2015 will be my first time to the event. Flying in from Mobile Al. Whats the easiest way to do it ? Fly to Charlotte and rent a car then drive to Winston? Should I try to fly closer? Also going to try to stay close to the event for the weekend.

No flights close to me that will fly into Winston-Salem, so close with a connection flight looks as best I can do.

Any travel tips/suggestions would be nice. Thanks, Joe

You might want to consider hitching a ride. Plenty of Alabama rod builders drive to the show each year.
In respect to flights ... Charlotte (CLT) or Raleigh-Durham (RDU) and rent a car to drive just under 100 miles OR fly into Greensboro (GSO) Tri-Cities airport and catch a cab (30 minutes).
Another possibility would be jumping Amtrak from Hattiesburg, MS. There isn't a really simple way to get there from Mobile.

Didn't think about amtrak, thanks. Hattiesburg is about 60 miles from me.

GSO, Triad International Airport is the 3 cities airport and includes Winston Salem. It's about 15 miles from downtown Winston Salem. Generally it costs a little more than either Charlotte or Raleigh/Durham, but those are both 1 hour away by car.

Amtrak serves High Point, but nothing direct to Winston Salem. The train comes in here and then they run a shuttle over to Winston Salem. It's an early morning arrival (3AM) if I recall correctly.

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Great. Thanks for the tips. Looks like flying into GSO is the best option so far.