Seventeen years ago, Steve Waldron came up with the idea of blocking off several blocks of downtown Escondido, California for a car show and with the help of friends in the local business community, Cruisin’ Grand Escondido was born. Held on Friday evenings in the summer months, the event grew continually. In 2006, Bill Pitts, considered by many to be the father of the cackle car movement, brought out the “Magicar” and cackled it for the crowd and the last Friday of September became Cruisin’ Grand Nitro Night. The next years saw four classic Top Fuel dragsters and it has now grown to several dozen and attracts huge crowds to the annual event.
Fast forward to 2017 and Ron Johnson, Steve Gibbs, and Don Ewald decided to piggyback on the success of Nitro Night and have an event called Nitro Revival at the nearby Barona Drag Strip the following day. The trio felt the need for a reunion type event without some of the onerous restrictions imposed by NHRA and with a more racer and fan friendly atmosphere.
Set in the rolling hills of an Indian reservation, Barona is an eighth-mile track that could best be described as rustic, the perfect setting for a nostalgia event. Racers and fans came from all over the country to make it a rousing success. Static cackles in all corners of the pits throughout the day, push starts whenever a racer got the urge, exhibition runs and burnouts by not only cackle cars, but several nostalgia Funny Cars, Fuel Altereds, and Top Fuel dragsters kept the crowd busy. An afternoon autograph session that included the likes of Richard Tharp, Ed McCulloch, Linda Vaughn, Tommy Ivo, Roland Leong and Red Greth had a very long line of fans waiting for signatures from their heroes.
Where does it go from here? Who knows? Steve Gibbs said that he would really like to hold a Nitro Revival event in the middle of the country to try and build even more participation. Tulsa was mentioned by several, but that is only speculation at this point.
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