RETURN TO DRAG RACINGS
GOLDEN AGE AT NITRO REVIVAL 6
IFor
Immediate Release
Cars and Stars Return to
Irwindale Raceway to Comingle, Cackle and Converse
IRWINDALE, Calif. The differences between drag racing
as it is practiced today in the NHRA pro series and drag racing
as it was practiced in what was considered the sports golden
age will be on full display this November at tracks only 15 miles
apart\
.A week before the NHRAs
2023 Camping World Series races to a close at In-N-Out Raceway
in Pomona, more than 75 current and future Hall of Famers and
many of the vehicles in which they distinguished themselves will
be reunited at Irwindale Raceway for the sixth renewal of Nitro
Revival (Nov. 4-5).
Some of the sports first
big stars including TV Tommy Ivo, Don the Snake
Prudhomme, Big Jim Dunn, Ed the Ace McCulloch
and Tommy Watchdog Allen will be joined by a host
of other notables who either drove, owned, tuned, photographed
or wrote about vehicles like the Dragmaster Dart,
the Ratican, Jackson and Stearns fuel altered and the legendary
twin-engine Freight Train Top Gas dragster.
Created by a group of racing
enthusiasts led by former NHRA VP of Competition Steve Gibbs
and his daughter, Cindy, Nitro Revival is a celebration of the
1950s, 1960s and 1970s, an era in which drag racing came of age,
attracting national attention as much for its personality as
for its outrageous performance.
Will there be racing? Well,
sure, although a lot of it will be bench racing. There wont
be the kind of zero-to-330 mph acceleration one would expect
to experience a week later in the NHRAs In-N-Out Finals,
but the adrenaline will flow, nevertheless.
For one thing, a host of fuel
altereds will make exhibition runs including the former Funny
Car and Top Fuel driver Rodney Flournoy in his own Godzilla,
plus youll see Bobby McLennans Champion Speed
Shop Nostalgia Top Fueler and Luke Balough driving the
fan favorite Mooneyham and Sharp Special.
Mainly, though, the event will
pay homage to the push start ritual of the 60s, the distinctive
cackle of V8 engines guzzling nitromethane and especially the
personalities of those who propelled straight-line racing from
a car club hobby sport to a national and international phenomenon.
In reality, Nitro Revival isnt
so much about the competition as it is about the camaraderie
that linked a generation of Americans through a shared love of
automobiles and the things that could be done to make them perform
in a manner their designers never could have imagined.
In essence, in just six short
years, the two-and-a-day extravaganza has established itself
as a must attend on the bucket lists of race fans,
old and new. It is a pilgrimage of sorts to the birthplace of
modern drag racing, a step back in time to an era in which corporate
sponsorships, political correctness and cookie cutter performance
parts were not yet even a blip on the radar.
This year, there will be more
than 60 cackle cars alone including the aforementioned threesome
plus the Jungle Jim Camaro Funny Car, Flamin
Frank Pedregons fuel coupe, the Kuhl and Olson, Dunn
and Reath, Waterman and Hampshire and Brissette and Drake Top
Fuel dragsters, the Custom Body Enterprises Funny Car, Marvin
Schwartzs Anaconda AA/FD, Frank Cannons
Hustler VI dragster, the Soapy Sales
Top Fueler and the resurrected front-motor dragster of the late
Jimmy Nix cackled by King Richard Tharp.
The festivities begin on Friday,
Nov. 3, with pre-registration and set-up followed by an initial
meet-and-greet from 5-7 p.m. around the annual In-N-Out Cookout.
Gates open at 7 a.m. on Saturday
with a full slate of activities anchored by an all-inclusive
autograph session at 1 p.m. in the McLennan Foundation tent,
introduction of 2023 Nitro Revival honorees including Dunn and
Allen at 4 p.m. and the Nitro Overdose featuring the Rolling
Thunder cackle at 6:30 followed by fireworks.
Although things will begin to
wind down on Sunday, there will be one final adrenaline high:
One OClock Thunder, the simultaneous cackle of every fuel
car on the property promptly at 1 p.m. during a scheduled break
in the on-track action.

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