Another round of NSDN Nostalgia is coming up
featuring material from the Midwest. Several
contributors sent in photos from different areas of this region. Read on to
view some more great sand drag racing content from yesteryear.The first batch of photos comes to us from Mike Orness, from Iowa. Mike currently races the “Super Jeep” in Midwest & PTN series action. He sent us some coverage from Off Road magazine of Gravelrama, as well as a pair of newspaper clippings. Read on to view these.
Here is a cover shot from the Midwestern 4 Wheeler newspaper in 1981. The cover car is a Funny Jeep called Earthquake from Minnesota.
Here's a feature on Mike Orness at Gravelrama with his old Jeep "White Lightn'n" inside the Midwestern 4 Wheeler newspaper pictured above.
The next set of photos comes to us from Russ Payne, from the Kansas City, Missouri area. He sent in several photos from Thunder Valley Sand Drags as well as a few from their trip to West Michigan Sand Dragway in the mid 1990’s. There is some really cool stuff mixed in with this. Take a look.
Terry Glasscock (Near Lane) in his Corvair-powered Dragster against Rick Pulliam, also with Corvair power.
Stacy Sieg behind the wheel of this Dragster with dad Harland & brother Jeff looking on in 1987 at Lawton, MO.
Stacy Sieg's Blown Four-cylinder Dragster in the early 90's.
David Hauser's Jeep from the early 90's at Thunder Valley Sand Drags.
This is a sweet looking Jeep. Anyone with info on this, contact me.
Frank Phaff with his Blown V6 Dragster at Thunder Valley Sand Drags.
Burt VanBennekom was another MI racer making the haul to Thunder Valley in the mid 90's.
"Top Dog" Richard Montiel (Far Lane) vs. Brian Weil (Near Lane) in a battle of the World's Fastest Buggies at the time during the East-West Challenge @ WMSD.
Thunder Valley's Stacy Sieg (Far Lane) vs. Joe Moat in his 4-cylinder powered Predator Dragster.
Terry Glassock doing battle at Thunder Valley once again in the near lane.
Jeff Mamer (Near Lane) in the original Sidewinder versus Kristi Villemure in the legendary Appletree Buggy at WMSD.
The final batch of photos in this installment of NSDN Nostalgia is a bunch of the Editor’s personal photos from the pits & staging lanes at West Michigan Sand Dragway. Growing up at this track, I have plenty of memories and quite a few photos to look back through. Here is just a sampling of the images captured and I will post some more as we continue with our Nostalgia features.
The aforementioned legenday Appletree Automotive Buggy of Larry Wagner with the original paint on it. This car still holds the Sand Sports A/Gas Buggy record in the 3.3 range.
Scott Cantrell's wild Front Engine Dragster was always a crowd pleaser, running consistent 3.5's as pictured & eventually into the 3.3's once a Blower was added.
Paul Graham made the long haul to MI in the early 90's with his Blown Buggy.
Don Henager's AZ-based Fiat at WMSD in the late 90's.
Joe Moat's potent Turbo 4-cylinder Dragster & Washington's Carey Mahoney with his Big Time Blown Alcohol FC in the staging lanes at WMSD.
Keith Ahart's Sudden Urge Dragster getting ready to run in the Pro Index class.
Trevor Kamman's wild T-Bucket made the trip to MI. As a matter of fact, this car was for sale at the recent Dome Valley race, if anyone is interested.
Scott Whipple with the CANIDAE Blown Alcohol Dragster had a great showing at WMSD in the late 90's.
"Wild Willie" Swim became a MI veteran making the cross country haul several times over the years.
Jim Hammond's April's Dream TA Dragster was looking like the man to beat during his trip to MI before parts breakage took him out.
John Rammacher's Blown Alcohol Funny Jeep.
Frank Phaff (Far Lane) and Bob Piunti (Near Lane) did battle often in WMSD's TF class in the mid 90's.
Chuck Johnson's Sand Devil Blown Small Block Chevy on Nitro ran at WMSD in the early 90's.
Steve Cantrell's Blown Alcohol Dragster "Top Gun" was the car to beat at WMSD in the late 90's running consistent 2.8's.
Michigan's last dual-tire Dragster was Ralph Lopshire's Blown Alcohol powered entry running low 2.8's in the early 90's.