Garlits, Nitro Chaos to combine for celebration of Mo-Kan Dragway's 60th anniversary
Jul. 9—ASBURY, Mo. — A special weekend is in store for drag racing fans on July 15-16 at Mo-Kan Dragway as the venue celebrates its 60th-year anniversary by delivering a unique experience for all of those in attendance.
The DNP Awnings Nitro Chaos event, presented by Twisted Shifterz, has over 20 pre-entries from across the country in an all-nitro burning showdown that will qualify the quickest 16 cars in two eight-car fields and pay guaranteed purses of over $35,000.
The Wulff Pumps 'A' Field will award a whopping $10,000 to the winner and the Deeznuts Lugnuts 'B' Field winner will score a hefty $5,000 prize.
Fuel Altereds, Funny Cats, and Dragsters of all kinds will run heads up and side by side. The only rule is vehicles must have at least 80% nitromethane in the fuel tanks.
Capping off this drag race will be a special appearance by 'Big Daddy' Don Garlits, who at one time held the Mo-Kan Dragway speed record at 206 mph, likely set during one of his multiple match races at Mo-Kan with Bennie 'The Wizard' Osborn.
There is record of Garlits match racing at Mo-Kan from 1965 to 1967, usually with Osborn. In 1982 and 1983, Garlits returned to Mo-Kan to square off in a best-of-three match race with Les Shockley's jet dragster. His final Mo-Kan appearance was in 1984 in a match race with Gene Snow. Garlits is back, and with him is his Swamp Rat 12 nitro burning slingshot dragster, which he will fire and cackle on the track under the lights in both nights of the event.
Also in attendance will be Jim Brewer's 'Pacemaker' 1933 Willys wheelstander. Brewer, 88, the world's oldest active wheelstander, will take the stage both days to wow the crowd, coming to Missouri from Cleveland, Ohio.
Grassroots nitro teams from Illinois — like Joe Haas' 'American Way' 1957 Chevy Funny Car and Chuck Baird's 'Wildside' Front Engine Top Fuel Dragster — will be participating along with Texas-based teams like Chase Copeland's brand-new injected nitro 'Cubic Dollars' Fuel Altered and Chuck Loftin's 'Motivation' Mustang Funny Car. The most recent Nitro Chaos 'A' Field winner, Jody Austin and his 'BushWhacker' Fuel Altered, and recently-announced entrant Megan Linder and her world-championship winning A/Fuel Dragster from nearby Kansas will be participating as well.
The event will be streamed live for subscribers of FloRacing. For more information, visit www.nitrochaos.com.
