Words by Evan Jones
Photos by Todd Dziadosz
Layout by Marissa Gaither

Peter Gallen’s second run against Phil Burkart was the charm Saturday night, July 3, at Maple Grove Raceway. Racing in the “Poverty Stricken” 1974 Vega, Gallen made the most of another chance against Burkart’s ’74 Mustang to win the Nostalgia Funny Car class in the Geezers at The Grove Reunion presented by Yuengling.

As the name of the event suggests, the evening was full of “back in the day” cars and drivers as The Grove celebrated the pioneers of drag racing. The two-day event featured everything from a car show to a cacklefest. There was plenty of action on the track, too, including the NAPA Auto Parts Cavalcade of Funny Cars feature show.

That was where Gallen (Broomall, Pa.) was able to successfully defend his title from last year. The race was in a Chicago-style format in which the two cars with the best elapsed time in one round of qualifying are paired for a single championship run.

Peter Gallen and winner’s loot.

As it turned out, “Poverty Stricken” and the “U.S. Male” were together for the first run, and it was the best side-by-side race of the first round. Burkart (Yorkville, N.Y.) had a better reaction time off the line and followed through with a holeshot of 5.979 seconds at 240.77 mph. Gallen was right behind with a 5.997 at 242.23.

In the final, both drivers had identical reaction times of .101 that turned into a spectacular run. Gallen set a track speed record with a pass of 248.25 mph, with an ET of 5.846. Burkart was 5.931 at 241.50.