There are always those who manage to flex a little more than the rest of the participants. They show up in rare vehicles or vehicles that have a strong history in racing. Well, at the RADwood Austin 2022 show hosted at the Circuit of The Americas, one person decided to shoot for both. In a sea of cars from the eighties and nineties, this year’s “RADdest in Show” award went to a first-generation Ford Lightning towing a Ford Mustang Trans-Am race car.

As you may know, your Ford Muscle editor is a huge Ford Lightning fan, owning one of each generation. So, there is always the chance of my eyes gazing towards my beloved single-cab performance truck when I’m attending shows. If it is white in color, then you have my undivided attention. While in their heyday these trucks were used as race vehicles or race team support trucks, they’ve since become a collector piece and oftentimes find themselves loaded with lawn chairs and coolers rather than drag slicks and fuel jugs. So, you can imagine my excitement seeing a white Ford Lightning with a color-matched trailer hooked up, and an SN95 race car sitting atop.

Having a sport truck towing an older race car win the “RADdest in Show” award is what makes RADwood such a unique show. While the show was full of vehicles ranging from the golden years of Japanese car culture to the elitism that comes in the form of a Lamborghini Countach, a 200,000 mile domestic truck pulling a race car managed to steal the win and capture the hearts of attendees.

Now that the show season has officially begun for RADwood, we have seven more opportunities across America to check out each scene. Here’s to hoping more Ford’s come out of the woodwork and become the showpiece they deserve to be.

Photography: Martin Lopez