We drove down from Canada as we have several times before and this time , after 3 years not going, was a huge disappointment and we won't go again. They've cut back on a lot of things, basically it's a dust bowl all weekend, it's oil down after oil down all day, and the get together at the host hotel was a total flop. Overall, not worth the time and money even if you lived closer.
I live a lot closer, and it wasn't worth going. Well maybe, chatted for an hour with a couple of cool brothers in the swap meet. Sunday was a ghost town.
Well, I scored some nice magnesium 5 spoke Americans in the Ghost Town swap meet so it wasn't a total bust for me. I feel for the folks who traveled far only to be disappointed though. I do hope NHRA is paying attention and makes some changes but I don't know what they can do if it continues as the final leg of the Heritage Series. That means most of their attention is on the competing Heritage Series racers at the expense of the rest of the features. Maybe they should wind up the series elsewhere, feature/honor the series champs but make the main focus historic race cars and exhibition cars from the past. (Pro Mods?? what the...?) I don't know, I guess that's why I'm not a promoter. I do know that everything changes and usually not for the better unfortunately. Hey, I've lived in California all my life - let me tell you about changes.
I got the feeling that the exhibition cars were the bastard stepchildren......Bob you hit the nail on the head.
I got the same feeling and it seemed like they slighted the AA/FAs as well. I thought they were a legitimate eliminator category now with a 6.0 index. Maybe I just missed them while out walking around. They did squeeze in a few runs though.
2015 was EPIC ! Awesome racing , unauthorized cackling in the pits . Watched two rails have a duel till one guys zoomies were about to melt...Guess they could see could see the change coming Oh yeah a big hug and a photo op with Pam Hardy was cool too...
After Pushing Cackle Cars for 15 years I'm done. I used to live for this event all year, but they have really turned off the tap for the fun. While I enjoy the swap meet it's not a big enough draw for me to return either. I feel really bad they chased off all the Cackle Cars two years ago, that was the show. After all it's called the Hot Rod Reunion and if I'm not mistaken it was to get all the real deal guys back together and play. While I love the racing Cacklefest is the show. It'd be great if it returned to its former glory, I'm hopeful. But the momentum is going the other way. But just in case - I'll still gladly drive any Cackle Car that needs to be run anytime anywhere. - Tim
The Jalopy Journal
