What better way to kick your week off than with the voices of Dave McClelland and Steve Evans announcing some excellent drag racing action for you? Let’s go back to 1983, the year that the Ford Mustang had shocked many with the return of the 302, the year that Sterling Marlin took the Rookie of the Year in NASCAR, the year that Ivan “Ironman” Stewart started racing for Toyota, and the year that yours truly arrived. So, if you remember watching this, either live, on television or in a Diamond P video…well, sorry, but you’re old. But look at the bright side…you had a hell of a race to watch! What’s your poison…was it watching Gary Beck ride a tidal wave of absolutely unreal passes with Joe Amato nipping hard at his heels? Was it seeing the fastest Pro Stock final in history up to that point? Pick your names…Lee Shephard, Shirley Muldowney, Gene Snow, Don Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein and more.

The action is wicked, the crowds are huge, and sadly, this was the end for Orange County International Raceway…shortly after this race, OCIR wound up being turned into a slab of parking lots in the middle of Irvine next to Interstate 5 that you would be hard-pressed to find without GPS coordinates at the ready. Sad to think that this is a place where John Lombardo drove around Frank Hawley with his rear tires completely on fire at half-track. This is the good stuff, so tune in and enjoy!