Let's Skip All The Usual Mumbo jumbo and get to the skinny of it. No weather reports (ok, it was in the 80s and sunny), and no horror stories about the flight in (that's because we drove in). The Super Chevy Show at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvania was a big one. Starting on a Thursday, the event's attendance grew as the weekend wore on.
Scouring the pit side of the track, Chevy-powered racers converged from far and near. Car counts were somewhere near 600-that's crazy! Even though 300 would be eliminated after the first round, 200 of these folks bought into the Second Chance race. No wonder eliminations ran into the night sky on Sunday. wore on.
Here we have Harold Caron's impeccable '84 Camaro IROC street freak. The car has gone 10-ohs at 110 and will be deep in the 9s once he gets his NHRA license.
The car show did not disappoint. This was one of the most satisfying show fields we've seen in a long time. We thought Saturday's field was impressive with over 500 pristine beauties (and one not-so-pristine sled). Sunday proved to be even better with an additional 100 cars entering through the gates. Normally one can peruse through the show field and take in all the sights in one walk-through-not this time around. The field just kept growing. The joint was jam-packed with stellar Corvettes, Tri-Fives, Camaros, Novas, Chevelles, and Monte Carlos, to name a few. Of course, we can't forget the huge lineup of pro-streeters on hand (yes, we love you too). Is the car hobby fading? We would say a definite no! We were impressed to see so many top-quality cars, especially ones done in the owner's personal garage-hats off to you.
Cruising through the swap meet and midway section we encountered a plethora of quality new and used parts, along with hard-to-find trinkets. We stumbled upon some old Chevy owners' manuals, hard-to-find OEM gauges, and even some older Super Chevy magazines. The car corral was pretty impressive to say the least. It looked like a mini car show section. We're sure some great deals were had.
As previously stated, the Grove was rockin'. This was just a third of the showgrounds.
By Sunday evening the drag winners were crowned. In Bracket One it was a pair of dragsters. Martin Fiegal took the win over Michael Calabro; Martin ran a 8.042 on a 8.03 dial-in at 161.90 mph. Bracket Two crowned Stephen Dunn as the winner after Kim Strickler lit the red bulb by leaving town early in her Nova. Stephen finished the night off by running a 10.14 at 132.62 mph. The Second Chance race winner was Joe DiPasquale, who took the easy win over Bob Murphy Sr., who also lit the red. Joe ran an impressive 7.29 at 181.62 mph.
Tim Peters came out on top over Darren McLaughlin in the DOT Street Fight class. Tim's Chevelle had it easy, as Darren also joined the red light club. In Nitro Coupe action, Chris Russo was victorious over Doug Winters. Russo's Corvette ran 7.093 to Doug's slowing 8.718.
The Maple Grove event brought out some great people, great food, and some really cold beer. Can't wait until next year!
Jimmy Dougherty was shaking his head after we gave his '81 Malibu chop-top (literally) an Editor's Choice Award. | 
Jimmy also owns the beautiful black '79 behind it, which we dutifully ignored- much to his horror. What can we say? We're suckers for leopard-print interiors. | 
This beautiful '69 Camaro Z/28 belonged to Tom Calverley of Fredericksburg, Virginia. With the 472 small-block under the hood and Lenco tranny we bet this thing hauls ... well you know. |
Who says magazine guys can't have our cake and eat it too? Not only did we have the pleasure of driving the Goodmark Camaro from New Jersey (in airconditioned comfort), we also had it detailed by Leah Butz and Bryan May of Jax Wax. They wanted to prove that their product could be used even in bright sunlight on a hot day on a black car. The stuff worked like a charm. | 
Here we have Rod and Tina Saboury with their '63 Corvette split window. This 2,200hp street car is powered by a Moran-built 400 smallblock with twin turbos. Amenities include full interior lighting, stereo, cup holders, and power windows. Future upgrades will include air conditioning and hopefully 6-second time-slips. Oh yeah, the Saboury's also took home the Award of Excellence. | 
Is that a ... ? Yes, it's a '76 Caprice Estate wagon with a blown 540 and it's driven by David Eldridge of Buffalo, New York. Now I don't care what anyone says-this is the definition of a grocery getter and it's a 5500-pound, 10-second one to boot. David was presented with an Editor's Choice Drag award. |