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2007 Nostalgia Nationals at Carolina Dragway
By Bill Pratt
The 2007 Nostalgia Nationals kicked off at Carolina Dragway in Jackson, SC, on October 12 and 13. Friday night included test runs, followed by a day of racing on Saturday. Celebrating Carolina Dragway’s 50 years of service, the Nostalgia Nationals featured nostalgia nitro top fuelers and funny cars, alcohol funny cars, a Nostalgia Comp field, an Old Timer’s race, and a car show featuring dozens of immaculate machines. Drag racing legends Phil Bonner, Hubert Platt, and Bunky Bobo were in attendance to meet the fans, sign autographs, and enjoy the festivities. Phil and Bunky also had their famous cars on display.
Following early morning test runs and a well received parade of all race and show cars down the eighth mile, the event kicked off with a tribute to strip founder Junior Steed, who was named Grand Marshal of the event. During the ceremony, the staging lanes were christened as the Junior Steed Staging Lanes.
First round of action kicked off with the nostalgia fuel funny cars. Dusty Hunt in the boss Ford powered “Taz” Shelby GT faced off against Joe Haas in Justin Grant’s Stardust Cuda. Hunt grabbed an upset win with a 4.22 at 170.69 to handle the famous Cuda’s 4.54 at 131.05.
Up next was Troy Martin in his flawless Chi-Town Hustler Mustang II taking on Kyle Wurtzel in the Nitro Pony ’66 Mustang. After a burnout truly worthy of the Chi-Town name, Martin also laid down a terrific 4.173 at 174.68 to defeat Kyle’s game 4.38 at 180.57.
It then was time for Top Fuel, with the Ernie McClain and the Mill Road Boys Chevy taking on the Time Bandit out of Garrettsville, Ohio. Billing themselves as a “Beer drinking team with a drag racing problem,” the Time Bandit guys haven’t changed a bit since high school. I should know because I was in high school with them! The McClains continued a great year with another solid run, their 4.164 at 190.38 holding off Jeff Miller’s 4.632 at 131.15.
The McClains are having a great year. They reset their personal
best at 6.168, 226.99 at Columbus in September and they've run consistent 6.20s everywhere else. The team is now using Alan
Johnson aluminum heads, the first time they have run without iron
heads. As they went 6.22 at 224 with the iron heads, there is a lot
more left with the trick pieces. The guys are trying to get sponsor
dollars to attend the 50th March Meet in 2008. It would be great to see
them there.
Julius Hughes III then brought out the Atlanta Speed Shop Zot V dragster, the hemi sounding much different than the blown Chevys of the Mill Road and Time Bandit boys. Julius and team continued to shake out the beautiful car with an on and off the throttle 4.985 at 124.42.
Up next were the BB/FC cars of Bill
Brown and Red Coleman. Bill lost reverse in the Snowman Vega, but his
crew gamely pushed him back to the starting line after the burnout.
Hey, this is nostalgia racing, right? Shottz Osley, who bent seven rods
in his own ex-Dangerous Don Monza on Friday night, filled in as the
driver for Red on Saturday. Osley's Monza thrilled the crowd on Friday,
but learned a lesson in nitro subtlety. His 85 percent load sent header
flames way over the roof and burned the lettering off the passenger
side (allowing Dangerous Don’s Tasmanian Devil logo a chance to peek
out from the new paint). The resulting engine damage couldn’t be fixed,
so the young driver hopped in Red’s venerable Super Cuda. After a great
burnout, Osley took the win over Brown, 5.05, 144.91 to a troubled
6.206 at 82.09.
Finishing the round were two interesting machines, a nostalgia ’69 Honda Civic and a Jet Powered pickup. Danny Porter absolutely blew everyone’s minds with the tiny Honda. For those too young to remember, the first Honda cars to hit this shore were much different than the full size machines of today. The short wheelbase car was nearly as tall as it was long, but it was stuffed with a massive, blown big block Chevy! After an ear tickling burnout, Porter laid down an impressive 4.838 at 148.51 with the little machine. He came back and nailed a 4.741 at 152.28, too!
South Carolina fuel car veteran Ernie Wrenn was up next with his latest creation, a jet powered pickup truck. Many jet cars being built these days are high tech marvels. This wasn’t one of them. The machine was literally a REAL small Chevy pickup with all the extras stripped out of it. The thing even had a working hood latch! Ernie put on a good fire show, but he is still working out thrust issues. An 11.005, 81.02 formed a baseline for future tuning and hopefully better runs.
Round two began with Troy Martin facing Dusty Hunt’s KC-based Shelby Mustang. Both of these cars are potential car show winners. Martin again laid down an amazing burnout, followed by another impressive performance with a 4.185, 172.11 win over Hunt’s 4.631 at 119.79.
The Nitro Pony then faced the Stardust Cuda of Justin Grant. Troy Martin had been the class of the field with 4-teens but nobody was ready for what occurred next. Both cars went quicker than Troy had, but Kyle Wurtzel surprised everyone with a great 4.005 at 179.25 to hold off Joe Haas and an otherwise Low ET run of 4.165 at 183.09.
Ernie McClain and Jeff Miller were up next. The Mill Road Boys were going for two straight as they jumped off the line and took off to an early lead. Ernie then got out of shape and put the yellow Chevy up on two wheels! The veteran backed off and got back on it. In the other lane, Miller also had issues as he had to pedal the car several times. He got back on the throttle in just enough time to hold off the favored McClain, 5.594, 99.38 to 5.867, 80.19. Wow.
Julius Hughes then came out pumping HUGE header flames out of the Atlanta Speed Shop hemi. Julius again had to get in and out of the car several times during the run, but actually ran quicker than either Chevy in this round with a 5.272 at 106.88. When this car gets sorted out, it will fly.
Shottz Osley came back in Red Coleman’s orange Super Cuda to face Bill Brown’s Gene Snow replica Vega. Osley was favored based on the first round, but he went into a huge wheelstand. The young driver rode it out and recorded a good 5.247 at 144.85 mph. It wasn’t good enough, however, as Brown recorded one of his best passes ever – a smooth 5.044 at 128.62 took the win and evened the cars at a win a piece.
Closing out the show were two exhibition runs. Kirk Odell brought his “World’s Wildest Woodie” 40 Ford wheelstander up from Cocoa, Florida. The car actually runs a 500 inch Keith Black hemi that once sat in the frame rails of Kenny Bernstein’s Budweiser King top fuel dragster. Odell's great looking machine popped up the wheels several times during the run, but is going to take a little more chassis setup and practice to get ‘em up for the full length of the track. Kirk left before the lights turned green, so recorded no time for his effort.
The car that won everybody's hearts again made an exhibition pass. Anderson, SC's Danny Porter brought out the orange Civic and again lowered his best time to a great 4.696 at 153.02 mph. Definitely got a place on the Drag Lists for this car!
I had a great time visiting with Marvin Noel and his friend Al Tennis. As part of the promotion, Marvin got a hold of hundreds of hot wheel cars. They gave away a ton of them at the track, but had plenty left. Marvin and Al gave some away to every child we encountered after the race, much to their delight. Marvin and I were talking about Eddyville 2008. He has a ton of experience in the sport and has connections all over the place. With my schedule, Marvin might just be the white knight we need behind the scenes to set stuff up for Eddyville (assuming we go with the nostalgia race idea Eddyville and I talked about this year). More to come as I know it...
I also enjoyed visiting with the grand gentleman of Southern Drag Racing announcers, Mr. Dent Johnson. I met Mr. Johnson at the very first Classic Thunder race Bob Gettys and I put on in Ware Shoals, SC, back in 2002. Dent remembered me and the fun we had announcing together that night. He knows everyone and everyone knows and loves Dent. About a dozen folks young and old came up to the tower to say hello to him while I was up there. Dent has been announcing in the Southeast since 1957. He asked to be placed on our weekly mailing list. Maybe we can get him to join us the Draglist message board...
It was good seeing so many old friends. Justin Grant, Bill Brown, Red Coleman, Mac Pressley (who brought the Hartsoe Bros. Anglia Gasser), the McClain Brothers, and Hubert Platt, whom I've met at several nostalgia events and shows and who doesn't realize he's a legend! He is the greatest guy. I had the most fun reconnecting with several old high school classmates of mine -- the Time Bandit guys from my old home town of Garrettsville, Ohio. They all still live right there in town and enjoy traveling around with their nostalgia fueler. They were all a year or two ahead of me in school. My buddies and I always looked up to those guys as the tough guys in school... It was great catching up and trading stories of "where are they now" with the guys. Jim Orbon, Jeff Miller, Woody Bennett, and Kevin Pratt: great to see you guys again! Let's not make it so long the next time...
Bill Pratt
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