Beaver Springs, PA – As the nation celebrated its’ 250^th birthday, racers traveled to Beaver Springs Dragway to pay tribute by doing something as American as apple pie, taking part in the sport of drag racing in the Nostalgia Nationals at Beaver Springs Dragway. With the weatherman sending messages of gloom and doom, to borrow a phrase from an old, popular TV show, if not for the courage of the fearless crew, the weekend would be lost. Thanks to the efforts of the fearless crew, wisdom of the track owner, and enough cooperation from the weather, the weekend was not lost and some excellent racing took place! With cars from N.E.T.O,  MANDRA, Back Seat Drivers, and the East Coast Gassers, this was the place to be! And if that wasn’t enough, Rocky and Joe Pirrone were on hand with the Super Camaro and Screamin’ Eagle funny cars! Lots of fierce but friendly competition to watch, with so many races decided by thousandths of a second.

Lots of winners this weekend, but even the losers were winners just by racing! One of the qualities of Beaver Springs that I keep hearing over and over from the racers is how the track just feels like “home” to them and everyone is like family. I can testify that it is unique in its’ sense of family from the moment you see Betty’s smile at the front gate until the racing is all done and the winners receive their special “Ethyl hug” for winning. I think some of them like the hug better than the trophy!

It’s always a treat to see Rocky Pirrone and his funny cars running down the track. Rocky and his son, Joe, never fail to bring back the look and feel of seeing the old-time funny cars, just like it was back in the day. Right down to the backup girls who would make Jungle Pam proud. This time there was an added element to the racing. After Joe Pirrone and the Screamin’ Eagle defeated Rocky Pirrone and the Super Camaro, they got to line up against Bill Marks and his wicked fast Olds 442. Now that was a sight to behold. If you missed it, well…you missed it! Don’t make that same mistake next year!

Finishing off this story with how the racing for the day finished off. In one of the N.E.T.O. class finals, the Camaro piloted by Sal Lombardo couldn’t make it to the line on time. Christian Huebner and his black, tire-smoking station wagon could’ve taken an easy win, but elected to wait for Lombardo to settle it on the track. This kind of thing is what sportsmanship is all about folks! It could’ve been a story book ending for Huebner, but instead, he ended up turning the red bulb on…by a whopping 0.0006 of a second! Try to imagine just how small of an increment that is and it’ll make your head hurt. This is the kind of thing the weekend was made of. Make sure you never miss another one of these!

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