The show-stopper was young Shanze Panunzio in his Vega that started life as a street car and was slowly being transferred over to a full fledged race car. Now he has the chance to finish that project. When the little red Vega left the starting line it didn't appear it would go very high or far, but the darn thing just kept climbing upward until it ever so slightly rested on the rear chrome bumper, and it just stayed there and stayed there and stayed there.

Panunzio was dong his best Ed “the Outlaw” Jones impersonation till the car started to drift out of the groove slightly and then started to head towards the left wall. By then Panunzio was letting out of the throttle and the car started to come back to the ground, Panunzio realized how close he was to the wall just then the car slammed into the race track with a shower of sparks, the collected the left guard wall.

“The impact must have slammed my foot into the throttle ‘cause it lurched forward again and hit the wall a second time -- that one hurt a little bit,” said Panunzio in the Firebird Winners Circle afterwards.

Dan Krueger

“It tore up the left side of the car and broke the left front off of it, and I think it knocked the rear end out of alignment too.”

So impressed were the fans and racers by Panunzio's performance that a collection was taken up to help him repair his Vega. It just shows you how racing and racers look after their own.

If you have never had the chance to take in this event, I encourage you to mark it down on the calendar and check it out at least once.

It is just a good time, and besides, after your kids get done trick or treating to six hundred racecar trailers, you won’t have to buy Halloween candy for about three years or so.