Epic Alky Funny Cars At Memorial Day Classic – A Nostalgia Invasion Measured In The Dozens!


Epic Alky Funny Cars At Memorial Day Classic – A Nostalgia Invasion Measured In The Dozens!

Photos by Bob and Ginger Snyder with words by the Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit.

According to the promoters and racers, this year’s Quaker City Nostalgia Classic & Great Lakes Funny Car Nationals – presented by Pace Performance was a hit as it continues to grow every year.   There were thirty funny cars on the grounds for the Memorial Day Classic at Quaker City Motorsports Park in Salem, OH, twenty-eight of them ran in competition.

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For the past three years at this event, they have paired racecars up in a Midwest -VS- East format and going into the finals the East had a 12 – 11 margin… with the Midwest winning the finals – it was all tied up.
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In the blown funny car final, Ron Ooms in the “Streakers Ride” ‘69 Camaro (far lane) with a 6.57 going up against last years winner from the East Kim McKean in the “Agent Orange” Plymouth. Ooms treed McKean’s Duster with a .002 light and held on for the win.

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There were five funny cars in the injected class, but did not follow the Midwest -VS- East format. The two finalist were Frank Barnard in the “Poison Arrow” with a 7.93 against Willie Johnson (near lane)  in the “No Money No Funny” Nova who also ran a 7.93. Johnson left first as Bernard used the whole quarter-mile trying to reel him in, but came up short.

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The Good Vibration Motorsports Reaction Time Award went to Bob Daly (above)  in the “Warhorse” Mustang II for the injected class.

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In the supercharged class Ron Ooms in the “Streakers Ride” took home the Good Vibration Motorsports Reaction Time Award

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John Troxel’s “Mopar Crazy” is driven by Chris Schneider using a ‘71 Challenger body on an original Logghe chassis, that was raced by Della Woods. The alcohol funny car is powered by a 417 cubic inch Hemi hooked to a 727 Torque Flite trans.  Troxel flew in his pal Hawaiian Roland Leong to tune the Donovan Hemi making it’s best run ever in the first round of 7.61 seconds.

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Newcomer Sam Eidy and his cool “Lawman” ‘70 Mustang made it’s competition debut with veteran Michigan drag racer, “Bullet” Bob Pacitto returning to the seat of a funny car.  It’s unique, running a supercharged, Blue Oval, Boss 429 Ford from Booth-Arons Racing Engines, built by master engine builder Richard “Tiny” Mitchell.
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The rear-engined, carbureted Chevy-powered “Hi-Jinx” Corvette (above) is owned and driven by Dustin Corn out of his Dustin’s Customs in Indiana, running a respectable 8.65 and a best of 8.43 elapsed time at Quaker City Motorsports Park.  With those kind of times, you can see why it’s a regular bracket runner.  Yeah, that’s Dustin Corn sitting where the engine should be!

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The effervescent Bret Kepner was the event announcer and his knowledgable play by play commentary made the whole event more exciting for the participants and fans, with attendance up from last year. Spectators seemed to be having a great time with all the classic funny cars in the pits and on the dragstrip.

Some of the other groups racing at the event were the Ohio Outlaw AA Gassers, Nostalgic Notions, UMTR, and Southern Slingshots.  One of the racers from the event sent us this cool YouTube video, it was a lot more than funny cars!

 

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For more information of the Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit go to their website: http://www.glnfcc.com

Check the gallery of the Snyder’s photos from the Quaker City Nostalgia Classic & Great Lakes Funny Car Nationals

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6 thoughts on “Epic Alky Funny Cars At Memorial Day Classic – A Nostalgia Invasion Measured In The Dozens!

  1. Gary Smrtic

    Those pinched up, aero front, wedge shaped things are not nostalgia funny cars!
    Several of the images were of good nostalgia cars, but those other things…yuck!

  2. Bob

    What cracks me up is all the Nostalgia 69 Camaro funny cars. I don’t recall seeing any back in the day. I’m sure there were a few but there sure wasn’t very many.

  3. Lenny Thompson

    No 69 Camaros back in the day?
    Bruce Larson
    Bob Steakley
    Mike Burkhart
    Dickie Harrell
    Gary Densham
    Jerry Ruth
    Mel Perry
    Kelly Chadwick

  4. Patrick

    Agree with Gary, the 70 Stang and 69 Camaro look weird. The fully width noses without the tall sides look cool. All of them are better than anything you see at an NHRA event.

  5. Timmy N Lassie

    Isn’t this why they called them funny cars, those bodies never came down a Detroit assembly line. Funny cars are Far Out, but they look funny.

  6. doug gregory

    I like them. Great shots. ALL these cars are so much cooler than the things they pass off as funny cars today. Closest thing we have today is a ProMod or ProStock (and those are starting to get ridiculous).

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