AutoFair roars into Speedway with Broncos, lawn mowers, Ferraris, crazy food and Jeff Gordon

The Fall AutoFair at Charlotte Motor Speedway is much more than rows of classic cars and the latest innovations – although there are plenty of both. The AutoFair boasts one-of-a-kind vehicles, extreme sports, crazy concessions and NASCAR tie-ins.

This year, the AutoFair celebrates 50 years of the Ford Bronco with a display featuring a freshly restored classic Bronco, the 1966 updated Screamin’ Demon, and the Bill Stroppe Baja Edition.

To commemorate his final full season of Sprint Cup racing, Jeff Gordon’s iconic T-Rex and Rainbow Warrior, which made a recent return to the track, will be on exhibit alongside memorabilia, and his personal and racing vehicles.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame will also exhibit cars driven by Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt. Hall of Famers Junior Johnson and Leonard Wood will sign autographs from 10 to 11 a.m. and from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Other attractions include the Globe of Death stunt motorcyclists, lawn mower and Terracross UTV off-road races on Saturday, a Ferrari exhibit and a futuristic vehicle dubbed the ETV – Extra Terrestrial Vehicle – built by Mike Vetter at Florida’s custom Car Factory.

The ETV is a small family sports car created to hold two adults and shorter children. It’s not only ‘space age’ in look, but offers James Bond-style amenities like a suspension system that raises and lowers based on terrain, two video monitors to alleviate blind spots, porthole windows that open and close plus covers that shield the wheels from view.

Not to be outdone by the outrageous four-wheel attractions, each year the AutoFair kitchen tries to outdo itself with over-the-top culinary creations like chocolate-covered bacon and candied bacon lollipops. This year, it’s sweet potato casserole funnel cake topped with marshmallow cream and pecans soaked in vanilla, maple syrup and brown sugar. At 1,098 calories, you might want to share one.

Aside from the unusual and unexpected, the AutoFair boasts 50 car club displays, more than 7,000 vendors, a children’s play zone and 1,500 collectible cars available for sale in the car corral.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 1:02 PM with the headline "AutoFair roars into Speedway with Broncos, lawn mowers, Ferraris, crazy food and Jeff Gordon."