Three-time IHRA and three-time NHRA Heritage Series Champion Jason Rupert
(Photos by Jeff Burghard, Mike Burghardt & Darr Hawthorne -Words by Darr Hawthorne) 2017 is transitional year for Heritage/Nostalgia-type drag racing. Except for the rulebook mandated years of replica bodies, today’s vintage sportsman racing really doesn’t fit the word “nostalgia” anymore, and it’s wide open to every age demographic.
This form of racing started on the west coast and spread across the country – long before the major sanctioning bodies discovered it, but still remains strongest in the west, especially sportsman nitro racing.
Three-time NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series Top Fuel Champion Tony Bartone
As some sanctioning bodies contract and others without leadership refuse to grow, there are some forward looking organizations seeing large car-counts and a strong, loyal fan base as a growth opportunity. With individual tracks like North Star Dragway in Texas, Spokane County Raceway, Tucson Dragway, Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, the venerable Famoso track and many others, the resurgence of the local show is becoming a reality across the country.
Today, drag racing is splintering… and that’s a good thing for all of us!
It’s looking as though IHRA is morphing into a strictly sportsman series, dumping nitro funny cars, mountain-motored pro stocks, jetcars and nitro Harleys. Rather than chasing the ticket-buying spectator, IHRA and sponsor Summit Racing will rely on a robust Sportsman back gate and a Bracket Racing package to get back on its feet after years of repeated rainouts and declining revenue. Their payouts were great and the checks were delivered before racers left the track – and most of all they cleared the bank! A very sad development for the IHRA. International Hot Rod Association Website.
Two-time 7.0 Pro Champion Mike Peck
Another west coast series for racers and fans to consider is the popular American Nostalgia Racing Association (ANRA) with four events held at Famoso Raceway. Series owner Butch Headrick is a great guy, he directs the race, talks directly to his racer/customers, hands out the checks and gets better car counts than any other “nostalgia” racing series. American Nostalgia Racing Association Website.
After some recent successes, Goodguys Vintage Drag Racing is stepping up to add more events in the northwest for nitro funny cars to their successful car shows and is joining with Drag Racing Online Editor Jeff Burk as part of the revived DRO Nitro Funny Car Series. The DRO Series addresses midwest and east coast racer needs, as the NHRA Heritage Series ignores expansion – east of the Colorado River.
Two-time DRO Series Champion John Hale
However, the 2017 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series still provides a class for just about every vintage drag racer, including period gassers, altereds, 7.0 Pro, A/Fuel, Jr Fuel, Nostalgia Eliminator 1 – 3 as well as nitro funny car, top fuel and, at some races the wild, short wheelbase fuel altereds competing on a 6.0 index.
Thanks to foresight by the guys at Auto Club Famoso Raceway, setting a 6.0-second Competition Index, they surprised many traditionalists as car-counts have steadily grown since the inception creating an unbelievable reboot for the AA/Fuel Altered class, albeit on an Index. Instead of being satisfied with cackling their old fuel altereds, there are established old school teams in the process of building modern racing replicas and they’ve found young and old drivers knocking down the doors to get into the cockpit. By some estimates there may be some thirty AA/Fuel Altereds in the staging lanes for the 2017 Good Vibrations March Meet.
Jackson Brothers “High Heaven” AA/Fuel Altered
After some delays, NHRA officials have announced the 2017 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series schedule, headlined by the front-engined Top Fuel and nitro Funny Car categories for the tenth season, including classes for altereds, gassers and front engine dragsters.
The Heritage season opens at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Jan. 14-15 for Sportsman Groups 1 & 2, followed by the famed Good Vibrations March Meet and the season kick off for Top Fuel and Funny Cars, March 2-5 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., and the Nostalgia Reunion at Sacramento (Calif.) Raceway in early April. The series then heads north for the first of two stops at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho, the 47th NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor with a second stop at Sacramento Raceway slated for June 16-17, a Friday-Saturday night event.
The Holley National Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky., is the first Reunion on the schedule slated for June 15-17 and will be followed by the popular 26th California Hot Rod Reunion that concludes the series, Oct. 20-22 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield.
Mission Raceway Park in Mission, B.C. hosts the nitro Funny Cars at its NHRA Lucas Oil National Open July 22-23 before the series heads back to Firebird for its 46th Nightfire Nationals featuring both the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories in August. Utah’s Rocky Mountain Raceways returns with their Funny Car Summer Send Off event August 25-26, while Group 2 classes will conclude their season at the Nostalgia Fall Championship at Auto Club Famoso in September as part of their Saturday Night Nitro event.
The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series consists of two nitro categories – front-motored Top Fuel dragster and nitro Funny Car — and two groups of additional classes. Group 1 includes A/Fuel, Jr. Fuel, and 7.0 Eliminator, and Group 2 includes Nostalgia Eliminator I, Nostalgia Eliminator II, Nostalgia Eliminator III, A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, D/Gas, and Hot Rod eliminator. Racers in each class will run a combination of events at which they will score points toward the championships.
Since 2008, the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series has provided racing opportunities for enthusiasts who enjoy vintage-type drag racing competition and the sweet smell of nitro. NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series Website.
2017 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series Nitro Funny Car Champion Kris Krabill
Drag racing today has so much going on, usually at 1,320 feet. If possible, take some time to attend one of these shows in 2017.
Nitro Funny car racer Mike Morel
Great read Darr. Just one thing I want to correct. The ANRA payouts are in cash. Only a few will win the race, but everybody wins once they get through the gate.
What? No love for the NDRL? http://www.nostalgiadragleague.com
Looking forward to the Hot Rod Reunion in BG again this year. I really had fun last year and enjoyed the show- even though it is so freaking hot!
The line “estimates there may be so 30 AA/FA Altereds in the staging lanes” for my favorite race of the year, the March Meet at Famoso made my day. The car count in the Nitro F/C’s exceeded 30 for years except the one year the IHRA ran a race back East against the March Meet. This years race had 31 entries in Funny Car I think and now that IHRA is done with nitro the March Meet should be epic. I think the 6.0 index for altereds is legitimate because it made the new Fuel Funny car chassis with an altered body cars slow down and made the real Fuel Altereds, like Pure Hell contenders. Can’t wait for March and real 1/4 mile drag racing. I call the March Meet a nostalgia car show with a drag race as cars parked for show in The Grove are with the price of admission alone. If you have never been, be there!
Nfc not being period correct anymore is the normal progression of any class in drag racing. In recent times nfc, pm, and drag radial cars barely resemble what they were when it started. I’m not as concerned about what’s under the hood, but the nfc bodies have gone to far in the areo dept, to many new bodies in pm, and way to many pm cars in drag radial. Hopefully you discover the class in its development stage and see as much of it as you can.
AA/Fuel Altered setting a 6.0 index and seeing a lot of new entries makes one wonder if setting a 3.8 top fuel, 4.0 funny car, and 6.6 index in ps would do the same for the big show…….