Top Six Nostalgia Drag Racing Events in the USA

With a relatively new sport growing in leaps and bounds, people want to know where these events are and which ones offer the best quality. Nostalgia Drag Racing is one of the only sports growing in this downturn of the economy so you want to see for yourself that this offers real bang for your buck ... This list offers the best of the best in the United States.

6. Governor's Cup - Sacramento, CA.

This event goes back more than four decades and might be what you'd consider a throwback meet from the days-of-old. The track is near the Air Force base, just southeast of the city and is usually run in September. Expect to see nitro (like Top Fuel) and great racing with an atmosphere that sends you back to the heydays of drag racing.

5. Geezers Reunion - Reading, PA.

This race has been run for ten years and has shown growth every year, becoming the preeminent Nostalgia meet in the eastern U.S. Every year around Independence Day (July), this event is at the beautiful and venerable Maple Grove Raceway (about 20 minutes south of Reading). There will be plenty of nitro and includes a Cacklefest which has become a fan favorite.

4. NightFire Nationals - Boise, ID.

Run every August for the past 40 years, this cavalcade of racing has so many cars; they have to keep lengthening the total days of the meet. The track is in Eagle, Idaho, just outside of Boise and is one the premier drag races in the northwestern U.S. Everything under the sun is raced there including the nitro ground-pounders: Top Fuel and Funny Cars - with lots of night racing, too.

3. National Hot Rod Reunion - Bowling Green, KY.

Seems like only yesterday that this race was put together but it's been about a decade and the growth is amazing. Held in June at historic Beech Bend Raceway Park , the best cars in Nostalgia drag racing come to western Kentucky including the nitro classes. This Reunion along with its sister meet, the California Hot Rod Reunion, is as much a gathering as it is a drag race, plus it's a collection of cars you won't see anywhere else. If you want to come out and enjoy seeing, shaking hands with and visiting the greatest drivers of drag racing history, this visit will be memorable.

2. California Hot Rod Reunion - Bakersfield, CA.

The original Reunion at the revered Famoso Raceway (just north of Bakersfield) is the largest assembly of the oldest drag racers still around. You can't imagine how many people walk the grounds of this massive event, many of whom were there at the beginning. It truly is a reunion of greats. The race is run in October and includes exceptional racecars from the NHRA's Hot Rod Heritage Series, who are there usually deciding the championships in their respective divisions. Like the March Meet, get there early because parking gets to be an interesting adventure (think orange groves a mile away).

1. March Meet - Bakersfield, CA.

This is the Granddaddy of all Nostalgia Drag Racing and in fact, is maybe the oldest major drag race in the world. The Reunion probably has as many people as the March Meet but not as much racing. The city of Bakersfield fills up with this mammoth occasion and the crowds number in the tens of thousands every day. If you ever want to go see a race with history and fanfare and a feel of excitement like no other, this is the race you must travel to see.

All these races offer an experience unlike any other sporting event. The personal touch of being able to walk right up to a fire-breathing behemoth, spewing fire and sweet exhaust, well, you have to be there to understand and appreciate. The value of a Nostalgia Drag Racing event pass cannot be duplicated so you must see one of these great shows.

I love the smell of nitro in the morning.

Main source - Hot Rod Heritage Series