Musclecars at the Strip (MATSLV) celebrated its 21st year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, March 17-19, 2023. Previously named Mopars at the Strip, promoter Phil Painter opened the gates to other manufacturers several years ago. Though it still leans heavily toward the Pentastar, the other makes are starting to infiltrate the legion of Mopars, which is a win for everyone.
MATSLV is not just a car show but a total car event, with drag racing taking center stage. Painter had a bunch of friends who pushed him to start the show when Bruton Smith added the drag strip at LVMS. MATSLV was the first event at the strip in 2002. It is the longest-running event by an outside promoter at LVMS. Things have changed from the early days of a stuffy 100-point judged car show. Now, it is a much more relaxed environment, with MATSLV adding a show-n-shine, swap meet, autocross, music acts, and celebrity appearances.
Like so many other shows, 2023 was a comeback from Covid year. The numbers in every category were up across the board. There were over 500 tech cards filled out for drag racing, 107 autocross competitors, and over 700 car show/show-n-shine participants. Not that anyone needed an extra reason to go, but Dodge announced a Last Call event to introduce the final Challenger/Demon model on Monday. Stellantis set up thrill rides, racing simulators, and a display of the six previous Last Call models and significant other Dodge vehicles during MATSLV.
It was unseasonably cold for Vegas in March, with highs in the fifties and sixties and a stiff breeze blowing out of the north. However, the sun was shining brightly, spirits were high, and the smell of burnt rubber was floating in the wind. Gates opened at 8:00 a.m. on Friday for tech inspection, while time trials started promptly at 9:00 a.m. for the 23 drag racing classes. An hour later, the car show area opened to participants. Autocross got a later start at 1:00 p.m. to allow for set up, and they were running a special “Friday Night Under the Lights.”
Saturday saw the same chilly conditions but sunny skies. The opening ceremonies started promptly at noon after a few words from promoter Phil Painter, introducing the people behind the scenes who help him put on the show annually. As a special surprise, a couple who have always been proud supporters of MATSLV were married at the starting line before the national anthem and prayer. There’s nothing like doing a burnout in the wedding getaway car as they took their first trip as husband and wife down the drag strip before racing resumed!
MATSLV Autocross
Rob Byrd and his crew from Racing Byrds were super busy on the autocross course all weekend, with a record number of participants split into several groups. There was hardly a minute where there weren’t two cars on track. Close to 1,000 passes must have been made around the course. There was a celebrity shootout at noon on Saturday, with some on-site celebrities driving willing participants’ cars. While Friday was just for fun, Saturday was race day!
TCI Engineering, JBA Speed Shop, Reiss Racing, and others brought out some heavy-hitter old-school iron for the most hotly contested category — Classic Muscle. However, if you know these companies, the powertrains and suspensions are anything but old school! It was fantastic to see old cars out there tearing it up through the twisties.
The fastest time changed hands many times throughout the day, but it came down to the final two runs to decide it. Tom Kammen, in his ’78 Trans Am, laid down a blistering 39.705-second run. Everyone thought the trophy was in the bag until George Reiss threw caution to the wind in his ’70 Camaro to finish just .134-seconds faster for a 39.571 fastest time of the day as cheers went up from the crowd.
Meanwhile, the most entertaining class all weekend was the Jalopy class. Chris Birdsong convinced the promoters to allow a class for older “barn-find” type vehicles or older vehicles without fancy suspension or engines. There were some big B-body cars with quarter panels nearly touching the ground in corners. It was great to see the drivers giving it their all, even if their vehicles didn’t have as much to offer as the Classic Muscle class. John Huff won the class in a ’70 Barracuda, Tyler Kirkwood in a ’73 Challenger took Second, and Vincent Lockyer got Third in a ’67 Cuda. We can see the Jalopy class becoming a “thing” in the future as more people just want to get out and enjoy old cars.
As expected, Modern Muscle was the largest class, with 32 participants. Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, and Chargers made up the bulk of the class. In an ’18 Camaro, Lane Farka set the fastest time at 39.800 seconds, narrowly beating Danny Weller’s 40.019 in his ’19 Camaro and Paul Molina’s 40.098 in his Mustang.
The truck class was easily won by Jason Wilcox in his purpose-built TCI “Sabotage” Chevy square body with a 40.610 time. Nick and Lance Hayden took home Second and Third, respectively, driving their Chevy S10. The Street Car class was a mish-mash of factory stock cars that saw the top three positions taken by the Corvettes of Joe Gambino, Brent Cajthmal, and Cody Frederick. The Ladies’ class had eight participants, with Kristen Frederick in a ’21 Camaro topping the board. The Exhibition class was for anything that wouldn’t fit into a category; Myron Ybarra won it in an ’07 Ariel Atom.
MATSLV Drag Racing
The big drag race for Friday night was the “Battle of the Brands.” This bracket competition pits racers with cars from the Big Three against each other within their own brand, so GM versus GM, Ford versus Ford, and Mopar versus Mopar. The winning Chevy and Ford are pitted against the winning traditional and modern Mopars to find the overall Battle of the Brands winner. It was an all-Mopar final between David Carl’s Hellcat and Lance Cherchuk’s Duster. When the dust settled, Cherchuk’s Duster took home the win! Cherchuk came all the way from Leduc County, Alberta, Canada, to compete in his first MATSLV event.
Saturday’s high winds and cold temps made the top end of the track a little tricky for the high-horsepower car qualifying sessions, but the machines were making plenty of power. A couple of Pro Mods danced with the center line taking out a cone or two, while the small-tire turbo cars danced left and right. Only two classes were contesting for a $10,000-to-win purse. The PMR Stock/Super Stock final pitted John Irving in a Plymouth Duster against Leo Glassbrenner in a Camaro. Glassbrenner walked away with the big check when Irving left a little too early!
Sunday started well with slightly warmer temps but cloudy skies. Everything was on schedule to finish at the 5:00 p.m. cutoff time until Mother Nature decided the desert needed some precipitation. Around 2:30 p.m., sporadic sprinkles started to fall as track workers fought to keep the track dry. Unfortunately, the rain turned into a complete downpour for about 45 minutes as the sun began to set.
As the rain moved into the mountains, the track crew worked feverishly to dry the track with every piece of equipment on the property. Just when you thought we’d get back to racing, the dew point dropped too low to allow safe passage down the quarter-mile, and Painter had to make the tough decision to call the race. With most of the classes into at least the quarter-final rounds, the purse was split among the remaining drivers.
MATSLV Car Show
Proving that the Covid era is officially over, the car show numbers rebounded to fill the grounds. Painter and his crew worked with local car clubs to get more cars into the show, and it worked. Adding a show-n-shine area for those who didn’t want to be judged for a trophy assured some beautiful hot rods a much nicer parking spot inside the gates. Judges had their hands full going through the hundreds of gleaming hot rods and modern muscle. The specialty awards were gorgeous handmade pieces built by Chris and Mary Stoner, featuring the MATSLV logo and two actual pistons.
The car show area had plenty of entertainment, with celebrity appearances and music performances. Mike “Evel Midget” Cook, Constance Nunes, and Paul Rossi signed autographs for fans. The Charade performed on stage Friday and Saturday. Danny Koker of Count’s Kustoms brought his band, Counts 77, to the main stage and rocked the crowd just before the awards were given out on Saturday at 5:30. Of course, you can’t have a car show in Vegas without showgirls. They braved the high winds with their headdresses to help pass out awards.
Look for MATSLV 2024 to be on the same weekend next year, and make it a point to get out to the desert and enjoy some Vegas nights at the strip (the drag strip, that is)!
