(Words by Bob Chiluk, Photos by Bob Chiluk and Greg Rourke) “So while Greg Rourke and I were covering an event earlier this summer the cats from Meltdown Drags suggested we check out an event that they had coming up. We rode out to Byron Dragway, 2 hours outside of Chicago, and found out what they were up to. It turns out, they were some regular dudes, with some killer rides, that really had no event to run their stuff at. They all had truely awesome old school vintage drag cars , gassers and rails, built and shown to run the way they were back in the in the early days of drag strips. Back when they were popping up all over the country, rather than closing up left and right like today.
So what do you do if you find yourself in this kind of situation? That’s easy, get a couple of your friends together and start your own event!. In their fourth year of putting on the Meltdown Drags it has exploded with the original car count of about 30 to this weekends close to 400 participants. If you were looking to run for a cheesy trophy, race for eliminations, or run for cash you were politely asked to stay home! If you wanted to hang out with some cool people that run what ya brung, 60’s style racing, this is the show for you.
As they say:
“Meltdown Style’ drag racing is all about…. FUN, reliving the past, bragging rights, but not prize money.
The racing is NOT taken seriously, it is fun only, and there is NO eliminations, NO class winners. YOU race others within your class for great pics, and MOST OF ALL FUN!”
Perfect weather brought participants from all over the country. A Friday night cruise, Saturday and Sunday racing, as well as a swap area and show cars, made it an event filled weekend. Charlton, George, and Tom are our new pals that flew in all the way from Hawaii just to attend this event! The rest of you have no excuse for next year. We gotta thank Eric, Paul, AJ, Tom, Steve and Smokey as well as the rest of their crew that worked all year to put on such a killer event. Do not miss this one!
Chad Note: This even looks super bitchin, and apparently the dudes at Meltdown would love to see this one live on BangShift.com. What do you think? Wanna see it live?
link to pics ?
Hey that’s my pedal car me and my grandpa made
I left the comment above
The local police agreed to look the other way as race cars drove from the track to the drive in with slicks and open headers, IF everyone behaved themselves. Mike Bilina knew his motor was wounded, but told us later he fully intended to ruin it for everyone. Now that would have been a photo op.
Great time there as a spectator . to far to haul my Anglia from fla. But I was there. You have to be there to really enjoy the atmosphere. Lots of great pic and videos floating around.
And YES CHAD I would be nice to see u there broadcasting. Im hooked for next yr.
PLEASE BROADCAST LIVE……alot of people from across the coutntry that can not attend would love to see this!
This is the #1 Vintage Drag Meet in the country…and the guys who put it on do it for FREE! Becasue they love it!
They are great guys known them my whole life…this event more than deserves live coverage….
HELL YES!!!!
LIVE BROADCAST!!!!! That would be so awesome to see across the country. I’m for sure voting to bring it on! What could possibly be better than that??? This is an event you don’t want to miss running or spectator.
The MDA is an awesome group….these guys deserve this…they do it all for the right reasons! Help them out guys….
You cannot explain in words what the event is like just go and see yourself. The effort and attention to detail put in makes this the highlight of the year for my family, I dont have the funds to race right now but I would NOT miss this for the world and would love my buddies in california to watch this next year DO IT LIVE PLEASE!
This event–and the guys that make it happen–should absolutely be broadcast live. Make it happen PLEASE!
Yes! Live coverage would be awesome.
You guys won’t regret streaming this live. There are other events that are nostalgia events, but this is true VINTAGE drag racing at it’s best.
This event is as close to the old days as it gets. The guys that put this on do it for the love of it no ego trips or BS here. It deserves live coverage. True vintage racing and great fun.
Live feed please! A great group of people and a great event! Live feed yes.
Yes to the live feed this event is the best vintage event in the world and is only getting better every year
YES TO LIVE FEED!
Yes to live feed!!!! Let the world see how to do a vintage drag race event the right way!! You won’t regret it !!
please feed it live. in my opinion, if any event deserves it…this is the one.
i almost missed it this year due to work…luckily i made it. i’m sure there are a lot of people that may not be able to attend, but would love to see real drag racing 60’s style…hell, i’d probably watch it on a black & white tv.