Words and photos by Brian Losness

When you pull into a racetrack you usually get a sense of what you are going to be in for. So when you pull into Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho, in October and you are greeted by a ghost, goblin or a witch, then you know that you have found the Halloween Classic. This race is the culmination of the year for the forty-plus year old facility and has become one of the best attended in terms of racers. This year the weather was very warm and inviting, as rain was not a huge issue. Friday, Oct. 8, was overcast but warm while Saturday and Sunday were sunny, more than normal. This meant that the track had a great deal of traction and the cars were just flying.

This race seems like one of the best-kept secrets in all of drag racing. It had huge car counts with nearly six hundred racers from eight western states and three Canadian provinces in attendance. Many of the classes had over 128 cars in them, such as Bracketter (Super Pro) and Super Roller, Heavy, Pro, Sportsman and a couple of Gambler classes just in case you didn’t get enough runs in your primary class, along with multiple classes of Junior Dragsters.

The marquee classes at this event are Top Gun Open Wheel and Top Gun Full Body (Top Dragster and Top Sportsman), a Quick 16 qualified show for both dragster/roadsters, and full bodied cars. This brings out some of the big hitters in the Pacific Northwest.

On Sunday the champions from the four classes that run on that day in Super Pro, Pro, Heavy and Sportsman are put into a special run off for a purse of five large. So. there is a plethora of racing at this event, but it is not only the racing that is the draw to the Halloween Classic. There is much more.