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Along with 17 running funny cars there was also many on display. Some were barn finds like the 1968 Sikora Brothers-built Corvette, the 1972 Cuda wheelstander that was once owned by Bob Perry who ran the Hell On Wheels Tank. Plus there was even a 1965 Dodge altered wheelbase car -- the car some say was the beginning of the funny car class.
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The first round highlights were the Damn Yankee laying down a career best pass of 7.19 at 176 mph. The Blue Thunder ;69 Camaro of Tom Mitchell laid down a first time out pass of 7.56 at 167 mph. The Good Vibrations quick reaction time award was handed out this round to the crew of The Mutiny 1969 Mach I. with a .543 r.t.
The first round was finished out with Scott Burton bringing out Bill Liniger’s 1972 Don Hardy Vega to do a burnout. This car is powered by a 392 iron Hemi and is the same as it was the day it was retired from racing somewhere back in the early 1980’s.
Second round brought even more noise and unpredictable runs. It was after dark so the late summer dew was setting in, which would prove to present a challenge to the drivers.
The breakout run in the second round was by The Detroit Thunder ‘55 T-Bird of Bill Hallet. Bill ran a 7.41 at 182 against the nitro burning, up on two wheels Satellite driven by Eric Martin.
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The last run pitted the two fastest cars from the first round. The Damn Yankee ‘77 Vega went up against the Mutiny ‘69 Mach I. Both cars did very wild, smoky burnouts. While backing up The Vega developed an oil leak and had to be shut off. The Mutiny staged, ready to take a single run. When the tree turned green the Mach one let out a big bang, shuddered and came to a stop. It was later determined that they broke the rear end pinion.
Along with the funny cars, there were four nitro burning front engine dragsters that flirted with runs near the six-second range. To round out the show, over twenty cars that represented the gassers era of the 1950’s and ‘60s also invaded the track.
Mark August 15, 2009 on your calendar as this event is already scheduled for next year and should be even bigger and better.