Since the weather is pretty crummy in Maple Grove this weekend and it ain’t exactly the Sahara here at the Ohio Mile, either I decided to dig up some cool old drag video. Leaping back in time 30 years, we have the 1986 NHRA Keystone Nationals held at the venerable Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA. This race has been a staple on the NHRA tour since 1984 and while the weather is unpredictable, the fact that the place can be as fast as lightning keeps the hardcore Pennsylvania fans packing the place in. Hell, last year we did not run a car for like three days at the event and then Sunday rolled around and the fans were all over the place.
This was a great race back in 1986. The names on the winner’s list are legend but one really sticks out. Bunny Burkett was the winner in the top alcohol funny car category and she beat a tough Pennsylvania runner in the form of Peter “Poverty Stricken” Gallen. Even the pro stock winner was a guy who’s name may not be jumping off the page at you but who had a measurable effect on the sport as a whole as being the first guy to ever lose a round of pro stock to a female driver and then going on to opening Virginia Motorsports Park, a track that has been on the NHRA and IHRA tours.
There wasn’t rain on this particular weekend in 1986 but there were names like LaHaie, Garlits, Ormsby, Oswald, Bernstein, Allen, and lots more. These races from back in the 1980s are always fun to watch because it was the time I was really starting to love the sport and these drivers were basically 10ft tall and bulletproof to the kid on the other side of the TV screen.
