





Upon entering the expo center on the Nationals\’ longest day (which also happened to be its second day), I made a stop at the food court in the back before spending the entire day inside the 1 million square feet of floor space the expo center has.
Since I entered from the back, my first stop after the food court was \”Women\’s World.\” There, everything from dresses and necklaces to cleaning goods and art could be had, attracting shoppers who aren\’t the biggest fans of rumbling V8s, but did support their significant others\’ passions for them.
The centerpiece of \”Women\’s World\” is the quilt area, where custom quilts are on display for all to admire. One of my favorites happened to be a quilt featuring promo art from nearly every Nationals held over the past 50 years, including the 42nd and 43rd editions I attended before departing for Seattle.






On the other side of the quilt section, the NSRA had their own booth, featuring memorabilia from every Nationals since the first in 1970. Patches, belt buckles, Rod and Custom magazines, window stickers, whatever you could think of, it was there on display.
The history booth also had a place for guests to watch a short film about the Nationals, and the whole thing was tied together by seven cars placed out front, including a couple from the very first Nationals in Peoria, Illinois.






Surrounding all of that were dozens upon dozens of vendors of nearly every stripe. Some pulled their haulers to display their wares, others went all out for their booths.
It was here I learned about Mecum\’s upcoming visit to Louisville on my birthday weekend — which I wrote about a while ago — while also checking out the Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody with the floral print roof, bringing a whole new meaning to \”flower power.\”
As much as I could have spent the entire Nationals inside, it would have denied me (and you) the chance to peep the happenings outside the expo center\’s walls.