Michael BeardPutting on races is nothing new for the Loose Rocker, LLC promotions team of Michael Beard and Anthony Walton.

Beard, however, couldn’t hide his enthusiasm for an upcoming event.

On May 2-4, Loose Rocker is hosting the inaugural Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, just east of Columbus.

The original U.S. Class Nationals was produced by Alex Denysenko in 2001 at Byron (Ill.) Dragway and that event was dedicated solely to Stock and Super Stock. Denysenko will be the grand marshal for the Northern Class Nationals.

“This is a new event for us and this type of event was only done one other time in history,” Beard said. “Ever since the first one guys have been begging for another one and it is just so much work with scheduling and this, that and the other thing and it has never happened. We have talked about it for years and I said we are done talking about it. We are either going to do it or shut up about it and now we are doing it.”

The field will consist of nothing but NHRA and IHRA-legal Stock and Super Stock cars. Beard and Walton also both race.

“We also have a lot of different facets of that going on throughout the weekend,” Beard said. “Friday, we are doing class eliminations so it is all heads-up racing amongst similar same class cars. We also have a Quick 32 shootout for each eliminator Friday night and there also is a Junior Stock Shootout Friday night. Saturday, we will finish off qualifying, have a wheelstand contest and then we will have a $3,000-to-win Stock/Super Stock combo warm-up race.”

On Sunday, the schedule consists of $5,000-to-win race for Stock and a $5,000-to-win race for Super Stock.

“It is run just like a regular national event with tech, scales, fuel check and heads-up runs when applicable,” Beard said. “I honestly think we will see over 200 Stockers on the grounds and Super Stock will probably end up being 160, maybe 180 cars if the stars all line up.”

Beard admitted this event has been a long time in the making.

“We actually started working on this event in late November, early December of 2012,” Beard said. “We have racers coming from Florida, Louisiana, Texas, California, Canada, just all over. We have spectators coming from Seattle, Wash., and South Dakota and Virginia. I’m hoping we get about 3,000 fans a day.”

The original US Class Nationals was a rousing success. The first event was held at Byron Dragway in Illinois, and organized by class racer Alex Denysenko.Admission prices are $15 a day and children 12 and under get in free and there also is free parking. For addition information about the event visit www.looserocker.com online.

“We try to make things very racer friendly and very family friendly,” Beard said. “We want to make it affordable to come out and see some really cool racing. With these cars, you are going to be able to see a little bit of everything.”

Beard also is very optimistic the Northern Class Nationals will not be a one-time event.

“With the feedback we have received over the last year and a half, I have no doubt that this is going to happen on an annual basis,” Beard said. “We’ve already started talking about some ideas for next year.”

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