DEARBORN, Mich. - With July now upon us, why not make attending a car show part of your vacation plans? There’s really nothing like the serenity of the Pacific Northwest, and now’s the time for you to saddle up for the big Mustang Roundup and All-Ford Picnic, held at the picturesque Bellevue (WA) College outside Seattle. This year's 38^th annual event July 19-22 is again hosted by Mustangs Northwest and includes a Ride-'n'-Drive track day, scenic Pony Trails, a Saturday night banquet, plus one of the world's largest gatherings of Mustangs at the weekend’s MCA Regional judged and People’s Choice car shows. Check out our past coverage HERE.

There’s another great show set for July 21 in case the Midwest is more in your travel range. You can catch the “41^st Annual Mustang Round-up and All-Ford Car Show” at Roberts Ford in Alton Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis that Saturday. Check out our past coverage here to see that our friends in the Southern Illinois Mustang Association know how to host a fine event.

If there’s one kind of car show you want to make sure to experience, it’s a Mustang Club of America “Nationals” event. As one of only a handful that are designated an “MCA National” show each year, these are the cream of the crop kind of Mustang shows that have made the MCA the king of Mustang clubs the world over. Coming up on July 13-15, you’ll find the “Pony Express National” MCA Show at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. The host club, Nebraska’s Capital City Ford & Mustang Club, has all the details, so check the website and saddle up your Stang!

If this coming weekend is your only time to play, then one big annual show you will want to see is the “Yellow Rose Classic Car Show,” July 7-8, hosted by the North Texas Mustang Club. Much of it is held inside the Arlington, Texas, Convention Center, so you can stay cool while checking out some fine classics on display there. The following weekend, the Mustang Car Club of New England is putting on its “34^th Annual MCCNE All Wheel Summer Round-Up” at the Solomon Pond Mall in Marlborough, Massachusetts. This club knows how to put on a great show, so you won’t want to miss it!

Speaking of Mustang clubs, we’ve got big news! Ford Performance has just launched an exciting new program called “Club Connect” that will help all Ford and Mustang enthusiasts get connected – and we’re giving away a 2019 Ford Mustang EcoBoost to help get you involved and excited too! You owe it to your Mustang or Ford vehicle club, online forum or Facebook Group to register and appear on our Ford enthusiasts map – it’s simple and it’s FREE! Just go to www.FordPerformanceClubConnect.com and click on “Register Your Club” to get on the Ford Performance Club Connect map. It takes only a few seconds. While you’re there, enter to win a brand-new 2019 Mustang EcoBoost Coupe of your choosing, delivered to the dealer of your choice! No raffle tickets to buy, lottery numbers to pick, no cost to enter, no need to be present to win – you don’t have to register a club or even be a member of an enthusiast group yourself to submit an entry.

The primary goal of our Ford Performance Club Connect program is to get everyone to register their club – for free – and get themselves on our Ford enthusiast group map so that we can all connect with each other. Once there, you’ll be able to see all of the other clubs and groups who have registered – not just Mustang clubs, but ALL Ford vehicle organizations and Facebook Groups who you may never have known about. The value in that is that whenever you plan a group activity, you can see what other clubs and groups in your area you may wish to contact for joining you at a show or event, giving you a direct link to all interested parties. And the next part of our program can be even more valuable for your club.

For those of you who have been struggling with your club websites or have given up entirely with a move to Facebook, Ford Performance Club Connect offers a club website template and hosting service that puts all the elements of club communications together on your site that we maintain for you. It’s set up so that you use your own club logo, photos, event calendar and club news space, and the template ties it to your club’s Facebook feed, and Ford’s own news feed – all appearing on the same home page at once! For a reasonable monthly fee that you can bill to a credit card or pay in advance, we host, support and update you club’s site and home page with Ford news – and you just add what club stuff you need and like when you want to. That way your members get your club news, your club’s own Facebook feed plus direct news, happenings and product info directly from Ford all in one place -- on YOUR club’s website. It makes your site a one-stop shop. All of your members and site visitors can access your club footprint, even from their phone, and get all the info they need to participate in your club life.

It takes only a few seconds to register your club, and just a click or two to have us contact you with your info about our Ford Performance Club Connect website template and hosting service. If you want to go the extra mile by hosting past newsletters or event photo galleries on your site as well, our support team can customize our template to expand its capability for a slight upcharge. No webmasters needed. And it’s all backed and supported by a real enthusiast staff managed by Ford Performance. No more club website hassles or headaches, no more FOMO on the club’s Facebook page, and more being left out of the loop with Ford and Mustang news and info. It’s kind of like your site being a living 24-7-365 club newsletter, powered by Ford!

And oh – while you’re checking out www.FordPerformanceClubConnect.com to register your club, connect with us, or just find a club or event, don’t forget to submit your entry for that 2019 Ford Mustang EcoBoost we’re giving away. (Don’t think you can win? That’s what last year’s winner said.) So what are you waiting for? Go online to www.FordPerformanceClubConnect.com right now. If you prefer to email us about it, send a note to ClubHub@Ford.com, or you could simply call our Ford Performance Info Center, toll-free during regular business hours, at 1-800-FORD-788 (800-367-3788) and ask for information about the new Ford Performance Club Connect program.

Unfortunately, we only the last half of the year to get everyone to check out our Club Connect program and enter to win our 2019 Mustang, as the contest ends on December 1, 2018. That’s where YOU come in. We not only need your help by registering your club and entering the Club Connect sweeps yourself right away, but also by telling every Ford friend you know to go and do the same. We need EVERYBODY to register and connect. Will you please help?

In the meantime, make sure you get out there and enjoy your performance Ford this summer. Find and attend a club meeting, a car show, cruise, or any driving or racing event. Join a Ford club or enthusiast group and discover the fun and all the friendly people involved in the world of Ford Performance. We’re sure that being connected with each other and with Ford will make “Driving Ford Passion” even more enjoyable!

No matter what you decide you’d like to do with your free time, the great thing about owning a performance Ford is that – unlike with buying one of those “appliances” from the other automakers – when you buy a Ford, you buy into an entire enthusiast world! That’s because Ford cars and trucks have the kind of personality and style that forges a personal connection with their owners, who in turn celebrate ownership each year at hundreds of enthusiast events all over the country.

Are you a Mustang owner or fan who thinks your club or group is too old-fashioned and doesn’t understand what you love most about Mustang ownership? Then you owe it to yourself to check out the “Millennial Mustang Registry!” The Millennial Mustang Registry is an online group “for Millennials (born between the mid-1980's and the early 2000's) who have a love for Mustangs.”

According to founder Bradley Belcher, “The car show scene is mostly dominated by older generations, and because of this, people think we Millennials don't love our Mustangs. The purpose of this club is to show how much we Millennials truly do love our Mustangs as well as try and get more people involved in the car world. If you have a Mustang that you love, please JOIN US today!” So who is Bradley Belcher? He’s a Mustang owner you’d be happy to know: Check out his story HERE.

So sign up on the website, check it out on Facebook, or send an email to millennialmustangregistry@gmail.com. They’re on our radar, and should be on yours!

Our Ford Performance Info Center has been hard at work expanding its "Certificate of Authenticity" program yet again to now include the 2015 and 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang as well as the Shelby GT350R for those years. This Ford Performance Certificate of Authenticity Package for the Shelby GT350 includes an official Ford performance Certificate of Authenticity, VIN decoder, Production Summary Chart, Poster, Tri-Fold Brochure, Certificate Sleeve, Track Tips, Window Sticker, "Disc Brake Rotor & Caliper" Business Card Holder, as well as a Cobra logo Keychain. Many GT350 owners and enthusiasts will notice that this special package contains many of the items that were included in the Owners Supplement kit that came with GT350's when they were originally sold. Please note that there is LIMITED AVAILABILITY for these items, so order now!

Word of the new GT350 package comes on the heels of the recent announcement that the Ford Performance Info Center had also expanded its “Certificate of Authenticity” offerings to now include the 2014 MCA Edition Mustang You can order either via our Ford Performance Info Center by phone (1-800-FORD-788) or online directly from our Ford Show Parts website.

Stay tuned to our “What’s Happening” section under the “Enthusiasts” tab of FordPerformance.com to catch the latest show news. We’ll also provide the best online coverage from some of the top-notch venues sponsored by various Ford enthusiast clubs with our “Quick Look” photo galleries, or via the special features posted in our Enthusiasts Newsroom. There you’ll get the inside stories on Ford people, events and places as well as unique Ford club content that you can't find anywhere else on the Web. We do it because, just like you, we’re driving Ford passion!