EVENT // 2009 CORONADO SPEED FESTIVAL

The 12th annual Coronado Speed Festival in San Diego was this weekend, so I grabbed my camera gear and made my way over to the Naval Air Station at Coronado to take in the action. The Speedfest has become something of an institution in San Diego, and is a compliment to the city's Fleet Week celebrations. The event is open to a wide rage of historic and vintage racing cars, and takes place on a wide-open stretch of tarmac on the naval air base that overlooks San Diego bay. Though the Coronado Speedfest may not be as well known or as large as the Monterey Historics or the Goodwood Revival, the location is unique and there is always an impressive and eclectic collection of cars spread throughout the pits... [read more]


Among the attractions at the Speedfest are static military displays, car club shows, and vendor booths, but everyone attends to see the races.

The competition at the Speedfest is spread out across the weekend, with various classifications such as age and engine displacement determining running order and the event always concludes with a "feature" race on Sunday evening.

In years' past, the feature race has been amongst the infamous Trans-Am cars from the late 60s and early 70s - Camaros, Mustangs and Dodge Challengers - but this year there was a historic stock car race, further illustrating how diverse the collection of cars can be at the Coronado Speedfest.

There aren't too many events where a person can see a Porsche 356 and an early 90s stock car race on the same weekend, let alone within hours of each other! 

I return to the Speedfest year after year to take in the sights and sounds of these classic cars; as each year goes by, the cars grow older, rarer, and in many cases, more valuable, yet their owners continue to take them out and race them. As an auto enthusiast, I would be hard-pressed to come up with proper justification for not taking advantage of such a spectacle!

For a look at more photos from this years Coronado Speed Festival, click here

Photo/Editorial: Robert Carrier