Supercharged class winner Chris Massarella lights up the hides in the Total Insanity Monza
The Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit held its 10th Annual Funny Car Nationals on July 15th. For the first time in history, the event was held at Keystone Raceway Park near Pittsburgh. This year’s race was sponsored by Good Vibrations Motorsports and saw 30 alcohol burning nostalgia funny cars come through the gates. Funny Cars from all across the country showed for this event that keeps growing every year. Racing “Chicago Style” and paired into teams (East Coast — everyone East of Pittsburgh) and Midwest/West — everyone West of Pittsburgh), each car made two passes with the quickest two in each category/team facing off in the finals.
This year’s event was also designated as the 12th annual Draglist.com Nationals, a friendly reunion of almost 20 of the most loyal followers/contributors to this site.
As for the racing, the show put on by the GLNFCC crew was incredible. For the most part, it was side by side with no oildowns, breakage or delays — a great accomplishment for 30 cars. In the supercharged class, Chris Massarella’s Total Insanity Monza ran like a bracket car. Chris ran 6.99 and 7.00 to qualify for the final as the quickest car from the East. Steve Tymoszyk’s Parts Peddler Cuda ran two 7.10s to qualify as the quickest car from the Midwest. In the final, Massarella grabbed a holeshot and hung on for an amazing 7.14 to 7.14 win over Tymosyk!
Injected class winner Willie Johnson’s No Money, No Funny
Willie Johnson in the No Money, No Funny Nova defended his injected class crown with a win over Frank Barnard’s Poison Arrow for the second straight year. Barnard qualified for the final with great 7.96 and 7.97 runs. Johnson got there with a clutch 7.95 that made up for an off pace 8.94 in the first round. Unfortunately, a broken starter ended Frank’s day on the starting line and Willie soloed for the win.,
Here are some photo highlights by David Oakes.
Blair Smith’s gorgeous Boston Challenger made the tow from Massachusetts
As usual, Rocky Ausec wowed the crowd with long burnouts in the Solid Rock Mustang
Classy Carts’ Darryl Arnold’s newest creation drew lots of attention in the pits
The one of a kind Buick Somerset of John Cerchio
James Maher Jr. made the long trek from California in the Junior Vibes Tempo
Paul Zona has recreated the legendary Boston Strangler and original pilot Arnie Karp was part of the crew
Runner up Steve Tymoszyk was also bracket car like, running 7.10, 7.10 and 7.14
George Reidnauer fights the wheel in the ultra-low Excalibur Corvette
The California based Happy Hour Corvette
Jerry Martino’s locally based pro-mod lights the candles on this test pass
