BarbaraGeneral ManagerMeet the people who bring you the Turkey Run
About us
The Turkey Run is the largest combined car show, swap meet, and car corral in the USA. Enthusiasts from across the country and from overseas come twice a year to racing’s most celebrated location, Daytona International Speedway.
It started in 1974 and is held on Thanksgiving weekend and the fourth weekend in March. Participants and spectators will enjoy more than 7,000 vintage, classic, and muscle cars, trucks, and other vehicles on display for show and for sale.
The show also includes more than 2,500 swap meet spaces, Artisan Alley, entertainment, and plenty of food. Over its history, more than $19 million in Turkey Run proceeds has funded charitable organizations, along with many local programs, projects, and recreational facilities.
BarbaraGeneral Manager
JayOperations Manager
JamesDirector of Marketing and Public Relations
KimSenior Event Coordinator
ValerieEvent Coordinator
GreggShow Car Event Director
PattiDBSR Club President
StuEvent Founder
PeteTurn 4 Tunnel
Dave & PattShow Car parking
Ann & RickGate 70
Terry & DianaGate 70Serving Daytona Beach since 1955
The Daytona Beach Racing District
The Daytona Beach Racing & Recreational Facilities District (“the District”) works in partnership with the Daytona Beach Street Rods to produce the Turkey Run on Thanksgiving weekend and the Spring Turkey Run.
Created in 1955, the District has a long history in the community. Its original purpose was to fund and build a racetrack in Daytona. The International Speedway Corporation stepped up and built the Speedway in 1959. Since then, the District has leased the land to ISC and continues to reinvest the show proceeds in the community each year.
Hosting the Turkey Run since 1975
Daytona Beach Street Rods
The Daytona Beach Street Rods is a local car club that presents the show-car section of the Turkey Run twice a year, in March and November.
Formed in 1975, the Daytona Beach Street Rods currently has more than 125 active members who volunteer their time to present the Turkey Run car show. Members range in age from 16 to 90. The DBSR is a family car club, dedicated to having fun with cars.
A short history of the Turkey Run
The Turkey Run was created in 1974 by Stu Sarjeant. Stu and his four-year-old son Jim had tried to enter their 1923 Ford T-Bucket in the 1973 Ormond Beach AACA Gaslight Parade, sponsored by the local Jaycees. They were turned away because hot rods were not permitted. Jim started crying and asked his dad if they could have their own parade the next Thanksgiving. The following year, the first Turkey Run was born. In 1975, Sarjeant, along with friends Rick Finzer and Olin Hopes, founded the Daytona Beach Street Rods.
The first Turkey Run hosted 45 cars and was held at the Howard Johnson hotel near Belair Plaza. Continuing to grow, the show moved to Seabreeze High School in 1982 and added a swap meet. By 1987 the Turkey Run had grown to more than 900 cars and relocated to a property at the Daytona Beach airport. In 1989 the Daytona Beach Street Rods partnered with the Daytona Beach Racing and Recreational Facilities District and found a permanent home in the infield of Daytona International Speedway. By this time, the show had grown to over 1,500 show-quality cars and 250 swap meet vendors.
Today, the Turkey Run boasts over 5,000 show cars, 1,200 cars for sale in the Car Corral, and over 1,500 swap meet vendors, making it the largest combined classic car show and swap meet in the USA.
