(Photo by Joe Grippo) – What is this Daddy Dave Day here at BangShift?! No, not exactly but what it does illustrate is that the idea of the Barnstorming match racer is not dead. In fact, it is alive and well with a host of guys from the Street Outlaws show and others outside the show like Larry Larson are making damned good bank by hitting the road and racing their fannies off at events stacked on top of each other night after night. Some of the guys stay regional and others of them are traversing the country running in front of big crowds at little strips like this one. Beaver Springs Dragway in Pennsylvania is one of the coolest tracks in America. A throwback among throwbacks the walls are a half mile from the edge of the strip, the grounds are quaint, and the tower is a little building that has stood the test of time.

Our own Joe Grippo was at the race last weekend and he sent photos from his adventure. Daddy Dave was supposed to race another car but that one could not appear so Pennsylvania hero Andy Jensen (who had a six second street car EONS before the world knew about others) was drafted into service to take on Dave with his Camaro. Yes, it was a mismatch than Jensen executed as one would expect, but the people did not care. They got the great local guy versus out of tower showdown that has fueled drag racing enthusiasm since Don Garlits went to the 1959 Bakersfield March Meet. It wasn’t just those two guys. Lots of other cars were there and they varied from small tire runners to wheel standing fat tired cars that had people freaking out every time they laced the throttle.

As we say all the time around here, drag racing is thriving in a million different ways. This is one of them.

Click the images below to expand them and see Grippo’s excellent lensmanship!