Grand marshal Tom Hanna

Scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 15-17 at famed Auto Club Famoso Raceway just north of Bakersfield, Calif., NHRA's California Hot Rod Reunion presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California is a three-day festival of nostalgic drag racing, hot rods, “Ameri-car-na,” and heroes. From dragster builders to dragstrip kings, this year’s group of Reunion honorees played a major role in the early days of drag racing. Heading the bill is grand marshal Tom Hanna. Renowned for his metal-shaping skills, Hanna is perhaps best known for hand-forming the station-wagon body on Tommy Ivo’s four-engine Show Boat and countless full-bodied dragsters.

Joining Hanna as this year’s honorees are Super Stock and Pro Stock pioneer Bill Bagshaw, renowned chassis builder Don Long, and Al “Mousie” Marcellus of Winged Express fame. Also in the lineup is all-around hot rodder Tom Prufer, who began the whole nostalgia drag racing movement in the early 1980s with the formation of the Nostalgia Drag Racing Association. Rounding out the list is the formidable Arizona duo of Steinegger & Eshenbaugh.

These and dozens of other hot rod heroes will be on hand to relive the glory days of quarter-mile, front-engine drag racing. The Reunion also hosts the finals of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series, so the on-track action will be hot and heavy. Besides amazing drag racing, there will be a huge swap meet full of hard-to-find parts and memorabilia that you can touch and feel — unlike buying over the Internet. A midway will feature almost 100 vendors selling everything from hair-dos to hard parts, and a great car show is set for Famoso Grove. If you only do one event this year, this should be it.

To purchase tickets, log on to http://store.nhra.com/ or call 800-884-NHRA (6472); outside the U.S., call 626-250-2497. For information on upcoming events and attractions at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by Automobile Club of Southern California, log on to http://museum.nhra.com.