There are plenty of reasons to love the month of August: NFL preseason, cool drinks—and the bikini rate is higher than ever. But if you’re into cars, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise deserves the top spot on this list, and Ford is making sure that this year is no exception.

The Blue Oval will display vehicles throughout 20 years of SVT Performance, from classics like the F-150 Lightning and Ford GT to modern marvels like the Raptor and Shelby GT500.

The Woodward Dream Cruise—held every year in Ferndale, just outside of Detroit—is a bucket list event for many auto enthusiasts. Organizers this year expect more than 1.5 million visitors and 40,000 cars. Ford has fittingly dubbed their area Mustang Alley, and more than 800 vehicles will be on hand this Saturday.

If that doesn’t satisfy your appetite for octane and adrenaline then make sure to check out the Burn Out Box. This designated area will be gloriously desecrated by pro Ford racing drivers, and Formula D champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. will also be on hand.

But the star of the show is a 2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca, which will be up for auction—a truly unique Mustang that will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Michigan Chapter. Tickets are available online for just $10, or three tickets for $20. Click here to buy tickets, which you’ll really want to do once you see the list of additions on this car.

For starters, it’s a Boss 302, so you know it’s awesome. Ford has tacked on metallic gray paint with gloss black striping. A rear spoiler and 19-inch aluminum Ford Racing wheels add to the aggressive stance, and Recaro seats will keep you firmly planted inside while you’re ripping up racetracks. Speaking of racetracks, Ford is throwing in a professional instruction course at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. Does all that sound like it’s worth $10.00 to you?

Ford certainly isn’t the only automaker on hand, so whether your blood is Chevy powered or you have a Mopar tattoo, there’s something for everyone at the Woodward Dream Cruise. It’s especially fertile for fans of classic American style; a stark and welcome contrast to the Euro-heavy glitz and glamour of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance also held this weekend in (where else?) California.

Hey, we’re all about variety here at RCG, so whatever era you’re into, enjoy the fun and sun this weekend and soak up the automotive excellence during this car show season.

Frequent flyers call states like Kansas “flyover states,” but if you ever have car trouble there you’ll be happy to know that two members of the next generation of top-notch auto-repair techs live there.

The two-student team of Bryce Banks and Jedediah Redger, from Newton High School in Newton, Kansas, beat out teams from the other 49 states to triumph in the 63^rd Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition.

Gathering at the Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, the teams vied for nearly $12 million in scholarship prizes by solving digital and mechanical challenges, working with wrenches and computers against the clock.

Beginning with a shotgun start, the student competitors, all paired in two-person teams, raced to their vehicles to review a work order that challenged them to diagnose and repair a number of purposefully placed "bugs" ranging from digital to mechanical and electrical. Once the repairs were completed, it was a race to shut the hood, fire up the engine and steer the vehicle across the finish line where a scrutinizing judging team waited.

The Newton team aced the contest by repairing all the bugs and scoring highly on an exam the day before. In addition to scholarships, they won an immersive, week-long job-shadow experience with 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne and his Wood Brothers Racing team as they prepare the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion car for the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona Beach, Florida, the famous site of Bayne's spectacular win at age 20.

The Top 10 teams in the 2012 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals were:

1 Kansas: (Bryce Banks and Jedediah Redger), Newton High School, Newton KS, Instructor Cory Unruh

2 Michigan: (Evan Fischbach and Thomas Michaluk) Saline High School, Saline, MI Instructor Timothy Timoszyk

3 Illinois: (Ryan Orlando and Mark O’Hara), Willowbrook High School, Villa Park, IL Instructor Christopher Feid

4 Utah: (Jordan Kearns and Chandler Adkins), Riverton High School, Riverton, UT, Instructor Jay Hales

5 Oklahoma: (Alexander Versteeg and Connor Hixenbaugh), Eastern Oklahoma County Technology Center, Choctaw, OK, Instructor Jimmy Lafevers

6 Mississippi: (Daniel Williams and Hayden Beard), Clinton Vocational Center, Clinton, MS, Instructor Charlie Melton

7 New Mexico: (Konnor Davis and James Primmer), Career Enrichment Center, Albuquerque, NM, Instructor Mark Mulroy

8 Missouri: (Aaron Findling and Shelby Middleton), Moberly Area Technology Center, Moberly, MO, Instructor Charles Magruder

9 New Hampshire: (Ben Noonan and Devon Wade), Mascenic Automotive Career Center, New Ipswich, NH, Instructor Vincent Fittante

10 Arizona: (Eric Stover and David Mora), Centennial High School, Peoria, AZ Instructor, Stephen Maish

The Swiss are known for neutrality, but that didn’t stop the Geneva Motor Show from becoming the scene of a brawl among carmakers to see whose new models would get the most attention. We here at Real Car Guys picked our top three, but we’re not betting against any of them to score a knockout.

BMW’s new M6 Coupe and Cabriolet use the same 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 that puts out 560 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. With its seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, 0-62 mph takes just 4.2 seconds for the Coupe, with the Cab lagging a tenth of a second behind. BMW’s Active M differential, a limited-slip differential that’s coupled with Dynamic Damper Controls, adjusts the suspension on the fly for optimum handling. Braking comes courtesy of 16.1-inch carbon-ceramic rotors with six-piston calipers in front, and 15.6-inch rotors and single-piston calipers in back.

Ford’s popular Fiesta gets the ST treatment with a 1.6-liter, 177-horsepower EcoBoost engine that propels the car to a top speed of 125 mph. The suspension, which was developed by Ford's Team RS and tuned at the famous Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit, comes with three electronic stability control settings. With the Fiesta ST confirmed for introduction in Europe in 2013, ­­can a U.S. version be far behind? More...

A weird guy showed up at Daytona over the weekend and started building a boat in Lake Lloyd. When finished it would be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. That's 450 feet by 75 by 45. He said his name was Junior, Noah Jr. He said NASCAR could load the Daytona 500 starting field in tandem pairs, much like his dad did in Genesis 6:15. They will remain aboard until the rain stops and the floodwaters recede.

Seriously, the rain finally stopped and the field took the green at 7:00PM, making this the first Daytona 500 to run in prime time.

Kenseth Win, Big Day for Valvoline NextGen and Roush Fenway Racing

There was something for everyone in this iteration of “The Great American Race.” No one could predict how bizarre it would be. More on that in a bit. The Valvoline NextGen Roush Fenway Fords were bad-fast all week. In the end, it was Cambridge Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth who added another Harley Earle trophy to his collection of race hardware. Two other Roush Fenway drivers running NextGen finished in the top 10—Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards.

The bizarreness began right from the start. There was a massive crash on Lap 2 that took out Jimmie Johnson and the “Honey Badger” Danica Patrick. The only bright spot for the media darling was grabbing the pole in the Nationwide race. Other than that, she was an innocent victim of somebody else’s dumb maneuver.

The always-strong Hendrick cars, save one, did not fare well. Jeff Gordon kaboomed an engine and Kasey Kahne got smooshed in one of the big car wrecks. Dale Jr. was the last man standing at the end of the race, pushing Kenseth just hard enough to hook him up with Greg Biffle in the other Roush rocket. More...

Powerless in St. Pete? The IndyCar series is showing signs of growth not seen in decades. Insiders think there may be more than 30 entries for the season opener in St. Petersburg. That’s great news in my book—and an alternative to NASCAR mania. If you haven’t noticed, the stock car series is headed downhill, showing weaknesses in team sponsorship, TV ratings and track attendance. The problem at IndyCar is the very real prospect that there may not be enough of the new turbo engines to go around. While the established teams have no worries, it’s the new guys who may be holding the short end of the stick.

This is baffling given the fact that there are three engine manufacturers. Small teams have offered engine suppliers every penny they have (and their first-born male child), yet have heard nothing but the droning hum of the phone line going dead. Hopefully, IndyCar brass will light some fires under the recalcitrant engine manufacturers—or have to add a big “soap box derby” style hill to the St. Pete road course, and add a “Coaster” class for the engineless entrants.

Ford Unveils the 2013 Racecar Ford scooped all the other Sprint Cup manufacturers when they unveiled the 2013 Fusion racecar during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour. The new design departs from NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow “kit car” that basically required all manufacturers to run identical bodies. The only difference comes from manufacturer specific decals on the noses and tails of the COT. The 2013 Fusion racecars now have real bodywork. They look a lot more like their street-going brethren. More...