Nostalgia Gassers Racing Association

On the 19th of July, part of our Gasser group headed to Byron,Illinois
for the 3rd annual Meltdown Drags. As we made our way to Byron from the
interstate a weather front came through, bringing lower humidity and
temperatures in the mid-80’s all weekend. When we arrived at the track we
pitted in the same row with the Great Lakes Gassers. We were greeted by
other members Roger Brown, Doug, Wendy, Carol & Lonnie Jent and Steve Bacon
and some of his crew.

On Saturday, Ted Beach, Bill Wamboldt, Tom Cray, Mark Hagen, Doug Jent,
and new members Mark Cambell, Dan Lau and Steve Lau, all fell in line as
everyone prepared for a day of racing. I went over the race day schedule
with track officials and Tim Timoszyk from the Great Lakes Gassers and we
headed to the staging lanes for some test passes just before noon. As the
day went on we made two test runs, then we paired up with a Great Lakes
Gasser and match raced a partner with a similar index. After two
elimination rounds had concluded we prepared for our evening meal with both
Gasser groups in our pits. We had a lot of nice conversations and good
food, followed by a great July sunset !

On Sunday, the Blasey’s, Randy Tavoletti, Ron Normann, Ken Kapper, and
our new member (and old friend) Jesse James arrived from racing the
previous night in Cedar Falls, Iowa, for our Sunday eliminations. Some of
our group made an early test run before the final rounds. Then at 12:30,
we went through the first round and then at two o’clock, the second round.
There was a lot of close matches at the line and in the end our competition
came to a tie! It was decided that the Great Lakes group would take the
trophy this year. After the racing was over Randy Tavoletti fired up his
grill and cooked his famous Brats before everyone hit the road for home.

The Woodman

JUST LIKE LAST YEAR, WE MADE THE TRIP TO CEDAR FALLS IOWA FOR THEIR ANNUAL
NIGHT OF FIRE EVENT. AS WELL JUST LIKE LAST YEAR WE LEFT THE SWELTERING
HEAT OF KANSAS AND WERE RELEIVED TO ARRIVE AT THE EVENT TO FIND PLEASANT
TEMPERATURES AND COOL BREEZES. WE WERE THE LAST TO ARRIVE AND WENT TO SAY HELLO
TO THE OTHERS BEFORE WE UNLOADED. CRUDE ,BLASEY, NORMAN, HUFFMAN, AND US WERE
THERE AT LAST YEARS EVENT. WE WERE ESPECIALLY GLAD TO SEE NEWCOMERS TO
THE EVENT JESSE JAMES, RANDY TAVOLLETTI, AND KEN KAPPER. BEFORE WE WERE CALLED
TO THE STAGING LANES FOR OUR FIRST RUN, PEOPLE STARTED TO COME BY OUR PITS
TO PICK UP HERO CARDS, GET PICTURES TAKEN WITH THE CARS AND JUST VISIT ABOUT
OLD GASSERS. BY THE TIME WE MADE OUR FIRST RUNS THE CROWD WAS STANDING ROOM
ONLY. THE JET CARS, FUNNY CARS, SUPER SIFTERS AND SUPER STOCKERS RAN
AHEAD OF US AND HAD THE CROWD PUMPED UP TO WATCH US MAKE OUR RUNS. ON THE WAY
BACK TO THE PITS ON GOING DOWN THE RETURN ROAD THE PEOPLE WERE HANGING OVER
THE FENCES WAVING, CHEERING, AND GIVING THE THUMBS UP AS WE WENT BY. THE
BLASEYS SET UP THE MEAL OUT OF THEIR TRAILER AND IT SURE WAS GOOD TO VISIT WITH
THE GANG ABOUT WHAT THEY HAD DONE TO THEIR CARS LATELY. NORMAN HAS TUNED
HIS WILLYS TO RUN 10.0’S EVERY PASS. JESSE HAS WORKED ON HIS CAR I WAS TOLD
AND HAD IT RUNNING REALLY STRONG .AS THE EVENING WENT ON FANS KEPT COMING BY
TO VISIT AND WE ENJOYED THEIR INTEREST IN OUR OLD CARS. THE PEOPLE OF CEDAR
FALLS REALLY LIKE DRAG RACING AND THEIR ENTHUSIASM IS UNMATCHED. AFTER THE
FINALS AND THE FIREWORKS DISPLAY WE WENT OUT ON THE TRACK WITH THE CARS FOR
THE MEET AND GREET. A STEADY FLOW OF PEOPLE AND PARENTS WITH THEIR KIDS
CAME BY FOR OUR AUTOGRAPHS ON CARDS, SHIRTS AND ONE GUY HAD STEVE AUTOGRAPH AN
OLD PISTON. AND THIS IS ALL AT 1 AM. WELL ALL GREAT THINGS MUST COME TO AN
END SO WE LOADED UP TO HEAD TO THE MOTEL TO GRAB SOME REST. ON OUR WAY OUT
WE THANKED THE STAFF FOR A GOOD TIME AND A MEMORABLE EVENING.
RAT NOW RACING TEAM STEVE AND RANDY