Chevys Shine at Nashville Superspeedway
By Nick Licata – Photography by the Author
When car show promoters drum up the idea of putting on a new event, car builders, vendors, and enthusiasts might wonder what will make this new show different from any other. Well, it takes a couple of experienced and well-respected industry guys like Bobby Alloway and Gary Case, along with an all-star cast, to pull it off just right, and that’s exactly what happened at the inaugural Triple Crown of Rodding presented by PPG at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee, September 8th and 9th.
To many folks in and around the hot rod industry, Alloway might be known more for building award-winning hot rods and muscle cars than being a car show promoter, but having ran Shades of the Past from 1981-2022, working on the inaugural Triple Crown of Rodding as a “side hustle” in 2023 fared well for the Tennessee native. With the help of Case, who has a long history of promoting numerous successful automotive-related events, the duo knocked this one out of the park, or in this case out of the speedway, with just shy of 1,700 cars populating Nashville Superspeedway’s infield. Yes, we’ve been to shows that included many more cars, but the unmatched quality of the rides at the Triple Crown made it a most enjoyable two days soaking in some of the best hot rods, customs, street rods, muscle cars, and trucks in the country.
With the top builders of the industry in the house, there was an autograph signing featuring the heaviest of hitters, including Chip Foose, Dave Kindig, Phil and Jeremy Gerber (Roadster Shop), Kyle Tucker (Detroit Speed), Jonathan Goolsby, Roy Brizio, Jesse Greening, Mike and Jim Ring (Ringbrothers), Troy Trepanier, the Slovers, Pose, Alan Johnson, and Jimmy and Will Posey (Big Oak Garage). These guys were gracious enough to hang out for over two hours each day of the event, lending their time with hundreds of enthusiasts wanting to get a selfie and have a few words with their hot rod heroes.
With over 40 awards from various aftermarket companies being given out to recognize worthy builds, six incredible-looking Triple Crown of Rodding trophies, and a Gibson SG2 guitar went to the Best Street Rod, Best Street Machine, and Best Street Cruiser. On the truck side, the Triple Crown went to Best Truck Up to 72, Best Truck 73-87, and Best Truck 88-98. For the complete list of awards and of Best Car winners, go to modernrodding.com and for Best Truck winners, go to classictruckperformance.com.
The event also included a 50/50 raffle with half the prize money going to the winner and the other half going to the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. Making the event even more exciting was a ’23 Chevrolet giveaway truck customized by Bobby Alloway featuring custom flame paintjob by Wade Hughes with pinstriping by Josh Shaw.
This event brought out the top cars and car builders in the industry to compete for some of the most amazing awards we’ve seen at any car show, a manufacturers midway that featured 137 exhibitors, and, as luck would have it, uncommonly fantastic weather to top off the positive vibe throughout the weekend.
For our purposes, All Chevy Performance was there to support our sister publications Modern Rodding and Classic Truck Performance and to share some of the coolest Chevys that made their way to the Nashville Superspeedway.
No doubt the Inaugural Triple Crown of Rodding went far beyond our expectations and appears to be the beginning of what promises to be the premier outdoor classic car show for years to come. It was one of those events people will be talking about for a very long time, as well as one of those events we’ll be looking forward to attending in 2024. Yep, it was that good. ACP