Detroit Speed started their show season off with a bang by sweeping the Vendor Autocross events in California. Kyle Tucker drove the 1970 Camaro Test Car to victory in Costa Mesa followed by a close win by DSE engineer, Ryan Mathews also in the 1970 Camaro Test Car, taking the big win in Del Mar. The DSE boys aren't the only ones to have fun in the Test Cars, co-owner Stacy Tucker has also put in thousands of laps in the Camaros during Vendor Autocross competitions and just to take the inquisitive customers around the track to get a real feel for the suspension and handling.

Detroit Speed also had another big surprise out in California, they arrived in their new Hauler. The hauler is a Freightliner Coronado that hauls around the beautiful High-Tech performance trailer. The trailer is suited to carry tons of new products and cars to and from shows across the country.

The unofficial start for the summer show season came in early June as DSE attended the Chevellabration show in Tennessee for the first time. Detroit Speed had a great time at the show and sponsored their first ever Autocross which was a huge hit for all the people that attended.

If the Chevellabration was the unofficial start of summer, Goodguys Nashville definitely proved to be the official start of summer with temperatures reaching into the 100’s for most of the weekend. The weather wasn’t the only thing that was hot; Ryan Mathews captured his second straight vendor autocross in the 1970 Camaro Test Car and seemed to be boiling up a bit of a in-house rivalry against his boss and co-owner of Detroit Speed, Kyle Tucker by besting him for the second straight time by hundredths of a second.  

DSE had a short break before heading to the biggest show of the year, the Goodguys Nationals, held in Columbus, Ohio. This was an amazing show for Detroit Speed and some of their fellow vendors. Detroit Speed started the show off a bit early by driving all three of their Test Camaros from Mooresville, NC to Columbus, OH. It was a great day for a drive and a great chance to snap some photographs and take some videos of the cars. The autocross action heated up early Friday morning with the vendor class running laps. Many vendors competed and the competition was fierce, eventually Kyle Tucker and the 1970 Camaro Test Car captured the trophy for Detroit Speed’s 3^rd consecutive Vendor Autocross trophy.

While there was a ton of action at the autocross track, there was also some at the DSE booth where they unveiled Jason Stavola’s magnificent 1969 Camaro. The Camaro was entered in the Street Machine of the Year and unfortunately wasn’t chosen as a finalist, but it did win a Builder’s Choice Trendsetter’s Award.    

Saturday brought the award everybody in the Pro-Touring class was waiting for, the Street Machine of the Year trophy presented by Air Ride. The crew at the Roadster Shop took home the well deserved award with their beautiful 1963 Corvette that also ran the fastest time in the Street Machine of the Year Autocross qualifier with DSE suspension components underneath. Detroit Speed always has an amazing time at Goodguys Columbus and look forward to being back next year.

The early fall saw DSE on a jam packed stretch that started with a Vendor Autocross win at Goodguys Kansas and followed that up with another win at Goodguys Joliet. Before Joliet, Detroit Speed attended the Shades of the Past where DSE handed out their Modern Muscle Award to Jeese Greening and his pristine 1971Camaro. While Goodguys Joliet was going on, DSE was also attending the Run Through the Hills in Pigeon Forge, TN. This is a great event sponsored by Pro-Touring.com and MuscleRides.com that DSE attends every year.

The late fall brought about even more success in the Vendor Autocross’s as Detroit Speed captured victories at Goodguys Pocono, Ft. Worth, and Goodguys Charlotte. Preceding the Goodguys Charlotte show was DSE’s biggest in-house event of the year, the DSE Open House TGIF kickoff party.

The Open House this year was special in many ways. The biggest being the unveiling of DSE’s new building that was opened to the public for the first time. The Open House also presented a great time for Detroit Speed to show off some of their new Chevy II products including, the Deep Tubs and QUADRALink™. For a change, the weather was amazing and the turnout was great making this one of the best Open House’s Detroit Speed has ever had.

For the second straight year, Detroit Speed was invited to the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational immediately following the SEMA show. This is an amazing event put on by Optima and Detroit Speed looks forward to competing for years to come.

2009 was a great year for the DSE Test Camaros and the company as a whole. Everyone at DSE would like to thank our customers, partners, and competitors who always make us strive for excellence.

We look forward to the quickly approaching 2010 show season, the DSE & Baer Brakes “Faceoff In The Flatlands” and we hope to build upon the successes of last year.