HOT ROD brought the Power Fest name back for 2026, filling Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway with a weekend of fast cars, cool builds and nonstop action. Held August 28–29, Power Fest transformed the NASCAR facility into a giant automotive playground with drag racing on pit road, an autocross course, a huge car show and a manufacturer midway. Classic muscle, traditional hot rods, modern performance cars, trucks and homebuilt street machines were all part of the mix.
Building an engine at home is exactly what you make of it—your first experience could be a good one if you choose to do it the right way, or it could be a bad one if you take short cuts along the way. As cheesy as it may sound, with engine building, you determine your own destiny with how you go about the build. Buy the right parts, talk to the right people and you may just have a long-lasting engine that puts a smile on your face every time the loud pedal hits the floor. Buy junk parts and think you know it all from the get-go and you’re looking at a big disappointment when it comes time to fire that bad boy.
Available exclusively through SRI Performance, Race Bond is a fast-bonding crash-repair material designed to help crews make strong, durable trackside repairs and get damaged race cars back into the action. It is quick, versatile, and built to survive the heat, vibration, and punishment that would make ordinary repair tape wave the white flag.
For three days, Bowling Green, Kentucky, became the center of the Tri-Five Chevy universe as the 11th Annual Tri-Five Nationals rolled into Beech Bend Raceway Park, August 13–15, 2026.
Presented by Classic Performance Products, the annual gathering brought together an incredible assortment of 1955, 1956, and 1957 Chevrolets from across the country. Bel Airs, 150s, 210s, Nomads, Cameos, Corvettes, wagons, sedans, convertibles, gassers, customs, and full-blown pro-touring machines filled the historic grounds, once again proving that few chapters in American automotive history inspire the kind of enthusiasm generated by Chevrolet’s legendary Tri-Five years.
If HPX 2026 proved anything, it’s that the performance aftermarket isn’t slowing down—it’s accelerating. Held in Charlotte, North Carolina, the High Performance Expo has quickly established itself as one of the industry’s premier gathering places for manufacturers, builders, racers, retailers, and enthusiasts looking to see what’s next in automotive performance. More than just a trade show, HPX serves as a launchpad for new technology, product debuts, and the ideas shaping the future of the aftermarket.
The NOPI Regionals NDRA and NOPI Drift event at South Georgia Motorsports Park didn’t just meet expectations — it reinforced exactly why the name still carries weight in the automotive world. What started as a revival effort in 2025 came back stronger this year, with bigger crowds, deeper competition fields, and a noticeably elevated energy across every corner of the venue.
Charlotte becomes the epicenter of the aftermarket world as HPX and Street Car Takeover merge business, racing, and car culture into one nonstop performance week built on horsepower, innovation, and pure chaos.
On April 18th, the STROKIN DIESEL TAILGATE SHOOTOUT 2026 lit up Alabama with a back-to-back assault on horsepower, starting on the dyno and ending under the lights at the dragstrip. Backed by Diesel Motorsports, this wasn’t a sit-around-and-look kind of show. This was a run-it, prove-it, break-it-if-you-have-to kind of day.
Every winter, the custom car world storms into the Motor City for one of the most legendary indoor shows in hot rodding history—Detroit Autorama. Inside the sprawling halls of Huntington Place, the temperature might still read winter outside, but on the show floor the atmosphere is pure horsepower, chrome, and adrenaline. Thousands of enthusiasts flood the aisles to see the machines that define the cutting edge of hot rods and muscle cars craftsmanship.
Just after New Year’s, when the cold really starts settling in, one of the first major indoor car shows of the year rolls into town. The O’Reilly Auto Parts World of Wheels Custom Auto Show has become a yearly tradition—mixing hot rods, customs, and classics with a dose of pop culture to create a winter event that gives the whole family a reason to get out of the house.
