Forum Fest 2014 Event Coverage

Forum Fest has been THE automotive event to attend in the northwest for the last four years. It combined a large car show, drag racing, and drifting – essentially something for everyone.

This year (because of regulations imposed by King County) drifting was removed and replaced with lead/follow laps around the track. It didn’t seem to change attendance numbers leading up to the event and everyone was optimistic that it would be another successful event despite the lack drifting. It wasn’t until a few days before when the weather forecast was published that people started to have flashbacks of the freak storm that descended upon Pacific Raceways in 2012.

Text by Matt Haugness. Photos by TK Akiyama and Matt Haugness.

Rain or shine, we make every effort to attend events that we plan on providing media coverage for. It was obvious the day before that Forum Fest 2014 was likely to be wet so we planned accordingly and showed up to the track around 9am. Roll-in was smooth and every year we have attended has been better.

Shortly after roll-in, the lead/follow lapping started. Drag racing wasn’t supposed to start until the early afternoon so it wasn’t a big deal that the drag strip was damp. Unfortunately, the rain started around noon and didn’t let up until towards the end of the day. Drag racing was canceled and lead/follow slowed down an hour or so after it started.

Forum Fest had a great turnout this year but the rain definitely hurt the event. Having drag racing canceled and the lead/follow less populated meant that there was little to do besides walk around the show for hours on end.

This is the second year of the last three that has been rained out—do you think Forum Fest should be moved later in the year? Leave a comment below with your opinion.

 Forum Fest Winners

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