Last years Hot Wheels Best of Show was a 1959 Chevrolet Impala owned by Gary Fredrickson of Hyrum.
HYRUM- It’s Hot Wheels time in Hyrum City.
The Museum is hosting their 10th annual Hot Wheels car show in Hyrum this Saturday, June 11 at the city square located at 50 West Main St. from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. The winners will be announced at 3 p.m. the same day.
There are more than 10 categories including Best of Show, People’s Choice, Best Car, Best Truck, Most Memorial, Best Antique/Classic Best Chrome & Fin Era, Best Muscle Car Era, Best Non-Vintage , Keep On Cruisin’ and more.
“Right now, we have 60 cars preregistered. Our average is 150 cars,” said Jami Van Huss the Hyrum City Library Director. “We generally have about 1,000 people show up, last year we sold about 800 hotdogs.”
The car show accepts a variety of cars, trucks, tractors and even motorcycles.
“I think people like to come because we are a smaller show and it’s all about the stories the cars tell,” Van Huss said. “People hold on to their cars. It’s really about the stories and the connections to their cars that we like to hear about.”
Larry Johansen is from Hyrum and has a 1934 Ford Tudor that he took to the Hyrum dump.
“Years later he ended up pulling it out of the place he dumped it decades later,” Van Huss said. “Then he restored it and I think he won an award at one of our Hot Wheels shows.”
He also has a good story about stealing watermelons as a teen and getting shot at.
“Larry met his wife at Elite Hall,” Van Huss said. “She recently passed away and the Elite Hall is on their headstone in the Hyrum Cemetery.”
Ken Ross, from Nibley, has a 1956 blue Chevrolet Belair that he bought 51 years ago when he got married.
“Ross ended up selling it to his brother, then he re-purchased it a number of years later,” she said. “It was in really rough shape (he has pics of it) and has been working on it for a long time. It’s gorgeous now and I believe he said this is the first show he has put it in.”
Van Huss has her own 1953 red Chevy three-window pickup that she picked out when she turned 16.
“I drove it throughout high school at Mountain Crest and still have it,” Van Huss said. “My oldest just turned 16 and also goes to Mountain Crest and is learning to drive it.”
This is the only fundraiser the Hyrum Museum does each year. Van Huss said it has proven to be not only an effective fundraiser, but it also brings the community together.
“People plan their vacations around our car show,” Van Huss said. “We feel like it is a win-win because of the money the event raises and the number of people that come to enjoy it.”