DRAG RACING ACTION ONLINE

STORY PHIL HUTCHISON

IMAGES JOHN CHARBONNEAU

Labor Day 2026 brought a huge show to Lebanon Valley Dragway in West Lebanon New York with the annual Fall Musclemania race featuring a classic car show, hot rods, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster along with the stars of the show, the East Coast Nostalgia Funny Cars.

The event, put on by the Weekend Cruisers was a success with packed pits and grandstands. A half dozen of the quickest Alcohol Nostalgia was on hand to thrill the crowd and see who had the quickest car at Lebanon

After a Chicago style show with long smokey burnouts and wild side by side passes, the two quickest cars were up to see who had the baddest hot rod.

Jon Wall driving the Ed Parker “Cape Codder” out of Hallifax MA was up against the Total Insanity Monza of Chris Massarella from Lake Hiawatha, NJ.

Wall had the better reaction time and held the lead over Massarella winning with a 6.356 to a close 6.578.

Most of the other Funny Cars were in the 6.60 range so it was a tight event in New York

Runner up Chris Massarella who books and arranges many of the Nostalgia show on the East Coast and considers Lebanon Valley to be his home track said after the event, “Lebanon Valley has a long history of amazing funny car shows over the decades. I’ve been going to Funny Car shows at the Valley since the early 80’s, so to be part of them now is pretty cool and an honor.”

“Track Manager Wayne Delmonte and his team always provide us with a smooth running event and an amazing track surface, that will take whatever we can throw at it”

“All the teams laid down some killer burnouts and runs in front of a nice crowd and perfect weather. We were very lucky to go low for round 1 with Total Insanity, against a stacked field of some very quick cars with our 6.55 @ 212. That put us in the finals against one of the quickest cars in the northeast, the Jon Wall driven Cape Codder.”

“Our luck ran out in the final when Jon turned up the wick on Cape Codder. His 6.35@219 covered our 6.57@212.”

“Can’t thank Lebanon Valley and Wayne Delmonte enough for having our show be part of his events. Always a highlight of the year for us and already looking forward to next year’s event.

“What a great weekend racing at Lebanon Valley Dragway with the Cape Codder Funny Car,” Wall said after his win.  

“We had an incredible time at the track, making some great passes, enjoying the competition, and spending the weekend surrounded by an awesome group of friends, racers and fans. Thanks to Wayne Delmonte from LVD and everyone who came out and supported us”