SDRA REUNION AND NOSTALGIA NIGHT DRAG RACES 2022
#192
This two hour and thirty-six minute video production covers all the activities at the Southeastern Drag Racers Association (SDRA) Reunion at Dothan, Al and the Nostalgia Night Drag Racing Series event at Cottonwood Dragway.
This is the twenty-second year for the Reunion and it seems to get better each year.
This year the annual car show was held on Friday in the paring lot of the Clarion Inn. All I can say is wow! It was an excellent assortment of drag race and special interest vehicles for sure. We had everything from Top Alcohol dragsters to stocker type drag cars. There was a group of original 1964 Lightweight Ford Galaxie Drag Cars in attendance. They only made 50 of these ultra rare cars and three of them were on display at the show. I had a chance to interview Larry Davis who owns one of the cars and he gave us the background on the cars.
For General Motors fans we had a 1963 Swiss Cheese Pontiac Catalina that was raced by the legendary Arnie “Farmer” Beswick. This car is the most recent addition to the drag car stable of Jerry Kelley. Jerry has a great assortment of historic drag vehicles and he gave us the story on the Beswick Pontiac. Great car and great story.
We also had a 1962 409 Chevy called the “Tallahassee Thorobred” in the parking lot. The car is currently owned by Russ Campbell. I talked with Russ and Dave Youngman, who is the son of the original owner Dave Youngman, and they gave me all the details about the car. Very interesting car and a terrific restoration project.
They also had an original 1970 Super Cobra Jet Mercury Cyclone at the show. There were only 341 produced and we fill you in on the details of the cars. Hall of Fame member Bob Fermier (deceased) owned and raced one of the 341 cars back in 1970 and I use an interview I did with him to tell the story.
There was also a group of gassers at the show and I did an interview with Larry Moran who had a very interesting 1962 Ford Falcon Gasser. Larry has done several other race car builds in the past and his work is always first class.
I also found a 1988 Ford Thunderbird Pro Stocker that was run by Bob Glidden back in the day. Mark Johnson owns it now and he shared the story of the car with me. Very interesting historic race car.
One of the more interesting street cars on display was a 1972 T5 Mustang. This Mustang was made in America and then shipped to Germany. Only 231 of these T5 Mustangs were produced and we get the story on it from its current owner Vance Neely.
I was also attracted to a 1979 Hurst Oldsmobile on the show grounds since I had owned one back in the 1990's.. This one was done in the Black and Gold paint combination. There was also a White and Gold color available in 1979.
Friday evening was reserved for the Hall Of Fame Banquet and awards ceremony. The gala took place in the Clarion ballroom and over 225 people attended. Twelve new Hall Of Fame inductees were introduced to the audience and several awards were presented.
Saturday night concluded with a whole bunch of door prize drawings. Special thanks goes out to O’Reilly Auto Parts for being the primary sponsor.
Saturday morning I headed off to Cottonwood Dragway for the Nostalgia Night Drag Racing Series program. When I got to the track, I moved around the pit area and checked out some of the vehicles that were getting ready for the racing to begin. I found some very interesting cars and collected some interviews which are included in the video. I had never seen a Vegamino before but there it was a combination Vega and pickup truck. I also found a 1963 Dodge Dart drag car that used a slant 6 engine for go power. When I saw a Lions Drag Strip sticker on the side window I knew we had a story. As it turns out the current owner found it advertised on ebay and struck a deal to bring it back to Alabama. Very cool car. Next I found the other two owners of the 1964 Ford Galaxie Lightweight cars and talked with each about their special vehicles. I just love those 64 Lightweights and the story behind them is very fascinating.
I also found a great story about a 1963 Pontiac Catalina that is currently owned by Kenny Ford of Performance Torque Converters. Kenny told me he inherited the car and it is a wonderful story.
Sometime after noon time runs began and the cars hit the track. We show you a lot of the action as we work our way toward the elimination rounds.
All the cars ran two time runs then we captured the first round of their eliminations. The emphasis was on having fun and making passes down the track. We continued to record the racing until the final runs took place.
The racing action accounts for one hour and ten minutes of our coverage.
We got to see some great racing and we met some terrific people. If Nostalgia type drag racing is your thing I am sure you will enjoy this video.
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