In the context of the sport of drag racing, when we think of or hear the term “nostalgia,” our minds instantly gravitate to the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s, when the sport was in it’s infancy, times were simpler, racers and race tracks were in abundance, and life was good. It was a time when AA/Fuel Dragsters, Gassers, factory race cars, chop-top roadsters, and other legendary one-off pieces thrown together over a few cases of beer roamed the earth like the dinosaurs.

Nostalgia drag racing as we’ve come to know it comprises the cars and stars from this era, further leading to the credence that this period of time in history is what we shall deem “nostalgia.” My good friends Merriam and Webster define the term nostalgia as “a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition.” Thus, anything that occurred prior to the present moment can essentially hold a nostalgic place in ones heart and mind.

In my late 20’s and still the butt of plenty of wet-behind-the-ears jokes from the feisty old timers, I’m part of an entirely new generation of drag racing followers and competitors who look back on a more recent era of our sport much in the same way our baby boomer fathers reminisce about the 1960’s. We grew up during the 1980’s and 90’s. Our childhood recollection includes cassette boom boxes, Pac-man, a freshly white Michael Jackson, Beavis and Butthead, and Kenny Bernstein’s moppy mullet.

I distinctly remember my father calling me into the room one Sunday back in 1989, where the broadcast from one of the races was on, and my only real vivid memory of sitting there watching it that day is seeing the “Nuclear Banana” of Eddie Hill on the tube. But from that moment forth, I was hooked. I attended my first U.S. Nationals in 1990 and came back with a massive collection of decals and hero cards, and I wore my Kenny Bernstein t-shirt (which I recall being slightly ticked said “King of Speed” rather than “Budweiser”) plum out. These days, as I do my weekly research for our Flashback Friday features, almost like clockwork, I catch myself engrossed in stories or Diamond P clips from the 80’s and 90’s. Sorry, Boss.

While I possess a limited resume of life experience and even less in the sport of drag racing, looking back, the late 80’s and early 90’s seemed to signify the end of what most would consider to be simpler times. And that didn’t just apply to life itself, but extended to this great sport, as well. The corporate world and attitude hadn’t yet infiltrated the professional ranks making it the bland, politically correct performance that it’s become today.

Race teams didn’t operate out of state-of-the-art facilities in Indianapolis, and many still towed their competitive nitro burners in an old goose-neck trailer behind a dually pickup that also served as their pit vehicle, and showmanship was still as much a part of the game as winning was. Racers had nicknames, cars had flashy paint schemes, crews still wore t-shirts, and the packed houses brought the stands to the ground after any of the crowd-favorites notched a win. There were still plenty of remnants of the old days in that period that have completely disappeared today. And in a fact that still boggles my mind, a relatively small television network in Nashville showed nearly every race live. I repeat, L-I-V-E. The voices of Steve Evans and Dave McClelland still resonate with drag racing fans everywhere and the duo will never be surpassed.

Back then, you just never really knew what you might see at a race. Today, John Force and Austin Coil run a finely-controlled ship, but in the early 90’s, Force waged arivalry with a young chap named K.C. Spurlock that took place before they ever lit the stage beams, as the pair regularly competed for the longest burnout to a raucous applause. Starter Buster Couch was as much a figure as any of the drivers, and he certainly didn’t take any crap from Warren Johnson and Scott Geoffrion.

A kid named Del Worsham campaigning on nickels and dimes won races. Funny Car racers would nonchalantly burn one to the ground, borrow a body, and win the whole shebang. Some would burn up two or three a weekend. Exciting, wall-slapping pedalfests were a common and welcome occurrence, and the crashes and blowovers could fill a “Thrills and Spills” film in a hurry. And who could forget the shattering of what will likely be the last major performance barriers in history, as both Top Fuel and Funny Car surpassed 300MPH and entered the four-second zone, while the Pro Stockers dipped into the sixes at over 200MPH.

One of the truly memorable elements of the period of the early 1990’s was the clear changing of the guard amongst the professional competitors, as two different generations of racers converged on the very same playing field. Many future, unanimous hall of famer’s who literally built the sport with their own blood and sweat alongside Wally Parks were still very much a part of the game, and they were competitive to boot.

Young kids like myself, born long after what could be described as the heyday of drag racing, got the opportunity to see legends like Don Prudhomme, Ed McCullough, Don Garlits, Tom McEwen, Bruce Larson, Dick LaHaie, Bob Glidden, Connie Kalitta, Shirley Muldowney, Tom Hoover, and many others compete just like they had in their prime before hanging up their firesuits and motoring off into the sunset. Sure, we missed the days of the slingshot dragster, backup girls, fire burnouts, and the like, but that wasvery cool to get the opportunity to see these legends on top of their game. Opposing them were young guns like Cruz Pedregon, Worsham, Whit Bazemore, Mike Dunn, Cory McClenathan, Scott Kalitta, and, of course, Kenji Okazaki. It was a great period in the sports history. It still seemed like a little slice of the old days. And when you compare those times to today, it really was.

Just in the same way that curiosity begs the question of whether the automobiles produced in the 90’s and 2000’s will ever be highly sought after resto-rides like themuscle cars from the 60’s, so too does one have to wonder if the machines that inhabited the sport of racing during the late 90’s will ever receive the “nostalgia” moniker. Because I’m here to tell ‘ya, if they ever bring the Oldsmobile Cutlass-bodied floppers, the Dodge Daytona and Pontiac Firebird Pro Stockers, or the Top Fuel dragsters with the airplane front wheels on them to the California Hot Rod Reunion (or any event for that matter), this guy will be the first one in line to get in.