Giant Gallery—Back to the Future—Pioneers from the past met with the modern-day NMRA stars and cars at Summit Motorsports Park
Written by Steve Turner
Photography by the author and the FSC staff
After months of anticipation, the Mickey Thompson NMRA Ford Homecoming rolled into Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Reimagined with a focus on celebrating 25 years of NMRA’s existence, the event built on the robust foundation of championship drag racing, this event took on a new life with a host of other activities, displays, and parties throughout the weekend.
Augmenting the traditional UPR Products Car Show, NMRA added several specialty gatherings that focused on specialty Fords celebrating significant anniversaries. These subevents included the 40th Anniversary Saleen Reunion, the 2020+ GT500 Shootout, the 30th SVTperformance.com Reunion, the Harland Sharp Fox-Body Reunion presented by Foxy Events, and the TascaParts.com Cobra Jet Reunion.
Those events brought out some amazing hardware, including rare examples, race winners, and custom combinations. However, it was a pair of parties that drew legends of the 5.0 racing movement to Norwalk, Ohio. The Sticker Dude NMRA Reunion Bash Presented by Edelbrock on Friday evening revived the spirit of the epic celebrations in the pits during the early years of the series. Held in the Granatelli Motor Sports Hospitality Zone adjoined by the Courtyard by Sticker Dude and hosted by Clarence Barnes, this huge party saw a who’s who of 5.0 Mustang legends mixing it up and bench racing about the early days of this legendary movement that led to the creation of NMRA.
Throughout the weekend, the event added to the straight-line speed on the drag strip with the addition of the Anderson Composites Off-Road Alley and the Maximum Motorsports Autocross. The latter ran throughout the weekend with partners AutoXperts and Gateway Classic Mustang running the show and offering thrill rides, while a wide range of Mustangs carved up the cones on non-competitive fun runs. Meanwhile, the Off-Road Alley brought out a host of manufacturer-modified 4x4 machines, as well as the original Bigfoot, on hand for photo ops, and its stadium counterpart, which crushed cars to the delight of the crowd on Saturday.
Saturday also marked a return to the Granatelli Motor Sports Hospitality Zone adjoined by the Courtyard by Sticker Dude for the Edelbrock NMRA Founders Reunion in the race pits. Many of the racing luminaries from the early days of NMRA competition and the predecessors that led the movement gathered again to catch up, and many squared off for bragging rights in the Pro Tree Reaction Time Shootout.
In all, it was as an amazing weekend for any fan of Blue Oval performance and racing. Whether you were there and want to relive the moment, or you missed it and regret it, don’t fret, we are hitting the highlights here. Moreover, NMRA is already planning to keep the party going next year, as the NMRA Ford Homecoming will help celebrate the Ford Mustang’s 60th birthday. Until then, let’s look back on this year’s epic action.
Written by Steve Turner
Photography by the author and the FSC staff
After months of anticipation, the Mickey Thompson NMRA Ford Homecoming rolled into Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Reimagined with a focus on celebrating 25 years of NMRA’s existence, the event built on the robust foundation of championship drag racing, this event took on a new life with a host of other activities, displays, and parties throughout the weekend.
Augmenting the traditional UPR Products Car Show, NMRA added several specialty gatherings that focused on specialty Fords celebrating significant anniversaries. These subevents included the 40th Anniversary Saleen Reunion, the 2020+ GT500 Shootout, the 30th SVTperformance.com Reunion, the Harland Sharp Fox-Body Reunion presented by Foxy Events, and the TascaParts.com Cobra Jet Reunion.
Those events brought out some amazing hardware, including rare examples, race winners, and custom combinations. However, it was a pair of parties that drew legends of the 5.0 racing movement to Norwalk, Ohio. The Sticker Dude NMRA Reunion Bash Presented by Edelbrock on Friday evening revived the spirit of the epic celebrations in the pits during the early years of the series. Held in the Granatelli Motor Sports Hospitality Zone adjoined by the Courtyard by Sticker Dude and hosted by Clarence Barnes, this huge party saw a who’s who of 5.0 Mustang legends mixing it up and bench racing about the early days of this legendary movement that led to the creation of NMRA.
Throughout the weekend, the event added to the straight-line speed on the drag strip with the addition of the Anderson Composites Off-Road Alley and the Maximum Motorsports Autocross. The latter ran throughout the weekend with partners AutoXperts and Gateway Classic Mustang running the show and offering thrill rides, while a wide range of Mustangs carved up the cones on non-competitive fun runs. Meanwhile, the Off-Road Alley brought out a host of manufacturer-modified 4x4 machines, as well as the original Bigfoot, on hand for photo ops, and its stadium counterpart, which crushed cars to the delight of the crowd on Saturday.
Saturday also marked a return to the Granatelli Motor Sports Hospitality Zone adjoined by the Courtyard by Sticker Dude for the Edelbrock NMRA Founders Reunion in the race pits. Many of the racing luminaries from the early days of NMRA competition and the predecessors that led the movement gathered again to catch up, and many squared off for bragging rights in the Pro Tree Reaction Time Shootout.
In all, it was as an amazing weekend for any fan of Blue Oval performance and racing. Whether you were there and want to relive the moment, or you missed it and regret it, don’t fret, we are hitting the highlights here. Moreover, NMRA is already planning to keep the party going next year, as the NMRA Ford Homecoming will help celebrate the Ford Mustang’s 60th birthday. Until then, let’s look back on this year’s epic action.
