A dusting of spent rubber spit through the chain-link fence as a blur of vehicles screamed back to speed out of turn four, the sidewall of every front right tire begging for mercy and on the verge of folding over just in time to send any one of the numbered contenders directly into the barricades.
Three-wide through the constricted confines of Beech Bend Raceway’s oval, the sounds of steel on steel were inevitable with fenders meeting doors, bumpers meeting bumpers, and a few connecting rods about to go meet their makers.
Could it have been a NASCAR race? Or was it a bunch of local left-turners out on the asphalt, jockeying for position in the last heat of the night? Or maybe it was some social media influencers in their clapped-out Chrysler and Dodge vans running laps in the grand finale of Holley’s 2025 MoParty?
If you guessed the latter, you’re absolutely right. And if you weren’t there to see it, you absolutely missed out on Holley’s annual Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler, and AMC special. Held at Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Beech Bend Raceway park on September 12-14, 2025, the sixth annual show was stacked with enough cars and activities to keep even the most squirrel-brained wrench-swingers entertained all weekend.
Friday morning was kindling for the fire with spectator gates opening at 8:00 am for the swap meet and car show before drag racing started at 9:00. We were there bright and early to start in on the swap meet which has continued to slowly grow. Selection was fair and most spots were filled with treasures and trash alike.
Somehow, some of the rarest pieces seem to always be available, albeit at premium prices. A few surviving long ram intake setups were there, likely because they’re obvious oddities. We can’t imagine anyone throwing these in the scrap dumpster with such a unique appearance. Prices varied widely from $800 to $1,600.
The biggest surprises were two pairs of NOS sheet metal. The first was a set of 1971 Dodge Challenger quarter panels still wearing their rust oxide-colored primer. Nearly all who dared to peek at the price tag were hit with instant sticker shock by the $5,500 notation.
Doing the math, that’s only $2,750 per side which is about six times the cost of one from AMD for all-but-unobtainable original panels. The same swapper had a set of NOS 1972-1974 Dodge Challenger front fenders for $2,500. Worth it for original Ma Mopar steel? That’s for a buyer other than us to decide.
Closer to our price range was a derelict duo of Cragar S/S rims with M50-14 Super G/T Sport bias ply tires. These foot-wide meats were probably hanging out from the quarters of a heavily-lifted muscle car rear end courtesy of 150 PSI in a tight set of air shocks. Wall-hanger duty is likely their next phase, a rubberized reminder of good times gone by.
Other highlights under the for sale sign were a plethora of ‘60s – ‘90s Dodge truck parts and a small selection of G3 Hemi parts. Several sets of Eagle cylinder heads were spotted along with a few 5.7L long blocks, a complete supercharged Jeep Cherokee Trackhawk drivetrain at $16,000, and an original Drag Pak intake manifold for $650.
Cars could be bought too with some that looked like they might not even roll off the trailer and others looking like they just needed gas. A numbers-matching 1972 Plymouth Duster with its original 340 cubic-inch engine, four-speed transmission, and patina’d green paint had $22,500 written on the windshield and seemed closer to the latter.
On the other hand, a fastback 1966 or 1967 Dodge Charger was missing most of its floor pans and clearly in the state of “barely started forgotten drag car project.” While it was likely more affordable than the aforementioned NOS sheet metal, cars like this that have little aftermarket support can be quite a nightmare to fix correctly. Hopefully someone with a clear vision and deep pockets drug the poor hulk home.
Our pockets felt just fine after spending a shameful $0.00, so we moved on to the show field featuring a copious collection of cars. The usual suspects of 1964 to 1974 Mopar brutes were in full force, flanked by a scattering of modern muscle and the more elegant elders of 1957 through 1963.
No doubt, the most impressive showing was by the National Hemi Owners Association (NHOA). Simply put, if you ever have a chance to attend an event where the NHOA will have a presence, you need to do so.
Their lineup was nothing short of staggering with Hemi car after Hemi car two rows deep. At one point, we counted almost thirty factory-built Hemi cars in total, the grand majority in the NHOA’s section of show field.
Coordinated by Matt Hargis, each of the NHOA cars were deserving of a feature-length article, but we just tried not to drool on any valve covers. To name a few, there were three B-body Hemi convertibles, a 28,000-mile 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda, two four-speed EB5 blue 1970 Plymouth Hemi GTXs, two four-speed 1967 Dodge Hemi Coronet R/Ts, and a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Road Runner which was a pilot car.
The survivor tent was almost as amazing even though it had fewer hemispherical chambers. An all-original 1971 Chrysler Newport Custom was still fitted with its factory-applied tortoise grain top, a uniquely awesome characteristic of the big, beautiful C-body.
Obviously, the rest of the show pasture was littered with the rare, the rough, and the ridiculous. A decent number of modern Hemi swaps were on hand and, overall, the entries made it seem like the hobby is trending much more towards well-done, good-driving vehicles instead of concours-correct trailer queens or three-mile-deep paint jobs.
Many favorite Mopar suppliers made their way to the manufacturer’s midway including Holley, QA1, Trick Flow, Blackbird Performance Products, 1st Gen Industries, and Sublime Technologies. Most had goodies in stock. Mopar Connection Magazine’s tent was buzzing all weekend with in-the-flesh project cars, T-shirts, and a swap meet scavenger hunt.
Legs wobbly from our morning miles traveled, we decided it might be best to sit down…in a Hellcat Dodge Charger. The thrill rides were back to burn rubber around the inside of the oval this year. Two Chargers and two Challengers totaled more than six hours of gut-tossing through the cones in between autocross competitions.
Legs even more shaky from those sideways slides, we parked ourselves in the grandstands of the drag strip for a rejuvenating whiff of tire smoke and burnt methanol. The modern versus vintage muscle ratio was comfortable with about the right number of fast new Challengers mixed in with a bunch of old iron.
Two worth watching were a winning pair of Blackbird Performance Products-equipped Dusters. Mark Dudley Jr. came out on top in the Rumble class courtesy of a Race Spec 700+ HP 6.4L Hemi in his ’74 and Michael Judd took home the top payout with a King of the Street win in his ‘73. Both powerplants and drivers were deadly accurate all weekend.
Sprinkled in with all that action were some specialty sights like the Bad Fish 1969 Plymouth Barracuda wheelstander, a replica of Paul Rossi’s 1970 Dodge Challenger that made a few passes, and world record attempts by two monster trucks going down the strip.
But the three-part grand finale on Saturday night took the cake, led by the perennial mullet contest. Several repeat contestants stood center track along with some newbies, all rocking a Kentucky waterfall, Tennessee top hat, or Mississippi mud flap.
Following them, appropriately, was the burnout contest which featured shredded rubber, maybe a blown engine, and a whole bunch of orange cone destruction as participants spun blindly ‘round ‘n’ ‘round at redline.
Topping it all off was a show that would make even Ricky Bobby proud. Vandemonium presented a packed grandstands with ten Mopar minivans steered by several recognizable faces.
Among the lineup were Vice Grip Garage’s Derek Bieri, YouTuber Dylan McCool, racer David Kruk, automotive TV personality Tommy Boshers, and Tom Bailey of Sick the Magazine. But the mid-‘90s and early-‘00s vans were the real stars of the show.
A total of thirty bumpin’, grindin’, rubbin’ laps were run, filled with several spin-outs, blown tires, and disintegrated plastic body components. In the end, Mr. McCool came out on top but, judging by the smiles coming out of the stands, everyone at MoParty 2025 went home a winner.
