There's never a dull moment at the drags, especially when you have cars like David Tanner's '32 Chevy leaping off the starting line. The Neosho, Missouri-based coupe runs a 339cid smallblock Chevy equipped with a 6-71 blower.
For nearly two decades, traditional hot rods and racecars from across the country have converged in Asbury, Missouri, in mid-August for the H.A.M.B. Drags. This daylong event is hosted by The Jalopy Journal and is part reunion, part drag race and always action-packed. It’s been a few years since we’ve made the trek out to Mo-Kan Dragway, but this time I was there, camera in hand, to take it all in.
Although the races aren’t until Saturday, the nearby town of Joplin comes to life the night before with plenty of cruising and parking lot fun. Even though the party dips deep into the early morning hours, everyone is primed and ready to go the following morning. With the sun high and the humidity higher, I found myself pressed against the steel guardrail as everything from wheelstanding Gassers to tire-smoking slingshots ripped by.
We always enjoy the early-style slingshot dragsters, and watching Randy Jackson's "Medusa" make full quarter mile passes was a highlight. The car is built around a '58 Chassis Research frame and boasts blown early Hemi motivation.
Thanks to the "Dixie Fever" team, late-'60s Gasser racing was alive and well at Mo-Kan. Michael "Toad" Neal handles the driving chores for this tire-frying Anglia.
At the H.A.M.B. Drags, you're sure to see a mix of street cars and competition machines. Here "The Whizz" guns down the track in his smallblock-powered A-V8.
Joe Russell of Sioux City, Iowa, took home our TRJ Pick at the H.A.M.B. Drags. With its full fenders, raked stance, chrome reverse wheels, and diamond-pleat upholstery and running boards, his Model A drives home the mid-'60s look. Way to go, Joe!
