"Live" from NHRA Hot Rod Reunion!

[Larry Hill]

Well we just made our first run and surprise, surprise--they ran it on a pro tree. I don't think it was supposed to be that way. Anyway--Air was about 2200'. I took a few more pics I will post in a bit.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

Nobody is "BASHING" thes guys. The cars just dont have the old nostalgia look anymore. It has gotten away from the original intent of the classes over the years kind of like todays stock elim. . The younger people (Except Mike Carr....LOL) dont know the difference but us older guys like myself and Mark Y. who lived thru the era do. They are still neat to watch but some restraint on the hoods, scoops, wheels and other small items would go a long way in making a better show to let the younger (those that really care) group see what drag racing was like back in the 60's.

It was all about money, just like everything else in drag racing.

I was involved with one of the earliest nostalgia shows, the Musclecar Nationals back in the late 1980s. My partners and I were adamant about presenting history instead of wanna-be cars. For instance, Bill Blair's Pontiacs had super duty engines and not a dart big block. We even caught a lot of grief for not knowingly booking any clone (or "tribute" as they're called today) cars. If we were featuring Bonner's Falcon, it was the same car he drove.

We got some bad ink when Popular Hot Rodding sent a guy to participate in our Sacramento show. The car he brought was a pieced-together bracket car which didn't fit any of our classes. He insisted that we let him race anyway, telling us "you don't know what you're getting into". Later we found who had sent him and as you can imagine the coverage wasn't the best.

We were a couple guys on a shoestring and when we got a call from Comp Cams about backing us we were pretty excited. However, when we met in Atlanta we found that their view of the sport wasn't the same as ours. We were told that they didn't sell vintage parts and that the focus would be on older cars with new technology.

When we hesitated, we were informed that one of the MAJOR magazines had promised the cover and feature for the new series and club, even though it didn't exist. We didn't make the deal and the rest is history.

So, I guess you can say the market decided which way nostalgia racing would go. Though we suffered through a number of rainouts the real problem was not being able to draw the spectators. When a large company that could spend ten times our advertising budget (plus get free magazine coverage) decided to play the game they got to make all the rules.

Sorry for the hijack. Now I'm going back to enjoy the Hill's excellent coverage.

[nssracer]

DragnWagn is heading down there tonight!

[Chad Mahlosky]

Dad and I attend every year, and you're right, it's a party that has some racing going on. Top stock is what I always run, just a hard dial for the entire race. We will see you guys tomorrow.

[Andrew Hill]

Wish we were going, but dad has carpal tunnel surgery tomorrow in his right hand, so we won't be out for a few weeks.

[Larry Hill]

Well after rain on the way here and for a while this afternoon, it turned into a beautiful evening. The grounds at the Augusta golf course have nothing on the grounds here. Everything is all mowed and very nice. Our pits look better than our lawn at home! I guess we will see all you guys when you get here. Andrew, tell Greg we wish him well with his surgery. We have tech tomorrow, then 2 runs on Thurs, 1 run on Friday and 1st round of eliminations on Friday. Then finish up on Saturday. We have already met some very nice people here. We will get some pics tomorrow.

[denbreeden]

Larry, I'll be there in the morning. Look forward to seeing you and Patsy. We left Joliet around noon, dropped the car off at Cope's and made it home around 7:30. too much to catch up on here so we are headed out at 6am. See you tomorrow.

Dennis Breeden