V-Dub Derby 2026
Thanks to support from title sponsor Bachman Volkswagen and St. Joes Children’s Home, the 2026 V-Dub Derby is one for the history books.
Friday evening Louisville VW hosted the pre-meet, held at Bachman Volkswagen. Louisville VW brought enough pizzas and drinks to make sure nobody went hungry and the CVWCoL was on site getting new registrations and helping those who already registered.
A threat of rain can’t stop the Derby and despite the weatherman, we had great skies all day long. As sunrise approached we had the registration table up, vendors started arriving and we knew it was as going to be a great day. There was approximately a dozen swap meet vendors, over 15 show sponsor booths, and dozens of donations. St. Joes set up a table and of course the 501st Star Wars reenactors were on site, taking pictures and protecting us from the rebels.
New for this year was valve cover racing. Many folks crafted their race vehicles from either air cooled or 8v water cooled valve covers. With the angle of the track these things were flying at the end (well those that didn’t crash anyway)
Setting a record this year was the silent auction. With over 40 lots to bid on there was something for everyone. Items were donated from nationwide and local businesses as well as individuals. The bidding was intense and we had our biggest total ever.
The returning events were full of excitement as well. The stein hoist was maxed out this year and the final two were faced off for over 6 minutes! The swap meet had over a dozen sellers and there were some good bargains to be had. Once again the Boy Scouts did both breakfast and lunch. They also made a donation going to St Joes. A custom made soundtrack and wisely placed speakers had the crowd grooving to the DJ all day. The DJ was calling door prizes all day and some of the prizes were wild. The merchandise table stayed busy selling extra event shirts as well as stickers, keychains, club shirts and more.
There were buckets of cars and Hot Wheels tracks laid out for kids to play on and thanks to a donation from Westport Rd Automotive, every participant bag came with a Hot Wheels car.
The show field was a great mix of hundreds of air and water cooled cars. At the conclusion of the show ten aircooled and ten water cooled vehicles were chosen by the crowd as people’s choice winners. Each sponsor presented a sponsors choice award to a car of their choosing and Bachman VW awarded the Best Aircooled, Best Water Cooled and Best of Show awards.
People brought their cars from at least 7 states and at least 9 states were there as spectators.
Even with a slightly lower turnout this year due to the weeklong threats of rain, the V-Dub Derby 2026 donation to St. Joes is $11,000 dollars, our largest donation to date.
We all want to thank everyone involved with the V-Dub Derby and are already super excited for next year. Start making plans to attend the 2027 V-Dub Derby now, you definitely don’t want to miss the next one.. Always held the Saturday after Labor Day.
