Thompson Raceway Park, Thompson, Ohio
June 6th, 2009 This was to be the 8th. Installment of The Gasser Magazine Gasser Reunion. In the years past this race was plagued with rain. I don't mean rain storms...I mean monsoon-style rain. Not to be this year. They were greeted with three sunny days with the temperatures in the low 70's. 
Photo courtesy of Bob Wenzelburger | The track was packed with an assortment of cars from The Gasser Era. Jim Curtis the track manager said they had well over 200 cars. This event was a well-rounded Gasser Reunion. Not only did they have local gasser groups, AA/GS, FED, but also this year for something different they had the UMTR with their brand of wheels up excitement. Pre 1972 of course. The GLNFCC brought four cars to help compliment an already exciting event. At six o'clock the call came out for the first round of show cars. 
Photo courtesy of Bob Wenzelburger | First up for The GLNFCC was Rocky Pirone's Screamin Eagle '77 Trans Am. All ready to do business against Steve Timoszyk in The Doran Chevrolet '69 Camaro. After two killer burnouts the two were set to duel. These two cars are clutch cars so as they were staged they both brought the rpm's up as the tree came down. Rocky was off first and never looked back. The Screamin' Eagle turned off the clocks at 7.50 139 MPH. Steve had some issues and slowed to an 8.44 132 MPH. The next pair was The Damn Yankee Vega taking on The Visionary Cuda. After some starting problems with The Damn Yankee both cars did great 1/8-mile burnouts. The Vega had some handling problems on this run but Mark drove it hard and went through at a 7.25 166 MPH to a losing 7.61 174 MPH. While the cars were being towed up the return road the Doran Chevrolet team created a little excitement. The toolbox fell off of their golf cart spilling tools on the ground. In turn the car rolled over the tools and believe it or not right onto a RPM chip that stuck in the tire. The Doran team had the tire off and fixed before the next round. Steve Timoszyk would like to thank his team and all of The GLNFCC members that helped them get the car ready for the next round. As the sun started to set the cars were in the staging lanes awaiting their next assault on The Thompson quarter mile. 
Photo courtesy of Bob Wenzelburger | First up were The Doran Chevrolet and The Visionary Cuda. The Cuda was out first and was never challenged by the '69 Camaro. When Steve hit second gear the car went into tire shake and vibrated the fuel shutoff off. The Cuda ran a 7.64 164 MPH. Two very consistent runs for The Visionary. Next pair up the two quickest from the first pass. The Damn Yankee Vega with a 7.25 and the Screamin' Eagle Trans Am with a 7.50. They fired up together and did two Smokey side-by-side burnouts. As they both inched toward the staging beams they barked at each other doing old style dry hops. The Vega was off first but not for long. Rocky stopped the clocks at a stunning 6.89 164 MPH. And he did this in the supposed bad left lane. The Vega made a show out of it and hung on for a 7.41 145. The night came to a close too soon. The crowd filed out and talked with the teams as they put their cars away. All went well and we look forward to racing at Thompson Raceway Park again. Next stop O'Reilly Auto Parts Thunder Jam at Kanawha Valley MotorSports Park in Point Pleasant, WV near Charleston on Saturday June 20th.
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