Nitro Night - Dragster Car Show - Car Craft Magazine

Imagine sitting on top of the rear axle and having a nitro-burning Hemi spitting flames in your face. This is John Ewald's car, and that's him behind the wheel.

Imagine sitting on top of the rear axle and having a nitro-burning Hemi spitting flames in

It's a wild study in contrast. Mom and her brood of kids sit at a stoplight on Grand Avenue and Broadway. The sedate Suburban is plugged in with all the latest toys-stereo and DVD-but no one is watching. All are riveted by a cackling slice of history ripping open the night air just outside their windows. To their immediate right, just beyond a throng of spectators, sits a beautifully restored '60s front-engined dragster rattling windows with its nitromethane-fed Hemi spitting flames 2 feet out of the eight resonating pipes and reverberating off pristine downtown business walls. A young girl and her mother weave among the crowd in '50s-style poodle skirts carrying little baskets, handing out free earplugs to the crowd.

The Chizler is the Chris Karamesines car restored by Ron Johnson. Some contend this was the first (unofficial) car to run 200 mph in 1960. The official record goes to Don Garlits in 1964. Mendy Fry wheeled the Chizler for its trip down Broadway.

The Chizler is the Chris Karamesines car restored by Ron Johnson. Some contend this was th

We've been to plenty of cruise sites over the years, but Nitro Night will be hard to top. Promoter and businessman Steve Waldron created Cruisin' Grand as a way of bringing the tons of street rods, musclecars, and action back to downtown Escondido, California. This eventually led to a combination of the cruisin' action and the '60s nitro-fuel dragsters and Funny Cars coordinated by hard-core nitro enthusiast Bill Pitts. The result was Nitro Night, locus for several restored, front-engined, Top Fuel dragsters and a few Funny Cars.

Rather than just fire up these cars one at a time, Pitts staged a unique scene where cars would fire up and be pushed forward by push cars to "stage" in front of a Christmas Tree flanked by a large movie screen that carried images of these and other cars back when these monsters roamed the earth, shaking the ground. Just to be safe, all the cars were required to disconnect their drivelines to ensure the safety of the spectators. Each car would stage and then blip the throttle several times before shutting off.

A total of 12 cars showed up for the Nitro Night festivities, and while the first cars fired during daylight, it was after the sun went down that the real fun began with the bright-blue flames shooting out of each header pipe adding to the total experience. It was a blast-literally.

Nitro Night brought 12 cars to the streets of Escondido. What made the show even better were the push trucks-mostly early El Caminos-that would nudge the cars forward so they could "stage" in front of a Christmas Tree. The Fueler is the lightweight Shubert and Herbert small-block Chevy car that beat its share of Hemis in the '60s.
Nitro Night brought 12 cars to the streets of Escondido. What made the show even better we
This event also attracted a couple of '70s Funny Cars including the L.A. Challenger originally driven by Marv Eldridge and restored by John Robertson. In the background is the Super Nova owned and driven, as it was in the day, by Randy Walls. The Nova still competes today in nostalgia events. It was plenty loud with buildings on both sides to echo those barking headers.
This event also attracted a couple of '70s Funny Cars including the L.A. Challenger origin
This is what a 30-year-old Funny Car 'cage looks like underneath the fiberglass. Note the large rollcage. Current cars are almost custom-built to cocoon the driver. Most of the '60s Funny Cars also used automatic transmissions until the Lenco came along in 1969.
This is what a 30-year-old Funny Car 'cage looks like underneath the fiberglass. Note the