Twenty years of the Halloween Classic: Oh yeah, and racing too!

Words and photos by Brian Losness

How does one measure success of an event? Does it continue to grow in both attendance and stature? Is there a vibe or energy that seems to permeate throughout the entire event? 

If you can answer yes to these questions, what you have is a successful event that people will do almost anything to attend. What you have, in short, is the Halloween Classic.

The event started twenty years ago when Firebird Raceway owner/operator Bill New struck up a friendship with Norwalk Raceway owner Bill Bader and with Bader’s blessing took the idea of a Halloween-themed race and made it the New family’s own.

Now this is a race like no other. This is a social gathering with thousands of people enjoying each other’s company, and a drag race just happens to break out in the middle of it.

The social aspect of the event in the past couple of years has taken on a life of its own. Back in the beginning, the staff would dress up in costumes on Saturday to get people in the mood. Over the next few years the racers started dressing up and going down to the huge bonfire that burns continuously the five days of the Classic. Then we must have a contest to see whose costume is the scariest, the sexiest and so on. I think you see my point.

About seven years ago people started to put up small, cute Halloween decorations around their trailers as racers’ kids would do trick or treating in the pit area on early Saturday evening.

Well, we are talking about racers here – so, if a little of something is good, a whole lot of something is much better.