Roadkill Nights brings car enthusiasts, street racing to downtown Pontiac

Pontiac — MotorTrends' Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge this year started with an upset and ended with one.

Thousands descended upon downtown Pontiac, staying even beyond an afternoon rain delay, for the eighth year of the event that makes street racing on Woodward Avenue legal for the day. It was a new location after road construction on M-1 made racing at its traditional home for six years unfeasible.

Toward the end of the evening in the high-profile Direct Connection Grudge Race that matched experienced car builders and drag racers with rookie influencers, Kayla Rundle, 25, of Phoenix, Arizona, with the help of Tony Arme of Corruptt Builds in a '69 Plymouth Barracuda beat out in the final match-up the guys at Throtl, Quinn Clark in an '01 Dodge Viper mentored by Rickie Fernandez.

Rundle said she had spent some time at the Radford Racing School in Chandler, Arizona, before hitting the strip in Michigan: "I got a ton of practice with the Dodge team. It was worth all the practice."

Meanwhile, in the big tire competition, Jimmer Kline, 55, of Wyoming, Michigan, with Go Fast Productions became a three-time winner of Roadkill Nights in a '66 Pontiac Acadian. In the smile-tire contest, Mikael Borggren, 41, of Northville defended his title in an '87 Volvo Wagon. Each won the top prize of $5,000.

The event previously had been held at the M1 Concourse on the south side of the city. Construction on Woodward outside the concourse, however, wasn't set to conclude until a week before.

"People plan their vacations around this," Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis said, explaining organizers didn't want to risk having to cancel the event. "We're like, 'We've got to find another way.' So, we looked at a bunch of other venues, and the city of Pontiac came and actually was really wanting us to come here, like, 'This is a great event. We want to be part of it.'

"They have been amazing, shutting down roads and giving us access to all this space. So, it worked out really, really well."

The road work also put a new crook in Woodward outside the M1 concourse, so a permanent new home may be needed, though Kuniskis, as usual, refrained from committing to the event next year because of the multiple parties needed to approve the event. M1 did provide parking with a shuttle for attendees going to this year's event.

"It was just like, 'Really? Come on!'" M1 CEO Tim McGrane said about the kink in Woodward. "It's pretty permanent. Maybe we can work with the city, Oakland County, MDOT, and the organizers to see what can be done. We would welcome them back."

Pontiac Mayor Tim Greimel said he hopes Roadkill will become an annual event downtown.

"We used to have all sorts of local events," he said. "It's really about pride in the city. We want Pontiac to be an attractive destination in Southeast Michigan."

Racers came from in and out of state in classic and modern muscle cars, powered-up trucks and even an old-fashion dairy truck to compete for $10,000 in prizes for both the small tire and big tire categories. The strip was an eighth of a mile in length.

"I've always wanted to race down Woodward," said Mike Bell, 60, who came with an orange '83 Ford Mustang with skulls on its hood and sides. He runs the Daytona Performance YouTube account. "It's the first place where street racing happened."

Added crew member Matt Belt, 40, of Rochester Hills: "It's the mecca of the Motor City. There's nothing like Woodward in August."

The victors said the move downtown was a great move, placing the starting line at Woodward and West Pike Street.

"It's concrete," Kline — who attributed his win to the help of his son, a good car and luck — said of the new location. "The asphalt doesn't get as much traction."

Others had less luck as rain interfered with the schedule. Sean Patterson, 29, of Southgate, came with Tony Deptula of Deptula Performance in Brighton and drove the '98 GMC Sonoma with a 383 Stroker engine owned by Deptula's son T.J. for his first time racing in Roadkill Nights.

"It was pretty good," He said about the new strip as he addressed an oil leak in the rain. "But a quarter or a half in, it swirled. I didn't have enough heat on the tires."

Arun Ahuja, 53, of Elmira, Ontario, with Canadian Custom Performance also didn't have much luck in a '19 Chevrolet Corvette for his first run: "I spun. I recovered, but I spun. I did the burnout run."

Johnny Hopewell, 53, of Louisville, Kentucky, brought the '65 Ford Falcon he had bought at 17 years old and fixed up over the years, including with a V-8. He finished in the top eight.

"I had a good run," he said. "Drag strips are covered in a fluid. Because of the rain, they were at it all night. They did a good job. ... I wasn't the fastest, but I enjoyed it."

In the Direct Connection Grudge Race, the six teams had to outfit any Dodge or Plymouth vehicle with a Direct Connection Hellcrate Redeye 6.2-liter Supercharged Crate Hemi engine. They received $15,000 and had three weeks to work on their vehicles.

They were originally supposed to use the Dodge Direct Connection HurriCrate series of engines, derived from the 3.0-liter Hurricane Twin Turbo engine, but additionally complexity of the engine resulted in a change in the engine because of the tight timeframe, Kuniskis said. If the event happens next year, he said he hopes to give the builders more time.

Alex Taylor, a drag racer, mechanic and automotive content creator who won the previous two years' grudge matches, moved to the general Big Tire racing competition this year, opening the way for a new winner. She made it to the top eight in her category, but was bested by Joe Barry, who won the big tire category last year.

The crate engines are the only way the Hemi will live on after production of Dodge's Charger and Challenger muscle cars end production at the end of the year ahead of the launch of the all-electric muscle car next year.

Car enthusiasts like Delawhi Baxter, 22, of Cleveland, worries EVs will kill the fun of events like Roadkill Nights: "It's experiencing the raw horsepower of the car, the roar of the engine. Are they going to have a speaker, and it's going to wine down the road?"

Attendees enjoyed thrill rides in muscle cars, food trucks, meet and greets with influencers and road tests in the new Dodge Hornet crossover. New to the event for 2023 is a concert performance in the evening by rapper Ice Cube at the Crofoot Festival Grounds. Last year, attendance set a new one-day record of 40,000 people.

Kristi Gilbert, 55, of Ann Arbor came with her friend, Ann Haruki, 55, of Spring Lake, whose husband was on a team racing. It was Gilbert's first time watching drag racing.

"I was surprised by the variety of the cars," she said. "I thought they'd all be shiny and new."

Joe Hawkins, 45, of Fenton brought out his family for a third year to the event.

"I love everything about drag racing," he said after catching a thrill ride in a Dodge muscle car. "It's a family-friendly event. It's something that can get them into drag racing."

He was referring to his daughters, 15-year-old Olivia and 14-year-old Emma. Has it worked?

"Yeah," Olivia said. "I like it."

The family also enjoyed the new location.

"I like that they moved it downtown," said Julie Hawkins, 44. "It brings in the whole city."

It made sense to kick off Woodward Dream Cruise week, too, said Kevin Tyree, 69, of Columbus, Ohio: "It ties it altogether. It's two weekends on Woodward."

The move to downtown builds off the momentum already being seen from new housing projects to commercial sites, said Steven Childs, president Main Street Pontiac, an economic development nonprofit, who hopes the move will become permanent.

The Michigan Transportation Department has plans to turn the Woodward loop downtown into a pedestrian-friendly two-way boulevard. Oakland County in partnership with the city in May announced a downtown redevelopment plan that includes the county's $19.2 million purchase of Ottawa Tower, a former General Motors Co. building, lease for the Phoenix Center parking garage and four adjacent parcels of land.

"It's a catalyst for the changes that are coming when you couple that with the Dream Cruise," Childs said about Roadkill Nights moving downtown. "It means that we have a lot more activity and can reintroduce downtown to a large group of people that may not have experience of downtown and may have forgotten about it. It sends the message to everyone and we’re here to stay."

The move was welcomed by several businesses downtown. Shannon Wolman, manager of Fillmore 13 Brewery on North Saginaw Street, said in previous years, the restaurant saw some boost in business from travelers into town for Roadkill Nights. This year, she prepared her staff for what was expected to be their biggest day ever. Traditionally, that is the Woodward Dream Cruise.

"I am so happy that they did" move the event downtown, Wolman said, noting on Friday afternoon the 165-person dining room already had filled up with twice from setup and visitors arriving to town. "There’s not enough events down here to bring people in to see what’s down here and the businesses that are here. It's a great weekend for everybody down here."

Biscuits and Bourbon, a new dining option in the renovated Grand Theatre on North Saginaw Street, was planning on opening its doors for the first time around this time. Rondah Harris, general manager, said the new spot that will be a full-service restaurant, bar and lounge had gotten together to open on Saturday with nibblers — burgers, salads, a catfish biscuit sandwich, seafood po' boy, bourbon chicken and steak bites and homemade potato chips. The restaurant formally opens to the public on Tuesday.

"It fell into our lap with the staffing for the place to open this weekend," Harris said. "It's a blessing in disguise to open this weekend with the heavy traffic we’re expecting. Foot traffic is the best traffic."

bnoble@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @BreanaCNoble

Top 8 finishers

Small tire, alphabetic order

Alex Bergdoll

Mikael Borggren

Alex Chud

Johnny Hopewell

David McKenna

Alan Robinson

Nick Ryan

Adam Wright

Big tire, alphabetic order

Aydan Bailey

Joe Barry

David Hekhuis

Jimmer Kline

Eric Mills

Mike Mislevic

David Schroeder

Alex Taylor