Photos and story by John McCartney

Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland turned 60 years old this year which means they have been doing great drag racing events for six decades. One of those events which turned 14 years old this year, is the Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Nationals. The Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Nationals is one of those events that fans along the East Coast looks forward to attending and taking part as no one never really knows who could surprise and be part of this annual show.

Folks could check out the action on the drag strip and it was there fans much like back in the day are able to see classic match races. On this day the funny cars of the Sweetman family Frantic Ford Mustang, Generation X Vega of Stambaugh Racing, Rocky Pirrone’s Screamin Eagle Pontiac, Bobby Toth was behind the wheel of the Time Bomb Vega.

All four funny cars laid down smokey burnouts along with great side by side racing action. Front motored dragsters from the East Coast Fuelers lined up as well to flash fans back to the sixties when everyone seemed to have a dragster at the drag strip. A pair of classic A/Comp dragsters took to the drag strip as well.

In club racing action Mandra had one racing class with Mark Santee taking the win over Josh Nevells, two different cars faced off in the final with Santee behind the wheel of his Mercury Comet and Nevell’s wild altered. Dan Wood and Cliff Sebring made it to the semi-final round in the Mandra racing action.

Over in Northeast Timing Organization (NETO) there were the normal two classes. Vinny Laurita got the win in the Comp Class over Mike Grafas, Laurita also got the award for the best reaction time in the Comp class with his .010 light. Moving into the Nostalgia class it was Dan Bednarz taking home the win over Steve Pirritano, with the best reaction time in the Nostalgia class going to Frank Paradiso Jr with his great .003 light. Jeff Donnelly got the victory in the Backseat Drivers class over Ryan Bennett.

East Coast Gassers had a great selection of vintage gassers and when it was all said and done Clayton Deming got the win over Brian Hutchinson.

When folks wanted to take a break from all the great racing action on the track they could stretch their legs and take a stroll thru the swap meet and car show. For here they could perhaps find that cool item they have been searching for in thee swap meet area.

From there it was a short walk to the giant car show with rows of all sorts of great show cars. On display folks could check out customs, muscle cars, rat rods, and all sorts of hot rods. All of these wild machines all doing battle to take home one of the many trophies which were handed out to the lucky winners.

John Presley who started this whole Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Nationals once again made sure the car show ran to perfection. A interesting note Presley was on hand when Cecil County Dragway opened its gates sixty years and he made a pass down the famed drag strip on that very opening day. So it was no surprise that Presley wanted to jump behind a wheel of car and once again make a pass down the track sixty years later. For Presley it was like the fountain of youth as he no doubt felt sixty years younger. Oh what the feel of racing your car down the drag strip can do for you.

With the 14th Annual Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Nationals in the books, you can sure Cecil County Dragway are hard at work making this event bigger and better. While times may change one thing is for sure folks look forward to this event because they never know what they might find on the drag strip in the pits car show or the swap meet a true treasure hunt for everyone that enjoys the good ole days of drag racing.

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