Joe Bucaro smiles when he says stupidity inspires a racer to build a 398-cubic inch engine when the competition comes to the starting line with nearly 250 more cubic inches.

The great equalizer for the Carol Stream, Ill.-based Nostalgia Pro Street racer is that he gets a nearly 600 pound weight break. The class he races in was formerly the top of the line division in the complex world of street legal drag racing.

Joe Bucaro smiles when he says stupidity inspires a racer to build a 398-cubic inch engine when the competition comes to the starting line with nearly 250 more cubic inches.

The great equalizer for the Carol Stream, Ill.-based Nostalgia Pro Street racer is that he gets a nearly 600 pound weight break. The class he races in was formerly the top of the line division in the complex world of street legal drag racing.

Back in the day, Bucaro’s car wouldn’t have passed tech because of the small block. Today, he’s the fifth quickest car at the NMCA/NMRA All-Star Nationals hosted by zMax Dragway located outside of Charlotte, N.C.

Bucaro originally built the car for Super Street Outlaw and when his car was rendered uncompetitive, Nostalgia Pro Street came along at an opportune time.

“It fell into our hands,” Bucaro pointed out. “I like Nostalgia Pro Street because it is a real fun class.”

Bucaro ran a best 7.621 elapsed time at 180.86 miles per hour on Friday. He was 6th provisionally.

A novice might wonder why a late model Mustang is allowed to run a class with Nostalgia branding. The Nostalgia refers to the rules package and not the car.

Nostalgia Pro Street today carries the same rules as back in the day when the front-runners were Pat Musi, Tony Christian and Annette Summer.

“There’s nothing nostalgia about Nostalgia Pro Street,” Bucaro explained with a laugh.   

 

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