Scott Liggett is always contributing cool things to BANGshift and we love him for it, so when he sent me an email right before the new year and said he had some Kearney Cruise photos he had never sent in, I was like “Hell yeah my dude!” So here they are!
(Words and Photos by Scott Liggett) In mid-July Kearney, NE is taken over for 6 days of the Central Nebraska’s Auto Club’s annual Cruise Nite festivities. Kearney is a town of about 30,000, but the car culture is huge. The week of Cruise Nite starts on a Tuesday with a cruise in, BBQ and tours at BluePrint Engines facility located in Kearney. Wednesday is a cruise that is a rolling car show to all the assisted living facilities and the Veterans Home in town. The tour takes about 2 hours and will test your patience and your car’s cooling system, but seeing the smiling faces and people waving the whole trip makes it all worth it. There were over 200 cars this year.
On Thursday night, the car freaks take over a local Chevy dealership, displacing all the new stuff, for fun, hot dogs and bench racing. Friday night, there’s a show outside the local county fairgrounds, but inside there is a classic car auction. Up the hill, a local tire shop hosts a burnout contest where you can destroy your tires.
Saturday is the big day. With a huge car show overtaking the downtown main street of Kearney. The car club does a little parade of cars as they leave show. Kearney Raceway Park has races Saturday and Sunday. And, the actual cruising starts Saturday night. Where the whole town is taken over by people reliving their youth, cruising their rides, showing off, and enjoying the reason for building their hot rods.
People come from all over for a near week of fun. Kearney is a great host town with tons of hotels and friendly people. We recommend it. Check out our galleries of pics from that week.
When is next event for 2023?