Route 66 Road Fest to combine history, entertainment (2024)

All the pieces came together when Richard Rawlings was invited to the third annual AAA Route 66 Road Fest.

Still fresh in his memory are his family vacations with Route 66 as the scenery and the long stops to enjoy the roadside attractions. Beyond that, Rawlings is a lifelong member of the American Automobile Association, the event’s creator.

“It’s cool to be a part of nostalgia and also the awesomeness that it is to celebrate 100 years of traversing America by car, which is the greatest freedom we have,” Rawlings said. “America has a vast set of roads, and it’s a self-expressionism no one else really has.”

The fest started in 2021 as an immersive experience where people can learn about Route 66’s history while watching a car show or walking through the interactive museum called “The Journey.”

Rawlings is the founder and owner of Gas Monkey Garage and former “Fast N’ Loud” star, a Discovery Channel TV show where Rawlings and his crew searched for tired and run-down cars to restore for profit.

He will be a special guest June 22-23 at the event in the SageNet Center at Expo Square.

The event aims to highlight Route 66 in the years leading up to its centennial anniversary in 2026. More than any other state, Oklahoma is home to over 400 miles of the Route. Tulsa is around the halfway point between these locations, making it a popular stop for drivers from either direction.

Rawlings said that for him, cars and history walk hand in hand.

Rawlings grew up in Texas and watched his dad work two jobs while still making time to work on cars. The pair bonded through car projects, and Rawlings fell in love with the automotive world.

In 2002, he opened “Gas Monkey Garage,” an automotive repair and customizer, in addition to some restaurants and bars. During the past 22 years, Rawlings built a successful automotive business from the ground up but said he has not forgotten his roots.

“That’s always on top of mind, so I do not forget where I came from,” Rawlings said. “At the end of the day, I just want to thank everybody who is a fan because I wouldn’t be able to do what I am doing if I didn’t have those guys and gals out there. We’re going to have a good time at the Route 66 Fest.”

Creating a memorable event

One of the people responsible for the “good time” is Wade Bray, the creative director of SRO Production, an event planning company.

Steven Wood, a former AAA board member, approached Bray in 2019 with one idea: create something to celebrate the years leading up to Route 66’s centennial.

With 35 years of experience in event planning, Bray didn’t waste any time. He started planning and researching how he could create an event that would be both interesting and fun, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the project was delayed until 2021.

Bray knew an event at the “Capital of Route 66” had to highlight its history, bring cars from different decades and provide enough entertainment for people to want to keep coming back year after year.

“I’ve done a lot of events over the years and a lot of different things,” Bray said. “But this one is really unique. We try to add new things every year.”

Different attractions for kids are one of those things.

Creating an interactive space for children was high on Bray’s to-do list. With activities such as guided painting, Hot Wheels races, miniature golf and a virtual reality arena, Bray said he wants both parents and children to have fun.

For adults, “The Journey” museum will have two cars from each decade since 1926 when Route 66 was created. There will also be timelines on the wall, describing the historical events that occurred during that decade and fun facts such as famous songs, movies and literature that were popular at the time.

Bray said he had one thing in mind while planning this event over the past years. “If I was walking through this with my kids and my mom, what would need to be in every area that all of them would go ‘Oh, look at that’?”

‘Cars and Route 66 go together’

Bray said he has always been a “history nerd,” but he needed help when the topic was cars. For the event to go as Bray had envisioned, they would need over 100 historical vehicles for the car show.

That was no trouble for Ron Watkins, member of a Mustang club. In 2021, AAA invited him to organize and coordinate the car show.

Watkins’ connection to Route 66 and cars started in the 1960s when his family moved from Oklahoma to California. They drove back and forth for years to visit family members, and Watkins said he was drawn to Route 66.

During the six months before the event, Watkins’ task was to find people across the city or the state interested in showing their vintage cars to the public. He attended club meetings and car events looking for people with cars from the time period Bray was looking for.

“To me, cars and Route 66 go together,” Watkins said. “And the Route coming through Tulsa is the perfect fit.”

Although AAA’s initial goal is to host the event until Route 66’s 100th anniversary, Bray said the community and the city are supportive, and he wants to keep organizing the event for many years.

“We’ve built some momentum, and it would be a shame to stop,” Bray said. “We’ll keep expanding every year. A lot of people look at the centennial as a finish line. We want to think about how the next day is the first step toward 200.”

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