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When September rolls around, we know that we'll be covered up with events, as events like the Street Rodder Road Tour, Somernites Power Cruise and more occur in the busy month. The Coker Tire Challenge to be the third weekend in September, and we can always count on many of our Great Race rally friends to join the fun at our little hometown regional rally. It's a much more relaxed atmosphere than the hustle and bustle of Great Race, but the competition aspect is still there, so it gives the veterans awesome practice and gives them a chance to win a few bucks too! This year, we had about 40 teams join us on the Coker Tire Challenge, even after a few dropped out due to the unfortunate hurricanes of late. Great Race regulars, like Curtis Graf, Rex Gardner, Gary and Jean Ann Martin, and of course, Brad Phillips from Hagerty were among the field of stellar teams in this year's Coker Tire Challenge.

We've worked pretty hard to encourage our customers to get out and drive their collector cars, and events like the Coker Tire Tour to the Mitty provide even more inspiration. There might be an ulterior motive hidden in there (to sell more tires, or in this case Sports Car Tires). The Mitty is a road race for vintage cars, and it's held at Road Atlanta, which is a couple hours away from our headquarters here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This year, we partnered with Classic Motorsports Magazine to create a driving experience like no other--a trip through some of the most beautiful scenery and twisty back roads with a final destination of the Mitty. With more than 50 cars participating, it was a big hit, and we're hoping to do more of these driving events in the future.

There's something to be said for a historic race track, be it a dirt track, a paved track or a drag strip. Knowing that gear heads just like you were racing on that very surface 50 years ago is an eye opening experience that will put a smile on any car guy's face. With this in mind, folks around the country are flocking to nostalgia drag racing events at historic tracks. One such event and track, is the Paradise Show-N-Go, held at Paradise Drag Strip in Calhoun, Georgia. [caption id="attachment_1395" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Paradise Drag Strip is known for its uphill burnout box and slightly unlevel starting line, which causes cars with manual transmissions to roll backward at the line. Even with this flaw, it was a state-of-the-art track during the \'60s."][/caption] The track opened in 1961, and it was home to lots of big-name match races and also a home track to many Super Stock racers in the mid-60s. Legends of drag racing, such as "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick and "Dyno Don" Nicholson have raced at Paradise Drag Strip, drawing huge crowds to watch the exciting action. Back then, every driver had a nickname, and every car had a distinct personality, unlike today's professional ranks in NHRA, where each car in its class is identical, aside from a few sponsor decals.