- December 13, 2025
The 52nd Daytona Turkey Run started at Bellair Plaza, grew to Seabreeze High School parking lot, and has been at the Daytona International Speedway since 1989. Photo by Brian McMillan
Over 7,000 cars were for show or sale at the 52nd annual Daytona Turkey Run. Photo by Brian McMillan
Sandy and Pete Cavaliere, with their grandson Samuel Cavaliere, all of Palm Coast. Photo by Brian McMillan
Over 7,000 cars were for show or sale at the 52nd annual Daytona Turkey Run. Photo by Brian McMillan
Terry Green, of Daytona Beach, and John Knopf, of Palm Coast, help sell raffle tickets for this truck, the proceeds of which will be donated to charities. Photo by Brian McMillan
Cathy Sarjeant with her father, Turkey Run founder Stuart Sarjeant. Photo by Brian McMillan
Daytona Turkey Run Marketing Director James Richard, of Palm Coast, with Patti Jeffries. Photo by Brian McMillan
Over 7,000 cars were for show or sale at the 52nd annual Daytona Turkey Run. Photo by Brian McMillan
Among thousands of cars and trucks on display was this wooden truck, which took 3,0000 hours to build, over nine years. Photo by Brian McMillan
Caleb Chesley, of Daytona Beach, and Ben Parsons, of Palm Coast, helped with a youth fundraiser for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Photo by Brian McMillan
About 200,000 attendees were anticipated at the 52nd annual Daytona Turkey Run. Photo by Brian McMillan
Now 80 years old, Stuart Sarjeant has a little secret.
While he is the founder of the Daytona Turkey Run event, a national hot rod phenomenon, he no longer drives a hot rod. Not even close.
“I drive an electric vehicle,” he said. “I have a Tesla and I have a Rivian. Some of my friends have given me the evil eye.”
He added, to maintain his reputation: “I still have a ’69 Camaro that fire breathes and burns tires.”
Now in its 52nd year, the Daytona Turkey Run was expected to bring 200,000 hot rod fans to the Daytona International Speedway over the Thanksgiving weekend. Sarjeant’s son was there, too — the same son who, as a boy, convinced his father to start it.
The origin story begins in 1973, when the Ormond Beach Gaslight Parade was about 14 years old. The Sarjeants admired the parade, and they wanted to participate, so they got in line, hoping to show off their 1923 Ford T-Bucket.
When the Sarjeants arrived, however, a volunteer from the Jaycees ran up to them and, “literally screaming,” as Stuart Sarjeant remembers, said, “Get that hot rod out of here! You can’t put that in here — that’s junk!”
The parade, as it turned out, was only for "classic” cars at the time. (This year, the 67th annual Gaslight Parade was run by the Volusia Region Antique Automobile Club of America, featuring vehicles from the year 2000 and older.)
The Sarjeants backed up, got out of line, and drove back to their home, on Tomoka Farms Road. Sarjeant remembers his young son, bundled up in the cold wind, crying the whole way home. When they arrived, he asked his father, “Can we have our own parade next year?”
He got his wish. The next year, 1974, they gathered 45 hot rods from car clubs for a show — the Fun Rally — the Saturday after Thanksgiving, at a Howard Johnson hotel in Ormond Beach. They had a hot dog roast that night in the parking lot.
In subsequent years, it grew to 130 vehicles, then 900. It changed its name to the Turkey Rod Run, and then just the Turkey Run, and finally moved to the Daytona International Speedway. This year, the event featured about 7,000 cars for show or sale.
‘A FAMILY REUNION’
At the Turkey Run about 10 years ago, a raffle ticket was drawn with a handwritten message on the back. As WJBJ disc jockey Jennifer Johnston remembers it being announced on the air, on the back of the ticket was a message that mentioned a woman's name and said: "Will you marry me?"
From the crowd, gathered in folding chairs on a portion of the infield of the Daytona International Speedway, the woman screamed. Her boyfriend, Pat, was sitting next to her, and she said yes, and they ended up getting married.
Johnston and her husband, Butch Johnston, of Eustis, have been going to the Turkey Run to broadcast tunes for 27 years, and they meet a lot of the same people every year, including this couple. So she recalls Pat, who is from Long Island, being asked, “Why didn’t you propose earlier?”
“He said, ‘I have been,’” Johnston recalled. “‘I’ve been writing that note on my ticket for eight years.’ And it was the eighth ticket that was pulled.”
Johnston doesn’t remember what prize Pat won with his ticket that year, but, of course, the true prize for him was his wife.
Jennifer Johnston said the Turkey Run has the feel of “a family reunion” because so many people have made it part of their Thanksgiving tradition and come every year to share their love of cars.
Some of the news from this “family reunion” is sad: Last year, Pat’s wife died, the Johnstons learned. But, he came again to the Turkey Run again anyway.
“I saw him yesterday,” Butch Johnston said.
THE LOVE OF CARS
Another family, from Palm Coast, was volunteering at a tent near the WJBJ trailer, where raffle tickets were being sold. Pete Cavaliere has been a member of the Daytona Beach Street Rods for 26 years and has come to the Turkey Run each year.
“The cars, the camaraderie,” Cavaliere said, “the love of cars draws us all together. … My father was a car guy, and I caught the bug from him.”
Cavaliere currently owns a 2022 Ford Mustang GT — the seventh Mustang he has owned. His first was a 1968 Fastback, which he bought for $2,800, right after he got out of the Army, in 1968. Today, the same car could be worth over $100,000, he said.
Pete’s wife, Sandy, admitted with a laugh that she prefers “comfortable, new cars” over old cars. But she loves the Turkey Run because she can meet people from all over the country and hear their stories. The best part, though, is knowing what the Street Rods club does for local charities through its raffles. A Flagler Palm Coast High School student received a scholarship from the club in a recent year, she said.
Joining the Cavalieres at the event, on Nov. 28, was their grandson Samuel, a Matanzas High School student. At 15 years old, he can’t drive yet, so he’s an honorary member of the club.
“It helps me connect with my grandparents,” he said.
A SPIRIT OF INCLUSIVITY
The Turkey Run has grown, in part, thanks to Sarjeant’s philosophy of inclusivity. Vendors were invited in the early days, and other clubs were invited. Today, there is a small, full-time, year-round staff, including Gregg Pellicer and Marketing Director James Richards, of Palm Coast. Richards said there are close to 250 golf carts active throughout the Turkey Run, to go along with 2,500 vendors.
Celebrity mechanic Derek Drinkwater and the social media influencer Giuseppe, of Giuseppe’s Garage, have been recent attendees.
This year, Sarjeant has been thinking about the future. Does the next generation still care about hot rods? He believes there’s more interest in tilted wheels and exterior modifications to Korean or Japanese cars, and less interest in engines and horsepower.
“It’s a totally different crowd,” he said.
Is that crowd the future of the Turkey Run?
“It has to be,” Sarjeant said enthusiastically.
He doesn’t see the next generation as one to exclude, but to include. That’s the spirit that started the Turkey Run in the first place.
