Goodguys have staged more than 530 total events. In 2003, Goodguys became the world’s largest rodding association and now has over 70,000 active members worldwide.
The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association headquarters are located in a 23,000-square-foot (2,100m2) facility in Pleasanton, with regional offices in Plant City, FL and Portland, OR. Goodguys employs a team of thirty-one full-time staff members.
The Goodguys organization through the years set up many programs to highlight young talents and builders such as the "Trendsetter Award" which was awarded to Troy Ladd of Hollywood Hot Rods in 2007.
Goodguys Gazette
Since 1989, Goodguys has published the "Goodtimes Gazette" magazine which is distributed monthly to all association members. The publication was produced 8 times per year from 1989 through 1991. Starting with the October 1991 issue, the magazine went into production on a monthly basis. The magazine covers Goodguys events in depth but also features hot rodding Industry pioneers, Young Rodders and other stories of interest to hot rod and custom car enthusiasts. It also includes a cars for sale section.
Advertising
For a while, Goodguys events were advertised by a Wolfman Jack sounding spokesman.
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most commonly 1⁄4 mi, with a shorter, 1,000 ft distance becoming increasingly popular, as it has become the standard for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, where some major bracket races and other sanctioning bodies have adopted it as the standard. The 1⁄8 mi is also popular in some circles. Electronic timing and speed sensing systems have been used to record race results since the 1960s.
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanctioning body in the world.
Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimized for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and made to go much faster." However, there is no definition of the term that is universally accepted and the term is attached to a wide range of vehicles. Most often they are individually designed and constructed using components from many makes of old or new cars, and are most prevalent in the United States and Canada. Many are intended for exhibition rather than for racing or everyday driving.
Marion Lee "Mickey" Thompson was an American auto racing builder and promoter.
A custom car is a passenger vehicle that has been altered to improve its performance, change its aesthetics, or combine both. Some automotive enthusiasts in the United States want to push "styling and performance a step beyond the showroom floor - to truly craft an automobile of one's own." A custom car in British usage, according to Collins English Dictionary, is built to the buyer's own specifications.
Nostalgia drag racing is a form of drag racing that uses cars from earlier eras of drag racing, as well as cars built to fit the guidelines of earlier eras using parts that would have been available in that era.
Great Lakes Dragway is a quarter mile dragstrip in the Town of Paris, Kenosha County, near Union Grove, Wisconsin.
Dean Moon was an American automobile designer. He grew up in Norwalk, California. Moon was around cars and racing from his youth. His father owned "Moon Café" and had a go-kart track he called "Moonza", a pun on Monza. Dean was involved in dry lakes hot-rodding in the late 1940s. He founded MOON Speed Equipment (c.1950) and worked to improve the quality and safety of speed and racing products his entire life.
The Alameda County Fairgrounds is a 270-acre (110 ha) facility located in Pleasanton, California. It is home to the annual Alameda County Fair, held since 1912, as well as numerous trade shows and community events. Located on its grounds, the Pleasanton Fairgrounds Racetrack was built in 1858, making it the oldest one-mile (1.6 km) horse racing track in the United States. There is a 3,000 seat amphitheater, as well as a 9-hole golf course located within the track's infield.
The Pomona Raceway, is a racing facility located in Pomona, California that features a quarter-mile dragstrip. Since its opening in 1961, the dragstrip has hosted the NHRA's Winternationals event – the traditional season opener – and since 2021, the season's last race, the NHRA Finals. These two events have contributed to its becoming perhaps one of the most famous dragstrips in North America. The facility has a seating capacity of 40,000 spectators, and it is one of the few dragstrips in the USA that is operated directly by the NHRA. This dragstrip has also gone by the nickname of The Fairplex, in reference to its location at the Fairplex, formerly called the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds.
Mendy Fry is an American dragster and funny car driver competing in the NHRA. Under the tutelage of her father, Ron, she began driving quarter-midget sprint cars at age 4. As a teenager, she campaigned in the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster class. She is the only female drag racer to record a 5-second 1/4 mile elapsed time in a front-engined Top Fuel dragster, as well as the only female member of the exclusive "Nostalgia Top Fuel 250 mph Club". In 2019 she recorded the first 5.4 second quarter-mile elapsed time in a AA/Fuel Dragster.
Summit Racing Equipment is an automotive parts retailer with four retail stores and distribution centers located in Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; McDonough, Georgia; and Arlington, Texas. Summit Racing Equipment is also involved in motorsports and other events as a sponsor.
Orange County International Raceway was a combined 1⁄4-mile US dragstrip and 2-mile road course, plus a motocross track, located in Irvine, California adjacent to the Interstate 5 (I-5) Santa Ana Freeway. Under a lease agreement with the Irvine Company, OCIR – as it was known in racing circles – was in operation from August 5, 1967, until its closure on October 30, 1983. The track was so named because its founders envisioned hosting sports car, motorcycle, midget, and stock car races in addition to National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) sanctioned drag racing events.
Tom McEwen was an American drag racer who was a winner of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) U.S. Nationals. His racing career spanned 45 years. He is ranked at number 16 on a list of the 50 most significant drivers of NHRA’s first 50 years.
Alfred John Young was a former World Champion Drag Racer and National Hot Rod Association Hall of Famer who competed in professional Bracket racing, and the heads-up categories from Super Street and Super Gas to Super Comp. He taught high school in Seattle, Washington, for 37 years, and was involved in the preparation of classic high-performance race cars. After campaigning his 1970 Dodge Challenger for over 25 years, winning the American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) World Championship and numerous other National Hot Rod Association and AHRA titles, he donated his drag racing car to the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) in Seattle, Washington, in 2007. During the majority of his auto racing career, he was sponsored by Ole Bardahl of the Bardahl Company. In 2019, he was inducted into the National Hot Rod Association, Northwest Division, Hall of Fame. He was the first Asian American World Champion race car driver.
Troy Ladd is an American designer and builder of custom cars and hot rods from Burbank, CA known for building traditional styled vehicles. After obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Business from Vanguard University, Troy formulated a business plan for Hollywood Hot Rods, taking into account location, size of the building and equipment. In 2002 Headquarters for Hollywood Hot Rods were set up in Burbank, CA. Industry magazines took notice of the cars being built at Hollywood Hot Rods and titles such as Street Rodder Magazine, Hot Rod Magazine and Rod & Custom were responsible for getting the word out about Troy Ladd’s shop.
The March Meet is an independent drag race held at Famoso Raceway, a dragstrip located approximately ten miles north of Bakersfield, California. It began in 1959 under the sanction of the "Smokers Car Club" and was initially known as the "US Fuel & Gas Championships." The event became officially known by its nickname, the "March Meet," when the Smokers sold the rights to the name "US Fuel & Gas Championships."
Land speed racing is a form of motorsport.
Richard Megugorac, commonly known as Dick or by his nickname Magoo, was an American land speed racer and customizer.
Sam Foose was an American automotive customizer and fabricator known for his custom metalwork as well as his paint jobs on car customizations in the 1970s and 1980s.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
