t’s Sunday afternoon and I’m sitting on a plane (in First Class no less, as I dropped $100 on a last-minute upgrade that was well worth it!) reflecting on my truly amazing experience at Nashville Superspeedway: the first Triple Crown of Rodding.

I flew out Thursday with very high expectations, knowing Bobby Alloway and Gary Case don’t skimp or cut any corners, not to mention the constant buzz leading up to the inaugural event, this was bound to be one for the memory books … and boy, was it!

Thursday evening was the official Kickoff Party at the host Embassy Suites—but, unlike most traditional kickoffs, this seemed more like a reunion … for hot rodders! All my idols I’ve come up in the business working with, like Roy Brizio, Art Morrison, Troy Trepanier, Chip Foose, and my buddy Alan Johnson, to name but a few, were all on hand, having as good of a time as me, if not better. It was really a memorable night.

Then came the actual event.

The assemblage of vehicles ranged from traditional to high-end hot rods, muscle cars, and of course more trucks than you could shake a corn dog stick at! Whether they were in competition for the coveted Triple Crown Car/Truck of the Year awards or were simply there to partake in the first of what ought to become a lineage of prestigious events, the quality of vehicles was top-notch.

Of course, Alloway and Case wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without the help of Steve Tracy at Advanced Plating (who was “instrumental” in getting Gibson Guitars on board!), along with the fine folks from PPG, ARP, LMC Truck, and CPP for their support and award sponsorship.

One of the bigger attractions to the inaugural Triple Crown of Rodding were the awards—the three Truck of the Year honors, to be more specific.

Sponsored by LMC Truck, the Truck of the Year categories were as follows:

Truck of the Year Up to 72, awarded to Rod Parson’s beyond-incredible Z10 carbon-fiber race truck by ZRODZ & Customs

Truck of the Year 73-87, awarded to Ricky Holly’s amazing unibody Squarebody by Alamo Customs

Truck of the Year 88-98, awarded to Chris Echel’s ’97 OBS, aptly named “OBS KILLA”

Along with the gorgeous trophies, each winner also received a special Gibson SG guitar courtesy of Steve Tracy and Advanced Plating (which also included the Street Machine of the Year, Street Rod of the Year, and Street Cruiser of the Year winners). However, before any of them were even considered for “of the Year” honors, they first had to be selected as one of the Top 30, which was then narrowed down to the Elite 10 (both sponsored by Classic Performance Products) … so in the end, all three went home with a bounty of booty, so to speak!

Along with the Of The Year awards, there were also a handful of select builder’s choice trophies that were handed out—from the incredible billet work-of-art from Ringbrothers (which also went to Rod Parsons) to Street Machinery’s cool patina award, there was a little bit of everything design-wise! For the kids, PPG sponsored a cool coloring contest with some even cooler cast-piston trophies.

Finally, Saturday’s award ceremony was capped off with the 50/50 giveaway, which ultimately put over $11,000 in the pocket of one lucky winner, Thomas Cauble, while also donating over $11,000 to the local Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. Before everyone called it a day, the long-awaited name was called and a set of keys to the Alloway-customized ’23 Chevy Silverado were given to Illinois resident John Sutherland.

Congrats to all this year’s Triple Crown of Rodding winners!