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National Hot Rod Reunion IV Bowling Green, KY June
16, 17 &18, 2006 Anticipation. It was as tangible in the air as the heat and humidity greeting visitors to the Fourth Annual NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In just a few short years this event has grown into one of the great annual weekends in drag racing that leaves everyone longing for more. Once there was skepticism that an event of this type would find sufficient support in the Eastern half of the country. That has long vanished, as the event not only attracts the stalwarts who return year after year but a substantial number of newcomers paying their first visit, either as participants or as spectators. Most find it to be everything it’s chalked up to be, and worthy of the accolades it receives. So all the anticipation of another great time comes as really no surprise. The term “Reunion” befits the social aspects of NHRR but falls short in fully describing an event of this depth and scale. To call it a “nostalgia race” is also woefully incomplete. NHRR is more of an interactive, dynamic gathering celebrating the grassroots era and enthusiast culture of hot rodding and drag racing. Of course this all evokes a lot of nostalgic sentiment among those with interests in or memories of an earlier period in the evolution of these activities. NHRA calls it an “outdoor museum” and “living history,” which better reflects the immediacy and vibrancy of these events. Call it what you will, it’s among the most entertaining “happenings” on the drag racing calendar! Jerry Baltes’ Hanna-refabricated Croshier-Baltes-Lavato fuel dragster made an encore appearance at NHRR and captured the PPG “Best Restored Dragster” showcar award. Jerry and dragster once again participated in the thrilling NHRR “Cacklefest” event as well. Thursday is setup day at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green for early bird participants and affords a preview of coming attractions. This year seemed exceptionally well organized and almost “calm” in comparison to years previous, in part because of restricted access to the premises. An exceptional number of participants were already pitted and settled in by early evening, and already additional pit-space seemed to be at a premium. Clearly it was going to be another “capacity-limited” field of racecars (500) providing the racing action during the program. We also had the opportunity to ogle a few of the first-time display cars that were setting up on “Memory Lane” and obtain some unobstructed photos of them for inclusion in the album accompanying this report. We were also pleased to note that capital improvements continue the enhance the facility as they have each year prior. This year the main beneficiary of additional investment was the track surface itself, with the “historic” but aging asphalt now replaced with a fresh concrete launchpad and racing groove out to the eighth-mile, with fresh resurfacing elsewhere.
Thursday evening is also devoted to a rod-run cruise through the city of Bowling Green by some of the early-arriving street rods that will later encamp on the track grounds for the showcar exhibition that is part of the event. Following the parade through town, these cars gather at the Convention Center parking lot for a judging by local dignitaries and a public showing for all who care to circulate for a closer look. This lasts long into the night, and is repeated the following evening during the official welcoming ceremonies at the Convention Center. While attending this function, we noted the magnificent theme-car centerpiece in the hotel lobby. It was Al Bergler’s recently completed reconstruction of his “More Aggravation” Competition Coupe from the 1960's, and what an absolutely flawless job the Michigan tinman has done in recreating this beauty!
Al Bergler’s “More Aggravation” AA/C on display in the host-hotel lobby. Come Friday, all that “anticipation” we spoke of is relieved at last as NHRR officially opens and gets into full swing. There’s a couple of hours for those arriving early to get a quick appraisal of who’s where and perhaps browse the midway vendor areas or swap meet before time trials and qualifying runs begin on track. Meanwhile the 1000+ showrods that will be on display on the grounds adjacent to the track find a place of their liking and begin to attract a steady flow of admiring viewers. The signature roofed grandstands at Beech Bend Raceway were exceptionally full on Friday afternoon. Whether this reflected an increase in attendance or just folks trying to escape the oppressive heat of the day is hard to say, but the former seems the more likely. Just an eyeball estimate of the crowd suggests a lot of folks must have taken an extra day of vacation to attend this early. A number of lengthy oildowns and cars tagging the wall (nothing real serious, fortunately) did make for some inactive spells, but there was still plenty of action to enjoy for those inclined to watch some drag racing.
While impossible to select a truly representative showrod from the 1500 on display during NHRR, this nice ‘34 Coupe is typical of the quality level. Some participants from faraway places include NHRR in their journey home from the huge Goodguys event in Indy the weekend prior. For Nitrogeezers, NHRR provides a wonderful opportunity to immerse in the “living history” that the NHRA Museum staff endeavors to present and attract to NHRR. It’s no secret that the growing popularity of the “nostalgia movement” is encouraging a lot of restoration of retired racecars and in some cases complete refabrications of them as faithfully as possible. NHRR and CHRR are the premier events for their exhibition, and many owners target their public introduction at these events. It’s hard to say which is the bigger thrill: seeing a familiar and beloved old racecar once again for the first time in many years or finding one that you never crossed paths with before but now have the chance to inspect firsthand. NHRR provides an ample mix of both.
Our reports from past events include many historic cars that now make NHRR a part of their annual appearance schedule. With no intention of slighting them, our focus will be on the cars making a debut appearance at NHRR giving us the chance to showcase their introduction. Included on this list would be the 1969 Top Fuel Dragster of Texan Floyd Head. The car is exactly as he parked it in 1971 when it became competitively outdated, and required only a bit of spit and polish to restore it to its original near-perfect condition. Another with a similar story is the “Flying Englishman” Top Fueler being shown by Floridian Don Phillips. Originally campaigned by Bill Towers, Phillips bought the car from him in the mid-60's, drove it awhile then parked it. Untouched for many years, he eventually loaned it to Don Garlits as an exhibit for his Museum of Drag Racing. Phillips is now borrowing it back periodically to show at events like NHRR. Another Top Fueler making it’s NHRR debut was Ray Godman’s repop of his “Tennessee Bo Weevil” entry driven by Preston Davis. It complements the restoration of the famous “Tennessee Bo Weevil” Modified Roadster that he completed a few years ago, and the “Tennessee Bo Weevil” Funny Car reproduction that Godman introduced last year. A fourth Top Fueler was another reproduction completed by Don Garlits specifically for use in “Cacklefests.”. It’s his 1965 “Swamp Rat VIII” dragster, the first in the long line of Swamp Rats to incorporate the “late model” 426 Chrysler hemi as the base engine. Honorable mention also has to be given to Norb Locke, who introduced a just-completed construction utilizing an original Scotty Fenn K-88 dragster chassis. With a blown small-block Chevy, Norb was attempting to replicate a “typical” car of that configuration rather than any particular racecar, but his craftsmanship on the job is outstanding, and the car simply “exudes” the classic look of a host of similar Chassis Research cars built in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.
Adding to the stable of “Tennessee
Bo-Weevil” resto’s and repro’s, Ray Godman’s We have already mentioned the flawlessly recreated “More Aggravation” Comp Coupe of Al Bergler, but it’s certainly worth mentioning again as “belle of the ball” at NHRR-IV! What a dazzler! Also getting plenty of attention this weekend was perhaps the most “historic” car of all, the 1960 “ChiZler” of Chris Karamesines that set the drag racing world on its ear that year with a controversial 204 mph pass at Alton, Illinois! Enshrined for many years at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, then moved to Don Garlits’ museum over 20 years ago, a plan was set in place earlier this year to once again get the car operational and out in public view. With the co-operation of Chris Karamesines and with bankrolling by Ron Johnson of San Diego, the car was brought to the west coast and refitted with the engine borrowed from John Loukas’ A/FC. Some other hardware also had to be replaced to once again get the ChiZler rolling under its own power, but all was accomplished in time for an NHRR “debut” and a reunion with its original driver, Chris Karamesines, for an appearance during Cacklefest!
Historic dragsters weren’t the only class of racecar represented among the first-time entries. Several notable Funny Cars also spotted on Memory Lane for the first time, including examples of an early Shirl Greer Mustang Funny and Chi-Town Hustler Dodge Charger Funny that both participated in Cacklefest as well. Regretfully, we didn’t get the particulars on the current owners of these fine examples from the match racing era. Probably the most “historically significant” Funny Car present was the fabled Jack Chrisman 1967 Kendall GT-1 Mercury Funny Car. One of the four original factory cars utilizing a tubular Logghe chassis and flip-up, one-piece fibreglass body, it was the design prototype that forever after divorced Funny Car construction from “modified stock car” to “purpose built racecar” with a hinged, one-piece fiberglass body. This restored original is owned by Jim Barillaro.
Forebearers to the Funny Cars were the A/FX racers that spawned them, and a couple of fresh examples of the genre appearing at NHRR were the injected Chevy II “Salt City Shaker” that ran out of Syracuse, NY and the “Strip Teaser” injected Mercury A/FX. The list of newbies continues to less significant cars in other classes, but this will give you a sampler of what a historic mother lode awaited those attending NHRR this year. Photos of all of these great historic cars can be found in the photo album section of this report.
On Friday evening attention shifts to the Convention Center in Bowling Green where a formal reception is held each year paying tribute to the Event Honorees, who are all chosen in recognition of their contributions to the sport. This year the NHRR Grand Marshal was Barbara Hamilton, the first woman licensed by NHRA to drive a supercharged vehicle. Other honorees included noteworthy drivers Bobby Langley and Malcolm Durham, painters Jim Farr and Bill Roell, and chassis builders Mike Spitzer and the Logghe Brothers. Special recognition awards were also conferred to a group of pioneering Top Fuel Motorcycle drivers nominated by Frank Spittle.
NHRR Grand Marshal Barb Hamilton-Advey
accepts her “Wally” award from Capping off the evening of festivities is the traditional firing and “Cacklerun” of a couple of the nitro cars attending the event, usually the latest additions to the ever-growing ranks of restored cars so capable. Sharing the honors this year were Al Bergler’s “More Aggravation” with Bergler himself occupying the drivers seat, and alongside him the historic 1960 “204-ChiZler” with Chris Karamesines reuniting with his old ride for the first time in 44 years! While Bergler’s car was a gas burner in its racing days, the reconstructed car is a nitro burner now and Al put on a great fire and thunder show for the enthusiastic crowd surrounding the car. Then it was Greek’s turn. Not completely satisfied with the tuning, Chris directed some adjustments while the run was in progress till he had it snapping sharply, and everyone present knew they were witnessing an important moment in NHRR history. It was a glorious reunion of legendary driver and historic racecar, and Karamesines was unmistakably enjoying himself immensely!
A beaming Chris Karamesines during his return to the seat of his legendary 204-mph “ChiZler” dragster for a static Cacklerun closing Friday’s Honoree Reception. Saturday saw record crowds pack into Beech Bend Raceway and the seats filled early for the last two rounds of qualifying in all the racing categories. It’s always a beehive of activity with tough choices to be made in budgeting time between the many attractions vying for attention. In preparation for the Cacklefest scheduled for the conclusion of Saturday’s program, a number of the participants came out for some practice push starts to insure the cars were ready and that driver/push-car co-ordination was all it should be. There’s always a lot of “flashback” moments during the course of the day’s racing....especially when the “Oldies” or “Geezer Gassers” take to the track as these are primarily “original” vintage racecars or perfect replicas. And then there’s the excitement of the “Open Fuel” and “Top Fuel” qualifying sessions when the elixir of nitro fills the air and the quickest cars of all thunder down the raceway in contests with the timing clocks.
Around 4 p.m. Mother Nature threw a wrench into the plan as thundershowers invaded Beech Bend Raceway. The persistent downpour washed out the final qualifying round that was getting ready to commence. Until this point NHRR had lived a charmed existence for four years, with no interference from untimely rainfall at all. The lush green surroundings were a reminder that rain is a frequent visitor to Bowling Green this time of year, and it was all but inevitable it would impact NHRR one of these years. The showers eventually quit, but track drying was an impossible proposition with the lingering humidity. An overwhelming number of fans stuck around in anticipation of the planned “Cacklefest” scheduled later in the evening, an indication of just how popular this event truly is! However, conditions were plainly unsafe to try to push-start a bunch of blower-equipped cars with wet drag slicks. An alternative plan was improvised to salvage what was possible out of the situation and still put on a Cacklefest show.
Event Honoree Bobby Langley is in
the seat of Nitrogeezer Don Ross’ reproduction of Langley’s “Scorpion 1"
dragster during the lineup of cars preceding Cacklefest. A work in progress
during the inaugural NHRR, this was the third appearance for “Scorpion 1" at
the Beech Bend track since the car’s completion. The impromptu plan called for the participants to tow out to a parallel formation straddling the center of the track as introductory information on each was provided to the audience. Once the field was in position, the final two cars, Garlits and Karamesines, would push down from the far end. As they arrived at the starting line the remaining cars were to be static started and the entire field would “cackle” in unison. Something akin to this had been tried at Bakersfield during CHRR several years prior. Called “The Ring of Fire,” the cars were in a huge circular formation in the backcourt behind the starting line. It proved difficult to view, and that would be the main problem with the NHRR alternate plan due to the number of people necessary to support starting all the cars at once. After the long wait in the wet, both the participants and the enthusiastic crowds jamming the grandstands were willing to accept the compromise, and it certainly pegged the decibel meters with nearly 40 cars operating simultaneously once it got going. It seemed like mayhem, and might not have been exactly what everyone came expecting to see, but it was most certainly a spectacle that no one present will ever forget!
During Top Fuel Eliminations
on Sunday, Sean Bellemeur set a new Beech Bend Sunday morning dawned with overcast skies and a few light sprinkles everyone hoped would wring out the clouds for good. The weather forecast was not promising, however, with a high probability of additional rain moving in later in the day. Things got dried out enough to commence eliminations on time, and a couple of rounds of eliminations were in fact completed before the forecast proved true. Around 2 p.m. the skies grew ominously dark, followed by a torrential downpour that washed away hopes of any further racing that day. While rainouts are nothing new in drag racing, this year is unprecedented with so many major meets (especially on the vintage racing calendar) being washed out. You can only hope that the law of averages prevails and the remainder of the season is an unbroken string of perfect racedays.
It is always disappointing to conclude a race without winners to congratulate, but as we wrote earlier in this report NHRR is much more than “just” a nostalgia race. We’re certain that very few people left Bowling Green rating the weekend less than worthwhile. By our scorecard it was another success that can only lead to...........anticipation!...........of yet another!
There’s been a “Cinderella” car
making its debut at each NHRR thus far, but For lots more photos from NHRR-III, but sure to visit and view the photo album we have assembled for you. All you have to do is.....CLICK HERE!
Tony Thacker, Steve Gibbs, Greg Sharp and the NHRA Museum staff, together with Event Director Bob Daniels deserve the highest praise for organizing this premier event and responding so effectively to all the unexpected circumstances that came along with this year’s running. We also extend a special thanks to Bill Groak for enabling our access to bring you this Nitrogeezers coverage.
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