With the parade wrapped up, the self start cars back to the starting line and the drivers suiting up at the top end for push starts it was time for the largest Cacklefest in history.

Nitro filled the air over Famoso for a long time that night. Below are most all the photos we received of the actual Cacklefest and like the parade, the order of the photos is not necessarily the order the cars came down but its really close. Some cars couldn't fire, like Smirnoff, some failed to fire like the Northwind and some chose to not even try. Due to the number of cars and the fact they were so spread out the coverage itself is not what we would like but its as good as we got. Enjoy Cacklefest 2007.

The self-start cars and the Proud Mary Blown Fuel Hydro went first. Mary's deal sounded plenty stout with a Mike Kuhl 392 sitting in the Howard hull.

Being a brand new car (finished the previous Tuesday) Bill Turney chose to static start his first time out. With Chuck Griffith in the car the Ray Ferry prepared 392 did just fine.

Dave Beck also chose to static start his Warren-Coburn-Miller car for its first outing. Like the Starlite III, this will push start next year.

The second push start was Ronnie Hampshire in the Stellings & Hampshire car and it was not the kind of beginning we'd hoped for. After he reached his spot on the track the car behind him, Tommy Larkin, came up and missed his turn. The car owner stopped him before he hit Ronnie but after sitting there for a moment Tommy gunned the car and ran full tilt into the back of the red car. The tail section on the S&H car resulting in minor damage that will be hard to fix on tin.

 

 

Tommy Larkin fired prior to clipping the S&H car.

 

 

Bill Alexander fired the Ernie's Camera Shudder Bug, made the turn and parked on the track without incident.

 

 

 

Jay Carpenter in The Syndicate running on all 16.

 

 

 

 

Trevor Larkin fired and driving to his spot up track.

 

 

Paul Sutherland in the Old Timers AA/FD.

 

 

 

 

 

Terry Maestrejuan in his Thunder Chief" AA/FD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A not too pleased Ed McCulloch in the Northwind that failed to fire. Below he goes to the left to exit back to the staging lanes.

 

 

Bobby Hansen in the Wynns Spoiler.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Scott Sr. looked quite comfortable in the Poison Ivy fueler.

 

 

 

 

Herm Petersen in his Petersen & Fitz 1970 Woody car. Always looking for a bigger bang, Herm put a 3/8" stroker engine in the car for this weekend and did it sound stout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob Bruins in the only Ford cammer cacklecar, Jim Green's Assassin.

 

 

 

 

Sam Chastain in the restored Iron Horse AA/FD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wayne King in the Doss-Clayton-King car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Greth in the Ol' Noisy Speed Sport roadster.

 

 

 

Neil O'Kane in his restored Dale Lambrose 1929 Ford roadster.

 

 

Butch Maas in Bob Creitz's "Creitz & Donovan" resto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following the Creitz car was Tom Hanna in his piece of art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Crosby in his Scorpion V.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marvin Graham in the Howard Cams Rattler.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Scott Jr. in "Paradise Alley".

 

Albert Eishenbaugh in the Steinegger & Eishenbaugh AA/FD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the cars started to stack up Geno did his best to direct traffic.

 

George Bolthoff in his very distinctive sounding AA/GD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Anderson in The Vagabond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeep Hampshire had another fun and successful outing in Bill Pitts' Magicar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenny Safford in another of the nine cars from the first Cacklefest, the Olds powered Safford-Gaide-Ratican car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first Bucky Austin car down was Jerry King in the Cross-Mann-King real 98% nitro Jr. Fuel car. Hopefully more of these cars will be showing up in the future. It was one of the coolest classes ever in drag racing.

 

 

 

Next down was the unmistakable green car of Beebe & Mulligan with owner/driver Dave West at the controls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Team Bucky car - the Dead End Kids with Dave Jeffers in the seat.

 

 

 

Jerry Ruth in his 1970 Austin restored Don Long "business coupe" AA/FD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last car out of the Austin stable was the unique Eagle Electric fueler with Don Hampton driving. This car won the unofficial best header flames award this year and because of that fact probably got more photog attention than any other car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next down was Don Ewald in the 1968 BankAmericar - the last front engine dragster John Buttera ever built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Ewald followed in his Mastercar - a 1969 Jim Davis chassis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zane Shubert in Ron Johnson's Shubert & Herbert Chevy powered fueler.

 

 

 

In the seat for the Yeakel Plymouth Special debut was Jerry Bivens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greg Sharp had the role of parking attendant.

 

 

 

The Poachers was once again manned by its original driver, Walt Stevens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carl Olson in his usual spot in Mike Kuhl's Woody car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tommy Ivo in Ron Johnson's "Barnstormer" recreation.

 

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Everybody's still trying to figure out how Roger Garten in the Tocco-Harper-Garten AA/FA ended up as the last car down - a role earned by and traditionally played by Art Chrisman.

As is customary, the fans were all invited out on the track to see the cars and drivers up close and personal. Hundreds took advantage of the opportunity.

And finally, congratulations to the Rossi & Baney clan, Chuck Gobel, Tom McEwen and friends for winning the "Cacklefest 2007 Outstanding Presentation" award.

Thanks for letting us share the Granddaddy of all Cacklefest's with you. We will continue to cover cacklecar events in 2008 and do featues on cars being restored - so drop by often.

2006 CHRR Cacklefest DVD