There is plenty to do this week at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas long before the Texas NHRA FallNationals, Oct. 14-16.

One of the headlining events at the 2nd annual Stampede of Speed was Scott Palmer’s Nitro Side Show, which took place Oct. 10 at the facility.

“Well, the first time was kind of a spur of the moment, just a thing that it was dreamed up and we whipped it out there and it worked out so good that social media blew up over this deal,” Palmer said about the inaugural Nitro Side Show in 2021. “Then, I probably got 1000 or 2000 messages and I had at least 10 racetracks contact me about, ‘Hey, why don't we do this at our track?’ And so, you know that people are taking notice when they do that. So, when (Texas Motorplex officials) called me this winter, we just decided well we need to do it again and do some things different.”

Palmer explained the differences in 2022.

“Last year was kind of a trial and it's more of a social media event,” Palmer said. “This year we had Monday Night Football and we're just trying to put on a good show for the fans. We want a variety of cars. Some of the cars, some people will see this weekend run at the national event, some they won't, but we'll have them here on display so they can come and check out what we ran. I mean we have a Nostalgia Top Fuel dragster, we have Nostalgia Funny Cars, all fields. We have it all (even) Top Fuel Harleys.”

The action was fast and furious Monday night and Palmer was thrilled to put on the show.

“One of my favorite races and match ups tonight (was) a front engine Nostalgia Top Fuel car, a beautiful car of Joe Gallagher's and they just put this together,” Palmer said. “But this thing is awesome, and we paired it up against Chelsea. He's been working on this electronic fuel injection, set up on this blown alcohol dragster for a while on the dyno and we have the most high tech blown dragster probably on Earth racing a nostalgia car that looks like it came straight out of the 1960s, but a late model 60s style front engine. We had the best of the old and the best of the new.”

Additionally, Pro Mod stars Stevie “Fast” Jackson and Frankie Taylor squared off in a match-up.

“We got the two toughest Pro Mod guys in the world to race each other,” Palmer said.

Being the catalyst of this unique event – the Nitro Side Show – is something Palmer relishes.

“Some of these match ups you've never seen before,” Palmer said. “People don't get to see them, and I think we're missing (that). I love mashed potatoes. You don't need to mess with them if you know what I mean. I can eat potatoes any day. Guys used to do (events like this) on the way to national events and we’re going to start doing that again. We're going to do it in Tucson (Ariz.) and put on a show. We want to bring back some excitement into drag racing.”