1st Annual Funny Car Reunion

When Old Bridge Twp. Raceway Park announced that Steve Bell, track photographer, had come up with the idea of a Classic Funny Car, there were many skeptics. But now the Inaugural Funny Car Reunion is complete, and if I may say so myself, it went better than anyone could have ever imagined.

Planning for the Funny Car Reunion started long before the actual race. A web site dedicated solely to the Funny Car Reunion (www.funnycarreunion.com) was launched early in 2002, keeping the fans and racers up to date on changes to the race as they happened. Even former Raceway Park announcer Berserko Bob helped this event get underway. And then, when Boninfonte Performance Clutch Parts and American Racing Wheels stepped up as the title and associate sponsors respectively, the payout information changed, based now on e.t.'s, and the list of cars attending grew. Many cars and stars pledged their attendance, including Bruce Larson, and "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. The hype on the internet's many drag racing boards grew, as fans across the country, even as far as Australia planned to make the trek to Englishtown for this Inaugural event.

Finally the big weekend rolled around, and Sunday, July 28th finally came. It was a hot, and humid day, with overcast skies reminding us of the threat of afternoon rain. But that didn't seem to stop the thousands of fanatics from showing up, and having a great time.

From early Sunday morning, and the pits were abuzz with excitement. There were no ropes or barriers to keep the fans back, so they had a chance to get up close and personal with these great beasts. Walking through the pits was like a trip back in time, to a time where the Funny Cars looked like cars, the fans could walk between them, and go hang out with the crews.

The Cacklefest started off the day's festivities at 1 p.m. We brought all 32 Funny Cars onto the historic Englishtown quarter-mile, and fired them up all at once to an eager crowd. After the Cacklefest, all of the cars went back to the pits to get ready for first round. An amazing 16 cars made a run for first round.

Joe Boyle and the "Sudden Impact" team lined up against the "Blue Moon" Monza. The "Sudden Impact" '77 Plymouth Arrow sported a plain white body, in a rush to get things ready for the event. The "Blue Moon" Monza had a more modern paint scheme, but informed me that restoration would begin this fall to return this car to it's original state, as Roland Leong's Hawaiian. Both cars put very respectable e.t.'s on the scoreboards; "Sudden Impact" had the quicker, a 7.61 at 181 to the "Blue Moon" who ran 7.99 at 167 mph.

Next we saw Lou "Action Man" Sgro with his 1970 Dodge Challenger take on Jerry "Smoker" Smith, piloting the 1969 "First Love" Nova. When I sat down with Jerry Smith, he told me the interesting story behind the "First Love" Funny Car. It was in fact his brother's car from 1969. It was later sold, and for 30 years they had lost track of it. About 5 years ago, Jerry was flipping through the classified newspaper ads, and found someone who was selling a 1969 Nova Funny Car. Upon further investigation, he found out this car had belonged to his brother, to whom it was originally campaigned. Lou ran quicker, going 7.59 at 183 to Jerry and the "First Love" Nova's 8.44 at 149 mph.

Next up was Dave "I wanna' do a fire burnout 'cause it's cool" Sano with the Sano's Custom Paint machine. Sano's body is actually the former John Force piloted, Wendy's Corvette. Earlier this year, Sano and a few other Funny Car racers rented out Atco Raceway, and did their own private testing in an attempt to prepare for the Funny Car Reunion. During the private testing, Dave Sano did a wild fire burnout. He said that he wanted one with his former car 12 years ago, but never got the chance. He would be taking on Raceway Park regular, Bruce Neely. Bruce Neely has had his 1980 Plymouth Arrow 10 years, and it has a superb Dave Sano paint. Dave posted the quicker elapsed time, an 8.72 at 147 to Bruce's 8.90 at 145.

Frank Jonkman and the "Nitromare" 1971 Mach I Mustang put on the most thrillin' and chillin' race of the first round. Frank blasted his Mustang to a 6.91 at 183 mph, but had problems when the throttle got stuck in the full position. The crowd watched in anguish as he flew into the sand traps and catch net at a high rate of speed. Luckily the Raceway Park Safety Crew was right on the scene, and Frank walked away uninjured. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the car, as the right-front of the body and chassis were extremely damaged.. Hopefully they'll be able to repair things soon. His opponent Rob Bruce in the Zombie machine had a little too much in it and struck the tires at the hit of the throttle.

Once things got cleaned up, we saw Willie Johnson and his 1968 Nova, titled "No Money, No Funny" go for a solo pass. He wowed the crowd with amazing wheelstandin' dry hops to take home the dragracingonline.com dry hop award, and $250 prize money. They've had this car for 20 years, and for the first seven, it was sitting in a garage till they decided to get the parts together and run this beautiful machine. He went 8.76 at 146 mph.

It was then time for a pair of nitro burning floppers. First up would be Rocky Pirrone and the "Nitro Charger," 1969 Dodge Daytona complete with wing. Rocky was one of the few racers at this event running 90% nitro, due to nitro's known explosiveness. After Rocky wowed the crowd with his amazingly smokey half-track burnouts, we fired up his opponent, Mike "Lightfoot" Adams, with the Blue Angels Ground Attack, Mustang II. This would be the debut of their new "ground attack" body. The "Blue Angels" team really had a nice setup for the fans in the pits, complete with a full line of "Ground Attack" t-shirts to commemorate the new style. Pirrone got the win, running 7.31 to Adams' 8.11.

To wrap up the round with an awesome exhibition 1/8th mile pass would be Bruce Larson and his fully restored 1968 "USA-1" Camaro. This car is truly a beautiful piece of machinery. Bruce actually lost track of the car for 30 years. He found it a few years ago, and completely restored the "USA-1" to its original condition. For this reason, he is only certified to make 1/8th mile passes. You could hear the fan's excitement as he brought the car on the Englishtown surface for the first time in over 30 years, or maybe they were just excited about Jungle Pam, who backed him up from the burnout!

The time between the two rounds provided the spectators with yet another up-close picture opportunity. The fans flocked to the pits to get friendly with their favorite fabulous floppers, and even sneak a picture with the lovely "Jungle" Pam Hardy.

The closest side-by-side race of the second round would be one of our early match-ups, with Lou Sgro and Bob Rosetty. Bob Brought out his beautifully restored 1973 "Rollin' Stoned" Cuda. This superb machine took home the Computer Magic best appearing car award, and $250. Rollin' Stoned was originally campaigned by Joe Jacono in the early 70s. He was on hand for the event, and it was the first time he had seen the car in 25 years, we were especially happy to have him in attendance. As I said this was probably our closest race, with Rosetty winning, a 7.46 to Sgro's 7.50.

Next up was John Kippen, with his 1978 "Maine Event" Corvette, injected on Alcohol. Probably one of the only vehicles running the BIG stack injectors. He was lined up against the crowd pleasing, dry hoppin' Willie Johnson and the "No Money No Funny" 1968 Nova. This car has been completely refurbished from it's original condition, and they have no idea by whom it was originally campaigned. "No Money No Funny got the win, running 8.74 at 148 mph to Kippen's 9.166.

Up next was the "New Generation" race team, with driver Rich "Surf" Stambaugh. This car's 1974 Corvette body is actually from the former "Moby Dick" car. Hmm, maybe there are plans for a restoration. Rick would be pitted against Bob Barone and the blue Mustang II they like to call, "War Horse." They've only had the "War Horse" for a few months, but have already been testing at Englishtown to get ready for the event. "Surf" ran quicker, a 7.411 to Barone's 9.006.

That brings us to the wildest ride of the FCR. That would be when Rob Bruce in the "Zombie" machine matched up with Mike Adams and the "Blue Angels Ground Attack" crew. Rob Bruce stole the show at about 800 ft. as he grenaded the engine into a flaming ball. The body suffered significant burns, but we hope they will be able to restore it. Rob went on to run the quickest e.t. and mph on that run, a 6.474 at 186. Rob walked away uninjured, and went to collect the day's pay. He won the titles of Best Burnout, Low E.T., and Top Speed, collecting a total of $1,750. The sponsors putting up the money were Doug Herbert Performance Parts, www.draglist.com, Freddy Frey and Jim Fox, Raceway Park.

With all said and done, the Inaugural Boninfonte Performance Clutch Parts Funny Car reunion was a huge success. And don't forget, not all of the cars were running, there were many there parked in the pits just to show off their goods. It's important to thank the racers and fans that pledged their support, because it was indeed their support that made this race a huge success.

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Last updated Wed, 06/18/08 07:04 PM