Boutwell captures top award at Kiwanis club car show
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Vehicles from across the state were entered in the Troy Kiwanis Club’s sixth annual Best in Alabama Car Show, but it was Troy resident Joe Boutwell’s 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner that came away with the top award.
“I was honored to win,” said Boutwell of the award. “I was surprised to be the winner. I’ll be the first to admit there were a lot of great cars there. But it’s always nice to come out on top.”
The Roadrunner is one of the 14 classic cars in Boutwell’s collection. Boutwell has also won the “Best in Alabama” award before, but this is the first time he has won it with the Roadrunner, which he said he’s owned for about 22 years. “It was sitting in my garage for over a year since I even last started it up,” he said. “I figured this would be a good way to get it out.”
The show had 33 entries including cars, bikes, and trucks, with vehicles as old as a 1901 Oldsmobile and as new as a 2016 Chevy Corvette. The Corvette, owned by Jim Middleton of Montgomery, can reach speeds of up to 200 mph, while the Oldsmobile, owned by Ben Sanders of Goshen, can only get up to 38 mph.
Caleb Dawson, president of the Troy Kiwanis Club, had previously said he hoped for more than 100 entrants, but said Saturday that he was happy with the turnout.
“We had a lot of rain in the morning so that probably turned a lot of people away,” he said. “But we’re really happy with the number that turned out despite the weather.”
Proceeds from the show will go to the Eliminate Project, a Kiwanis and UNICEF project to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus by providing vaccinations.
According to Dawson, the event raised $1,123, enough money to cover nearly 625 vaccinations.
The Troy Kiwanis Club plans to hold the event again next year.