(Words and photos by Joe Grippo) – Well, I was just given a brand new 2016 Onion desk calendar for Christmas so that must mean it is time to look back at the previous year’s shenanigans. 2015 was another fantastic whirlwind of drag racing, car shows, swap meets and road trips. Here some moments that stood out for me.

We kicked off the year with our annual mid-winter excursion to New York to hang out with the Rolling Bones crew during their Garage Night. Great guys building great cars.

In February my wife and I took a road trip to Ohio for some antique shopping and, of course,  I had to find something with an engine and tires to ogle, luckily we stumbled onto the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickering, Ohio. Displays of Killer dirt bikes, road racers, Bonneville racers and more. Two favorites were Leo Payne’s Turnip Eater Harley drag bike and this sweet chopper.

One of my favorite haunts is the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pa. and back in  March they put together a great Lotus exhibit which we hard to check out.

Our first major Drag Race of 2015 is always one of the highlights of my schedule every year, the FE Race and Reunion at Beaver Springs Dragway. Here is co-promoter Jody Aberts hanging the hoops in his Troublmaker II Fairlane and some other FE powered greatness.

In May I had the opportunity to shoot a pair of Pro Street Vegas owned by a couple of friends, David Haney and Paul Ziemba. Maple Grove Raceway let us in on a Thursday afternoon and gave us the run of the place. David’s split bumper Vega is a fresh build and won a ton of awards on the show circuit in 2015 and Paul’s red machine is a former Super Gasser turned show car that get driven everywhere.

A week later I was back at the Grove for some Division 1 NHRA Divisional Sportsman action, another killer bumper dragging weekend from the Stock and Super Stock folks.

Heading into summer of 2015 found us at another of our favorite spots, Carlisle, Pa for the All-Ford Nationals. Check out the tasty Falcon and unique tubbed out Torino.

Another new car that hit the Pennsylvania streets in 2015 was this amazing ’67 Fairlane Pro Streeter owned and built by Larry and Vicki Rahmer. I got to do a shoot of this all aluminum FE powered beauty at Maple Grove Raceway after the Fun Ford event.

The things I do for Bangshift….In July the Super Chevy Show came to town so I donned my fake mullet wig, a Jenkins Competition shirt and got a temporary tattoo of a number 3 with angel wings and snuck under the fence for some photos. This shot sums up the weekend.

All kidding aside it was a great weekend of racing and car show action, True Street was off the hook. Here is my buddy Burrell boiling the baloneys in his Monza.

2015 also saw the return of one of my all-time favorite drag cars, Joe Heffernan’s chopped top Opel GT. The former Competition Eliminator killer made its return to the track in the Top Sportsman class with a juiced up SBC. Love this car.

I spent some money on my Mustang this year. I splurged for a new Quick Fuel Carb and a cool manual stage controller. Both paid dividends as we actually went some rounds in the last half of the year with much improved consistency and reaction times.

As summer drew to a close we hit the Pa Turnpike heading west again but this time with race car in tow, to Norwalk Raceway for the NMCA World Street Finals,. I gave up the stripe by .001 but the real story was the fun we had and cars we saw. Cobra Jet Mustangs, F.A.S.T., B-Body Mopars and small tire drag machines were everywhere. Here is rare shot of me and sweetie next to my Mustang.

Autumn in Pennsylvania means two things to me, Hershey and PA Dutch Classic National Open.

The AACA Hershey Fall Meet is an eclectic collection of old stuff gathered in a an amusement park parking lot for a week in October and it’s all for sale, so bring money and good shoes. You never know what ‘s down the next aisle. We spied a twin engine Triumph Drag Bike, a cool one off Ford Speedster, a cherry Ambassador SST and Wayne Carini. I had to be restrained from bringing home this vintage Bobby Allison-esque Cox RC Car.

While At Hershey everything is pretty much static, Maple Grove Raceway’s Dutch Classic is 4 days of frenetic drag racing at its finest. The Hemi Shoot Out, Class Eliminations, record runs and a full slate of NHRA sportsman cars it is the last big go for east coasters before tearing them down for the winter. The best race of the year in my opinion.

As the year wound down we hit one of the fastest growing car shows in the northeast, Flemings Pumpkin Run. Rains cut the day short but we got to see Ray Evernham’s restored Marty Robbins Stock car and this bad ass coupe.

Next up was a trip to Bruce Larson’s Dragfest at the Stoney Creek barn to see the progress of his new Funny Car and other good stuff that came to the party.

Our last adventure for 2015 was quick jaunt to the Mack Truck Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I caught wind that Evel Knievel’s recently restored Big Red Mack hauler was on temporary display so I grabbed my brother Dan and off we went. The rig is amazing, an excellent restoration and the cab might be the most 70’s thing ever. The exhibit is in the old semi-anechoic chamber formerly used for Mack testing. The room is surreal on its own but seeing the Evel rig in person was over the top. The rest of the Museum is filled with Mack history in the form of trucks, engines and memorabilia. The museum even has a busy restoration shop housed in the old Vehicle Development Lab. Check out the still standing dyno, look at those rollers. Go there, you won’t be disappointed.

But my favorite picture I snapped all year was this one. My brother Dan coming off the line at the Grove on a Friday night. The sun was dropping, the Maverick was rising and a shadow was cast.

Thanks for checking out my stuff and thanks to Bangshift for letting me hang around. See ya in 2016.