It is hard to believe that this noteworthy annual event has been part of MUSCLE CAR REVIEW almost from its beginning. Cam Benty was the editor when the event was first covered, during its third occurrence in 2004. A lot has changed in the ensuing years. Promotor Darwin Doll has moved it out to the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, a wonderful rural facility located northeast of Gettysburg. Moreover, he has said final goodbyes to friends and racers he has known since the 1950s, as have all of us. Jenkins, Sox, Durham, Vanke, Strickler—the growing list is longer than any of us would like. So today, many of the faithful gather here each year to laugh and recall, and the show proves that this legacy is not forgotten.
The museum features a sizeable display area focused on drag racing, filled with authentic mementos and history, and the parklike setting on the Latimer Valley Fairgrounds helps create a feeling of the past. Darwin and wife Pat have a truly dedicated crew of volunteers that help to make it all work, this year also hosting a film crew from France and local television personalities. The events on Friday and Saturday were almost nonstop, with scheduled times for honoring the past. Ford racer Al Joniec held an engine clinic, the entire Dave Strickler family was able to hear stories about his history, World Champs Ed Miller and George Curetan were recognized, and invited and show cars filled out the areas around the circle track, culminating in a raucous Cackling Thunder session on Saturday afternoon. Admissions help the funding of the museum. Dozens of attendees from the yearly convention of the Ford Fairlane Club of America paid a visit Friday, and some 100 more cars came in on Saturday for Allstate-hosted Glory Days Cruise-In.
What struck us this year were some of the cruisers to that gathering who could recall “the circuit” on legendary Route 30. Their cars went to the old speed shops and custom car businesses, the drive-ins and food joints, and the midnight jousts that Mr. Doll and others at NHRA worked so hard to discourage back in the day. The vehicles displayed here ranged from fully restored and street modified to underway projects, but everything was enjoyable and the weather cooperated, with many people having driven in.
Sunday the action comes to life 90 miles to the north at Beaver Springs Dragway, where Bob and Donna Marie McCardle pull out the welcome mat for anything dated before 1972 each year for the York US30 Nostalgia Nationals. In addition to no less than 46 vintage Super Stockers, muscle cars turned out in the A/MP and B/MP modified bracket classes, as part of the North East Timing Association (NETO), in the Junior Stock class, and more. Of course, there were gassers and rails, a pair of nostalgia fuel Funny Cars, a car show, and the Pure Vintage Racing guys, whose prewar steel machines are not really muscle, but they are cool. The McCardles also honor the Legends of Drag Racing during a special interview presentation done just before the national anthem begins eliminations.
We noted a couple of years ago when the show portion left the York Fairgrounds that we didn’t know what the future would hold. After two years at the museum, with visitors attending from points nationwide and solid car counts, we will tell you that it is indeed bright. We look forward to more in 2018. Find out how to attend next year’s Nostalgia Weekend by visiting yorknostalgia.com for the York Reunion, and beaversprings.com for the BSD Nostalgia Nationals.
Things were again hot and heavy in 2017 as fans and racers celebrated history during the annual York US30 Reunion, Glory Days Cruise-in show cruise event, and Annual York US30 Nostalgia Nationals race in central Pennsylvania. Wheels-up on every run, Tom Youtzy’s Falcon is one of the regular attendees at the drag racing event and typifies what makes this event so fun.Beaver Bob McCardle (left) and Darwin Doll are the men most responsible for the longevity of the program. Doll was the noted Division 1 NHRA director for many years. He and his wife Pat have been involved in drag racing management literally his entire career. McCardle and his father opened the Beaver Springs track in 1971, which he and his wife Donna Marie operate today.Among the activities at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing and the overall York US 30 Reunion was a tribute to FX/Super Stock and Pro Stock pioneer Dave Strickler, whose wife Susie, children, and grandchildren gathered to hear remembrances of their late father by fellow racers and fans. The family joked about how many trophies the late racer had presented to local scouts at Pinewood Derby events back in the 1960s.The EMMR museum features a large exhibit hall devoted to drag racing and engine technology. One item is the special original dealership poster that 1968 Super Stock World Champion Strickler used to do clinic displays regarding Chevrolet performance.Nothing production-bodied after 1972 is allowed in the B/Modified Production classes during the Nostalgia Nationals. Seeing this SC/Rambler-style AMC American coupe in action was part of the excitement, though the car did not get past the first round call.If you needed something faster, there was also a pair of passes by the match-race nostalgia funny cars from the Rocky Pirrone stables, the Frantic Ford Mustang and Super Camaro. Running on nitromethane, the duo did smoky burnouts and made fans. Their pit area was located adjacent to the main concession stand, so people could watch them work between rounds and tune the cars up.The Fairlane Club of America made a stop at the EMMR grounds on Friday afternoon, parking in the infield of the historic Latimer Valley Fairgrounds circle track. Right at home in that environment was the rare 1968 Torino pace car convertible of Marley Gross II from Spring Grove, Pennsylvania; very few owners appear to have ever installed the decals available for the honor.While many great cars from the Fairlane Club were stock, we enjoyed Matt Cox’s wonderfully modified 1964 model, which had a modern 4.6L Coyote engine under the hood. Several others were built with the factory small-block V-8 design, including a station wagon. Cox and his family came all the way from Moore, South Carolina, to enjoy the weekend.Another hot Fairlane was this 1970 429 Torino Cobra with N-code 429ci Thunderjet FE power and one-of-one optioning. Owner Logan Bollinger was a young man when he ordered this car new in 1969, not knowing at the time that he was the only person who asked for code 3198A Light Gold paint coupled to the engine, four-speed transmission, and bench seat interior. It was restored in 2015.On the track Sunday, the altered-wheelbase cars in Nostalgia Super Stock were a big hit once again, among them the just-painted Damn Whippersnapper of Chris Mills. The street tags are legit on this Chrysler wedge-powered machine, but he is stepping up the program to go faster.John Gildea’s Nova looks the part of vintage Pro Stock with it clean paint and huge “Grump lump” hoodscoop. The tower on steel stilts at the BSD starting line and wide grassy track aprons add to the sense of turning back the clock, if only for one day a year.The GTO of Jim Holland seen on a pass. There was a solid blend of classic muscle car body designs, vintage competition cars, and exhibition machines to make the trip up to Beaver Springs a great finale to the three-day weekend.1967 NHRA World Champions Ed Miller (shown here with former York announcer and once-a-year flag starter George Nye) and George Curetan were both given special accolades at York, doing interviews in the meeting hall of the museum. The two men had won Super Stock and Junior Stock respectively that season. The York event also hosted its annual Legion of Honor, respecting the heroes from racing’s past during Friday evening.The Glory Days Cruise-In event is a Saturday tradition at the York US30 Reunion. Cars filled up the infield parking area at the museum’s authentic dirt speedway. Among the highlights were several Chevrolets from York’s noteworthy Ammon R. Smith franchise, who sponsored Dave Strickler and tuner Bill Jenkins during the heyday of FX, SS, and Pro Stock.It is always neat to read the fine print. Overlooked by some attendees for sure, this is a real SS427 Impala from 1969, the final year it was offered. It shows unrestored detail and a low 44,200 miles on its L72 425hp engine. And it’s a convertible! Les McNally of nearby Gettysburg is the car’s owner.The engine from the McNally Impala. Big cars rarely survived with these better high-compression engines intact, so this is a pretty special machine.One final look at a display car summarized the car show’s stock-bodied focus. This 1968 Hemi Barracuda was purchased new by the late Ken Montgomery. He raced it in Super Stock and converted it to Pro Stock in 1970, winning a Division 1 racing circuit run by Frank and Steve Lesueur that season. When Pro Stock went crazy with the rules, Montgomery raced it down in A/Modified Production for a number seasons until NHRA cancelled the entire eliminator. So he simply parked it, creating a time-capsule machine and what may be the best surviving example of early Pro Stock technology still existent today. His family displayed it in his honor, and they were also given the special 2017 Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins Award of Excellence for their preservation efforts.Part of Sunday’s tradition is George Nye’s flag-starting efforts in Nostalgia Super Stock; he waves green for Go! as Rob Schatz and the injected Performance King Plymouth get underway for another hot lap.Al Loy and his 1962 Impala have been regulars to the event for several years. He was invited to display the gorgeous 409ci machine under the large tent for the EMMR reunion, then showed up and went a couple of rounds on Sunday.Fords were on hand on Saturday even if the Fairlane Club was gone; this was First Place winner Glenn Kriner of Grantville, Pennsylvania, and his modified 1969 Mustang packing Boss 429 heat.Another weekend of enjoyment over, it was time to head home. Doing so top-down like this 1968 GTX is the classiest way to enjoy the Pennsylvania countryside and think about the glory days of both cruising the drive-in circuit in muscle cars and drag racing at the long-gone York US30 racetrack. Next year, be there!
