Meltdown Drags -VINTAGE DRAG Meet- at Byron Dragway-July 31st

[Big Z]

Here is some car criteria from Eric:

we are looking to re-create a vintage 60's drag meet.
Not just have A drag meet.
We are looking for the following:
Vintage 30's 40's, 50's or 60's traditional type cars.....
Unrestored - drag cars, superstock, front engine dragsters, hot rods, customs etc.
Restored - vintage 30's, 40's, 50's or 60's era hot rods, drag cars or tribute cars.
NEW - tribute cars, gassers superstocks, front engine dragsters, alterds etc....look vintage but never existed back in the day...but fit the bill of what a peiod 50's or 60's Hot Rod would be.

Also...Centerline, Pro-stars, & other billet wheels did not exist in the pre1966 era.
That being said....if your car has these but otherwise is fairly correct, you have 4 weeks to do some swapping around. WE DO NOT Care how fast your car is....but it needs to look correct. So if you need to run slower with old wheels...THAT IS ACTUALLY BETTER. So get out those old Cragars, American 5 spokes, Chrome Reversed, Slots, steel wheels or other period wheels and put them on...you might actually like them better...or now will have a set so you can vintage race.
We are ok with safety updates, disc brakes, seat belts rev limiters etc....but the cars should not have modern graphics, nitrous bottles on display or other telltale signs of an updated vehicle. If you run notrous we dont want to know...dont clear your lines at the starting line...
Lets say I have a period 65 chevelle, has period wheels, old pie crusts slicks, and a period interior...but I open the hood and there is an updated 406 sbc with dominator carb...that is ok...we prefer a period engine, but realize it is 2010. Again...we want to re-create a VINTAGE 60s drag meet...Street cars are most welcome to race...after all most Gassers were double duty street cars. They just need to have the visual appearance of a pre 66 era.

IF your not sure about something....pretend you will watch the drag meet footage in B&W...if you can tell right away that is a modern car....you probably wont be racing in the 5 classes. NO PROSTOCKS or TUBBED CARS. OBVIOUSLY TO MODERN

I have received several pics from people wanting to double check there car will pass....PLEASE encourage your friends if they are unsure to send pics....I can pass or let you know a minor change etc could get you in. e_koopmeiners@hotmail.com
I have not said no to the emials I have received so far!!!

The whole reason this event even occured was due to the fact that many events have a wide variety of cars running that are all over the board.

We all like old cars...if your car does not meet the criteria...it is probably still a sweet ride...we are only looking for Traditional/Period Correct cars....Not sure....email me some pics so we can discuss.

Thank you

[James]

Im helping Ryan and Eric out since it there first show. Im gonna be doing the tech with the track worker Ray. If you have any question just ask and Ill try to help you out. If you get there and your car doesnt pass tech. We will try to help you find the stuff you need to run your car.....

Cant wait to see you guys!

[Django]

My folks are coming into town now on that weekend. So I don't know if I can go or not.

[James]

Originally Posted by Hellfish

I've been following this thread on the HAMB. The rules for "slower" cars are EXACTLY the same as NHRA tracks, like Great Lakes Dragaway... so why the hell was everyone giving us grief about having a show at GLD with such "restrictive rules" and insisting we'd be better off at Byron where anything goes?!?!

Joe for me as a racer Byron is a better track to race on its smoother and wider plus safer. I wouldnt say anything goes at Byron but I will say they want to see every car run down the track. If its some crazy scary sh!t it will be turned away. Joe for the most part people just dont like the grove for some reason or another. I have mine it happened at the first HCHU race. I almost was run over at the end of the track. When my Austin broke they let 2 more sets of cars run while my car and I were still on the track. Then they wouldnt let my guys bring the truck an trailer to get the car. So I had to try to drive my car that had a bent stearing link so I was dragging a tire. I had no brakes both front lines blew out when I was trying to stop it at 129 mph. This is all because of the dip at 1000 ft. when my car hit it. Its started to bounce up and down very violently...... I love the HCHU its very cool but I just wont race in it as long as its at the grove.

Ill get off my soap box now sorry for the out burst

[Hellfish]

Originally Posted by Django

My folks are coming into town now on that weekend. So I don't know if I can go or not.

Bring your dad... and Tucker. "Buggity buggity buggity boys, let's go racing!" Can you tell that I've seen "Cars" 158 time now?

James, I can't speak for GLD, but you were the only one that day that experienced a dip in the track. You may have actually felt you steering linkage go and it felt like the track. That doesn't excuse or explain letting cars go too soon, etc. I'm sure mistakes happen at Byron and other tracks, too. Anyway, you had the only safety complaint I know of at either HCHU. The complaints I heard before the show were that GLD was much stricter than Byron, which clearly isn't the case. It sounds like a similar useless debate like Chevy Vs. Ford. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but at the end of the day, both are great cars. Ya know?

The important thing right now is that Byron is letting vintage racing happen on the 31st, and the rules are the same as HCHU, so everyone knows what to expect.

[James]

[quote=Hellfish;74047]
James, I can't speak for GLD, but you were the only one that day that experienced a dip in the track. You may have actually felt you steering linkage go and it felt like the track.
QUOTE]

Short and sweet I have alot of friends that are bracket racers and they will not race there because of the 1000 ft dip. My buddy's FED bounced all 4 tires of the ground when it hit the dip. Ill let it rest at that..... Sorry for the rant.

We are having a meeting at Ryans house jul 10 hopping to get everything for the show ironed out for the melt down...

[LilD]

Dont care much about the track debate but Im excited to go see this show! I rescheduled my vacation so I could be back in time to see it.

[James]

Ryan,Eric,Rich, Eric's friend (sorry forgot your name) and I sat down saturday and had alittle talk about the classes. We're kinda getting some grief from guys that there cars are 1966 or older but dont fit the criteria close enough. So Eric said back in the day they used to have a X class. That was for car that didnt fit in any of the other classes or there wasnt enough cars to fill the other classes

So now we will have a X class for all the other car that dont fit the criteria.

Hope to see most or all of you there gates open at 9am on the 31

[Hellfish]

James, I really know nothing about either track, so there's no point in making an issue out of it.

Sounds good! At the Heads Up we used "Hot Rod" class as kind of a catch-all class. To neatly fit all cars into a class, you'd need a lot of classes!

[coolstuff]

classes be damned - lets just run em!!!!

[Big Z]

Originally Posted by coolstuff

classes be damned - lets just run em!!!!

Ditto, let's just race. We'll see you there John.

[Big Z]

One more week until the drags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[James]

Come one come all camping friday night gates open @3pm close @9pm....Then Great drag racing in the am! 9am gates open park on the hill side enjoy racing all day.

If anyone wants to help with the show PLEASE let me know. It sound like a ton of cars are gonna be there.

[coolstuff]

hey - what time can the vendors and "film crew" get in?

[truckdude]

Drags were a great time, lots of pics to follow. Dragdoc's RPU flat out rocks.