PERRY COUNTY, IL (WSIL) -- Hundreds were out at the Continental Tires' Street Machine Nationals Friday morning as the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds welcomed back the show.
This is the 37th year for the event, which was canceled last year because of the pandemic. Organizers say people are excited to get out and share their passion for muscle cars, hot rods and more.
"This is, a picnic of power," says Jon Moore, Executive Vice President of Event. "It's all kinds of fantastic cars, street machines, of all makes and models and it's just a great opportunity to get out and be passionate about automobiles and the crazy thing you can do with them."
Hundreds of cars, thousands of visitors, it is a weekend people look forward to each year, says Moore.
"This is something that people have on their calendar, they take vacation around this, it's one of the great things about the events that we do. We've got a ton of different features here, a show-and-shine awards, where cars are here showing, getting judged," explains Moore.
There are food vendors and swap meets and cruising, but people come for the display of fast cars and custom designs.
"We've got a burn out competition that we do later, we've got a cruise so you can see the cars coming by," says Moore. "It's a great experience, great opportunity just come out and get back to part of something that we've missed for over a year."
Street Machine Nationals continues through Sunday and visitors still in need a COVID-19 vaccination, the National Guard is hosting a mobile clinic on site. They have both the Pfizer vaccine for kids and the Johnson and Johnson for adults.
