Nitro Revisited

It’s odd how seemingly random things will trigger memories from our youth. For some, it’s a song or a familiar face lost in the crowd. For me, it’s nitro. One whiff of nitro fumes and I’m 9 years old, splintered legs stuck to the sunburned wooden bleachers, gnawing on a weenie that’s been boiling for about 8 months, and watching a candy-coated, fire-breathing velocity merchant setting a record in a snarling front-engined beast on the 1,320 feet of shimmering asphalt known as Famoso Dragstrip.

The Fuel Altereds were always my favorite. As they crept up to the beams, anticipating that pre-stage light, I was always glued to the chainlink, crying nitro tears, nose full of fire, drooling mustard—just breathing it in. Some things never change. Back then, the names didn’t really matter to me. Yeah, I heard all the famous ones, but my eyes were locked onto the machines. It was always about the machines and that feeling I got way down deep in my guts when they roared out of the hole for that six seconds of smoking blur. Growing up in Bakersfield, I never realized how lucky I was to live so close to one of California’s premier historic dragstrips. After making the two-plus hour trek from Rod & Custom world headquarters, though, I began to reminisce about the glory days of my youth that were spent watching these men of iron riding their wild chariots into history, a quarter-mile at a time.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the NHRA, and who better to serve as co–grand marshals than Wally and Barbara Parks, the ones who started it all. Among the rumblers in the pits were such luminaries as Art Chrisman in Hustler 1 (the car that won the first March Meet), restorer Steve Davis in the legendary Greer Black & Prudhomme rail, Dave West in Pat Foster’s re-creation of the Beebe and Mulligan dragster, ’72 Winternationals winner Carl Olson in the Kuhl & Olson dragster, Mike Boyd in the re-creation of Wild Willie’s Winged Express, Ted Thomas in the Jade Grenade, and a big spicy bowl of Bean Bandits. While we’re name-dropping, we also saw Ed Iskenderian, Tom Medley, Gene Winfield, and Eric Rickman bopping about—and there’s no way we’re going to leave out Cacklefest. Take all of the names listed above, add about a dozen more vintage fuel cars, park them idling on the strip, and…. Well, you get the idea.

We love how history repeats itself. The glory days are now—because the Top Fuel front-engined nostalgia diggers still show up at Famoso Raceway making those noisy, smoky 6-second passes, and I still drool mustard. But the California Hot Rod Reunion is so much more than just a drag race—it’s a car show, a swap meet, an automotive circus-sideshow freak’s wet dream—and that’s a good thing. Take a peek at the great variety of mills on display at this little (great) outdoor automotive extravaganza and you’ll see—it’s all about power.

If you’re into straight-line racing, be sure and keep your calendar open for this one, as it’s not to be missed. The 11th NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion is slated for October 4-6, 2002. Make plans to be there—or else.