For those who own "Cacklecars" the California Hot Rod Reunion is the one event that nobody misses. It is where the Cacklefest phenomenon began and, where every year, it grows. Dave West and his Beebe & Mulligan fueler has been a CHRR staple since 2001. Always a fan favorite and one of the cars most admired by West's peers. Here are some photos of Team West at the 2004 event.

Unlike most of the Cacklecar teams, West sets up a "camp" in the pits where fans can get a close look at the car, buy Beebe & Mulligan T-shirts and visit with Dave and Charlie.

West also has his scrapbooks out for the fans to pour through.

Tim Beebe takes time out from his Crew Chief duties on Jim Murphy's Nostalgaia Top Fuel dragster to get the green car serviced.

The green car just didn't sit there and look pretty, West also did some fire-ups for the fans in the pits.

Dave is one of the few Cacklecars that does "burnouts" during the event. Here he goes up track on Saturday.

When given the signal, the crew push starts the dragster and West motors down the fire up road to the approval of the fans.

Making the turn toward the water box.

After the burnout, West coasts to the turnout road.

After the burnout, the car receives some maintenance. The upkeep on the B&M car is pretty simple. They drop the pan after 4-5 fireups or one burnout. That way they are sure to get all the nitro out of the bottom of the pan. They put on a new filter, 10 quarts of Kendall GT 70 and spin the engine over with the plugs out until we have oil pressure. They also drain all the fuel after running and oil the pump. In addition, they check the plugs each time they fire as they use a conventional type plug for warm-ups and cackles and then switch to side electrode race plugs for burnouts. Chops (Tim Beebe) usually runs the valves and checks the timing every chance they get him to do it. They oil the rocker assembly every time we fire the engine as well.

Once a year West pulls the engine, checks the rod & main bearings, torques the heads, checks the clutch and pulls out the rearend for inspection. He started out with an open rear end but have gone to a posi unit that it setup as tight as possible. He has found that on the burnouts if one tire starts spinning faster, the tire grows and steers the car. Dave might eventually go to a spool but has resisted because of the added difficulty of pushing the car by hand.

West runs a pretty conservative setup compared to some of cackle cars because he does a little more than just cackle. Besides, it is set up almost the same as it was when it ran in 68-69. Then it ran 29 degrees in the magneto and 80% nitro. Now West runs 31 degrees and 85%. As Beebe says, “the engine is happy with this setup and we know it could still run 230+”

As the afternoon sun starts to go down down Saturday evening, the marquee part of the event starts to shape up. The 40+ Cacklefest cars are brought into the staging lane in preparation for the introduction "parade".

When it was his turn, West was pushed to the starting line for the introductions and then proceeded down the track to get ready for the push start and Cacklefest 2004.

After being push started, West cackles for the fans before making the turn to his place on the track.

After firing up in front of the SRO crowd, West takes his place on the centerline of the track as the fans listen in awe to the sound of multiple fuel engines running at one time.

When the last car shuts off, the fans flood the track to get up close and personal with the cars, drivers and crews.

Dave West

Dave & Charlie West post Cacklefest