While there will be many things remembered by those that attended the 23rd Annual NSRA Southeast Street Rod Nationals Plus on October 8-10, 2010, the great weather is certainly among them. Last year the temperatures were as hot as I can ever remember at this show, so it was a pleasant change that this year highs were in the mid to upper 80’s all weekend long. Friday in particular was simply amazing.

This was the fourth year for the show’s new criteria, which opened up the vehicles eligible. All NSRA events are now open to cars and trucks 1980 and older. It has made for a nice mix of traditional street rods (which are 1948 and older by definition), and newer cars and trucks, with final registration numbers this year being about 1,400.

Friday and Saturday were both great days, filled with checking out all the cool rides, snapping tons of photos, and just plain hanging out with friends. We had an indoor vendor booth set up once again, and loaded up the table with lots of complimentary copies of our magazine for everyone to take. However we spent most of our time outside since we did not want to be chained down to a table all weekend....after all, this is a fun outing for us too! There were other great commercial vendors inside the air conditioned building selling new items, plus a model car contest. The outdoor swap meet seemed to be strong this year, with a good variety of vintage car parts and collectibles to be had. As always the Women’s World contained arts and crafts of various types. Saturday also featured the “Street Of Rods” display, in which participating vehicles were parked in various categories, with the owners receiving dash plaques, and picks being made by the category sponsors.

The fun continued into the evenings as well, and we spent some of our time with friends at the Crowne Plaza host hotel doing some more “bench racing” and reminiscing. We fell very fortunate to have met so many great people over the years, which always makes hanging out an enjoyable part of the show for us, and the pleasant evening temperatures made it picture perfect this year.

On Sunday the various award winners were gathered in one area, allowing everyone to easily check them out before they drove through the main stage area during the presentations starting at 2:00 pm. This is always an exciting time, as you get to see the vehicles in motion, hear them rumble past, and see the owner accept their plaque and round of applause. Many door prizes were given out over the weekend at the Wings Callahan DJ trailer, and wrapping things up was the drawing for three $3,000 cash prizes at the conclusion of the awards on Sunday. Yep, for a trio of participants it literally paid off to come out and have a good time!

Thanks again go out to the National Street Rod Association, the Tampa Knights host club, and all of the others who were responsible for making sure everyone had a great time once again. When setting up your show calendar for next year, be sure and mark this one down for October 14 - 16, 2011. If you have a 1980 and older vehicle and have never attended this event, we highly recommend it for a weekend packed with fun. For more info you can call 574-875-4032, or visit www.nsra-usa.com. CN