Free Bird Run comes to Newcastle

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
One couple’s love for Newcastle and Pontiac Trans Ams will bring the Free Bird Run to town June 12-15. 
Sallie Wentworth and her husband, Steve, along with 15 other Trans Am enthusiasts, will be staying at the Newcastle Lodge and Convention Center, hosting a car show on Main Street on Monday and exploring the Black Hills as part of their 2020 event. The couple reached out to the News Letter Journal to invite the community to check out the Trans Ams on Main Street or to join them for any leg of the tour. The Trans Am was made by Pontiac between 1969 and 2002.
“My husband and I visited Newcastle for the first time in 2005 and fell in love with this wonderful city,” Wentworth said. “We impulsively bought a summer home up here that year and are always thrilled to share Newcastle with family and friends. We wish the whole world could be as charming and friendly as Newcastle, so it is a thrill for us to be able to share this wonderful community with our Trans Am family!” 
As part of the journey, the group of Trans Am owners from across the country will spend a week traveling through South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. Officially beginning in Newcastle on June 13, the run will bring cars from Nevada, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado and Nebraska, according to Wentworth. 
“We love to drive our cars and have excursions planned throughout the Black Hills for our time in Newcastle,” Wentworth said. “We all enjoy a multitude of cars and meeting folks, so we’re open to anyone and everyone joining us.” 
Arriving Saturday evening, the group hopes to see the community come out to enjoy the Free Bird Run’s love for the Trans Am while sharing their own cars. 
After the June 15 car show on Main Street, the group will depart for Colorado for the rest of their adventure. 
According to Wentworth, this is the first ever, Free Bird Run, organized to replace The Bandit Run which was cancelled due to COVID-19. 
“Unfortunately, some folks had already put in for vacation during the week The Bandit Run had been scheduled to happen. Several of us diehards decided to do our own little mini run and after all the closures in each of our home states it feels good to be free again to travel, thus the name Free Bird Run,” Wentworth said. 
The Bandit Run, Wentworth said, is a reenactment off the journey portrayed in the 1977 film, “Smokey and the Bandit,” hence the name. The first reenactment took place in 2007 and has since become an annual event, until this year. 
“The reenactment was the brainchild of David Hershey and Dave Hall who wanted to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the classic film,” Wentworth said.