I stopped going several years ago. It was always the exact same program, it got old. Gibbs or not there wasn't much creative thinking. I'd suggest Fuel altereds, liberalize the nitro rules a little so they can go a little faster, not to increased costs much, give guys a couple years to change. And ditch the too modern looking cars!! Some new classes would be fun. Like an FX old funny car class, injected and blown, think 1965-66. Same for gas classes, set back the rules to 65-66. Have some entertainment for down time! Bothe the MM and CHRR had constant oil downs, only the real devoted sit for two hours for track clean up. Hire some airplanes or DO something. The cackle at the hotel was always too many people in too small a space, nobody could see and it was always late. AND limit the beer a little, get the DAMN CARTS OUT OF THERE! It needs a shot in the arm, to RETURN to what it once was.
maybe a pro car match race or even t shirt shooters, limit fuel cars to 1000 ft with spect rear end ratios and tires, any thing different to draw spectators and cut down time for oil downs. that might work for a couple of years. by the way if you can attend for 3 days for 400 bucks, you know someone
DDD’s got it right. There’s nothing like a cup of coffee and that chorizo burrito sitting in the grandstands early on a Bakersfield race morning. Pure heaven. $155 for the wife, me and a car show entry for the weekend plus another $100+ for food. We sleep in our van outside. Makes no sense to spend $100 a night just for a room to crash in. Makes it affordable for us. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Here I go up on my soapbox... There is no experience quite like the CHRR. On a bad year it's good, on a good year it's great. I sat near guys that had flown half way around the world to be there. I told them that this year seemed small only to have them look at me like I'm crazy. Their reply was to ask me if I realize what I'm seeing. They were thrilled to be there and could not imagine it being better. Maybe the NHRA screwed up some stuff, maybe some folks get pissed off when stuff changes. I know that the swap meet was down this year, is that the NHRA or online sales shrinking the turnout? Every swap meet I go to is getting smaller, the NHRA isn't involved in most of them. The auction was scant this year, that's a fact. At the reception Friday evening I made a point to tell Cindy Gibbs that without her the auction was failing, and told her it would really be nice if she would get involved again. Hope she listens. The oil downs this year really messed with the schedule. AA/FA suffered for it, no doubt. Oil downs are part of nitro, whatcha gonna do? Sunday is always thin. A lot of cars head for home if they're out, a lot of fans have to work on Monday. I know I'm about worn out by Sunday morning and I'm facing a 750 mile trip home. While there are a lot of issues with the way the CHRR is run, I'll go to every one of them until they quit having them. That's the only way a fan can support the event. And the event is worth supporting. Where else do I get to see all these icons in one place? With racing? With a swap meet? With a car show? With cackle cars? And at the Patch? Fuck yeah I'm going!
Went to the nhra museum on Thursday, was at the track from 9 ish until last car ran all three days, loved it all, yes swap meet and show cars were down, while I enjoy swap meets and car shows, I’m there for the racing and the race cars, and of course several nose full’s of nitro Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
Entry "Cacklecar" $125 (3 total event passes and 2 vehical) $75 round trip gas money (2004 chevy Colorado to trailer the dragster up there) $213 Hotel (2 nights) meals- well we all have to eat anyway(but eating out for the entire weekend came to around $128.63 tip included) . Didnt need one of the vehical pit passes and sold it for $25 (norm $50) tax and license out the door $388 (minus the eats) Fuelers run a spec tire and limited gear ratio anyway, Most damage occurs durring the burnout, the top end just finishes it off. How can you have a "Pro Match Race" during an oildown cleanup???
Takes time to repair the damage and Larry Fisher is doing a great job, But it also takes others to work with him to make it like it once was, and some people are just stubborn and like to complain. If you understand WHAT the CHRR is all about and what it means, considering that we lost 15 people since the time the program was printed , then you attend because for some it will be the last time to say HI
totally understand the concept, being aracer and a fan, im losing great friends every year. just lost a great flagman, racer, and fan last week. how many cackle cars were there this year? how many at borona? bowling green is also in danger. 2016 was a problem at both reunions. hope they can repair the damage. but im not holding my breath.
Gotta say, some of you just like to bitch. Is the event perfect, hell no, no event can satisfy everyone. I think this year was an improvement over last year but they still can’t figure out how to run a “cackle”. I was tied up in the pits most of the weekend so my butt wasn’t filling a bleacher seat (new this year, in fact they were being welded up Thursday night til o’dark thirty keeping me awake. The security folks complained about earlier were all friendly and polite if you just gave them a cheerful hello and a smile. And the racing was pretty good IMO
One year I walked into the center of (10?) idling nitro burning fed’s......big mistake, still wondering how many years of life I lost.......good times
Attended the races on Saturday and couldn’t be more happy!! Spent $25 on a ticket, didn’t have to pay to park, and got to see all kinds of great racing!!! The crowd was huge and most everyone stayed all the way thro the cacklefest!! Had a great time with my dad can’t wait for next year!! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
There were around 45 this year and 30 did the push start , and there were others that did the static fire on Sunday, Barona had a good count considering that the facility is small, BG gets local cars, not many west coast cars attened for logistical reasons and weather conditions. Good news is that another Revival is planned for May 19 2019 at IRWINDALE (aka The Rockpile) 1/8 mile pushstarts. fireups in the pits. plenty of parking and the good news, its only 45minutes from my house
We only ran it in 96. We ran the entire goodguys deal that year in top fuel or AA/FD whatever you want to call it. We get to the final round and it starts to rain. It couldn't have been a hour later and they came around and said it was over. They took the trophy apart and gave us half and the other guy half and called it even. That didn't set well with anyone, but what are you going to say? Then this fucking security guard comes around about 2 hours into the load up and tells me if we don't have it all in the trailer and headed out the gate in the next hour we will be going to jail. At that point I knew I had enough of the reunion deal.
As someone who has attended the reunion every year since the second annual only missing #26, here is my take. Every year it seemed to get better with more and more historic and recreated cars . The excitement would build for weeks leading up to the events and the good feelings would last just as long after the reunion. In years past the historic dragsters were given a prominent spot in the Grove. The traditional car clubs would gather down by the finish line bleachers, excitement wherever you looked. After a year off I went to the CHRR this weekend. I had good time, but the magic days seemed to gone. A good portion of the cars running, you could see at any weekend bracket meet. The traditional hot rods and customs were few and the Cackle Cars consisted of two rows. I just don't see it as the big draw it once was.
It would be worth it if half the cars were there. When the CCHR (and possibly The March Meet) goes away we can blame NHRA. Then where are you going to go? Many types of automotive events have dwindling attendance. Maybe the excitement isn't what it once was. Can we blame it on all the different event organizers? Or maybe we as participants and spectators are different nowadays.
Agreed! I live about 17 minutes from the track and the last few years I typically only go every other year to both events partially for this very reason. I understand the “support your track” philosophy and have done that before but I also understand the “it is a pain in the ass to rearrange my whole work schedule, pay for all the kids to get in the door and not be all that impressed philosophy. More times than not I got just so the kids can have memories. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I totally agree Bruce...I think that Larry Fisher is doing what he can to undo what was done in 2016, and it DOES need everyone's support to make it GREAT AGAIN!! This event was NEVER originally intended as a race per se, but rather as a gathering of friends to honor those passed......I can say personally that the reason we have gone in the past and the reason we continue to go is to honor those pioneers, and more recently brought restorations of our own to show fans a bit of living history to see, hear, touch , and feel what it was like 50-60 years ago. My son Brant made the trek again this year with his latest restoration...the Blaylock & Johnson A/FD, (formerly The California Kid, driven by Jet Car Bob Smith & Bob Sbarbaro) in hopes he could re-unite the car with JCB....tragically missed that by only a couple of weeks. It's about the history guys.... and the people who made it...NOT the racing, and that is why events like Escondido, Barona, and Nitro Revival are are becoming a popular alternative to the Drag Racing events. This is something we love to do, if it costs us a couple of thousand bucks to support these from Calgary Canada, then let's just say We do it to honor and enjoy, and for your enjoyment too...not just to support the NHRA Museum.
NOW......did anyone take ANY pics.....wouldn't mind seeing some, as I wasn't able to make the trip this year. Thanks!
HEMI32. You don't understand what I was saying. The exact same field as years ago, always a secondary show. Ditched after 97 T/F oildowns. Nice pics, great cars, but irrelevant to my point. I have gone to drag races for 54 years! People are acting like we don't WANT the CHRR to be great. Riiiiiiight. Yeah, that's the point we are making. The damn Winternationals got be huge bore, for YEARS the exact same program, the skydiver guy, country music (God), DOWN TIME with nothing going on.. The Big show is a Big Bore. No character. super fast, not interesting. No "nostalgia" cars, no wheelstanders, no jets, no interesting interviews, no nothing. Same with the CHRR. I'll be damned if I'll pay $800 bucks for three days of unimaginative, same as last year NOTHING going on half the time "racing".
All this chat and no one even mentioned that 5 of our hero's are inducted into the Hot Rod Hall of Fame in the Double tree's massive conference room. MC'd by Bob Frey, as always do'n a great job keeping it humorous, light and moving. Rip Steve Evens, Get better Big Mac! We were surrounded by greats some of witch were Isky, Snake, Roland Leong, Jerry Ruth, Greg Sharp, Pete Eastwood, Kelly Brown, Bob Brandt, Linda Vaughn. These were the people we recognised. Hell I'm from the other coast. As far as I was concerned they were all famous, I should get their autograph and have a beer with them, because you could. Everyone of them are very approachable. Cackled three diggers in the parking lot after the induction ceremony. Hey that didn't happen in 2016, on the Reunions 25th anniversary! Bummer. Friday at the track I took a lot of pics, I dig the grove it was packed! I dig the them Historic FED's in the pit's and their random cackle'n. There were more FED's than the passed two years and Guess what, they were randomly cackle'n again! Ya. They didn't 2016, 2017 There were alot of people in the stands watching the Qualifying and shakedowns that I could see. Saturday was Packed everywhere, we found out you had to have a Handicap tag on yer golf cart to Drive in the Grove. First year we rented a golf cart so now we know to bring the handicap tag. The Cackle show on the track later that night with push starting on the return road by the fence where we were situated was way better than last year. Sunday was real light in the Grove I thought. People were in the stands watching the eliminations. We were love'n it catch'n them California sun rays, top fuel, altereds, funny cars, wheelstanders. After all this ramble'n we thought it was way better than the previous two years, Thanx.
No ... I understood exactly what you were saying ... and I apologize for isolating your one statement about Fuel Altereds ... it was just a convenient way for me to add some photos to this thread ... and yes, you’ve got me beat ... I’ve only been going to drag races since 1967 (back when oil-downs were even more frequent) ... and I haven’t been back to the CHRR since 2012. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I guess it boils down to different people wanting different things from the event. Some want to sit in the stands and be entertained, some want to mingle with heroes from the past and their cars, some go to see or participate in the car show and swap meet, and for some it's just another place to get sh!tfaced. Myself, I try to be in the stands or at the fence for certain races (exhibition runs and nitro cars) but the most memorable moments for me have never been in the stands. My old high school buddy Danny Pisano runs a N/FC, my across-the-street neighbor from my childhood Chuck crews for the Quarter Pounder N/FC, my friend George Doty runs the Godzilla AA/FA. I always look for my buddy Don Waldron and his gasser booth. Since I retired and moved away this is a great place to see them and catch up. Over the years I've had great conversations with new people; such as the crew of the old Lincoln powered Gizzelhopper, Ratican, Jackson, and Stearns Olds/Fiat crew, K.S. Pitmann, the Schrank Bros crew and the Burkholder Bros. People I never expected to talk to but there they are, at The Reunion. Car counts, oil downs, head counts, I could give a sh!t, I just keep walkin' around and finding stuff that always puts a smile on my face and makes my pulse quicken.
As has been stated before, in the early years of the Reunion it was about the people and the cars that built our sport. As a kid I can remember The Grove being full of historic racecars now the historic display cars and the cackle cars are pushed into one corner of the pits while The Grove has been filled with pay to park street rods. Don’t get me wrong I love Hot Rods and Street Rods but that’s not what this event is about. If I want to see that kind of stuff I can go to a Good Guys show. That is just one example of how the history is being pushed out of the event. In all fairness the Cackle Fest seeemd like it went a lot better and maybe the people in charge of the event will try and return it to its former glory. I sure hope so since I’m relatively young at 37 years old so this event is my chance to interact with the roots of something I care so deeply about.
I have been misinterpreted on my earlier posts too. I LOVE drag racing, and SUPER LOVE nostalgia drag racing. My first exposure was in '64 when I was 14, my sister (16, just got her license) took me to Famoso on Sunday late afternoon. I knew nothing abut how races were run so that seemed as good a time as any. We were too poor to buy a ticket so we sat outside the fence and could spy the starting line through the chain link fence (that side of the track has been the same for at least 60 years!). Two Willys gassers were lined up and took off, both doing giant wheelies and screamed down the track. I was hooked forever. My posts lamenting the sky-rocketing prices and my photos of approaching zero Sunday attendance are expressions of my heartbreak that it appears we can never go home again. I don't care what everyone says that the CHRR is for other purposes than the racing, it is a charity for good causes, etc., when you see the stands 75% empty during fuel eliminations, that makes me really sad. Like I said, I am a grouchy old man so ignore my rantings.
Been going for a few years, saw the 2016 debacle first hand, like a lot of things new folks take over and are bound and determined to put their mark on "it" whatever "it" may be. "Gunna make things way better". Human nature I guess? Skipped 2017 due to a recent hip replacement, my fine friends that I go with didn't let me live that one down. Some may have seen Flat Johnny in 2017! Back in 2018, had a ton of fun. Is any event perfect? Nope. Events like this need support or they can disappear. Our rooms are booked for next year. Seen enough car shows with guys standing around cooing over chrome corrugated radiator hoses. This is the stuff I go to see.
The Jalopy Journal
