Quaker City Raceway hosts All Hemi Reunion
By KEVIN HOWELL, Salem News staff writerArticle Photos
SALEM- Hemi vehicles from all over the world converged on Quaker City Raceway this weekend for the international All Hemi Reunion extravaganza.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Superstock Hemi Cudas and Darts, the event started as a singular celebration, but morphed in an everything 426 hemi-powered event, according to reunion coordinator Jim Kramer.
A Hemi engine is an internal combustion engine built by Chrysler that utilizes a hemispherical combustion chamber that allows the valves of a two valve-per-cylinder engine to be angled rather than side-by-side, creating more space in the combustion chamber roof for the use of larger valves and straightening the airflow passages through the cylinder head, thus resulting in relatively high power output from a given piston displacement, according to Wikipedia.org.
Planning the reunion with Dick Towers for over a year, Butler Township, Pa., resident Kramer said he has collected the cars for years and even raced them at the raceway in the 1970s.
An international event, Kramer said it is a showcase for all Hemi enthusiasts and features vehicles from collectors and racers from all over North America who wanted to get their cars
back out and share them with other Hemi fans.
"Essentially, a lot these cars just sit; guys don't take them out," he said. "This is an event where they can bring them, blow the cobwebs off and start enjoying them again."
The weekend event featured Hemi races, autograph sessions with original owners and drivers, seminars, slideshows and exhibits featuring a MOPAR race car by Chrysler, the first AFX funny cars, pro stock cars and other Hemi-powered race and street cars. All vehicles will be featured in a quarter-mile long parade around the race track at 7 a.m. today.
Having raced at Quaker City during his career, Kramer said the raceway was a logical location for the reunion.
"I was familiar with the facility and knew that it is very large and very nice," he said. "Plus, since it has been open since 1957, most of the featured vehicles have been raced here."
Described by Kramer as the largest gathering ever of Hemi vehicles in one place, the reunion would not have been possible with out the help of many people, Kramer said, including Towers, organizer Ryan McKivigon, Creative Convention Consulting of Canton and countless others who provided support throughout the planning process.
But all the work was worth the effort, Kramer said.
"It turned into the must-see, must-do event for Hemi cars, and, realistically, I think it will be the benchmark for shows to come."
Kevin Howell can be reached at khowellsalemnews.net
