Bowling Green, Ky. - To the many fans filing into Beech Bend Park for this June’s 4th annual Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, presented by DuPont Automotive Finishes, it will be a 3-day fun-fest of cool cars and vintage drag racing. For a dedicated group of marketing students at Western Kentucky University, it will be like a final exam. And in a way, it is.

A few months back, Rose Dickinson of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Calif., producers of the Reunion, contacted Dr. Rick Shannon and Allan Hall of WKU with the idea of having local marketing students get a taste of the real world by creating an intern program to help market the Reunion to locals in Bowling Green.

Quicker than a dragster can burn a quarter-mile, Dr. Shannon agreed and had Hall, the internship advisor in WKU’s Gordon Ford College of Business marketing department put together a team of students. Six students, lead by team captain Amanda Ferrell, jumped at the chance. Besides Ferrell, 22, a senior from Danville, Ky., the WKU/Hot Rod Reunion marketing team includes Emily Williams, 22, Scottsville, Ky.; Maresa Yates, 22, Cross Plains, Tenn.; TJ O’nan, 22, Frankfort, Ky.; and Blake Riding, 21, Nashville, Tenn.

“The NHRA Hot Rod Reunion is a wonderful internship project for our WKU students,” said Hall.  “Each one of them loves cars and follow racing. The students on the team get to use the skills learned in the classroom in a real-life situation. The fact that the project is with a major racing organization makes it very exciting. We in the Gordon Ford College of Business are proud of these young people and thrilled that NHRA has allowed WKU this opportunity.”

According to Dickinson, the idea is to have the students treat the NHRA as a real client. “They’ve had to give us a marketing plan, budget, etc. This may be an internship, but they’ve taken it very seriously and have had great ideas that will help make the Reunion even better. It’s obvious WKU has a great marketing and business program. We’re really glad this is working out. It’s another way the NHRA and the Hot Rod Reunion have become part of the Bowling Green community.”

Ferrell, a management major, has done the job as project leader. She runs the meeting, file reports – everything an experienced professional would do. “I am extremely excited about the opportunity to serve as project leader in working with such a great group of organizations and individuals. It is nice to be able to apply the skills and knowledge I have learned in the classroom at WKU for a real-life situation.”

The 4th annual Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, presented by DuPont Automotive Finishes, June 16-18 at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky., is a 3-day festival of speed, hot rods and American automotive enthusiasm. 

Produced by the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California and located in Pomona, Calif., the Reunion is part of the museum’s “living history” philosophy, which works to bring to life the sights, sounds and people who made history in the early days of drag racing, land speed racing and the golden age of American car culture. 

Unique among motorsports events, the Reunion honors some of the top names in hot rodding from the past and features a fabulous array of cool drag cars, street rods and customs of the historic and present-day hot rod eras.

Those purchasing their credentials at least two weeks before the event receive significant added value in Saturday’s Parish Heacock Pit Pass Barbeque, a “goodie” bag and a colorful and collectible plastic souvenir credential.  A junior credential has been added this year at only $10 for a three-day admission and the barbeque.  Credentials are available at 1-800-884-NHRA or through an application on the Museum’s web site at http://museum.nhra.com .

This year’s honorees are Malcolm Durham, Bobby Langley, Gene and Ron Logghe, Jim Farr and Bill Roell – known as “Short Round and Dauber” – and Mike Spitzer.  The Justice Brothers Reunion Spotlight award will shine on Top Fuel Pioneer Motorcycles.  Those honored will be feted at a reception open at no charge to the general public. 

The Reunion features a wide variety of activities and events, including:

• Hot Heads Eliminator NHRA vintage drag racing, featuring some the sport’s most famous and historic cars and drivers, racing in such classes at Top Fuel, Supercharged Gassers, classic Funny Cars and Super Stocks
• Street rod “show and shine,” presented by SoffSeal, with thousands of gleaming pre-1972 hot rods, custom cars, classics and muscle cars.  “Memory Lane” will have a display of nostalgic race cars.
• Cruise Night through historic Bowling Green to the Holley plant on Thurs., June 15.
• National Hot Rod Reunion Reception, held at the Holiday Inn University Plaza’s Bowling Green Convention Center ballroom on Friday evening, June 16.  Open to everyone at no charge, it’s a tribute to the Reunion’s Grand Marshal and Honorees and a chance for fans to meet some of drag racing’s heroes.
• Parish Heacock Pit Pass Barbeque on Saturday afternoon, June 17, in a special tent.
• Cacklefest on Saturday evening, where nitro-burning historic, front-engine top-fuel dragsters and other classic race cars are push started just like in the “old days.”
• The Swap meet and Reunion Midway filled with manufacturer exhibits and demonstrations
• A separate amusement park with rides and games for all ages, including a brand-new roller coaster, adjacent to the park.

Information, including a full activities schedule, entry forms and tickets, is available through the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum at http://museum.nhra.com or by sending a post card or note to NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, P.O. Box 2345, Pomona, Calif. 91769.   Requests can be emailed to themuseum@nhra.com .

Proceeds of the Holley Hot Rod Reunion, presented by DuPont Automotive Finishes, will benefit the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. Named for the founder of the National Hot Rod Association, the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California, houses the very roots of hot rodding. Scores of famous vehicles spanning American motorsports history are on display, including winning cars representing more than half a century of drag racing, dry lakes and salt-flat racers, oval track challengers and exhibits describing their colorful backgrounds.

The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California, is located at Fairplex Gate 1, 1101 W. McKinley Ave. in Pomona, Calif. For further information call 909/622-2133 or visit http://museum.nhra.com .

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