Nostalgia Top Fuel Gearing Up for Summer Swing

Drag racers aren’t known for their patience. Of their many virtues the ability to sit idle for long periods of time isn’t one of them. Hence, with the extended hiatus between the first big nostalgia race of the season, the March Meet in Bakersfield, and the second stop on the Heritage points trail, the Pepsi Nightfire Nationals in Boise, many of the front engine dragster contingent get a little antsy to go racing.

With the exception of a few booked-in match races, notably at Denver, Las Vegas, and Sacramento, the west coast AA/Fuel Dragsters have been impatiently biding their time waiting for the summer months to get back into action. Those who traditionally made the trek to Bowling Green, Kentucky during this time for the National Hot Rod Reunion in June were forced to forego the cross country trip and event this year due to the increased travel expenses. However, in early May Bakersfield winner Rick White in the Neal & White car broke the silence by showing that he had lost none of his winning ways in romping through a four car match race at the Strip in Las Vegas. A month later Iowa’s Roger Lechtenburg shook off the rust by driving Dale & Kat Suhr’s Orange Crate to a strong victory over Northern Californian Jim Murphy at Bandimere Speedway’s season opener in Denver. This was followed by Brendan Murry claimed the honors at a Chicago-style event in Sacramento. A few teams added some testing to their schedule, like Mike Fuller and Mendy Fry who spent three days at Bakersfield in July. These outings kept some of the teams from growing moss, but not all.

Infineon Raceway in Sonoma will now get things rolling with some nostalgia action when Terry Cox and the Cheetah crew head there for a few test laps before the NHRA Divisional race on July 21st. The following weekend Sonoma hosts their annual NHRA National event and the nostalgia theme will continue. Geno Gastellum and John Pecora have assembled another large gathering of nostalgia cars for their 2nd Annual Nostalgia Get-Together. Current racers Jim Murphy, Terry Cox, Mike Fuller, and Brendan Murry will have their cars on display under the big top, and they will be joined by the old front engine cars of the Shrank Brothers, the late Jim Herbert, and many more. On Monday following the event Fuller and Murry will join a host of big show cars who will stay over for a day of testing on the track.

The month of August marks the return to semi-regular action as the top fuel teams again take center stage in the NHRA Heritage series. The New Crew in Boise will present the 40th edition of their fabled Pepsi Nightfire Nationals at Firebird Raceway on August 11-14. This event always brings out a strong contingent of the front engine dragsters, and being the second race in the Heritage series it is bound to provide some extra incentive for the teams to make the trek to Idaho.

Two weeks after Boise, and just a short drive down the road to Utah, Ron Kraft has scheduled an 8 car open AA/Fuel Dragster show as part of his Nitro Madness extravaganza at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City. This one-day only (Saturday, Aug 27th) Chicago-style event is already generating a lot of attention. Teams who have indicated early intentions to attend are local hero Brett Harris in the Nitro Thunder, Howard Haight in Mr. Boston, Jim Murphy, Fuller & Fry, Neal & White, The Cheetah IV, and Richardson & Dunlap.

Following the Salt Lake City race the action continues as the summer swing makes it’s was back to California. On September 16-17 Sacramento Raceway will host the third race of the Heritage series for the top fuel cars. The Friday and Saturday schedule follows manager Dave Smith’s formula to entice the capitol city fans out to see night time nitro racing.

So after a few months of inactivity the fan of Nostalgia Top Fuel can rejoice. The teams are reassembling their engines, airing up the slicks, restocking their trailers, and hitting the road. For many of us it seemed this day would never arrive. Thank goodness we can now get back to the sweet smell of nitro in the morning.