It doesn’t officially start until Thursday, but many of the organizers are already in town, making sure that everything is in place for the return of the National Hot Rod Reunion.

And many of the participants, which will include Big Daddy Don Garlits, will begin to roll in as soon as today and mostly by Wednesday, according to Vicky Fitch, executive director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

With participants responsible for filling thousands of motel nights in Bowling Green and surrounding areas, Fitch said the economic impact of the event is about $4 million.

“As far as I know everybody is almost full for the week, which is good because we need a few empty spots for other people who come in,” said Michael Nunn, president of the Bowling Green Area Lodging Association.

Nunn said the event has a tremendous impact on the tourism industry, as noticed by its departure last year.

“It was vital that we showed them that we wanted them back,” Nunn said. “They went someplace else and I don’t think they got the personal touches that they do with the CVB here. ... I don’t think they felt really wanted. The fact that Beech Bend really wanted them, Bowling Green really wanted them and hotels really wanted them ... meant more to them than the facilities they had there.”

How much did the county want them back?

Enough that the state, with the help of Warren County, spent $300,000 on Beech Bend Road to help make the turn into Beech Bend easier for big rigs.

Enough that Beech Bend owner Dallas Jones bought out the property of a quarreling neighbor for a half-million dollars so he could have an additional entrance, and enough that Jones spent $200,000 adding lanes to the entrance of the race track.

Enough that the CVB, Lodging Association and South Central Chapter of the Kentucky Restaurant Association contributed$5,000 for a free public reception Friday evening at the Sloan Convention Center. The public can meet some of drag racing heroes at the event.

“That’s what we do best in Bowling Green - we let people know that we really want them and then we show them the hospitality that we have,” Nunn said.

One of the event organizers agrees.

“We never wanted to leave Bowling Green but the traffic problems that we were having were just monumental,” said Eileen Daniels, a consultant for the National Hot Rod Association and organizer of the event.

Daniels said she got a call in October, right before an NHRA board meeting, that the traffic issues were going to be resolved.

“I said send me some pictures,” she said.

Daniels gathered the information and took it to the board that approved the return to Bowling Green.

“They are awesome,” Daniels said of the improvements. “That’s why we are back.”

Daniels’ husband, Bob, was actually the originator of the reunion event. He died a year ago this month, but Daniels said she wants to carry on his legacy. This year’s event will be a tribute to him, she said.

Traveling from her home in Leesburg, Fla., Daniels was in Bowling Green in November, March and April to make sure that everything for the event runs smoothly. She came into town this time on Friday, getting banners up and making sure things were in place when NHRA staff arrive later today.

“This is going to give June a really good start on being a good month for tourism,” Fitch said.

Nunn said he is ecstatic that Bowling Green was able to bring the event back.

— For more information about the event and schedule, go to http://museum.nhra.com.