Nostalgia Funny Car Nats 2

by: John Shapiro

For the second year, I was witness to the best seat in the house for the annual Nostalgia Funny Car Nationals at Marion County International Raceway, just outside Marion, Ohio in a little town of LaRue - that being, up in the tower as I partnered with track announcer Mark Coon for “color commentary” and all the Mountain Dew we could drink - and of course all the memories stuff into our brains!

CAPTION: Behind the Illinois Patrol funny car you see the track tower and look real close and that's us in the far right window, with the best seat in the house!  This years show is set for Sat. Aug 7, 2010.

One of the more unique was the Illinois Patrol which is a cops and kids program that shows kids of all ages that there are alternatives to Gangs, Drugs and Violence.

Early Saturday morning the pits were jammin’ with racers from all over the Midwest as Dennis Salzwimmer’s band of Great Lakes Funny Car Circuit floppers arrived for another ground shaking show.

CAPTION: From Boardman Ohio, was one of the most beautifully painted funny cars titled: "Blown Money" a '69 Nova, owned and driven by Shaun Mchattie, had everybody wondering would a car that good looking - run?  Yeah, how's the mid 7's sound?

Track operators Mark & Kelly Primavera couldn’t have been more accommodating and ordered up some of their “Primo” Quick 16’s,  a whole gaggle of Gassers, four front engine nostalgia Top Fuel dragsters, the “Slightly Disturbed” Wheelstanding golf cart and Jim Brewers “Peacemaker” ‘33 Willy’s Wheelstander.

Actually I’ve known Jim Brewer for many years and have witnessed his wheel standing antics many times, but I’ll have to say this was his all time best as his one of a kind fire breathing, wheelstanding extravaganza went off without a hitch and then turned around for an encore, lifting the wheels once again only this time coming back from the top end, finally dropping the front end almost into the track’s backboard and the crowd went beserko!

This year a whole new crop of flopper teams showed up with either new paint jobs or totally new cars (this Chevelle called "No Money/No Funny" hangs the laundry at Marion's extra long shut down area.

Spectators roamed the pits and were truly amazed that over 20+ floppers made the trip, reminiscent of the huge funny car shows of the 70’s which stopped here at Marion County International Raceway during it's hey days as a AHRA sanctioned track. 

The show began with a parade of funny cars out on the track for one of the best photo opportunities any fan could ask for.

For me, while I stood in the tower and looked out onto the track, I  couldn’t help wonder if they all started, like the old cacklefests, they’d have to change the name of the event to “The Day The Earth Shook!”

CAPTION:  Here's a great shot from Cruisin' Times photog Delbert Rogers as the cars lined the track so fans could get a good long look at one of the largest nostalgia funny car fields anywhere in the U.S.

By the time darkness had set in, we and the crowd knew the whole show would take on a different look as these monsters of the midway belched and scoured the track with plenty of unpredictable runs.

Including this run by the only T-Bird funny car (that I know of) called the Detroit Thunder.

The final round saw the two quickest, Chevy vs Ford as the “Damn Yankee” Vega (pictured above) and “Snake Bite” Cobra faced off against each other - as they staged the Damn Yankee tried one last dry hop, ‘causing the car to sputter and stall -  "Snakebite" (below) made a single run and won the event with a near perfect 200mph pass.

If you long for the 70’s, specifically the early to mid, then make plans to attend the 3rd annual Nostalgia Funny Car Nationals August 7, 2010 at MCIR, LaRue (Marion) Oh. visit their website for more info:  click Marion County International Raceway for more!