And you thought nostalgia dragsters were fast!  The JCB GT, the world's fastest backhoe loader dragster, with driver Neil Smith behind the wheel, will be speeding down the track, June 13-15, at the 2008 Holley National Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky. Powered by a 1,300-horsepower engine, the "backhoe on steroids" is capable of speeds more than 150 mph and lights up the sky with its flame-shooting exhaust.

"The JCB GT is an absolute thrill to watch," said Tony Thacker, executive director of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum, producers of the Reunion. "People will be cheering---they've never seen anything like it. The Reunion will be packed with drag racing action, including Top Fuel, but this is something special that the whole family will love."

The JCB GT was introduced in Las Vegas at the 2005 Con-Expo, the world's largest construction industry exhibition. The idea for the machine came from JCB Chairman, Sir Anthony Bamford, the son of the company's founder, Joseph Cyril Bamford. Irish comedian Frank Carson spurred the idea in 1985 by regularly delivering a joke about a JCB backhoe loader that whizzed by at 100 mph. The first JCB GT was created three years later and was debuted to the public at Donington Race Park in England on Aug. 1, 1988.  The JCB GT wowed audiences for many years after its initial launch and has entertained crowds at major racing events the world over, including the British Formula One Grand Prix and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

And now the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion can be added to the list.

The 6th annual Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, June 13-15 at Beech Bend Park in Bowling Green, Ky., is a 3-day festival of speed, hot rods and American automotive enthusiasm.  Produced by the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum and presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California, the Reunion is part of the museum's "living history" philosophy, which works to bring to life the sights, sounds and people who made history in the early days of drag racing, land speed racing and the golden age of American car culture.