The Cacklefest
itself took place between the semis and final rounds of the pro
classes. The cars were gathered in the staging lanes then towed/pushed
up the return road to the top end. From there they got ready,
pushed onto the track, and were push started from the finish
line.
Photos by: Ron Lewis, Tom West and John Ewald.
As always, Steve Gibbs
was the ring master.
Once again the members of Drag
Racers Inc. of Las Vegas provided the necessary push cars for
those who didn't bring their own.
From the pits to through
the staging lanes.
John Ewald's veiw going
to the top end.
At the top end the cars
were arranged in their fireing order.
The Baney - Rossi bunch.
Norm Weekly and the Frantic
4 car/crew don't miss to many Cacklefests.
As always Terry Maestrejuan and
his well dressed crew were ready to go...Terry may be a quite
guy but his car is very loud.
Yep...Tom West at it
again.
Trevor Larkin and company
waiting for the call.
Crew Chief Bob Danly pulls the
clutch pin for John Ewald as they prepare to push off.
Being the cars started at the
end of the Vegas track which is uphill...rolling down to the
staging point was an easy task.
Ace Funny Car driver Jack Beckman,
who will never pass up a push start, was in the seat of Paul
Schavrien's beautiful "Poacher". Jack, being the great
guy he is, had Gary Cochran serve as an honorary crew member
on the starting line for one of his qualifying runs in the Valvoline
funny car.
Veteran Walt Stevens
shows how it's done in Jake McCloud's Bluestreak Spl.
Regular shoe Norm Weekly
in the W-R-F&H car.
Terry Maestrejuan in his beautiful
Woody car. In the mid 70's Terry bought Don Ewald's top fuel
RCS rear engine car and raced it for a number of years. Now he's
having fun!
Next to Maestrejuan was
Trevor Larkin with his dad, "Lil Tommy" behind the
car.
Larkin had the new Pat
Foster tribute sticker on his scoop.
Bobby Hansen in his restored
Wynns Spoiler AA/FD.
Bob Danly has some fun with John
Ewald as he looks in to see if John wants the clutch pin inserted
before his left leg gives out.
The beautiful Yeakel Bros. car
was shoed by ex-top fuel driver Bill Tidwell. We expect to see
Paul Rossi in the seat soon as he did his first push start while
the team was at Vegas.
Always a crowd favorite,
Sonny Messner in the Dar Garlits Swamp Rat III car.
"Fast" Jack Beckman
in Paul Schavrien's Poachers car...looks like Paul needs to find
a bigger helmet for Jack...no implication made here.
After the last historical dragster
shut down the Las Vegas crowd gave the whole group a standing
ovation...the fans do love these front engine pieces of history.
That's all folks!
Check
back for more event coverage as they happen.
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