Now 45, Carmel resident Chris Kraft caught the speed bug as a boy. His fantasies were fueled by the popular Hot Wheels cars, including the Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen and Don “The Snake” Prudhomme models that still spawn an instant smile. At age 12, he got a 1973 Plymouth Duster to work on at his family”™s Pittsburgh home.
Twelve? “When my parents went out I drove it,” he said.
Today Kraft is part of a subeconomy of hobbyists who prefer their art on four wheels with plenty of giddy-up. As a 165 mph drag racer who competes and wins at any of nine Northeast drag venues ”“ the closest in New Jersey ”“ Kraft could well qualify for leader of the pack.
Said Nancy Lutz, communications director with Dutchess County Tourism and well-versed in car gatherings, “People like to poke around these cars. They”™re living history. They allow people to connect history with something practical and fun.” (Car Show News, a website, listed 89 classic car gatherings in New York state last year, many of them multiday events.)
Besides his 1955 Bel Air drag racer, Kraft has restored 10 muscle cars ”“ Dodges and Chevys ”“ and Wednesday nights are likely to find him on Bear Mountain with like-minded enthusiasts. Other regional cruises gather under the banner of the Dutchess Cruisers at the Smoke Haus & Deli in Hopewell Junction, at Adams Fairacre Farm in Newburgh and at the McDonald”™s in Highland; Westchester County and Fairfield County, Conn., likewise suffer no shortage of events that include weekly gatherings in Port Chester and Cos Cob. Larger shows include Simonized beauties en masse at Bethel Woods, plus some 1,300 cars and 300 vendors that gathered May 6-8 at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, sponsored by the Hudson River Valley Antique Auto Association. “We like to think those who attend these gatherings at least have lunch,” said Lutz. “We hope they stay overnight; that”™s even better.”
A national classic motorbike show occupies the fairgrounds June 10-12 and the California-based Good Guys”™ hotrods and custom cars arrive June 24-26.
“That”™s where the economic impact is, at the gatherings” Kraft said. “Everybody has a hot dog or dinner and it pumps a lot into the economy. There are usually a couple of people who work on the cars at these gatherings, too.” His race partner is John Cerbone of City Island-based JCM Racing.
Joe Doyle is show car chairman for the Hudson River Valley Antique Auto Association. He lives in Rhinebeck where his organization hosted in May its 41st classic car show Mother”™s Day weekend. “We got 600 cars Saturday (hot rods and customs) and 700 cars Sunday (antiques and unmodified classics),” he said, noting cool weather and Mother”™s Day may have crimped the numbers a bit. The show drew 8,000 to 9,000 spectators per day from the Hudson Valley and the Northeast, and some 300 vendors from as far away as California. “I live in Rhinebeck, so I know that a lot of people who come to the Fairgrounds come back to the town for many reasons,” Doyle said. “We”™ve become a real restaurant destination.” The only complaints: “The traffic. When you want to get a cup of coffee and it takes 10 minutes, people will sometimes say something.”
Kraft”™s ”™55 Chevy alone pumps about $12,000 into the economy per year, he said. He is part of a drag-racing circuit ”“ members of the Northeast Timing Organization ”“ at 16 races at 9 different tracks in the Northeast, the closest of which is Island Dragway in Great Meadows, N.J. The so-called nostalgia circuit on which he travels features two classes: his fast class ”“ a quarter mile at 165 mph in 8.4 seconds ”“ and a slower classic class. “It”™s incredible,” he said describing the ride. “It never loses the thrill. It”™s really a lot of fun and it”™s been a lifelong passion of mine.”
To get to 165 mph in less time than it takes to tie your shoes, Kraft only uses the clutch once. With the gas pedal to the floor, he upshifts to fourth gear clutch free. The Internet now satisfies most of his parts needs; before the web he and others relied on scavenge efforts and twice-a-year swap meets at Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.
Kraft”™s 1955 Chevy Bel Air possesses a 598-cubic-inch big-block engine and two “very large” four-barrel carburetors. (The Chevy 327-cubic-inch engine remains a classic muscle car power pack; Kraft bored out his 598 himself.) It runs on racing gasoline ”“ “it”™s very similar to aviation fuel” ”“ at about $10 per gallon. A single quarter-mile race uses about two gallons (including the burnout to heat the tires and make them sticky). He will not tap the brakes until after he has deployed a spring-loaded parachute to slow down.
Kraft stays on message during the workweek as co-owner, along with Frank DeCicco, of Empire Shell Inc. ”“ complete domestic and foreign repairs ”“ in Yonkers. The shop”™s business model calls for the constant restoration of a classic car, which pedestrians can see in progress as they pass.
“I fix cars for a living,” he said. “And when I”™m not fixing cars, I like restoring them and racing them.”
By engaging his passion, Kraft is part of yet another storied tradition: selling cars. “A lot of it is about guys getting together to see how fast their car can go in a quarter mile and the car companies embraced that. There”™s a saying, ”˜Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”™”
