15th Annual Meguiars’ Del Mar Good Guys Nationals

We just got back from the Good Guys show in Del Mar, CA. One word comes to mind when describing this event: phenomenal. If you’ve never attended a Good Guys event, you’re really missing out. These shows are held all over the country, and bring out thousands of the best cars around.

This particular show was held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which also is the site for the local fair, and horse racing. The setting is surreal; only about a hundred yards away and you can see the waves crashing on the beach. It’s that close to the ocean. That makes for absolutely perfect weather – which was warm, but had a nice cool ocean breeze all weekend.

Strollin’ Around

We arrived first thing Friday morning, and the cars were still rolling in. There’s a main strip that goes from the parking lot all the way down to a massive parking lot, with cars and vendors on all sides. We knew the autocross was towards the back, but wanted to take some time and check out all the other offerings.

We headed into the first building and were blown away. To start, the middle was filled to the brim with high end and very well known cars. Even the Kam Nova was on display, making the trip all the way from Australia! Next to it was an Impala built by none other than Chip Foose – everywhere you looked there was a flawless car on display. The perimeter also had vendors, and we caught up with our buddies over at Dakota Digital who were showing us some of their latest gauges and accessories.

Walking outside of this building was a row of vendors, from Eddie Motorsports, to Ride Tech, and everything in between. We stopped and chatted with Auto Meter, which had a cool LS powered Datsun on display. From here we checked out the other two buildings, which had more amazing cars on display and more vendors like Inland Empire Driveline and Eibach springs. We loved seeing all these manufactures out supporting our hobby!

Finally we made our way onto the main show grounds, and had to figure out how to take in all the rows and rows of American iron. We started by going row by row, and found tons of cool cars. There was everything from Model T’s to Skylarks to Fleetwoods. Whatever your fancy is in cars, it was pretty much on hand. Being the car lovers we are, we had an absolute field day checking out the miles of chrome, rubber and gasoline.

Before heading to the autocross, we did take a stroll over in the For Sale and Swap meet area. There was some deals to be had, and plenty of people looking for something to take home, whether that was a car or new hood emblem. From here we walked across the grounds over to the sounds of screeching tires and roaring motors and found ourselves at the autocross.

Autocross Corral 

Hands down, the autocross was the place to be during the weekend. There was always a crowd around the course, drawing tons of people. Who can resist seeing what car is making all the noise? We certainly couldn’t. Friday it was a hair crowded walking around the autocross, and Saturday it was flat out packed. Security had to help herd people out of the pits so cars could get on and off the track.

The competition was fierce during the weekend too. This event brought out some of the best in the business; to name a few of the competitors: Mike and Brianne Maier, Kyle Tucker, Wes Drelleshak, Greg and Jane Thurmond, Jake Rozelle, Rob and Brandy Phillips, Brian Hobaugh, and the list goes on and on. There were some first timers out there as well tearing it up, but there was some serious on-track competition as well.

The track itself was long, but very tight. The corners were tight, and the width of the track was tight as well. This proved to be a disadvantage for some of the wider trucks and cars, especially those with with-body modifications. The course itself wound back and forth a few times, and was comprised of two laps, with a roughly one minute run time.

Once some rubber got laid down and the drivers learned the course, the lap times started dropping like crazy. Even by Friday afternoon the lap time were dipping into the sub-60 second time ranges. By Sunday, they were dipping down further then that. Here’s a video from Mike Maier atop his trusty steed:

You can see in the video just how narrow the course was, and how Mike absolutely destroyed the course! It might not look extremely fast to you in the video, but in person it was like watching a violinist give the performance of a lifetime, just whipping the car left and right, without getting out of control.

Be sure to check out the event calendar for the Good Guys show, by clicking here. There’s one close by, make sure to go and enjoy it! Here’s the results from the autocross, and make sure to check out the massive photo gallery below!