True Period Correct AA/GS at the NHRR in Bowling Green

June 21, 2011 Posted By Bill Pratt

What a absolute GREAT weekend for the True Nostalgia AA/GS cars..! The NHRR was billing this as museum pieces on wheels..! and from the fan reaction in our pit area and the stands, seeing the Supercharged gassers from the 60’s was the highlight for many of them! I’d like to thank the following people who made this show possible, first a BIG thank you to Steve Gibbs for giving us the opportunity to show the fans what the AA/GS cars of the 1960’s are all about!, to Skip Cloverdale and his lovely wife for their help in organizing this event AND for going out and putting on a GREAT show!, to Jeff Cryan for being there from the start of this adventure…Jeff and I appeared at this event five years ago to lay the ground work for this class. Jeff’s dedication to the history of the gassers and his passion to see these cars continue to be showcased is second to none… To Dave Cobb for his perseverance and never say die attitude, congrats to Dave on his 6.13 pass, this car is a run away from the fives.

On to the race report, Freddy Bear driving the K.S. Pittman tribute car did a fantastic job qualifying number one, then setting low ET each run. In the final round, Freddy had two tenths on Jeff Cryan and Jeff took a shot on the tree. Jeff redlighted away a 6.13 to Freddy’s 5.87..! Regardless of who won this event, the victory belonged to all the AA/GS teams that are trying to bring back these cars to the limelight..! Freddy winning was very special to me and the entire S&S race team, as this was Fred’s first National event win. A true accomplishment to a great guy and a friend to all of us! The following pics are all from Paul “Hutch” Hutchinson… thanks Hutch for being there and recording this great weekend!

It don’t get any better than this! Seeing Fred in the winners circle was really special. When we built the K.S. car, it was to keep K.S.’s memory alive, to see Fred drive the car into the winners circle at a National event was simply mind bogging!

This was qualifying, but it was a preview to the final round as well! Jeff and Jerry had the Ron Bizio truck humming!

Two shots of the final round participants! this looked like 1968 all over again!

This is a special photo to me, thats me in the background with my arms crossed, watching my two best friends, Bill Ellershaw and Fred Bear taking care of business. I was as nervous as a expecting father! lol I was actually glad, I had the chance to be on the line to see Fred and Jeff run the final…way to cooooooool..!

The Boss Hydro racing the Finders Keeper of Dave Cobb…Dave gets the Iron Man award for all he did to get to this event, after thrashing to change his Torqueflite transmission over to a Powerglide (in two days!). Dave had the misfortune of having his truck break down on the way, with help from his good friend Dee, who rescued him on the road, Dave made it to the track just in time to qualify..! For all his efforts, Dave laid down his best pass to date, a 6.13! Congrats to Dave!

My Hero! Skip had some license issues and was not able to run past 6.40. Skip showed tremendous class and went out put the crowd on its ear with great burnouts and his pattened wheels up launches! Skip is the definition of what a AA/GS car is all about!