(Words and photos by Tommy Lee Byrd) – The first weekend of May is always the time for NSRA to come to Knoxville, Tennessee and host the Street Rod Nationals South. This event has been going on for 40 years, and it’s held at Chilhowee Park, which is a great setting for a car show.

When the NSRA lifted the car age limit from 1948 to a 30-year sliding scale, it really opened the doors for lots of cool muscle cars, and classic trucks to attend the event. We
scoped out all the cool stuff, so you probably won’t see any red fiberglass ’32 Ford coupes with tweed interior and a crate engine in this gallery. There were several gassers on the grounds, and quite a few tastefully done “rat rods” as well.

The vendor area was packed with a lot of our friends and sponsors, and we also made a pass through the swap meet to see what we could find. Overall, the event was better than it has been in the past few years. The weather was perfect and a great turnout of cars and spectators made for a fun show.