The 5th Annual Drivers Festival

If you love going to the track, racing, hitting the mountains for a drive, or just consider yourself a driver – or even wanted to do more driving. — Drivers Festival was built for you.

This October, Pontoon Brewing in Sandy Springs transforms into a full-blown celebration of everything for those with a passion for driving for the 5th Annual Drivers Festival, and it’s shaping up to be the biggest one yet.

Not Your Average Car Show

Most car shows are static — cars parked on a lawn, owners standing beside them, hoping for a trophy. Drivers Festival is different. It’s built by drivers, for drivers, with a lineup skewed toward track cars, race cars, drift builds, and exotics — the machines built to be driven hard, not just polished. This is no typical car meet.

The Showcase

Beyond the open car show, Drivers Festival runs an invite-only Showcase — a curated “main stage” area reserved for the best track, race, and high-performance cars at the event, plus the people who race and build them. It’s less a display and more a chance to talk shop directly with racers and field experts about their specific series, and for shops that cater to racers to set up alongside their cars. Showcase cars can also earn driver and event entry credits and free swag for being selected.

It’s not a typical show-and-shine — expect trailered race cars, some with blown motors that still made the trip because that’s part of the culture. If you don’t have a race car, you’re not left out; the regular car show has an open/unlimited class specifically for everything else, from JDM builds to muscle cars to whatever you’ve got.

Sponsors and Track Organizations You’ll See

Drivers Festival’s sponsor lineup reads like a who’s-who of the Atlanta and Southeast track-day scene, and several of them are the actual organizations that put cars on track all year long:

• Just Track It — a Southeast HPDE organization founded in March 2013 with the goal of creating the high-performance driving experience its founders always wanted, modeling itself on the best parts of established car clubs while cutting the membership friction. It has since run over 164 events across 13 years with a 99.9% safety record.
• Jzilla Track Days — a community-focused track day organizer running regular HPDE events at Atlanta Motorsports Park, welcoming everyone from novices to advanced drivers, all makes and models.
• Lucky Dog Racing League – one of the most accessible endurance racing organiaations – come meet with teams who run LDRL about how to make the step up from HPDEs and time trials to true wheel to wheel racing without the complicated rule books and licensing.
• Atlanta Region SCCA – come talk to the local SCCA region about autocross, track days, time trials, wheel to wheel racing and much more.
• BMW CCA – from HPDE to club racing, the BMW CCA has on track activities for nearly any kind of BMW owner
• AMP (Atlanta Motorsports Park) — the Dawsonville-based road course that hosts much of the region’s HPDE and club racing scene, plus it’s own member and guest racing and trackcross events.
• Traction Insurance, Raceday, Podium Wheels, and others round out the sponsor list with gear, services, and products built for people who actually drive their cars hard.

Plus, come meet with Arrive and Drive teams, pro and semi-pro teams and drivers. Learn and ask about car setup. Come share your knowledge with others.

What You Can Learn About: The Different Flavors of Driving

Part of what makes Drivers Festival unique is that it treats “driving” as a whole spectrum, not just one discipline. Based on its own Showcase categories, expect to find drivers and experts representing:

• HPDE / Track Days — the on-ramp discipline for most enthusiasts: structured lapping sessions on a road course, often with an instructor, no wheel-to-wheel competition.
• Time Trial / Time Attack — solo runs against the clock, where the goal is the fastest single lap rather than beating another car directly.
• Amateur Wheel-to-Wheel Racing (endurance, sprint, etc.) — grassroots club racing where drivers compete directly against each other on track.
• Professional Wheel-to-Wheel Racing — the same wheel-to-wheel format, at the pro level.
• Autocross — low-speed, high-precision runs through a cone course, usually in a parking lot, testing car control more than outright speed.
• Rallycross — mixed-surface racing (pavement, dirt, gravel) on a short course, often wheel-to-wheel.
• Off-Road / Baja — off-road-specific racing and driving, built for trucks and prepped off-road vehicles.
• Drift, drag racing, and exotics — rounding out the car show side, for those more interested in style, straight-line speed, or sheer horsepower than lap times.

Whether you’re a total beginner wondering what an HPDE even is, or you’re deciding whether to move from track days into wheel-to-wheel racing, this is a rare chance to ask the people actually doing it.

A Brief History of Drivers Festival

Drivers Festival started as a project of ShiftAtlanta, built around a simple idea: instead of a traditional car show, gala or golf outing, why not throw an event that actually appeals to drivers, and let it raise money for a good cause along the way? The event partnered with the Atlanta Children’s Shelter, a Midtown Atlanta nonprofit, making the charity car show format the backbone of the festival from day one.

The first Drivers Festival & Charity Car Show launched in 2022, and it found its home almost immediately at Pontoon Brewing in Sandy Springs, where it’s been held every year since. By its second year (2023), the event had already grown into a full day of racing culture — endurance racers, drifters, drag racers, exotics, high-performance cars, and off-roaders all sharing the same lot, alongside live music, food trucks, and kid-friendly activities, all in support of the Atlanta Children’s Shelter.

Each year since, the event has grown its car count, its sponsor roster, and its fundraising totals — while keeping the same core idea: a car show for people who actually drive, not just polish, their cars. Now heading into its 5th year, Drivers Festival has built a reputation as one of the few events in the Southeast where track day organizations, race series regulars, and casual car enthusiasts all show up to the same parking lot.

Want to get an idea of what you missed last year? Check out our 2025 Drivers Festival recap.

The Details

Schedule: Display car load-in at 10am, VIP reception at 10:30am for pre-registered showcase/car show entries, festival runs 11am–3pm, awards at 2:30pm.

Registration: $25 to show your car (parking in the display area included), $10 suggested donation for spectators — all proceeds go to the Atlanta Children’s Shelter.

📍 Pontoon Brewing, 8601 Dunwoody Place, Building 500, Suite 500, Sandy Springs, GA 30350
📅 Saturday, October 24th, 2026 | 11am–3pm
🎟️ Get tickets and registration details at driversfestival.com