Event Coverage 2012 MELTDOWN DRAGS * Vintage Drag Meet * July 21-22

Well we wanted to have dragsters and altereds at the Meltdown that were vintage cars but in all reality there are not that many of them that can still run, and some of them are too fast to run on vintage wheels so an exception was made for safety. I think the criteria may tighten up for 2013.

 

Great discussion...happy to update. If you happen to know the following then it is here for those that dont know this info.

VOXNUT....one word......NHRA.... from your avitar you should know some of these reasons. NHRA......they have the ability to 'turn off' vintage rails/altereds running each other...solo passses only. Or completely not allow it on the track...PERIOD.
They exert their anthority by a severe fine to the track owner or pulling NHRA from the track all together....WE DO NOT WANT TO EVEN GO THERE FOR BYRON. A nearby track was fined $20,000 for allowing a non-legal funny car to make full passes.

Anything not currently certified to run on the track, double hoop, belts, frame cert, current suit, approved helmet, mask etc.....is technically an old obsolete/not legal car.......
we were not about to tell guys running 7's and 8's what wheels to run or what to do....that would be foolish.

I think for 2013...we will have enough guys that get what we are doing...some people can simply change their rear wheels.....etc.

We are discussing limiting the Altered & Rails to period correct appearing...but this quickly becomes a nightmare....newstalgia, nostalgia, vintage, modern fed...where do you draw the line....updates and safety gear is whatever it needs to be....alot of guys run the approved/certified reproduction wheels now but there are so few of these cars...(remember this is not California much less of these in the Midwest) and we would have had half or 1/3 of what was there without updated cars.

For those who have not put an event on...these things need to be done in baby steps easy to question it...but there is really alot to this, and shooting from the hip on decisions is not the answer, we had to ratchet the event down year by year...should be exactly where we want it for 2013..... we wanted to invite the few guys with fed/altereds around in the hopes some of them enjoyed it enough to do what is necessary (changes) to come again...the ones worried about their et, their reaction time.....were not at the right event....totally missed the concept.


This statement was not meant to be a discussion, but Paul and I need to decide what we are going to do with the Fed's and Altereds....

We are working on it, but we WILL NOT make any shoot from the hip decisions....they will be what is best for the event and participants....
believe you me....we want a VINTAGE DRAG MEET....just remember each year we have gotten closer.....1 area left to address.

So this being said are you coming for 2013 ?? With your Rail in tow???? Looks AWESOME!!!


Koop

 

CARNAGE. well for a car that couldnt hook ,i twisted and broke the input shaft broke 2nd gear and screwed up both clutch discs, i called jerico they said too much hp and torque and too aggressive of a clutch , but when i bought it they said this is what you need, now what? some pics for your viewing pleasure, marty

 

hey guys my friend and i brought our 2 mopars out from michigan and we absolutely loved attending the event it was awesome we both agree it is one of the best events either of us has ever attended i do have 1 suggestion for next year as we do plan on coming back next year, is there a way you could replace that s-10 support vehicle that was sitting up behind the starting line with a era correct truck like a 1964 chevy or something that would make it really look even more cool and vintage maybe a participant would love to have their truck sitting up there just a suggestion thanks again for putting on a top notch show we will be back for 2013.

 

Thank you guys for bringing those two Mopars from Michigan and also thank you for the observation and suggestion. Actually, we were already aware of and discussed that, but other priorities prevented us from implementing our plan. The 2013 Meltdown Drags will be even better yet...

 

Why were making suggestions, we have one. Have the person in the multicolored golf cart tone it down a little on where one needs to park. There were a couple people, including us that he had to be questioned to the third degree on who we were, who were we with, and what we were doing there. It went like this " You here for the Pontiac day?" "Yes, but also for the Meltdown drags." "But you have a Pontiac, your only here for the Pontiac day!" "No, also for Sat. and Sun." " You running today?" "No, tomorrow and Sunday." "Then you need to be in the car show area." " Were running tomorrow and need to be in the pits." "What club you with?" "No club, just ourselves." "Well I don't know what to tell you but you need to be with a club to park in the pits." We also witnessed this happen to a guy that drove a long ways just to be brow beat that he had to be with a club to park in a certain area. I think is was one of the Great Lakes Gassers that finally came up to the guy on the cart and said " my god, let the guy park where ever he wants, were all friends here."

 

Not to change the subject, but what is this 30 Dodge that everyone is talking about. Has anyone seen this car in person or is it all smoke and mirrors.lol Almost everyone has heard of "NESSIE" or "SASQUATCH", but I have never seen these personally. Are you guys sure that one does exist? If so I will believe it when I see it next July.

 

My little brother has one of these that could take the place of the s-10, he would also be willing to push start anyone who needed it too.

 

thats cool but i dont think it would get down the track very quickly if it had to my friend has one they are really low geared i almost think i could out run it LOL.

 

Slam it 4 inches, red steelies with dog dish centers on pinstripe whitewalls... matching spare... Snow plow on the front doubling as a push bar... Old time gas station graphics on the door... Maybe some scallops ... might just work !!

 

Yeah your right 5.38:1 gears and a odd ball half flathead half ohv 4cyl engine is far from fast. Maybe it should be just a push truck.lol

 

Me pulling Eric's 55 Chevy the Shiftmaster at the Meltdown Drags

 

very cool!

 

There is a truck that would be perfect for this role and it's only about 10 miles from the strip, in Leaf River ILL. It's a 1962 Corvair rampside pickup that was originally a Standard Oil service truck. It's an unrestored original complete with the Standard Oil lettering from 1962. However, the owner is probably not a drag racer. It makes it around to some local car shows and cruise-ins, so maybe someone from this area has some pics?

 

Is that Vere? He also has a light blue original 51 International pickup and an old plymouth? If so, I have his phone number.

 

Rusty1 has an old Chevy pickup that is lettered up (1949-1950?). It's reliable too. Maybe we can get him to be the track vehicle next year.

How about it Sam?

 

Koop-

I get it, and I wasn't suggesting that only rusty old 3-point roll cage cars with 45 year-old corroded Halibrands show up to run for top eliminator. I was just curious as to why from the photos I saw, they mostly seemed to be "newstalgia" cars whose only vintage aspect was engine location. I know it would probably kill the car count, but maybe if you even started with no A-arm front ends and wire wheels that would be a start. It also looked as thoguh you had enough doorslammers that you don't really need the rails and altereds to run a successful meet, so you can always draw a line in the sand and if you only get a small handful of diggers and altereds, so be it.

Contrary to popular belief, California is not the home of scads of period looking FEDs that just have the required safety upgrades. When I first started down the road of building my dragster and would go to the March Meet or CHRR to look at other dragsters to get ideas, when I explained that I wanted to build a car that looked like a 1963-era C/D cacklecar, but was legal to make runs, absolutely everyone replied with "why on earth would you want to do that?"

Perhaps with the emergence of Eagle Field more of those kinds of cars will get built, but Randy Winkel, Stormy Byrd, and Doug and Lori Peterson are the only ones in California I know of that have that specific approach. Bruce Dyda's 7.0 pro car manages to nail the late 60's look and still be a bona-fide race car, but I get the feeling that it's more of a byproduct rather than it was Bruce's main aim to make a car that looked like it was from 1969.

I'm sure that are other cars that are now mothballed that used to come out when "nostalgia" (I hate that word) racing still operated under the thin guise of trying to make it like it used to be, but there certainly aren't full fields of dragsters and altereds that make you wonder what year it is when you're watching them.

Believe me, I would love to be able to tow out to Byron for the Meltdown, but I'm working hard to scrape together the dough to even finish my dragster, (which will hopefully be done in 2014) let alone tow it to the other side of the country to run it. If I ever hit the jackpot though, I'm there!

 

I don't know who owns it. The original owners ran a Standard Oil distributorship in Leaf River. I think that it is their son who owns it now???
It occasionally shows up at the cruise-ins at Sam's Drive-In, and it was at the Leaf River Daze car show, this year. It is a very cool looking unrestored truck.

 

Voxnut, very good input. I believe it is a mutual feeling amongst our group that this is a vintage drag race put together by vintage drag racers. Suggestions like these are what can help to really fine tune this event into exactly what all of us would like to see and participate in.

We have yet to have our group "debriefing" from this year's event. We were all a little fried afterwards from all the sensory overload. One of the things for us to discuss is how to handle the criteria for next year. We had approximately 300 cars Saturday. It will be interesting to see what happens next year, but I suspect we will be pushing the track's limit. One way for us to manage the size of the attendance would be for us to tighten up the criteria.

It is possible for an updated and certified dragster to meet our criteria. Mopar Mike's FED was running in the 9s just fine with spoke wheels up front and Astro Supreme wheels on the rear.

At this point, it is too early for me to say for sure what changes will be made for next year. Whatever they are, they will be subtle but will very likely involve the Dragster/Altered class. This year was great, but I think next year will be even better.

 

Tightening things up more will create a lot more work for yourselves. Trust me on this one. I don't know how you could do that anyway. The show is going to keep growing in a good way. Expanding the pit area and organizing the tow vehicles/trailers better will give you more breathing room

 

BTW, my car is certed by NHRA to go 7.50, so it can be done...

 

...I'm flattered that you'd mention my old truck(s);...I'll have to give this some thot.

 

I'm with Hellfish on the tow vehicles and trailers, and if they got a problem tell em to refer to rule #1.

 

We would prefer to have all dragsters look like yours, It looks great. We definitely have some things to work out for 2013. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

Regarding the criteria discussion. I think the approach being taken is on the money. Of, course, it is impossible to please everyone, every time. That is why we have rule #1. I understand the baby steps and compromises. It would have been nice if that really quick altered could have lost the big honkin' modern scoop, but I was glad I got to see it run.
With this many cars that were not familiar with the track, I saw the potential for a real "cluster" in the pits. From my point of view it went remarkably well. I appreciated the lady in the golf cart that found us a spot where we could pit together and led us to it. Perhaps guidelines for the pit layout and traffic flow could be posted for next year.

 

Guys....to address a few comments/concerns. The Pontiac's show Friday threw a curve ball at everyone. The track staff was under the impression from the Pontiac club they were only there for Friday...not the Meltdown. So they probably didnt get that you were there for both...many could not meet criteria to stay...but that beautiful Red Machine does!!

AJ, Paul and I had detailed discussions about a vehicle in the background at the line from 2012....and I am PLEASED to see that other people saw what we saw....we had a plan but I am sure those of you that were there saw that we were very busy and that one wasnt realized until to late. Glad to see we have people on it for 2013.

Also as far as tightening criteria. As Hellfish pointed out it will be more difficult. This will require more manpower and checking at the gate. Going back to my original point...it is easy to say wave the wand and make this happen. But when you are putting on something like this with a group or club you quickly see who is all talk and who puts their money where their mouth is. As you can see the Meltdown Association is really putting the event on the Fugitives are more participants in the event. We have had SO MANY MDA members step up and help THANK YOU MDA members we could not do this without you...you know who you are. For 2013 Paul and I will personally be reaching out to some of you for some help....as this gets bigger the help needs to get bigger. We are not asking for 1 day committment, maybe and hour or two.

Voxnut, we get it....and yes it does cert. that double hoop shows that. But there are not many cars like this here in the Midwest, the ones that are around are old and not updated. It does get down to money for a FED or Altered to update and make it legal to run...ALOT OF MONEY....for a 1 weekend event. I have been to the March Meet....I wish we could produce that many FED's...As I stated we had less than 10% Altereds and Rails....does anyone want 5% or less.
I didnt want to have to say this...but I personally reviewed the list of cars and asked that the one car with the scoop NOT to ATTEND with that particular organization for this exact reason....they brought it in in front of a second vehicle inside an enclosed trailer and the first I saw of it was when it was making a pass...FYI.
Skinny Mike can vouch for this conversation because he knew it took place, and he couldnt believe it was there. Pit layout and removal of open trucks and trailers to the East parking lot discussion has already taken place.

Voxnut, we would love to have you fly out here for 2013 to assist with the event as an MDA member to see what it takes to put this on and be involved with the details on Sat & Sun. Cheaper than driving with a trailer.

Anyone else, if you love the event and are willing to donate an hour or 2 Sat morning, or Fri evening....Paul and I will be organizing volunteers for 2013... MDA members that want to contribute to this and see it grow and continue.

Great discussion from all......the best part is everyone wants to see it fine tuned.

And as we have said before...this is put on by "Hot Rodders for Hot Rodders" and Hot Rodders includes racers, customizers, early muscle car, street rods, street machines, etc.....anyone who GETS...and APPRECIATES what the Meltdown is....
hell, if we dont watch out for ourselves who will ??

 

I agree the S10 needs to be replaced with era correct. A friend of mine said the picture of my car would have looked better if it wasn't in the background.

 

Im sure we can come up with at least 5 guys out of our group to help out with what ever you guys need just let us know what needs to happen and we will be more than happy to help out Jeff

 

Next year I plan on being at Byron friday night for the Meltdown. I would be more then happy to lend a helping hand.

 

I love this Quote! Lots of people want this and that but there's MUCH to putting on an event like yours, I know. Keep it up and I hope I can make it next year. Rocky