A road trip to the past

The RPM nationals is a race that is a throwback to the early days of drag racing, when street racers used to go head-to-head to see whose hotted-up ride was the fastest. The action now takes place not on city streets but at the beautiful backdrop that is Santa Margarita Ranch.

There are 6 different race groups consisting of street class, modified, and full race where anything goes including nitro fuel and blown engines. These groups are split into different groups for 4-cylinder and 8-cylinder cars. All the cars must appear to be 1955 or earlier with no modern upgrades unless for safety reasons.

We arrived Friday evening and took a walk into town from our Airbnb. The little town of Santa Margarita has a really cool vibe. Most of the buildings on the main drag look like they have been there for 100 plus years. Friday must have been cruise night as the streets were lined with all sorts of old cars including many of the cars that would be racing on Saturday. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you arrive on Friday.

Saturday morning, we headed out to the Ranch to check out the racing action. The layout this year was a bit different than in years past with a lot of construction going on around the Ranch. The racing takes place on a 1/8 mile strip that looks as if is an old airstrip. Racers line up side by side and then move their way to the starting line. Then as the flag person looks to each racer to make sure they are ready, the revs rise, and with a leap in the air and a wave of the flag, the racers are on their way down the dragstrip to the checkered flag.

The turn out of competitors was pretty strong, probably about 100 competitors in total. The entire atmosphere of this event is very relaxed and low key. I think most of the racers are just out there to have a good time and enjoy the racing in a safe and controlled environment. One of my favorite cars out there was driven by a guy in a rabbit suit with the slogan “Hoppin’ Mad” on the side of the car.

The heat races continued until the lunch break. After lunch, the races continued until class winners were determined in all 6 classes.

There was also a swap meet there for period pieces only and a car show of the 50’s period. The event was pretty well set up with enough food vendors and toilets. There were also a few good merchandise stands that had some cool hot rod shirts etc.

After leaving the races we went back into town for a much-needed cold beverage at a cool little place called Rosalina’s, it was pretty warm at the Ranch. After cooling off we moved across the street and had dinner at The Range which was excellent.

In summary, this is a super fun event in a really beautiful location. The racing was fun to watch and refreshing to see the competitors helping each other out and not taking things too seriously. I had a group of friends with me that had never been to anything like this before and they all had a fantastic time. I’ll be back next year for sure.

DP

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