GoodGuys Blue Suede Cruise, Norwalk, OH

Old Time Drags, E-town, NJ

Funny Cars in Marion Country

On August 16th The little town of Larue, OH stepped back into the late 70’s. The inaugural Marion County Nostalgia Funny Car Nationals was held at Marion County International Raceway (MCIR).

MCIR was the site of many funny car battles between legends such as Don Prudhomme, Jungle Jim, Tom Hoover and countless others. Back in the seventies these fiberglass warriors would travel from town to town making a living during an era that would launch legends and leave us memories that we longed to relive.

In recent times there has not been traveling shows like that, plus the funny cars of today do not resemble their street counterpart as they did in the 70’s and 80’s.

Enter The Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit. (www.glnfcc.com) This is a group of period correct funny cars that match race throughout the eastern half of the US. The GLNFCC together with MCIR has put together a yearly event that would once again capture the excitement of the funny car scene that was the 70’s.

By 10:00 the pits at MCIR were overflowing with nostalgia funny cars. Just like in the 70’s these cars have nicknames and personalities. There were cars like Tweety’s Rat, The Detroit Hustler, Red Baron, Fuelish, Mutiny and many more that would make you feel like the year was 1978 not 2008.

Along with 17 running funny cars there was also many on display. Some were barn finds like the 1968 Sikora Brothers built Corvette, the 1972 Cuda Wheel Stander that was once owned by Bob Perry who ran the Hell On Wheels Tank. Plus there was even a 1965 Dodge Altered Wheelbase car. The car that some say was the beginning of the funny car class.

Before the racing began the funny cars were towed down the track with each team being introduced to the excitement of the crowd. This scene was reminiscence of the big 32 and 64 car funny cars shows that were common in the 70’s.

The first round highlights were the Damn Yankee laying down a career best pass of 7.19 at 176 m.p.h. the Blue Thunder 69 Camaro of Tom Mitchell laid down a first time out pass of 7.56 at 167 M.P.H. The Good Vibrations quick reaction time award was handed out this round to the crew of The Mutiny 69 Mach I. with a .543 r.t.

The first round was finished out with Scott Burton bringing out Bill Linigers 1972 Don Hardy Vega to do a burnout. This car is powered by a 392 iron Hemi and is the same as it was the day it was retired from racing somewhere back in the early 80’s.

Second round brought even more noise and unpredictable runs. It was after dark so the late summer dew was setting in which would prove to present a challenge to the drivers.

The breakout run in the second round was by The Detroit Thunder 55 T Bird of Bill Hallet. Bill ran a 7.41 at 182 M.P.H. against the nitro burning, up on two wheels Satellite driven by Eric Martin.

The last run pitted the two fastest cars from the first round. The Damn Yankee 77 Vega went up against the Mutiny 69 Mach I. Both cars did very wild smoky burnouts. While backing up The Vega developed an oil leak and had to be shut off. The Mutiny staged ready to take a single run. When the tree turned green the Mach one let out a big bang, shuddered and came to a stop. It was later determined that they broke the rear end pinion.

We had several companies provide special awards. There were as follows.

Best Under Pressure/Most Consistent Ram Jet Racing Products Hamilton, Oh.
14.1 Blower Restraint Winner Scott Hohensee (Visionary) 7.62 & 7.67
2nd. Quickest E.T. Rob Pfeister (Mutiny) 7.29 $100.00
3rd. Quickest E.T. Bill Hallet (Detroit Thunder) 7.41 $50.00
2nd. Fastest M.P.H. Rob Pfeister (Mutiny) 181.30 $100.00
3rd. Fastest M.P.H. Chris Gerber ( Rubber City Connection) 177.84
The E.T. and M.P.H. awards are courtesy of Len Hughes Magneto in Bristol, In.
Best E.T. By Fowler Racing Engines $200.00 credit toward parts and service.
Mark Horvath ( Damn Yankee) 7.192
Burnout Contest award by North Coast Rods Ashtabula, Oh. $100.00
Rob Pfeister (Mutiny)
Enderle Quick Reaction Time Award Provided by Good Vibrations Whittier, Ca. $200.00
Rob Pfeister (Mutiny) .543
Diversatech Racing Products from Pennington, N.J. provided burst panels for #2 to #12 qualifiers.
Clear One Racing Products from Columbus, Oh. Provided $25.00 certificates toward future orders.
Mickey Thompson Tires and Summit Racing Equipment also provided give away items.

Along with the funny cars, there was 4 nitro burning front engine dragsters that flirted with runs near the 6 second range. To round out the show over twenty cars that represented the gassers era of the 50’s and 60’s also invaded the track.

Mark August 15th 2009 on your calendar as this event is already scheduled for next year and should be even bigger and better. For more info on the Great Lakes Funny Cars be sure to check out their website. glnfcc.com