The starter with his leisurely bent-leg posture is a visual clue to the casualness of a New Year’s Day drag race. The aging Chrysler sedan about to huff-and puff its way down the right racing lane is another one. Two more clues to this laid-back event are visible in the lower photo: Note the passenger in the car (lower left) while contestants practice some bonhomie in the staging lanes.

THE HANGOVER NATIONAL;
Drag Racing, Genteel Style--

The boys at Dragway 42’s vintage racing facility up near West Salem sounded like racers at that 10th annual event.

An ever-moving herd of them lurched modestly up the staging lanes; the noise of gunning engines rippling from here to there as playful feet bumped the accelerators.

One clue to the oddity of this drag race is the date itself; New Year’s Day—in Ohio—with snow covered ground and temps struggling through the mid 20s, hence the name including the word “Hangover”.

Another oddity clue; many cars sloshed onto the starting grid—with passengers.

And, the racing machines themselves looked suspiciously like the competitors snuck a family chariot off to the track with a nod to the truism, “Boys will be boys”.

Often a shiny, tandem wheel four wheel drive pickup would stage with a rusty Geo Prism, or some such other silliness. Where’s the fairness in that battle, you ask?

Well, it’s in an event rule called a dial-in, elapsed time limitation; this year set at 20.09 seconds. Any racer going down the track in less time than that is, well, eliminated.

Simply put, the family sedan can easily compete with an ear-blasting, flame throwing monster of a racing rail job.

The winner is the guy who survives the eliminations with an aggregate elapsed time average closest to 20.09 seconds.

It is a real test of the driver’s ability, not the car’s muscle and the size of a sponsor’s pocket book.

As the Christmas tree starting signal eases from staged to yellow to green the winner is likely to be the guy with the quickest reaction times and an average ET of just at or fuzz above that magic decimal of 20 point 0h 9.

A geriatric gazelle could be competitive in this race.

And, this quirky race had its quirky genesis after a private New Year’s party at the racetrack 10 years ago. As the celebrants were leaving the next day many pleaded with owner Jack Ehrmantraut for a chance to zip down the track, Mrs. Ehrmantraut explained to Fogeyisms.

Their wishes were approved with common-sense enforcement of racing within limitations imposed by winter conditions—and the Hangover National concept was born.
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In the small photo, upper right, a blaring red light announces a starting-line violation for the car in the near lane which already is gone from the camera’s view. The lower photo shows a tote board near the finish line with this competitor’s elapsed time of 26.274 seconds and speed of 61.88 mph.

The “W” denotes the winner—I think. A delightful Mrs. Ehrmantraut provided Fogeyisms her owner-husband’s cell phone number so we could receive racing details later. The courtesy of a response to our phone inquiry never happened.