ESCONDIDO - Broadway will resemble a drag strip Friday when about 20 nitromethane-fueled classic dragsters hit the downtown streets.

It's Nitro Night at Cruisin' Grand, and that means spewing flames and thunderous noise when the thin-rail Top Fuel machines from the 1960s and '70s line up and start their engines.

The sixth appearance of the classic dragsters at Cruisin' Grand is the biggest yet, said Steve Waldron, who helps line up the vehicles for the Downtown Business Association's weekly cruise events. Broadway will be blocked off in front of Grape Day Park to set up a simulated pit area and starting line where the cars will roll up two by two.

"It's going to be awesome when the engines roar. (The cars) are running 90 percent nitromethane," Waldron said. "It's going to be thunder. We're going to wake up that park."

Hall of Fame driver Ted Cyr, an Escondido resident, and his crew chief, Flip Schofield, will be on hand with the 1958 Top Fuel dragster that Cyr raced to the National Hot Rod Association title. The car is on loan from the NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, Waldron said.

Drag racing legends Tommy Ivo and Stormin' Norman Weekly will re-create the start of their 1963 match race at Ramona Raceway for Friday's grand finale.

"That's quite an event in the history of drag racing," said Waldron.

Among the 20 vehicles will be several making their debut appearances at Cruisin' Grand. Along with the thin-rail dragsters, which hit about 200 mph over the quarter-mile drag strips, will be a funny car and some funny car/Top Fuel hybrids.

Today's cars can hit 330 mph.

They'll start to line up one at a time around 6:30 p.m., according to Waldron. The big show will start at 7:30 p.m. when the dragsters are rolled to the starting line side by side and fire up their engines, sending flames spewing and rattling some nearby windows.

"It's part of American racing culture. We'll have a lot of the older crowd, who remember these cars … coming out and seeing these cars restored and running and not just sitting in a museum," Waldron said.

Contact staff writer Jeff Frank at (760) 740-5419 or jfrank@nctimes.com.