Topping the list of amazing debuts at the 2014 event was Kayo Erwin’s Sox & Martin AFX Comet, which was in the Class of 1964 Invitational along with a number of significant Mopars and the first Mustang ever sold to the general public.

Drag Cars and Superstars at the 2014 MCACN Show

THUNDER AND FAME IN CHI-TOWN

Words and photos by Geoff Stunkard

The fuel tanks are usually empty, and while a lot of cars get driven from trailers into the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., (near O’Hare Airport), most of the drag racing iron is moved around on ‘go jack’ wheel casters. That doesn’t take away from the fact that the annual Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals is becoming one of the most significant indoor gatherings of door-car drag machinery every year. The fact that those vehicles in attendance primarily come by invitation only adds to its attraction, even if the engines themselves are silent.

The event has grown, and each year yields both noted restorations and fresh ones. As the name implies, the main focus is muscle cars, and a majority of the vehicle shown here are street-based. However, mixed in even among the boulevard brawlers (some with racing heritage in their own pasts), are the factory lightweights, survivors, weekend warriors, and even some active drag machines. Rarity and provenance play a role in almost everything here, and the building’s two-day museum plays host of tens of MILLIONS of dollars worth of rarities, which come in from all over the continent.

Once again, we were on hand to see the goings-on of this event, held on the weekend before Thanksgiving and sandwiched between SEMA, the NHRA World Finals and the PRI show. This one is worth making the effort to go see.

While perhaps the 2015 running (on Nov. 21-22) will not feature the cars you will see in the following pictures, we can only imagine what the managers of the event will present to attendees next year. If you missed it… be therrre!