"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.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by 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.

The MAIN THING is are you having fun ? Thanks for the great pictures.

[Larry Hill]

Yeah! We're having fun!

This one's for Ed!

[Larry Hill]

Doug Duell's other car!






Ken Vaughn and his grandson with Fred Gilham's Corvette


Donnie Wilson

[Larry Hill]

[Larry Hill]

[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.

[tj310]

Larry + Patsy thank you for the great coverage as usual.!! Dan Bennett was that first race at Beech Bend in concert with the GS nationals?..Thanx Trevor P.S. is the Bourne Fiat there ?

[Ed Fernandez]

Thank you Larry.I figured at least one would be there.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by tj310

Larry + Patsy thank you for the great coverage as usual.!! Dan Bennett was that first race at Beech Bend in concert with the GS nationals?..Thanx Trevor P.S. is the Bourne Fiat there ?

Yes, I think it was. I didn't get involved until a year later.

Originally. the Musclecar Nationals were promoted by Jerry Kelley. Latham Hill, and Richard Lasseter (GS club). Richard left and the name changed to Fastlane Promotions. Latham stepped away a bit later.