West Virginia Drag Racers Hall of Fame Cruise-In - July 20, 2019

[Frosty]

The West Virginia Drag Racers Hall of Fame will be having a cruise-in at the Winfield, WV Municipal building from 5pm - 9pm on Saturday, July 20. Admission is free but donations are welcome.

This year the fun begins early - at 2pm - with the official historical marker dedication at the site of the original Kanawha Valley Drag Strip on old US Route 35. 

The Cruz is from 5pm-9pm at the Winfield Municipal building/HOF Museum with music and entertainment by the Fabulous “Hot Rod Grill”  No entry fee…but donations gladly accepted.  There’ll be a 50-50 drawing, games, music, food and fun for all…so make plans now to be there!

Edited July 18, 2019 by Frosty

[Ringo64]

 

 

 

[Frosty]

Here is the newly dedicated historical marker. The State of West Virginia charges $2300 to put a marker. They do not put them up for free.

Three current members of the WV Drag Racers Hall of Fame who raced here back in the day.

This '58 Chevy Impala is a survivor. It actually raced here at Kanawha Valley Drag strip when it opened.

This gate is the entrance to the logging company that opens the old drag strip property today. This was the old main entrance to the drag strip.

My dad's old Buick, the "Road Monster" in front of the sign. My dad and I paid for half of this historical marker, the car represented my dad.

The air conditioning was not working the whole trip. Made for a sweat weekend. Guess what is #1 on the to be fixed list?

Now we've moved from the dedication ceremony to the cruise-in, which is just 4 miles up the road.

Gorgeous '32 hot rod with a 327 and three deuces.

How often do you see an AMC drag car?

Now that's a survivor!

Looks like Fido was out in the 97 degree heat and 110 heat index a little too long without water!

The Winfield WV Municipal building house the Hall of Fame.

Hundley and Boggs won the 1967 AHRA World Championship. This is the their trophy.

This plaque was unveiled at the ceremony with my dad and I as the first contributors to the sign. This will go on permanently display at the Hall of Fame.

 

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by Frosty

[Frosty]

Cute surfing VW bug. The joke is with the front license plate. Rippling Waters was once the largest swimming pool on the east coast back in the 1970s.

Pedal cars - it's the only Morgan pedal car in the US.

EIther this '87 Vette is a wrap or a flat red paint job.

This was one of the nicest '55s I've ever seen. I loved the attention to detail.

This Chrsyler 300 is scary. Look who's in the back seat!

Lifted truck row!

Great looking Dodge Coronet with the Max Wedge Hemi!

My friend Jim Winter and his wife Donna. Jim was the DJ for the evening plus he is an executive for the Hall of Fame. We are fortunate that Jim was with us since he had a massive heart attack back in January. The EMT told him that most times when they see a heart attack as bad as his, they usually drive them straight to the morgue. Jim was lucky and a quadruple bypass (including the "Widowmaker"). Jim is on the mending and feeling much better. I guess prayers are answered.

 

[Frosty]

 

The Hundley and Boggs Top Fuel Dragster - 1967 AHRA World Champions

 

This is a very rare car indeed. Owned by Fred and Scott Mason, this is the Johnny Albright Top Gas Dragster.

The car was built by Johnny Albight of Memphis Tennessee in 1968. It is the only twin-engine car he ever built. The car was a three-time NHRA Division 2 Top Gas champion in 1968, 1969, and 1971. It was also the Top Gas winner at the 1971 NHRA Spring Nationals in Dallas Texas. The car was the first gas vehicle to run the quarter-mile in less than seven second, running a 6.95 at the National Dragster Open in Columbus Ohio in 1971.

Scott told me the top speed this car was 204.95 back in the day. NHRA did away with Top Gas and multi-engined vehicles after 1971. This is only 1 of only 16 such cars ever built.

Scott said the reason NHRA is rumored to have done away with Top Gas and multi-engined cars is they were afraid they would be faster and more popular than Top Fuel.

This is how the two motors drive one transmission. They are chained together. If one motor let's go, it will probably take the heathy motor with it. Each hemi long block costs about $10K each, not including the top end with the blowers and injectors.

 

Enjoy the cackle fest of the Hundley and Boggs and Mason dragsters as well as a couple of the other race cars.

The only thing missing is the tears caused from standing so close to the burning nitromethane that it stings your eyes.

 

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Edited July 22, 2019 by Frosty

[Ringo64]

Amazing photos and videos! Love the great selection of cars that showed up. Great to see history commemorated and you and your dad a part of it! Did your Dad get to see in person or pictures of the marker before his passing?

[Frosty]

Sadly no. My dad passed away nearly a year ago (July 31, 2018). The marker was installed back in the middle of March 2019. The marker project took nearly two years from start to finish, according to Jim Winter. Most of it was dealing with the state's bureaucracy.

We had a decent turn out for the unveiling and the cruise-in, in sprite of the 97 degree heat and 110 heat index we experience that day. Fortunately for us, the mayor of Winfield opened up the Municipal building to allow folks to see the Hall of Fame and sit in the city council chambers to come in from the heat since the building is air conditioned. We had a ton of cold water available too.

Edited July 22, 2019 by Frosty

[Ringo64]

Darn, that's too bad about your dad passing before  .

8 minutes ago, Frosty said:

We had a decent turn out for the unveiling and the cruise-in, in sprite of the 97 degree heat and 110 heat index we experience that day

That is some intense heat. Think that was hotter than we were. Certainly good to hear there was some shelter and cold water. Heat is no joke

[Frosty]

It was amazing how it quickly it can come over you. On Saturday, I had just finished applying some window cleaner to the windshield and detailer to the entire body of the Road Monster. I got out the tire shine, got partially one rear tire done and I was toast. I needed to go in, sit and cool down and drink some more water. It just hit me like a small tidal wave and I had been drinking water religiously all day up to that point too. We took the heat very seriously this weekend.

My local car cruise on Friday was called off at 2:30 pm because of the heat. It also later rained in our area too, which would have also ruined the cruise in. So it was a good thing we cancelled.