Two autocross courses to handle the amount of machines present, ready to carve corners. The entire oval track opened not only for an autocross, but for drift machines and come Saturday night, the burnout contest, which is always a killer throwdown. A show crowd so big that they parked cars not only on every available speck of land within the track area of Beech Bend Raceway, but for the first time ever show cars were parked within Beech Bend Amusement Park and Splash Lagoon’s footprint as the amusement park was opened up to LS Fest participants! In the years I’ve attended LS Fest, there has been no mistake that the Bowling Green event is huge and has grown well beyond the modest expectations of the first formative years, but even with the weather being a gigantic question mark for many potential attendees, that didn’t stop a massive fanbase from showing up, checking out the Manufacturer’s Midway before finding a seat at the drag strip or the circle track to take in the spectacle of it all.

These photos are from later in the evening on Friday, when the autocross was shutting down and the drift crew was gearing up to create noise, dust and a show that pulls fans in like a blue light draws in bugs. Drifting might not be for everyone but there is a crowd that does appreciate it and there is something to be said for a driver who is ballsy enough to enter a corner at high speed and be perfectly sideways for one entire half of an oval track with smoke pouring out of the back without resorting to drift tap and slide techniques. There were no shattered taillights or bashed-in body panels this evening…just slide after slide after slide!

If you missed our last LS Fest gallery, CLICK HERE to check it out!