It’s been a busy year for BangShift. We’ve been bouncing around the country covering shows, attending races, moving in Chad’s case, and we still have a ways to go. We get a quick breather after SEMA, and then we lay right into next year as if it’s already happened. So when I got the chance to take in the NDRL Fall Classic, I jumped simply because it meant that after work, I could go to my office, get stuff done, and sleep in my own bed at night. Selfish reason, yes. But turns out that it was one of the better calls I’ve made this year. Not only was I close to home, but the cars were good…damn good. On one hand you had the NDRL racers making lots of loud, violent noises with the likes of rails like “Sleigh Ride” and the “Tennessee Bo-Weevil”. Then you had some of the Nostalgia Muscle Car racers from the NMCA on hand battling it out. Catching up with the now eight-time NMC Champion Andy Warren and one of his fiercest competitors in the class, Brenda Blair, and seeing Warren’s 1971 Caprice line up against Blair’s 1977 Caprice is always a treat. (It also seems to happen every time those two are on a racetrack anywhere in the country, I swear.)

Then you had the other side of the fence: the Straight-Axle Mafia. They came out to put on a show, because frankly that’s the only way they know how to operate. The staging lanes were from turn-in to starting line filled with all sorts of beasts, from old Ford trucks to oddballs like a Renault Dauphine and a monster Nash, all barking sounds of violence and promising entertainment. Next to those was a Modified Production class, filled with beasts that echoed a weird mix of 1970s Pro Stock and 1970s big-ticket street racers.

What wasn’t to love?

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