Wednesday August 12th 1998 -- The Metro Detroit Ford Dealers held a fan appreciation day at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. This was the perfect facility to hold the throng of the estimated 30,000 fans that showed up for the event. This was the first year the event has been open to the general public, previous events had been held on the grounds of Ford Motor Company for their employees and friends.

This year's event was also unique in that the Motor City Region of SAAC was allowed to have some of their cars on display. This part of the event was organized by long time club member Austin Craig. Members having cars on display were:

John and Sheryl Audritsh - Yellow Boss 302 Jeff Finley - Grabber Green Boss 302 Eliminator Craig Shefferly - Dark Blue '67 GT500	Mike and Rebecca Moore - Red '69 GT350 Austin Craig - Red '96 Mustang Cobra Kurt Fredrickson - Yellow Sunbeam Tiger	Phil Jacobs - God Awful Yellow '68 Trans Am Mustang

Fans were treated to a fun day that allowed them to collect autographs from their favorite drivers of Ford powered vehicles. Drivers were mostly from the NASCAR series, but drivers from CART, NHRA and Truck Racing were also available to their fans. The complete list included:

Bill Elliot	Michael Waltrip
Greg Bifle	Rusty Wallace's NASCAR Taurus

The event was covered live by four local radio stations, WOMC, WRIF, WBBR, WYCD and by local ABC TV station WXYZ. In addtion to the long lines of fans seeking autographs, there was an obstacle course setup for kids, many racing cars on display and free ice cream for all.

Fans were treated to a Question and Answer session with drivers (l to r) - Johnny Benson, Adrian Fernandez, Brian Herta and Dick Trickle

It is hoped that this will be an annual event sponsored by the Metro Detroit Ford Dealers, held in conjunction with the NASCAR race at Michigan Speedway.