For the most part, the racers and crews competing at the WSCC event weren’t encumbered by corporate sponsorship and all of the baggage that comes with it that their counterparts at the NHRA have to deal with. The only rules were no V-8 engines and cars had to pass NHRA safety inspection for fast door cars. There were no weight, spec tire, spec fuel, or what-have-you rules designed to benefit the promotors. Nope, this was old-school drag racing, run-what-ya brung, heads-up drag racing in its purest form.

More than one of the racers I talked to (sometimes with the help of an interpreter since a large number spoke Spanish and yo no hablo Espanol) told me that having the quickest and fastest car of the event was often just as important, if not more so, than winning the race. How cool is that? How real is that? What’s important is who has the quickest and fastest hot rod that day!  

It was also very comforting to this old drag racer to see lots of young crewmen and drivers mixed in with the older guys. Wally Parks would have loved this deal as he always believed that “the cars are the stars.” Many of the cars that made the Quick 16 didn’t have the driver’s or owner’s name on the car. If they did have a name on the car it was the car’s name. Talk about parking your ego outside of the pits and just racing for the pure pleasure of it -- now that is truly “old school” racing.

William Espinal towed this rig in from Hackensack, NJ for the race. When was the last time you saw a two-wheel tow rig at as drag race?