Utterback Returns
8/8/06
 Jeff Burk Photo |
hould my coming back to Drag Racing Online theme song be the over-used “Welcome Back” from that great show Welcome Back Kotter? This time sung by Horshack, or the more appropriate B.B. King version of “Don’t Get Around Much Any More”? For whatever reason, David Lee Roth reciting the lines, “Hey, I heard you missed us, we’re back… I brought my pencil… Give me something to write on baby!” from “Hot For Teacher” could work. Well, whatever. I’m back and thanks to boss man Jeff Burk for having me. I guess that’s one burning bridge that I hit the fire bottles for just in time. Also a big thank you and congratulations to Mike Bumbeck for getting that editor slot for the new Mopar Max publication brought to you by the good old folks here at DRO.
So I took a break. I flew under the radar for a while. Not as low as Chris Martin. (I never, repeat never, stepped one foot into Pats Cocktails.) But I have still been trolling the waters in the vast sea of drag race journalism. Actually just hanging with drag race journos is more like it. I see Darr Hawthorne probably enough to drive anyone in Banning, California, close to suicide. Mike Bumbeck is one of my best friends and he gets to hear all of my bull about the nostalgia scene almost daily. The Cole Coonce guy? I heard he was dead but didn’t believe it. At his parties he is the ghost with the most I reckon, Maybe he emails me from “the other side”? Still, any time he even remotely threatens to open and light a barbeque, I’m there. Emptying the cooler’s contents and regaling the party-goers with yet again, my take on the nostalgia scene.
I can tell you’re dying to hear, just what is my take on the nostalgia scene at this point in time… Do I hear crickets chirping? Nah…
Glad you asked. Do you hear that sound? Listen closely now. Yes, there it is, that huge sucking sound emanating from the West Coast. That would be our racing season this year. Well, VRA / Goodguys wise. Mother Nature seemed to have gotten together with a couple of other pissed off earth goddess types and rained on our parade. Twice. We are now down to a two race series. Can we still call that a “series”? Whatever, in November we will finish our little “points chase” (?) and crown our champions.
Now, I’m not taking anything away from the guys and gals that did well at our only event so far this season and that would be Pomona. Congratulations to all, even Funny Car winner Kris Krabill. . .now wait a second, do I sound jealous? What a rookie year he’s had. Good job, guys. However, a lot has been going on that we on the West Coast just don’t get exposed to. I’m not turning my back on the Goodguys. No way. In fact, I bleed Goodguys red and yellow. It’s just that there is a grass roots movement going on within the sportsman ranks that needs to be addressed. The nostalgia eliminator guys seem to have all been drinking from the same batch of Kool-aide. They want to race. And they are tired of waiting for someone to come to them. Bravo!
The weekend that I am writing this paragraph, (it takes me a while to write one of these things) the NPCA is having an event at Indianapolis Raceway Park. NPCA stands for Nostalgia Pro Comp Association and was the brainchild of Troy Coker, Al Robbins and Troy’s girlfriend, Sarah Selvy. So Troy, does Sarah have a sister? Where was I? Oh, you got to see the race report right here in our illustrious pages of DRO, so, I won’t give you any of the race details. (Thanks guys, your report could have written my column for me.)
These Midwestern guys and gal were tired of having a groovy race car and no nostalgia races to run it at. They had Indy, Bowling Green and Cordova. All within three weeks of each other in the month of June. Now, there were other events going on, match races and the like, but nothing with uniform rules and a strong racer base. In 2005 they got their chance to step up or step aside. The Nostalgia Nationals, in beautiful Havana, IL, were in jeopardy of not happening anymore because the car club that was running the deal was disbanding. Like any racer that knows nothing about running races and promoting would do, he said he would start running the shindig. Troy was born in Havana (Illinois not Cuba. Are you paying attention?) and felt quite a strong connection to the little race plant. As a wee lad he would go get in the way of his old man when he ran a Jr. Fueler at this and other strips on the Midwest Jr. Fuel circuit. To really sink the hook in deep, his first event both as organizer and running his race car turned out to be a huge success for the facility. The track owner actually said it was financially his best weekend ever.
Now that Troy and crew had run a race they set their sites on getting an event at Indianapolis Raceway Park. They would test at this track and stage their own grudge matches with a few other nostalgia cars that were local. This worked well for the track at their bracket events because they would fill in some down time with the nostalgia cars.
This continued and actually started to create a little buzz with the bracket guys and their fans, the track picked up on this and got into it by pumping the grudge matches. Now was the time to strike as a meeting was set up with bigwigs at IRP. They bought the pitch and now our guys and gal had three more dates, and the NPCA was born. Currently they have their own points series with their finals to be run at Route 66 Raceway, and are looking to expand the track base for next year. For more about them check out, http://nostalgiaprocomp.com
Next month we will visit with Joel Gruzen, who has also “lost it” and decided to start the Nostalgia Eliminator Racing Association. They have an event planned at Barona Dragstrip, in Barona, California, called Night of Nostalgia.
So, just what is my take on the Nostalgia scene?
We’ll work on it again next time. 
 utterback@dragracingonline.com |
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