2012 FE FALL NATIONALS DRAG RACE
AND
ROCK & ROLL REVIVAL CAR SHOW
DVD #169
This video covers all the activities at the 22nd Rock & Roll Revival Car Show and the 1st Annual FE Fall Nationals Drag Races held at Battlefield Raceway Park in Collinsville, Mississippi on October 19-20, 2012. This video runs two hours and thirty-four minutes (154 min.)
I just loved the opportunity to travel to Mississippi to capture all the action at this great event. It was my first time at Battlefield Raceway Park and I certainly hope it will not be my last. Track owner Billy Jack Ethridge and his staff were perfect southern hosts and the event was terrific.
This is the 22nd year that the Queen City Rods and Classics Car Club of Meridian, Ms has held their Annual Car Show and each year it seems to be a big hit with everyone who attends. They can now add my name to the list of satisfied attendees. About 150 Cars and Trucks came out for the show and I can tell you there were some great vehicles and interesting stories to go along with them. We have included a few feature stories in the video and you will get to meet the owner of a Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins ‘67 Camaro tribute car, a cool ‘65 Comet from Philadelphia, Ms and a guy who owns 1 of just 17 FE 427 powered ‘68 Ford Ranchero’s. I also found an oval track Street Stock Race Car in the car show area and I talked to the owner about it and why it was at the Drag Race themed event. Interesting interview.
The other important part of the event centered around Drag Racing on Battlefield’s eighth mile drag strip. The racing program was divided into three categories and included a Special FE Powered Eliminator, a Nostalgia Gasser Eliminator and a 1972 and older foot brake ET bracket Eliminator.
Now just in case you are wondering FE is an acronym for “Ford/Edsel” and it is used to identify a group of big block Ford engines that were produced between 1958 and 1976. The most popular displacement sizes for the FE’s were 332, 352, 390, 406, 427 and 428. The idea to create this 1st ever FE Fall Nationals drag race was the brainchild of Jessie Holmes of Pensacola, Fl. Jessie used the internet to round up a group of cars to attend the show and they had six very competitive race cars running in the Eliminator. Jessie also created a special Top Eliminator Championship designed for the two quickest FE cars at the event. The Championship was to be decided with a heads-up best of three match race. Seeing that heads-up battle reminded me of the old 1960's Super Stock Match Races. Great stuff!
The Southern Gassers Association has been a part of the Rock & Roll Revival Event for the past few years and they showed up with 11 period correct Gassers. They had some of the familiar Willys, Austin’s, Fiat’s and ‘55 Chevy’s along with a 1950 Chevy called “Big Iron,” a 1941 Plymouth called “Bullet”and a ‘67 Y-block powered Falcon called “Rebel Rouser.” All in all it was a very entertaining eliminator and you get to see all the cars along with some select driver interviews. We follow all the action right down to the final elimination run.
In the 1972 and older bracket we got to see some of the FE and Gassers do double duty along with several other cars exclusive to the class. Once again this was great racing with good looking race cars.
Our drag racing coverage included a Friday night Test and Tune session as well as Time Trials and Eliminator racing on Saturday. I really enjoyed seeing the race cars running on the Battlefield drag strip in the dark on Friday. There is something special about night time drag racing. We also used our new GoPro In-Car Video camera at the event and I think you will enjoy seeing all the action from inside one of the race cars.
On Saturday we had a special match race featuring Terry Strehle and his 500+ CI Mustang going up against legendary Drag Racer Sidney Foster. Sidney ran an original Ford Tbolt back in the day and later drove a couple of Funny Cars for Coleman & Taylor out of Memphis, Tn. After thirty-seven years away from the track Sidney returns with a 500+ CI ‘65 Falcon. Sidney celebrated his 73rd birthday at the track and you will get to hear his story from start to current. I have even included some flash-back vintage 8 mm movie footage of Sidney racing back in the 1960's and 1970's. Sidney is one of our pioneer generation racers and he is still doing it today. Priceless! I am sure you will enjoy this story.
In addition to the great FE cars on the track there were several others in the pit area and we took a detailed look at all of them. I loved the ‘57 Ford with a 427 in the engine bay. We also had a wild ‘65 Comet with a SOHC 427 and an original Boss 429 Pro Stock Maverick. Bill Dismuke also had his one of a kind Tbolt Station Wagon in the pit area. OK the factory never made a station wagon Tbolt but if they did it would have looked just like the “ThunderWagon.”
I had so much fun at this event that my camera never stopped running. When I got home I found that I had almost three hours of footage and I had a hard time cutting it down to two hours and thirty-four minutes. 154 minutes in one video is like getting two and a half videos for the price of one. Don’t hesitate order now. $22 delivered to your door.
