Nostalgia racing finally returned to Gateway International Raceway after a long absence and by almost every measurement the race was a very successful event. The aptly named Muscle Car Reunion, put on by John Troxel and his partners, attracted almost 300 pre-1974 racecars from as far away as Buffalo, New York, for three days of bench racing and actual drag racing.
Included in the action were a couple of sessions when the Gasser contingent was flag started by 76-year-old hall-of-famer, former flag starter at area tracks and GIR employee Jim Lockeby. Drag racing legends Don Garlits, Roland Leong and his driver Larry Reyes bench raced with the fans, there were a couple of hall-of-fame ceremonies and plenty of nostalgia Super Stockers, muscle cars, supercharged altereds (both alcohol and nitro burning), nostalgia Top Fuel cars and both AA/FC’s and BB/FC’s. Mix in some rain and serious lightning on Saturday and a timing system that threatened to crater at any minute and you had a nostalgia race that delivered a racing experience that truly did remind everyone of the “good old days.”
Six alky funny cars and a couple of local AA/FC cars headlined the exhibition classes. The alcohol cars did spectacular burnouts and raced each other, but the class of the field was the Mopar of Elliot & Samuelson who recorded a respectable 7.11/187 lap to earn Top Speed and Low ET of the meet honors in the BB/FC class.
Jake Jacobsmeyer and “Rapid Randy” Baker in the Danny Miller-owned Mustang had a one-lap match race with Baker running a 6.52/207.98 lap to get the unofficial win.
There was plenty of actual racing including 6.50 and 7.50 heads-up classes that featured a few nitro burner,s but the main attraction for the 3,500 paying fans that were in attendance Saturday and Sunday was the Nitro Funny Cars of Miller and Jacobsmeyer and the half dozen or so nostalgia alky funny cars that were on hand.
Most of the exhibition events got rained out Saturday night but Sunday saw clear skies and sunshine, and a full day of passes included a muscle car race that had 130 entries, the Nostalgia SS class with over 30 entries, and the impressive 6.50 and 7.50 index classes.
The quickest races of the event took place in the heads-up 6.50 index class. There were eight entries in the class and those included the nitro burning dragsters of Sean Dewitt and Garry Wheeler Jr. and the Fiat altereds of Doug Dunphy and Rick Wilson. Low ET of eliminations went to Charlie Smith of Kiefer, OK, who recorded a 6.571/201.70 in winning the first round over Dunphy’s Altered. In that same first round Wheeler pushed his gorgeous 392 Hemi-powered digger to the Top Speed for the class with a 203.77 blast.
The final round came down to the front-motored, supercharged diggers of Dewitt and Wheeler with Dewitt getting the win with a 6.837/193.05 blast that easily covered Wheeler’s losing but faster 6.934/193.96 effort.