Third Annual National Hot Rod Reunion
Bowling Green, KY
June 17,18 & 19, 2005
by Vic Cooke
Move over, Kentucky Derby. There’s another racing event that
is becoming just as much a tradition, attracting thousands of racegoers to the
Bluegrass State each Spring. A lot more “horses” are involved too, only these
thoroughbreds chow down gas, alky and nitro rather than oats. We refer, of
course, to the NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion that recently completed its third
sensational running at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, KY. With new records
in attendance, race car entries, show car participation and track performance,
NHRR is certainly proving to have to have the “legs.”
A success right out of the gate two years ago, the growth of this event by leaps
and bounds is nothing less than astonishing. Those making late plans to attend
found every hotel room for 35 miles around already booked. The stream of racecar
trailers moving along I-65 toward Bowling Green
throughout the day and evening hours on Thursday hinted that a huge gathering
was in the works. Somehow it all got shoehorned in, but Beech Bend Raceway was
near capacity for what would be an outstanding weekend of show and go activity.
Beech Bend Raceway Park, Bowling Green, KY:
home of the NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion.
Arriving at the track on Thursday afternoon, we immediately noticed some capital
investments had been made in the facility. The adjacent amusement park that is
part of the Beech Bend complex was in the midst of an expansion, and the
grandstands at the racetrack were sporting new metal roofs. (Similar to the
design of the paddocks at some horse-racing tracks, these Kentucky-funk,
canopied stands have always been a “signature” feature of Beech Bend). New
continuous concrete barriers, about a foot taller than their predecessors, also
lined the dragstrip from burnout box to the last turnoff....a safety update that
encroaches only minimally on the visibility of the racing action since much of
the track is “sunken” beneath the surrounding grade.
The circle-track area at the head of the dragstrip that serves as manufacturer
midway and “Memory Lane” display area for historic racecars was already half
full of tantalizing racing machinery, several of which drew our attention as
first-time exhibits. Already the pits were swollen with racing entries and again
it was a mix of immediately recognized, returning cars and numerous first-time
entries that seemed to stand out because of their unfamiliarity. Along the
“Cackler Row” midway, behind the right-lane stands, many of the historic nitro
cars were already on exhibit or setting up shop. Among them was the
restoration of the Creitz & Donovan Top Fuel Dragster once driven by Steve
Carbone. Fresh out of Tom Hanna’s shop in Wichita, the car was making its public
debut at NHRR and what a stunner! Hanna, Creitz and Carbone were still bolting
the final pieces on as we arrived, and soon after we enjoyed our enjoyed the
first nitro warmup of the event as Carbone climbed aboard and fired it up long
enough for a few final adjustments. Further up the row, we spotted Larry
Anderson and the Vagabond top fuel dragster, towing all the way from California
to participate in NHRR for the first time. This car, once driven by Gary Ormsby,
is a many-time California Hot Rod Reunion participant and one of the several
operational Top Fuelers involved in the genesis of
what we now call “Cacklefest.”
With final engine assembly on the Creitz & Donovan dragster completed
on the spot, Steve Carbone
warms it up briefly for a systems checkout and a few adjustments.
Another treat lied in store when we arrived at the host hotel in Bowling Green,
the Holiday Inn at the University Plaza Convention Center. Set up as a lobby
display at the entrance was the now-completed Croshier-Baltes-Lavato fuel
dragster restoration. Glistening like jewelry beneath chandelier lighting, this
stunning piece of automotive art would feature the next evening in the
traditional firing and cacklerun outside the hotel as part of the official
reception ceremonies. The car was seen at last year’s event as a primered “work
in progress,” but has since completed a Cinderella-like metamorphosis into the
realm of object d’art.
The flawlessly finished Croshier-Baltes-Lavato
restoration at the Convention Center.
In contrast the last year’s oppressively hot and humid conditions, the Bowling
Green area enjoyed just about ideal weather all weekend long. It was obvious on
opening day on Friday at NHRR was on its way to shattering attendance
andparticipation records. At least twice as many fans were evident in the stands
throughout the day and reports had the registration of entries in the companion
show-‘n-shine up by fifty percent to nearly 1500. Congestion in the pits
resembled one of NHRA’s Championship Series events, and Steve Gibbs likened the
chore of finding space for the late arrivals to “trying to fit ten pounds....in
a five pound sack.” In all, it was rather mind-staggering to comprehendso much
earlier-era race equipment still in competition and
congregating at this grand celebration of all they represent! Some entry stats
tell the story by category:
Eliminator Category Entries
-------------------------- ---------
Top Fuel 9
Open Fuel 14
Junior Fuel (A) 6
Junior Fuel (B) 6
Oldies (Flatties, 6's) 9
Geezer Gasser 20
Nostalgia Comp 56
Nostalgia Gas 47
Super Stock 44
Quick 64 133
Add in over a dozen “Exhibition Only” Funny Cars and Gas/FX cars and well over
100 “display only” racecars and thepicture of a scene out of history ought to
come into focus. At times it was almost necessary to pinch yourself as a reality
check, the sense of being caught up in a “time
warp” was so strong!
Fans enjoying the racing action on Friday from the comfort of covered
stands
As usual, Friday was the most “relaxed” day of the event, which is merely a
comparative term as the activity is continuous. It’s just that the general
atmosphere is celebrational and absolutely tension-free. Racers are settling in
and making their initial runs while visitors tour the grounds, visit the swap
meet, car show and displays, meet some of drag racing’s legendary personalities,
enjoy a little racing action and renew acquaintances.
A tour of “Memory Lane” and “Cackler Row” turned up a number of interesting cars
making a first appearance at NHRR. Many are included in the photo album section
of our report, but we’ll note a few in particular that caught our attention.
Bunky Bobo’s restoration of the “Hemi Hurricane” Willys was a real standout, so
much so that it took the “Best of the Best” Award for historic vehicles on
display. Also Peter Broadribb brought his beautifully restored ‘55
Chevy Gasser all the way from its present home in Arizona (it’s the Gene Moody
car that dominated at the U.S. Nationals for several year’s thru the mid-‘60s).
Jim Lytle was displaying a replica of his awesome “Big Al” Allison-powered
fliptop Ford Coupe that he once toured out of Washington state. Ron Johnson was
another long-distance participant, towing his reproduction of the Shubert-Herbert
Chevy-powered AA/FD all the way from San Diego to exhibit and participate in
Cacklefest. Don Garlits brought a replica of Swamp Rat 1-B, the car that clocked
an unofficial 200 mph several years before Big Daddy set the official record
above the two-century mark in SR-VI Several early Top Fuel Bikes were also on
display, including the notorious “Freight Train” twin-Harley that added to its
history by becoming the first fuel bike ever to make a Cacklefest appearance at
one of the NHRA
reunions. These are to name but a few.
As he does at CHRR, Larry Anderson provided a few
fortunate fans with warm-up “cacklerides” in
the Vagabond TF dragster each day during NHRR
Those concentrating on the racetrack action were rewarded with hundreds of
excellent passes and the added treat of a first round fuel car qualifying
session not held at previous events. In the Top Fuel ranks, four West Coast
entries had made the long trek east to Bowling Green , all being heavy-hitters
in the western “Goodguys” Championship Series. Included were Jack Harris driving
the “Nitro Thunder” car, last year’s NHRR champ Sean Bellemeur in the
“Plaza Hotel & Casino” entry, Mendy Fry in the “Mastercam” team car and
privateer Brendan Murry. Other entries included Dan Rusk driving the Patrick &
Ferry car out of Arizona, David Pace in Al Schramm’s Tulsa-based dragster, Roger
Lechtenberg driving the always-strong Suhr & Lechtenberg “Orange Crate,” and the
midwestern AA/FD’s of James Day and Mark Worden. “Sheriff” Jack Harris made
itclear that his was the car to beat when he ran an off-the-trailer 6.03/245.94
on the somewhat slick Beech Bend track for his opening qualifying salvo. Runing
straight and true while others fought the track, Harris’run was a real jaw
dropper!
Friday evening at the event is dedicated to festivities at
the host hotel, including a formal reception and awards
ceremony for the Event Grand Marshall and Event Honorees.
NHRA “Wally” trophies for “Lifetime Achievement” were
presented this year to Grand Marshall Joe Schubeck, as well
as Event Honorees Ronnie Sox, Hubert Platt, Arlen Vanke, Sy
Sidebotham, SEMA Chairman Corky Coker, and two “teams;” the
“Dead End Kids” from New York (“Spider” Razon, “Red “ Lang,
Joe Anahory) and the Virginia “S & S Racing Team”
Gasser-class racing group (Malcolm Durham, “Pork” Zartman,
Gene Altizer, Dave Hales, Fred Bear, K.S. Pittman (absent)
and Charlie Hill (deceased)). Many interesting and humorous
anecdotes surfaced during the acceptance speeches by these
dignitaries, which in the interest of brevity will not be
repeated here. It was the usual entertaining gathering,
followed by the traditional “light off” of a Top Fuel
“Cacklecar” outside the hotel concluding the affair. As
mentioned earlier, the just-completed
Croshier-Baltes-Lavato Top Fueler had the honors of
featuring for this traditional firing. With it's early
"weedsweeper" style headers, the car quickly dispersed some
of the unwary who had crowded in too closely, while
proceding to envelop the area with the sensory delights
unique to a warming blown-nitro engine. Needless to say,
it’s an exciting spectacle as the closing highlight of the
evening.
Saturday seems to always be the peak day in both attendance
and activity, and this year was no exception. The pace is
decidedly more intense. By early afternoon, the stands and
fencelines on both sides of the strip were jam-packed with
folks taking in the qualifying runs, while a seemingly
equal number of people were circulating the show and
display areas. It’s crowded. There’s excitement in the air!
The afternoon fuel qualifying sessions always draw
particular attention, although little changed as the result
of runs this Saturday afternoon. Bob Beedy Jr. Stepped up
to a 6.86 in his injected fueler to lead the Open Fuel
class at the conclusion of the second session. No one came
close to challenging Jack Harris’ supremacy in the Top Fuel
category, although David Pace stepped up to a 6.30 to
position himself as #2 at session’s end. By the late
afternoon break, well over 500 pairs had been clocked
through the Beech Bend quarter mile that day. Phew!
“Sheriff” Jack Harris stunned the NHRR fans and
demoralized the competition with track record
passes of 6.03/245.94 and 5.913/243.28 during qualifying at NHRR.
Sprinkled through the event were numerous “exhibition”
match races that proved wildly popular with the crowd.
Included were match-ups involving Ken Kull in the “Red
Baron II” AA/GS vs. Steve Tomoszic in the “Prock & Howell” fliptop Gasser, and Rocky Pirrone in his “Boss Hydro”
tribute A/GS taking on the reknowned Bizio ‘33 Willys.
Then there was Cory Lee driving the “Pandemonium” Barracuda
FC tangling with the Mallicoat Brothers Barracuda
AA/Gasser. Jess Tyree was running his Pontiac matchracer
and Dana Freeman rallied the Chevy fans with his injected
'62 Nova outlaw FX. Passes by the fabled “Winged Express”
AA/FA are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser every time, and Mousie
Marcellus and Mike Boyd were on hand to with W-E to once
again mesmerize all watching with a couple of wild runs.
But it was the huge burnouts and gutsy runs by the nitro
Funny Cars in attendance that particularly brought the
house down, and if it’s any indication, such enthusiasm
might spark a “revival” in this direction among some
Eastern teams considering it. “Rolling Stoned” (Joe
Jacono), “Black Magic” (Lou Sgro) and the “Maniac” ‘Cuda
“stole the show” on virtually every appearance.
The Funny Car match races at NHRR were
tremendous crowd pleasers with long, smoky burnouts like
this and some great side-by-side racing. Deja vu!!!
Saturday’s “finale” involves the twilight running of the
last round of fuel class qualifying and then the concluding
Cacklefest. Some major performance improvements were
recorded by several of the Top Fuel cars on the cooler
evening track. Mendy Fry in the “Mastercam” car improved to
a 6.09 to secure the #2 starting position, while Brendan
Murry laid down a 6.40 to move up to the #5 slot. Defending
champ Sean Bellemeur had been traction plagued throughout
the event and was DNQ coming into the last session. He
managed to produce an early shut-off 6.58 to make the
program as #6 qualifier on his last attempt. Jack Harris
saved the best for last, and on a laser-straight full pass
stopped the clocks with a stellar 5.913/243.28, setting
both ends of the track record by a goodly margin. “And the
place went crazy!”
Cacklefest was conducted in a slightly different manner
this year, patterned after a successful tryout of the new
format at last year’s California Hot Rod Reunion.
Participating cars were first paraded individually
downtrack (unfired) allowing time for an informative
description of the history of each one over the P.A.
system. (In the past, attempts to do this during the fired
phase of Cacklefest were thwarted by the noise and lack of
adequate time). The cars turned around downtrack and made their fired return to the traditional Cacklefest
parallel-parked lineup. Car order was arranged so that
there was essentially two “sections” starting with the
bodied cars that were participating and concluding with the
fuel dragsters. (Several cars participated in the parade
but not the fired return). There were a few little hitches
with cars running out of fuel or encountering operating
difficulties, but in general it all went smoothly and madefor an excellent show. As the last car clicked off
(Garlits), the stands emptied and the crowd swarmed the
track to savor the closing moments of a truly exciting
raceday.
Event Honoree Sy Sidebotham tends to the King and
Marshall Top Fueler after it pulls into line
during Cacklefest
Sunday draws only a Friday-sized crowd to watch the final
eliminations. Although the majority of racers will say the
main reason for coming to NHRR is just to socialize, run
the car and have some fun, as eliminations proceed things
grow tangibly more serious than at any other point in the
event. What racer can resist the lure of a potential
victory as it comes ever closer to being within grasp?
There was lots of outstanding racing this race day, but our
primary attention at Nitrogeezers is on the fuel classes. A
brief summary:
TOP FUEL -- Winner: Sean Bellemeur, 6.429, 225.03 (def.
Brendan Murry, 9.295, 74.87).In Round One, Mendy Fry ran a 6.425, but automatically
advanced on a foul start by James Day. Sean Bellemeur was
also beneficiary of a too-early start by David Pace, but
ran a 6.284. In the closest race of the session, Brendan
Murry took out Roger Lechtenberg, 6.493/6.587. Jack Harris
easily disposed of Mark Worden, 6.023/7.013.
In the semi-final, Mendy Fry went up in smoke right off the line, handing the win to Sean Bellemeur who ran a 6.284. It
was a huge upset as Jack Harris lost traction around the
330' marker, allowing Brendan Murry to drive around and
snag the win.
In the final round, Brendan Murry had a very slight lead on
Sean Bellemeur off the line, but drifted out of the groove
toward the centerline and had his hands full regaining
control. Bellemeur was on a straight pass, but clicked a
little early with a hurt engine. The win gave Bellemeur
back-to-back NHRR Top Fuel titles.
Bellemeur (far lane) and Murry leave the starting
line on their final round encounter for the NHRR
Top Fuel title.
OPEN FUEL -- Winner: Jim Swedberg, 6.830, 204.57 ( def.
Dom Paris, broke).
Defending champ Martin Schmidt had qualified #1 with a 6.85
and stepped up with a 6.76 in Round One to easily defeat
Steve Telinski’s 7.508. Bob Beedy qualified a tick behind
Schmidt, but had a very close race in a holeshot win over
Matt Borvo, 7.19/7.16 in Round One. Dominic Paris in the
twin-engined Paris Bros. dragster defeated Mark Vaught,
7.106/7.213. Jim Swedberg handed a 6.981/7.186 defeat to Linc
Hassell.
In the semi-final, Paris continued his winning ways with a
7.453 being sufficient to oust a troubled Schmidt running
only 6.764. Swedberg’s 7.036 was enough to handle Beedy’s
7.221.
Paris broke on the line before staging, allowing Swedberg
to solo for the win.
Steve Swedberg soloed for the win in Open Fuel
after Dom Paris (background) broke on the line and
couldn’t make the run
A - JUNIOR FUEL -- Winner: Scott Parks, 7.104, 185.97 (def.
Stu Sandhaus, 7.182, 182.95
Parks and Sandhaus had qualified #1 and #2 respectively and
were clearly the two strongest cars throughout the event.
Both successfully defeated early-round opponents with
consistent runs near their qualifying times. The expected
final round confrontation materialized, with both drivers
turning in their best performances of the day. The win gave
Scott Parks back-to-back Junior Fuel wins at NHRR.
Scott Parks (near lane) was the repeat champ in
Junior Fuel-A after defeating Stu Sandhaus in
this final-round race
B - JUNIOR FUEL -- Winner: Bob Crouse, 7.826, 165.46 (def.
Larry Hunter, 8.161, 165.46).
Other Eliminators:
Oldies -- Winner: Mitch Rish, Dragster, 10.904, 123.29
(def. Allan Burns, Dragster, 8.067, 159.02).
Geezer Gassers -- Winner: Ron Doran, Willys Coupe, 9.949,
117.81 (def. Ron Malmsten, Willys P/U, 10.805, 111.67).
Nostalgia Comp -- Winner: Christopher Buck, Dragster,
8.628, 149.51 (def. Don Wellman, Dragster, 9.528, 91.09).
Nostalgia Gas -- Winner: Rob Davis, Chevy Nova, 8.616,
156.26 (def. Bill Bush, Rambler American, foul).
Classic Super Stock -- Winner: Dennis Kohr, Dodge, 12.025,
111.39 (def. Dave Duell, Plymouth, 10.161, 115.69).
Quick 64 -- Winner: Terry Lindsey, Chevy Camaro, 9.305,
138.47 (def. Eddie Hockman, Dodge Demon, 9.709, 134.34).
“Unsung Hero” of the event has to be Allan Burns driving the “Slider”
blown-flathead dragster in
the Oldies Eliminator. Burns qualified #1 with a 7.898/165.46, then rewrote the
all-time flathead record
books with a 7.697/172.48 on a bye-run during eliminations.
This is one AWESOME flattie!
Sam Jackson, Steve Gibbs, Greg Sharp and the NHRA Museum
staff, together with Event Director Bob Daniels did a
wonderful job in organizing this event and executing the
program so smoothly. Each year’s running has somehow
surpassed it’s predecessors, and this dedication to
continuous improvement deserves commendation. There’s no
question that NHRR is the premier summer event in the
Eastern U.S. for nostalgia racers and fans alike. The
fourth annual NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion will be
returning to Beech Bend Raceway on Father’s Day weekend in
2006. Take a tip from this year’s experience: book early,
come early, and just be there. You won’t be disappointed.
(Insert Photo 13 here)
So long, NHRR. We'll be back and that's a
promise!
We extend Nitrogeezer’s thanks to Bill Groak for enabling
us to provide this trackside coverage of the event.
We’ve assembled a photo album offering more of the sights
and action at NHRR-2005 for your viewing enjoyment. To view
it,
CLICK HERE.
