Event Coverage CHRR 25th Annivesary - Drag Racing & More - 10/20-23/2016PICS!!

Great photos folks!!!!!

While trawling through them, I was transported!
Suddenly I could feel the heat, feel the ground-pounding rumbles and hear the roars, smell the fuel, rubber & oil...
I could see all of the mind-warpingly rare parts off on each side in my periphery...

That feeling where the senses are overloaded and you honestly do not know where to look and feel confused like a 15 year old who's had a couple of beers.....

Well, it's 9am Friday morning here, so I'd better get the hell to work!

Thank You for sharing the experience on offer, and thanks to the people who build/own/bring the cars - show promoters should never forget what the real show is.......

 

Been an interesting thread. Hope they don't screw up Bowling Green. Thanks for all the pictures.

 

Great photos, thank you for sharing....

 

Dixon Sr. is just super cool. RJ Trotter told me he was his best driver....

 

Great shots,I miss the days when drag cars could double as show cars and not rolling billboards..

 

A little racing history from the old days, Larry Sr. and I and the guys were hanging at Bob's Big Boy in Van Nuys in 60' street racing our Chevys and he and I started building our g***ers

Larrys was a Willys with a blown SBC and mine the blue 37' with a injected 327' for B/Gas, Larry was offered the ride in the new ' Fireside Inn ' modified roadster and never looked back

I don't think his g***er got finished and not sure what ever happened to the painted car as it was close to running

Hi Larry, Don

 

My favorite !

 

Great pics of Tommy, it's amazing that he always looks the same ! You can watch him in a movie from 1948, and recognize him.

 

Great Picks!

Hope it is ok to squeeze in some more,

 

Flatred53 - Thanks - hard to catch everything at an event like this

 

I can't beat that photo,,but here are some more,,

 

You have out done yourself this time J.J.!!! Great pics, and thanks to all that contributed to this thread. This event is on my Bucket List.

 

send message to NHRA Officials too.

 

Evening

Sent from my VS985 4G using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I concur, Tim and feel you've laid out a case that's sincere, honest, and stays positive by taking the high road throughout with a hopeful eye towards the future and a mindful one looking in the recent past. In light of your expressed opinions referencing past experiences with the event, I'd like to share some thoughts base on my personal experiences with the event as well, starting off with an account from a personal colleague & family friend. Warning: It's a bit long winded, but I hope it will be viewed as an objective account meant to speak truth to power but ultimately intending to be taken as constructive criticism with a focus on correcting the course of recent events to preserve an event that's endured and improved with little incident for 24 years.

*First hand account of a moment in time in the pits late morning @ Famoso Raceway during check in for the Cacklefest at the 25th NHRA Motorsports museum California Hot Rod Reunion on Thur., Oct. 20, 2016 as described by former Cacklefest participant directly involved in the incident*

*How to start a "Fire"*

....How about swallowing down hard and accepting your car you built over 3 years ago (taking two years) wasn't allowed to participate in the Cacklefest this year after it was allowed to participate the last two years? OK, so the car isn't "pedigreed", it's a "new" front engine car whose ch***is was built under the tutelage of Steve Davis (who restored the Greer, Black & Prudhomme car), melding the attributes of a "Woody" and "Long" ch***is, ***embled carefully with respect and care reflecting all of the "period correct" style & mechanicals (mag, spark plug wires, wheels, slicks, steering wheel, brakes, spindles, seat belts, engine, etc.). It cackles better than most and as good as the best, but this year it doesn't meet the recently approved new criteria to be part of the official program. OK. So, you show up anyway after these last minute changes, having already made your reservations and bring your car, tools, pay for your entry & pit p***es and buy a full drum of nitro because at least you'll be able to cackle in the pits like you and everyone else did the last two years you showed up and the many times others did years before when you were just a spectator. Right? WRONG!

*Fully engulfed "Fire"*

"Park your car over here in this area. Take your truck, trailer, tools, fuel and park it away from the dragster. No, you can't cackle your car in the pits this weekend at all." What? Participant starts asking questions of people in charge (Rose ****inson & Donny Irving) in the pits on Thursday who are directing what you can and can't do this year. No answers, just back pedaling and run around. Why do those guys get to pit with their restored nostalgia front engine fuel dragsters & funny cars with tools, trailer, fuel, etc.? No legitimate reason, more run around. Participant is fed up with this & tells officials, "You guys are thieves & liars! YOU took our money, we made preparations based on past experiences/practices at the event following the precedents YOU people set and think YOU can autonomously pulled the rug out from under us in the 11th hour and treat us like sheep?". The discussion gets heated with the aforementioned officials from the NHRA Motorsports museum after words are exchanged between participants and officials. Participants son who built the ch***is/***embled the car and cackles it asks official, "Why the hell do you think we bought a drum of nitro (about $1,000.00) and hauled 150 miles to this track, to sit in camp chairs and watch everybody else cackle? This is wrong!" Security is called & shows up, officials alleging they are being har***ed & disrespected by upset and recently disillusioned particpant. Things cool down just a bit. FORMER participant hands credentials, extra pit p***es over to official and asks for refund after deciding to go home due to autonomous arrogance & self righteous at***udes of the officials who rule without consultation any input from participants. "I'd like my refund NOW". Answer? "We can't pay you in cash now. You'll have to wait until we get back to the office next week and mail you out a refund check". Participant responds, "That figures. What about the room we reserved and had to cancel at the last minute & lose our reservation deposit, or the golf cart, or the fuel we wasted driving up here for nothing?". No response, no apology from officials. Former participants ***essment after incident; "We don't need you guys to burn nitro, we'll go elsewhere & do it like we do all year long. This isn't the only place to burn nitro, there's places all over the country, big & small, that love this thing and appreciate those who do it (whether or not the dragster has a "pedigree")". They left and went home with their integrity intact, while the spectators and other participants lost out on possibly seeing more *****in' cars cackling during the weekend....

*After the "Fire" was extinguished*

The officials stayed, and within a few hours by early evening there was a Cacklefest meeting and suddenly the "other cars" would be allowed in the pits with their dragsters and allowed to cackle (as long as an NHRA official was present). Rumor has it that AAA got involved and "persuaded" the officials to retract the earlier restrictions. During the incident, Greg Sharp and Larry Fisher of the NHRA Motorsports Museum were nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, another longtime fan/enthusiast/spectator and after many years, Cacklefest participant who went to Lions in the mid-60's as a teen hitching a ride as extra ballast along with a tool box during a 1/4 p*** in a Chuck Finders A/Gas car was kicked to the curb by the officials along with others before him in years p***ed in other cl***es and at other tracks. Sad, but in lieu of the "foot shooters" involved, predictable...

*Losing "Fire" on all 8*

I've attended every CHRR except two (1992 & 1993). More or less, on average, the event has stayed the same or been improved upon over the years. There has been a few minor take backs, but in general every year has seen at least a "good" event if not a "great" event and a couple of time even a "spectacular" event at the track, the Friday night Host Hotel festivities or just around town & at local garage parties. This year is the low point in my estimations, based on my past experiences at the same event. My take is simply the same as shared by others which is in essence, "Leave well enough alone". No matter who is in charge now or not, someway, somehow, this event made it from 1992 (remember the saying, "We were just going to do this once") to 2015 with some major changes and increase in both spectators and participants. The barbecue was great (good food and a place for those senior former drag racers to congregate and reminisce without hunting around the pits for one another) but was "spun" as being removed to prevent the inevitability of raising the spectator tickets prices in lieu of the economic downturn, high fuel prices, etc. Whatever (you can't please everyone I suppose, but you should shoot for trying to please most of them. I still miss the BBQ and the brownies, damnit!). Then, the Cacklefest concept was born, adding another dimension to the annual event and quite frankly a real boost to building more enthusiasm and interest in the event (as evidenced by the event's increase in cackle cars the last 10+ years). Changes have been made, though not entirely autonomously and definitely with more time to absorb/accept it (whether it was entirely accepted by the participants or really necessary).

*Keeping the "Fire" lit on all 8*

The NHRA Motorsports Museum Hot Rod Reunions, particularly the Famoso production, can end up just like a NHRA Drag Racing pro event is today: Barely able to put together a 16 car field for compe***ion and grandstands not filled to capacity with spectators. Hopefully they'll stop, look in the mirror, see the problem and have the humility and courage to say, "It isn't about us, it's about them". They should consult with their clients (participants) who is the market for the product they are selling (the Hot Rod Reunion Cacklefest) before making unadvisable changes with short notice that risk destroying an event that was 24 years in the making with relatively positive response and so successful it spawned other events. It's no different than setting up your blown, injected fuel 392 Chrysler Hemi in your Cacklefest dragster for the first time ever in your life. You've got to seek out those from the past who learned by trial and error how to set up your engine for "Cackling" and not racing on the 1/4 mile. Then you must leave your ego at home, humbly ask for advice and if given, accept it graciously and apply it correctly and respectfully in measured steps. Otherwise, you risk bangin' a blower or windowing your cast iron block. So if this means anything to the officials or those that have the ears these folks or those that THEY answer to, tell them "This is bigger than you because its about all of us". Take heed to this and there will be hope for the 26th annual California Hot Rod Reunion because despite what's being said, many will still be willing to give it a second chance. However, if squandered, it may be the beginning of the end of a once revered and adulated spectacle of drag racing's past. I'm hoping that won't happen.....

*Highs & Low's (mostly lows)*

P.S./Signs that the CHRR is taking steps in the wrong direction:
1). VIP seating & parking? Is this an attempt at a "Top Eliminator" exclusiveness at an event that is supposed to emulate the look/feel of the drags at Lions, Irwindale, Riverside, OCIR general seating. OK for disable folks, give them parking next to a grandstand with access next to the starting line. Leave that GUCCI accent at the NHRA Pro Events where it belongs.
2). Figure out a permanent layout for the swap meet with shorter aisle adjacent to one another instead of one long main aisle and one short aisle at the very end near the shut off area next to the main aisle. There has been lots of empty space left between the fence and the swap meet, even with the overflow of cars from the Grove parking behind the west side grandstands.
3). $25 parking fee now for parking in the Grove for the 3 day event? What if you are only there 1 day? What about $10 Fri. & Sat. and $5 Sun.? Or, how about no charge for driving your hot rod, street rod, street g***er, custom, motorcycle, etc. to the event? The event survived for 24 years without charging these cars people bring to show in the Grove & its overflow parking area next to the swap meet, has more participants and spectators than when it started so why this change? They are actually a part of the event/show, which like the swap meet and the drag racers in the pits, are a joy for people to look at & enjoy between the scheduled compe***ion and exhibition runs on the track. They already paid to spectate and brought their *****in' car for other to check out and admire? Tacky......

**ON A GOOD NOTE**

Every gray cloud has a silver lining and there is one positive aspect which improved the 25th CHRR event compared to those from past years which is this: It seemed that for every portable bathroom and sink that was provide last year they increased them threefold! They were stocked and cleaned everyday and were lined up like tin soldiers standing at attention! That's one thing I would carry on into next years event. Hey, gotta' give credit where credit's due.....PRE48V-8\;^)

 

Great job Jalopy Joker taking the photos and the time to post them.

 

Thanks JJ.
Another great effort to bring us the coverage.

 

Thank Elite Site Services for that!