For the better part of the days, the circle track at Beech Bend Raceway Park was set up for open-lap autocrossing. The rules were simple: if you had paid your entry form and your car wasn’t seconds away from kicking out the rods, the autocross course was yours. In hindsight, I probably could’ve run Angry Grandpa on the course, but roaming the car show fields to check out the arrivals ate up the time. But twice a day, the autocrossing was shut down and the drifters took to the track. There were a couple of usual suspects, including the Stratton Chevrolet C6 Corvette that I’ve been shooting for a couple of years now at LS Fest, and some interesting new rides, like the V8 swapped R32 Skyline and the all Ford truck that came out.

The fun ended on Friday night with this Nissan sitting on it’s rear disc after it sheared off the lugs and spit the tire clean out, much to the surprise of everyone watching (and the driver, who thought he had just broke an axle until the tire bounced into his field of vision.)

After track personnel got the stricken drift car off of the track, Friday wound up with the burnout contest. Now, this might be the only time I’ll actually say this: I was disappointed in the turnout. The burnout contest went like this: the raised inner section of the circle track was split in half, and two competitors were placed on opposite ends from each other. For one minute, they were allowed to go nuts…stay in your half, otherwise anything goes, Aussie-style. Want to whip donuts? Go for it. Want to let the tach needle beat the fuel cutoff point into submission? Bring it on!

Four people showed up to run:

The El Camino came straight from the show field, and the Trans Am’s driver looked ready to frag a clutch. The Fox had been on the show field too, but it rolled up with a set of throwaway wheels, and as for the hot rod, it’s a land-speed car that’s done well over 200 MPH in the standing mile…it’s got grunt but it’s also got long legs, so the driver asked Jimi Day, the burnout master of ceremonies, if he could get a splash of water on the rears before the fun kicked off, which was approved. First up was the T-bucket and the El Camino, and the hot rod’s driver went for broke as if Australians were watching.

There was no contest from the El Camino, so the first round winner was chosen. Next up was the Fox versus the F-body:

After holding a line-locked burnout a little bit too long, the Mustang cut loose and started going all-out. Unfortunately, by the end of it’s run the Ford was actively complaining about heat, choking up and stalling out a couple of times, but every time the Mustang died, the driver was on the key, trying to get the Fox to fire off just once more for a little more smoke.

In order from first to last, the Hot Rod, the Fox Mustang, the Trans Am and the El Camino. Let’s be fair about it…there really needed to be more competitors in the contest. Hopefully next year the burnout contest has more that four cars ready to go!