Located far from the "beaten path," miles from the nearest Interstate exit, Beaver Springs is a perfect venue for such an event. After traveling miles on narrow, two lane roads through beautiful Pennsylvania countryside, one comes upon an extremely well maintained facility that already hosts an IHRA Divisional event. The layout, although neat and well groomed, is largely unchanged since its opening in 1971. According to Bill Stiles, owner of the legendary Stiles Performance Mopars and one of the organizers of the York event, "it is the perfect venue for a Nostalgia race of this type."

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The star-studded line-up of legendary racers and race cars on hand included "Mousie" Marcellus, the surviving half of the famous "Marcellus & Borsch" Fuel Altered team and the legendary "Winged Express." Still looking as awesome as it has for over forty years, one cannot help but admire the sheer courage it took to wheel a ninety inch-long roadster to over 175 mph with a supercharged, nitro fueled Chrysler pulling you along. Dale Thierer was there as well, driving the front-motored fuel dragster "Hemi Hunter." Thierer wowed the standing room-only crowd with long, smokey passes behind the wheel of the legendary digger. Jerry and Gary Mallicoat brought their famed blown Barracuda from the West Coast, and Army Armstrong was on the grounds to oppose them with a Chevrolet Vega Funny Car.

The famed "Rolling Stoned" Plymouth Cuda Funny Car was there as well, driven by the elderly gentleman Joe Jacono himself. Former NHRA World Champ Bruce Larson brought the original "USA-1" ‘67 Camaro flopper out of retirement for this event, and he was ably assisted by none other than the legendary companion of "Jungle Jim" Liberman, "Jungle Pam." The great one, Ronnie Sox, was in attendance, accompanied by his son Dean, who drove a Sox & Martin Duster clone.

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Tom Hoover, the designer of the Hemi engine, "Bullet" Bob Reed, Bill Stiles, and Bud Faubel of "Honker" fame all on hand to represent Chrysler and the company’s contribution to doorslammer racing. The legendary Ford camp of the same era was represented by Dick Brannan, whose highly successful Mustang Funny Cars were well known at the time. Others included Darwin Doll (former NHRA Division 1 Director), George Weiler, Bob Johnson, Bob Feirman, Kenny Montgomery, and George Nye.

And, of course, what would a large event be without the first lady of motorsports? Linda Vaughn, still looking as good as ever, made the trip from her southern home to greet the fans and to enjoy the experience.

As mentioned previously, the event was more successful than anyone imagined. Coming off a fabulous show event at York, many of the participants of the show itself made the trek to Beaver Springs during the evening before. Many more, including this author, wound up sitting on the road leading to "the Beaver" for forty minutes, as traffic was totally backed up waiting to get in. We had left our Western Pennsylvania home in plenty of time to arrive on time, but it was obvious that this event was going to be something special. A lot of folks were going to brave the heat (almost 90 degrees, with a lot of humidity) to see and participate in this event, and they would not be disappointed.

Once inside, getting to our pit area was like stepping into a time machine. We passed a bevy of Sox & Martin cars, the Ramchargers (now owned by Fred Wetzel), the Fords of the "422 Motorsports" gang, including the famed Dyno Don Nicholson ‘64 Comet, Bill Murphy’s "Jersey Duke" Plymouth, the Bob Banning Dodge "Bounty Hunters," and many more names that wrote the history of this sport. My own ageless ‘65 Hemi Dodge, now with my son Kyle behind the wheel, was going to do battle with these legends, and you can believe that I was like a kid at Christmas in anticipation.

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We were joined by 269 other Nostalgia cars. The East Coast Gassers brought a full contingent, the Northeast Timing Assocation was there in force, with two classes, their NETO Comp, featuring all kinds of front engine, small block-powered dragsters (Jr. Fuel lives!), and a class for their regular Nostalgia cars, which would join with the cars of the Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Drag Racing Association (MANDRA) for an eliminator of their own. In addition, there would be Nostalgia brackets for older race cars that did not fit anywhere else. There were altered wheelbase, mid-sixties Dodges, and the famed Ace Wilson Pontiac made the trip from Texas to be involved.

The fans were there, too, in droves. Many of them wore traditional racing garb, tee-shirts that had sat dormant in closets for years. As one legend told me, "I haven’t seen this many B&M Hydro or Engle Cam t-shirts for forty years!" The standing room-only crowd gave the legends a warm welcome as each paraded down the quarter in convertibles prior to the start of activities. Lovely Linda Vaughn showed that the crowd still loved her, as she waved from the passenger side of an original Hurst Olds, blowing kisses and receiving them in return.

The folks then went wild when Dale Thierer fired up the fuel Chevy in the "Hemi Hunter" top fueler and posted a tire-smoking fuel dragster pass just like the old days. The house was bought down when Joe Jacono and Bruce Larson staged their legendary Funny Cars, with Larson be backed up by none other than "Jungle Pam." They made full seven-second passes, with Jacono on and off the throttle, out of shape half the time, just like the old days. It was absolutely incredible. Jerry Mallicoat then posted a 7.01 in his Barracuda, beating Army Armstrong, which further indicated the uniqueness of this event. As one spectator was overheard to say, "not bad for a bunch of museum pieces!"

As far as winners and losers, everyone there was a winner. For the record, Jerry Loeb won Nostalgia Super Stock over Bill Murphy’s "Jersey Duke," Jack Olcott ruled over the gassers, and Bruce Harker won NETO Comp. But winning those brackets is just a formality. Everyone was a winner, there were no losers. The event was emotional to some, I saw more than one old timer with a tear in his eye as he relived his past. I saw young guys become hooked on this Nostalgia movement, intending to keep the memories alive. To this father, to bring his old race car here, to repeat again our experiences of many years ago, this time with my son, is a feeling that is hard to describe. When we pulled into the staging lanes, Kyle was standing with me next to our car when Bill Stiles, Bob Reed, and others pulled next to us. He looked me straight in the eye and said "What did you get me into?" I was able to introduce him to some of the legends that I grew up with, and he had only heard of and read about. I am grateful for the opportunity to experience it and I will remember it always.