Following first round of Top Fuel Saturday evening the tempo of the CHRR takes a palpable turn. Following the somber reading of the list of names our family has lost since the 2007 CHRR (and this year it was disturbingly long) the staging lanes, FULL of cacklecars (68), came to life. With Mike English on the remote microphone, the cars were towed/pushed out one at a time for the Cacklefest Parade. This ritual lets the fans get some information about and get a good look at the cars, drivers and crew and this year it seemed to go on forever.

As this report went together what struck me was not how many cars were here but how many were not. Just the ones that appeared in the 2007 Cacklefest that didn't show in '08 is an impressive list to say the least. Cars like Warren-Coburn-Miller AA/FD, Starlite III AA/FD, Tom Hanna AA/FD, Smirnoff AA/FD, George Bolthoff AA/GD, Ernie's Camera Shudder Bug A/FD, Scorpion II A/D, Scorpion V AA/FD, Weiss & Larkin, AA/GD, Speed Sport II AA/FMR, Dean Engineering AA/FD, Stellings & Hampshire AA/FD, Northwind AA/FD, Syndicate AA/FD, Loukas & Preising AA/FMC, Pure Heaven AA/FA, Steinegger & Eshenbaugh AA/FD, Cross-Mann-King Jr. Fuel, The Flying Fenn A/D, Glass Slipper, and Swamp Rat VIII. What if we gave this party and everybody came!

Note: All the photos received for the parade and Cacklefest proper were used. There are more shots of some cars than others only because that's what we got. No slights intended to any of the great cars that made up the largest Cacklefest yet. The photos are in the order the cars were introduced.

Photos by: Bob Brown, Steve Justice, Steven C. Wallace, Dan Kaplan, Tim Hanaseth, Pam Schavrien, Paul Hutchins, Darrell Conrad, Jim Sorenson, Tom Hurley, John Ewald, Pete Gemar, Fred Young and Don Ewald.

 

First out were all the self-start cars starting with the Russ Davis Mustang funny car of CHRR Grand Marshall, Gas Ronda. The self starters went to the end then returned down the push road to line up in front of the stands.       Randy Walls was at the event with his original car from the 60's. He has been to a few other cars shows this year with it as well, since Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car was destroyed in a fire at the 2007 CHRR. He is in the process of replacing that car but its a long road with limited funds.     Bruce Larson in his 1973 Tommy Ivo RED. This car has been on display at the NHRA Motorsports Museum and it this was its last West Coast appearance before Larson had it shipped home the following day.           Jr. Thompson - John Mazmanian AA/GS Opel.     Ed Lenarth in his unique Holy Toledo Jeep. This is the actual car restored and there is also a new version that runs in Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car.     Peter Broadribb has become an honorary Cacklefest staple with his Moody's Garage D/G '55 Chevy.     The restored 1929 Ford roadster of Dale Lambrose that ran at the dry lakes in the mid '50s and drag raced as well. It was rebuilt by Mike Smith of California Hot Rods using all original components except for a chassis replacement that was necessary. It is now owned by Neil O'Kane of Castro Valley, CA.     Always a welcome sight, the Weekly-Rivero-Fox-Holding "Frantic 4" A/FD. Norm Weekly is usually in the seat but due to some health issues Ron Rivero did the honors this year.             Seevers-Wiesner-Owens A/GS Willis.     This is the Pesek and Lucas - Hustlers AA/FD, owned by Bruce Bartlett of Las Vegas, Nevada. It's an original SPE / Roy Fjastad car that had been stashed away for over 35 years. Car only had 5 or 6 runs on it when originally raced. No clone...the real deal.           The1968 version of the Ewell-Bell-Olson car that car went on to get a late model hemi and full body in 1969.         Ash Marshall's "Scorcher" from Australia with George Bukureshliev (who did the restoration) in the seat.             Wayne Miggelizza's car from Payson, Arizona. They are looking for anything about the cars history.       All the way from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada the Egbert Bros. Seaman & Cooper 'Outcast' AA/FA. This is a real deal restoration done by B.J. Seaman. Both he and Egbert went on to field several top fuel cars in the 60s.         Burkholder Bros. AA/FA         The beautiful Mondello & Matsubara AA/FA restored by Karpo Murkijanian and Pete Eastwood. In the seat was Dane Matsubara, Sush's grandson.         This car may not have a racing history but its Cacklefest driver sure does. Paul "The Kid" Sutherland was in the "The Old Timers". It's a car Sutherland, Don Prieto and Pete Ogden built in the 60's but never ran. Sutherland had his signature pointy-nose face mask remade for this event.           Wayne Parick brought his first time cacklecar - John Wiebe's 1969 ride.           Jay Carpenter was in Ken Blackmore's Poison Ivy AA/FD.           Trevor Larkin in his SBC powered fueler.         Pete Eastwood in Lynn Park's "Samurai" AA/FD.             Roger Garten in the Tocco Harper Garten AA/FA.         Sam Davis got the seat in John Peter's legendary "Freight Train" AA/GD.           Ron Stearns in the Ratican-Jackson-Stearns A/A Coupe.       The Schrank Bros. 1960 A/D with Jessie Schrank in the seat.           Brian Perrenot in his newly restored Perrenot Family "The Gizzle Hopper" Lincoln powered AA/C. Although the Perrenot family had several race cars Brian chose this one to restore because it was his late brother Travis' favorite ride. The weird name came from the cartoon oriented brain of Travis as well.           The man who modeled for the famous NHRA "Wally", survived a heart transplant - a true drag racing legend. - Jack Jones in Bucky Austin's A/FD.           Roger Gates was back in the seat of his old digger that was restored by owner, Denny Fenstermaker.           Dave Jeffers in the recreated west coast Dead End Kids car. The team consisted of Joe Anahory, Spider Razon, Frank Huszar and Dave Jeffers. Dave was the driver of the Dead Ends Kids car and listed as the shop foreman of RCS in the December 1965 Car Craft magazine. It doesn't list Red Lang and was probably involved with eastern Dead Ends Kids car along with Joe and Spider. Jeffers was employed by Bucky Austin Racing when he and Bucky built this new RCS chassis/car with as much period correct parts as they could get their hands on.             Don Prieto took the seat of his Hustler V for his first push start.             "Paradise Alley" owned by Bob De Burns. Eily Stafford was in the seat. Eily lives in Eastern San Diego County, out by Randy Walls. She drives the Bayuk/Jordan NE 1 car and with her Dad, have their own injected car as well.       The first Eagle Electric AA/FD that was driven by Frank Rupert. Jason Rupert drove it here.             If you appreciate our CHRR event and Cacklefest coverage (or would like to advertise) please take a second to shoot off an E-mail. Ron Johnson - Cacklefest.com owner Don Ewald - Webmaster