KINGMAN — If you were anywhere near Beale Street this weekend, you might have thought you’d stepped into classic‑car heaven. Thousands of spectators crowded downtown Kingman on Saturday for the local stop of the 37th Annual Route 66 Fun Run, a signature event made even more special as the Mother Road celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Event coordinator Nikki Terlesky said this year’s turnout reflects the growing excitement surrounding the centennial.
“Route 66 is celebrating one hundred years in 2026, so this is a really special Fun Run,” Terlesky said. “It’s a car show with 900 classic cars driving Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman to Topock over three days.”
The run follows the longest remaining continuous stretch of historic Route 66. Terlesky noted that the event’s roots go back nearly four decades.
“The first Fun Run was organized to celebrate the designation of Route 66 as a historic highway,” she said. “The first one was in ’88. People come from all over the country. They know about the Fun Run, and it’s one of those bucket‑list items for classic‑car people.”
This year’s participants included not only enthusiasts from across the United States but also seven vehicles shipped from France, underscoring the international appeal of the Mother Road. The event is organized by the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, which partners with communities and businesses along the route to stage the annual celebration.
Among the standout vehicles was a beautifully restored 1933 Ford Model B pickup owned by Bill Sweet, a retired educator and former school superintendent. Sweet first drove the truck at age 8 on his family’s rural property in New Hampshire.
“We’d drive through the logging roads in the woods, and if a little tree got in the way, I’d just drive over it,” he said with a laugh. “In 1973, Dad and I took it apart for a father‑son project. It stayed apart from 1973 to about 2021, and that’s when I started to put it back together.”
Now fully restored, the truck is more than a showpiece. “This is my daily driver,” Sweet said. “I drive it every day. I just love the truck. It gets a lot of attention, but more so for me, it brings back fond memories.”
After the Kingman stop, the caravan continued west toward Topock, completing the three‑day journey that has become a hallmark of Route 66 culture and part of the on-going centennial year of the celebrations, especially in Arizona.
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