2018 Keystone PID Nostalgia Nationals Results
The Southern Slingshots rolled into the annual Nostalgia Nationals in New Alexandria PA on Sept 29-30 ready to put on a show. The weather gods were with us as they blessed us with almost perfect weather for two days of heads up, wheels up, wide open throttle nostalgia racing.
The event was kicked off by Southern Slingshot’s Scott Shiffler doing a nostalgia “smoke run” in full nostalgia garb just as the national anthem was winding down. Shiffler’s 1965 Woody Gilmore FED “TIN MAN” roasted the hides from the start line to the 1/8 mile till the tires hooked up and took the car through the traps with the laundry hangin out. In the immortal words of Jungle Jim…it was FAR OUT!!!
Racing started with Bill Shiffler in the “Shenanigans” dragster and Daryl Arnold in his flamed altered battling it out for the quickest injected small block of the weekend. Shiffler just installed new injection and was still feeling out the new combination, but was a fan favorite by doing several wheel stands during the event. Arnold was constantly running 8.7’s in his altered and took the Slingshot’s title for the quickest injected small block of the meet.
Scott Shiffler in the “TIN MAN” FED and Wade King in the “3 KINGS” altered put on a classic small block vs big block battle. Shiffler won the fans over with a wheel stand in the first round, but lost the race to King who ran his best of 8.00 at 168 mph while shutting off at 1000 ft. In the second round King’s altered was not to be outdone and proceeded to do a wheel stand at the hit which resulted in all four wheels coming off the ground. Unfortunately damage from the landing took him out of competition for the rest of the event.
A five round battle between the Dustman’s “Jolly Roger” injected big block FED with Ryan Dustman at the wheel vs Ed Kasiki’s “Xcelrator” injected big block FED with brother Ray Kasiki doing driving duties resulted in some of the closest racing of the meet. There wasn’t more than a wheel difference during any of their five rounds. The Kasiki’s took the best out of 5 rounds and ran a best run of 7.91 vs the Dustman’s 7.95. Tight, wide open throttle racing at it’s best!!
The blown small block FEDs “Dutch Blitz” driven by Adam Pyle and “The Thing” driven by Mike Heiman were evenly matched and trying for career bests at Keystone. Pyle had been fighting transmission problems for the past year but seemed to have things ironed out as he put together five consecutive 7.50-7.60 runs, even managing a 7.55 on a slick track Saturday night as the dew settled on the track. Heiman got his career best of 7.31 in round 2, but mechanical issues took him out of competition on the rest of the weekend.
The next pair of cars was blown small block FED “Night Owl” of John Bartos and “Revolution”, the blown big block FED driven by Bruck Hacker. Bartos’s short 140” FED proved to be a handful and fought traction issues at the hit all weekend. Bartos kept working on the combination and got some redemption with a quick pass during the last run on Sunday. Hacker ended up with a career best of 7.13 as the air came to him on Saturday which was a contender for the quickest Southern Slingshot ET of the meet.
The quickest pair of the meet was the blown small block comp coupe “TCR2” of Bill Lehmann vs the hometown favorite, the Slagle’s family blown Hemi FED “Steel Town Shaker” driven by John Slagle. Lehman came to Keystone trying for a personal best after running a 7.03 @198 just a few weeks before. He came up just a hair short but still managed an impressive 7.13 at 195 mph. In the end, the class of the field was the Steel Town Shaker’s best of 7.03 at 197 mph. Congratulations to John and his father Don for taking the Slingshot’s top spot at the 2018 Keystone Nostalgia Nationals!!
The Southern Slingshots would like to thank all the teams that came out to support us at Keystone Raceway Park’s Nostalgia Nationals. Keystone’s Jim Senkewitz thanked the Southern Slingshots for, ”moving this event up to another level!!”. The attendance numbers were reported to be the largest in the events history.
We would also like to thank the wonderful photography and videography provided by Steve Parsons, Glenn Barbis and David Chaek. Thanks also goes out to Greg Miller and the staff at Keystone Raceway Park for the great hospitality and safe, fast racing surface. It was a BLAST!
We would also like to thank the wonderful photography and videography provided by Steve Parsons, Glenn Barbis and David Chaek. Thanks also goes out to Greg Miller and the staff at Keystone Raceway Park for the great hospitality and safe, fast racing surface. It was a BLAST!