Thousands of Chryslers, Plymouths, and Dodges from all over the nation gathered in central Ohio last weekend for the 22nd Annual Mopar Nationals.

The event, held at National Trail Raceway on Route 40 just east of Columbus, is one of the largest all-Mopar events in the country.

“The nationals went great this year. We had a crowd estimated at 50,000 and close to 3,000 participants – which includes race cars, judged show cars, and non-judged show cars. Everything went pretty smoothly and we didn’t have any troubles. We had great weather, though it got a little hot,” said Jim Layton, general manager of National Trail Raceway.

The quarter mile track at NTR was dedicated to Mopars the entire weekend. Spectators could watch cars of all quality run down the track.

Roger Meyer ran a 5.3 second quarter mile at 197 mph.

“That was incredible,” said Nick Barry, a second year spectator. “You could feel the noise in your chest to the point where it almost hurt. I kept expecting to hear a sonic boom.”

Barry said that the nationals are tough when the temperature rises.

“There weren’t enough tents, the price of water was outrageous ($3 per 20 oz. bottle), and the lack of shelter over the bleachers along the track was unendurable,” he said.

Many of the cars take to the street for a cruise down Brice Road every evening after the race.

“The Mopar Nationals are cool and all, but I preferred the Brice Road cruises,” Barry said.

Though it is called the Brice Road cruise, traffic soon becomes backed up and thousands of spectators along the sides of the road cheer and dump water into the road for the cars to do burnouts. Clouds of noxious tire smoke rose into the air along the road, as many drivers were happy to appease requests of the spectators.

Brice Road was not the extent of the Mopar cruise. Mopars also filled parking lots, and spectators at the Red Roof Inn equipped with a bullhorn and garden hose got their own burnout contest started. The contest lasted until the police arrived.

“This year we had no big problems, the crowd was very well behaved,” said Mark Moser, a lieutenant with the Reynoldsburg police.