CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION, OCT. 18-20, 2013

22ND CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION, FAMOSO RACEWAY, Oct. 18-20, 2013

Sunday Racing

It’s amazing to see what amounts to flat open land around the Famoso dragstrip transform into a small “city” during Hot Rod Reunion.  The population of that 3-day “city” would probably exceed a number of rural California towns.  The size of this ‘city” was swollen by the pits of 38 funny cars, thirty-four 7.0 Pro cars, 80 Cacklefest cars together with about 170 other racers in the various classes.  Sunday afternoon this “city” gradually melted away as cars not in the finals were loaded up and their crews rolled out.  By around 5:00 p.m. one could stroll through the nearly empty pit area.   The knots of people surrounding the cars being prepared for the final rounds readily stood out against the increasing open space.

This week-end Mother nature showed she could be a cooperative partner in the event, however, Zeus,the Greek God of thunder, repeatedly stopped the thunder exploding from the the top fuel and funny cars when a number of oil downs caused long delays.

It wouldn’t be Hot Rod Reunion without the Speed Sport Coupe to open Sunday morning fuel car racing.  As is the Reunion tradition, Steve Gibbs in his orange ’50 Ford Coupe gave a push start to Red Greth’s orange Speed Sport Coupe aka “Old Noisy”. The Speed Sport Coupe was pushed from the far end of the track.  When it was fired up, it turned around at the start line and ran for the finish line.  Once the Speed Sport Coupe went through the lights, the first pair of funny cars fired up and fuel car racing was under way.

 

TOP FUEL:  The No. 1 qualifier, Denver Schutz in Raisin Express 3 had a bye in round 1 of eliminations, beat Bill Dunlap in High Speed in round 2, and Brett Harris in Nitro-Hemi in round 3 to meet  the No. 6 qualifier, Adam Sorokin, in the Champion Speed Shop car in the finals.    Sorokin left the line first with a .062 reaction time with Schutz following with a .129 reaction time.  Schutz appeared to be catching Sorokin before his car pulled right and he crossed the center line.  Sorokin took the win with an ET of 5.912 at 216.76 mph.  After running strong in qualifying setting both low ET of 5.674 and top speed of 249.03, and running a race low ET of 5.671 and top speed of 255.48 in the quarter-finals, Schutz couldn’t take the win.  Sorokin won with an ET of 5.912 at 216.76 mph.  Although Jim Murphy went out in the 2nd round of eliminations, he gathered enough points to maintain his points lead in the Heritage Series and win the Series title.

FUNNY CAR:   When Dan Horan went into the final round of eliminations, winning would give him not only the Reunion Wally but the top prize in Heritage Series racing.  John Hale in the Mike Burkhart tribute car played spoiler by taking home the Reunion win and thereby giving Jason Rupert the Heritage Series.  Jason Rupert was the No. 2 qualifier and had the top speed in qualifying but lost to Hale in the semi-finals.  At the end Horan and Hale both had reaction times of .128 but Hale was quicker with an ET of 5.685 to Horan’s 5.744.  Horan’s Patriot Mustang ran in the 5.7’s all day Sunday, but couldn’t get into the 5.6’s for the finals.

PRO MOD:  The final round found Dan Myers in a ’69 Camaro and Tim Krupa in a ’53 Corvette at the line.  No. 1 qualifier Marc Meadors  and No. 2 qualifier Mike Maggio both went out in the semi-final round.  Myers left Krupa sitting at the line with a .023 holeshot.  Krupa’s reaction time was .131.  Myers led Krupa down the track finishing with an ET of 5.958 at 250.37 mph.  Krupa crossed the finish line with an ET of 6.672 at 229.82 mph.

 

7.0 PRO:  34 cars showed up to race in 7.0 Pro.  The quickest 16 qualified in this class with the next 16 qualifying in 7.0 Pro B.  This class races on a 7.0 index.  Mike Smith qualified at No. 12 and took out the No. 5 and 4 qualifiers in rounds 1 and 2.  Steve “Flattop” Faller in his ’63 Corvette runs in A/Gas in the Heritage Series, but turned out for 7.0 Pro.  Faller qualified in the No. 6 spot.  Faller ran near perfect index times winning in the first round by .002 of a second running a 7.014 to Joey Steckler’s 7.016.  In the 2nd round Faller ran 7.001 and turned in a 7.014 in the 3rd round.  Smith advanced from the 1st round when Mike Buersken broke.  In the 2nd round Smith ran a 7.025 and in the 3rd a 7.017.  The finals proved a challenge for both contestants when Faller red lighted and Smith broke out running an ET of 6.973 on a .000 tree. By going red, Faller gave Smith the win.

7.0 PRO B:  Richard Phillips in a ’32 Bantam ran an ET of 7.165 at 189.76 mph in the finals to take the win after Dewayne Sanders broke. Phillips was the No. 8 qualifier and Sanders the No. 2 qualifier.  Phillips marched through the ladder taking out first Mark Tarabochia when he broke down, then Ron Huegell when he broke out and finally by knocking off a quicker and faster Cal Tebb  with a holeshot.

A FUEL:  No. 1 qualifier Kin Bates lost to Ryan Davenport, the No. 2 qualifier, in the final round.  Davenport left the light first with a .027 reaction time and ran both quicker and faster than Bates.  Davenport ran an ET of 6.256 at 214.55 mph.  Bates reaction was .066, ET of 6.938 at 212.19.  Kin Bates, a perennial A Fuel winner, ran an ET of 6.212 at 225.15 in the semi-finals but couldn’t repeat that performance in the finals.

JR. FUEL:  This class fielded only 9 cars with cars designated as A running an ET of 6.89, B running at ET of 6.98 and C with an ET of 7.20. Don Enriquez was in the No. 1 qualifier in a Jr. Fuel C car and Wayne Ramay was No. 2 in a Jr. Fuel B car, J.D. Zink was No. 3 with a Jr. Fuel A car.  In Round 3 Zink had a bye, and Enriquez met Ramay.  The finals were between Enriquez and Zink.    Enriquez took the win with a reaction time of .029, ET of 7.317 at 144.95 mph.  Zink was left a the line with a reaction time of .175, ET of 7.511 at 143.70 mph.

 

A GAS:  The first round of eliminations sported a 25 car field in this 7.60 index class.  The No. 1 qualifier Ray Padgett and No. 2 qualifier Brendon Frye didn’t make the cut and the final round found No. 10 qualifier Al White in a ’65 GTO and No. 23 qualifier Tom Fowler in a ’70 Camaro at the line.  Fowler took the win over White.

NE I:  Eliminations had a 32 car field.  After four rounds of elimination Jason Barta, the No. 14 qualifier, was at the line next to Alan Hull, the No. 11 qualifier.  Barta in an ’08 Dragster with a Chev 572 and Hull in a ’01 dragster with a Chev 406.  Barta left the line nearly a 1/10th of a second ahead of Hull.  This is a 7.6 index class and Barta had an ET of 7.609.  Hull broke out turning in an ET of 7.568.

A/FX:  Mitchell Akers and Michael McCallum ran the ladders in this 16 car field to sit at the line in the final round of eliminations. Akers in a ’60 Chev and McCallum in a ’63 Dodge 400.  This is a dial-in class and both cars ran a 10.00 dial-in.  Akers had an ET of 10.014 and McCallum an ET of 10.026.  Akers went 134.50 mph to McCallum’s 131.70.  Akers was quicker and faster and left the line first with a reaction time of .110 to McCallum’s 125.

 

Over the week-end there was time for some exhibition runs.    Sunday a few fuel altereds made a pass. Rat Trap made an impressive run and Mike Boyd in the Winged Express did a burnout but an oil leak made him back away from the line.

The grove was filled with hot rods, rat rods and other fine cars as well as some vintage dragster that were in the Cacklefast.  As usual the grove also has the food vendors, the beer booths and the root beer float truck.  When the racing was delayed the grove provided a great retreat.  A lot of vendors could also be found on the midway and the swap meet covered a large section next to the pits.    The pits are always open and the racers and their crew are more than happy to talk about their car and how the race is going.  There is always something to do.

The racing ended around 6:30 and the 22nd Hot Rod Reunion was over.

Saturday Racing

Racing on Saturday was plagued by delays which resulted in several classes not being able to run additional qualifying rounds.

Funny Cars, Top Fuel and Pro Mod have all completed one elimination round.

Funny Cars.  In the first round of elimination the pairings were:

Nemeth and Patton; Densham and Bronge; Horan and Sanders; Day and Overholser; Rupert and Konno; Krabill and Thompson; Hale and Powers; and Pedregon and Lewis.  In the second round the pairings will be Paton v. Bronge; Horan v. Day; Ruppert v. Thompson and Hale v. Lewis.  Thus far low ET is 5.628 set by Brad Thompson and top speed is 257.24 set by Jason Ruppert.

Top Fuel.  In the first round of elimination the pairings were:

Schutz had a bye; Cox and Dunlap; Murphy and August; Harris and Bellemeur; McGee and Boyd; White and Read; Sorokin and Young.  The second round will find Schutz v. Dunlap; Murphy v. Harris; McGee will have a bye and White v. Sorokin. Low ET of 5.674 was set by Denver Schutz and top speed of 261.02 was set by Jim Murphy.

Pro Mod.  In the first round of elimination the pairings were:

Meadors and Baily; Durden and Anderson; Myers and Scialpi; Hanger and Renteria; Maggio and Oksas; Doushgounian and Nunes; Krupa and Moore; Lepone and Henry.  In the second round Meadors will meet Durden; Myers will meet Hanger; Maggio will meet Doushgounian and Krupa will meet Henry.  Low ET of 5.777 was set my Mark Meadors and Maggio set the top speed of 259.41.

A Fuel.  The field has been set and the first round of elimination will be held tomorrow.  The pairings are Bates and Cottrell; Harless and Grisel; Waters and Allen; Davenport and Kurmre; and, Wayne and Cobari.  Top ET of 6.240 and top speed of 222.99 were both set by Kin Bates.

Jr. Fuel.  The Jr. Fuel field is 9 cars.  Enriquez will have a bye; Millsap will beet Chrisman; Ramay will meet Notzka;  Zink will meet Fenton; and Coker will meet McCornick.

7.0 Pro.  The class was divided into two classes.  The top 16 qualifiers went into this class and the next 16 went into 7.0 Pro B.  The first round of elimination will find Denney v. Adams; Leahy v. Cottrell; Lennon v. Kolwich; Buersken v. Smith; Marshall v. Ferreira; Roserberg v. Sitko; Roark v. Peck and Faller v. Steckler.

7.0 Pro B.  The pairings in this class are Sanders v. Woodward; Fersch v. Wardell; Dicero v. Brewster; Tebb v. Pegues; Phillips v. Sturgeon; Reykdal v. Neverve; Mazany v. Buckley; Swinford v. High.

A Gas.  This is a 25 car field.  The first round of eliminations will be Padgett with a bye; Bush v. Data; Jurado v. Castelli; Merenda v. Fowler; Galileo v. Mossi; Godec v. Cogswell; Frye v. Chafffe; Ferry v. Saliani; Morovich v. Lena; Newton v. Wilson; White v. Hienstra; Herrera v. Treur; and Quiroga v. Lee.

NEI.  This class has a 32 car field.  The first round of eliminations will pair Whynaught and Upton; Padur and Valencia; Taros and Sarginson; Means and Corbett; Taros and Carmack; Hull and Capogn; Jakob and Crisp; Black and Bates; Scrokosch and Hall; Morosan and Cook; Beverett and Webber; Barta and Bates, Jr.; Ward and Stafford; Hall and Johns; Schoenfeld and Edwards; and Ferre and Gruzen.

A/FX didn’t run additional qualifying rounds on Saturday.  But the top 16 qualifiers on Friday were.  Jim Gonia, Larry Knapp, Ernie Algorri, Ron Kissner, Todd Hoffman, Michael McCallum, Ken Goodsey, Glenn Gibbons, Dan Ficher, Jack Goodrich, Doug Hampton, Steve Whitemore, Thomas Tuso, Dale Schroeder, Joel Minter and Roy Pool.

Cacklefest originally scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. got a late start because the delays kept racing going until past 6:00 p.m.  This year Cacklefest includes 80 vintage push started nitro burners.  All cars are either restored originals or recreations of the ’60’s and ’70’s cars. Sunday another Cacklefest will be held at 11:00 a.m. and will include self-started cars.

Gates will open Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. with eliminations starting at 9:00 a.m.  Round 2 of Funny Car will start at about 11:15 and round 2 of Top Fuel is schedule to start at 11:30 a.m.  There will be more exhibition rounds as time permits. Final rounds of eliminations will start at 4:00 p.m.

Friday Racing

Steve “Flattop” Faller pictured above makes a qualifying pass  in 7.0 Pro.

Top Fuel, Funny Cars, Jr. Fuel, A Fuel, and 7.0 Pro ran one qualifying round today.  Top qualifiers are:

Top Fuel – Denver Schutz ET 5.675, 249.03 mph

Funny Car – Tim Nemeth ET 5.693, 253.42 mph

Jr. Fuel – Don Enriquez ET 7.168, 185.54 mph

A Fuel – Kin Bates ET 6.240, 222.80 mph

7.0 Pro – Brad Denney 7.002, 192.36 mph

A/FX, NEI and A Gas ran 2 qualifying rounds today.  The leaders are:

A/FX – Jim Gonia, ET 9.160, 148.44 mph

NEI – Mark Whynaught, ET 7.610, 170.00 mph

A Gas – Ray Padgett, ET 7.601, 179.14 mph

Above is Ryan Davenport, No. 2 A Fuel qualifier, doing his burnout.

Sean Renteria in the first round of Pro Mod qualifying.  As of this time no qualifying stats are available for Pro Mod.

In addition to racing a lot of nice hot rods, rat rods, customs, etc. were in the grove.

Gates open tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. for more qualifying with elimination rounds starting for Top Fuel and Funny Car.

More race results will be posted tomorrow night with the final article and photos available on Monday evening.

 

The 22nd California Hot Rod Reunion kicks off October 18, 2013 at Famoso Raceway when gates open at 8:00 a.m.  Qualifying runs will start at 8:30 a.m. with Funny Cars qualifying at 1:00 p.m. and Top Fuel Qualifying at 2:00 p.m.  Friday night the Reunion Reception will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Bakersfield.  This is a chance to meet your friends as well as Butch Leal the Grand Marshal and the other honorees, Tommy Allen, Roy Brizio, Jim DeFrank, Larry Dixon, Sr. and John Rasmussen.

Gates open at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday with qualifying runs and exhibition runs.  Past years have seen exhibition runs by some well-known AA fuel altereds such as Winged Express, Rat Trap, and Nanook.  Top Fuel will continue qualifying at 12:00 noon with Funny Cars qualifying at 1:00 p.m.  The first round of eliminations for Top Fuel will stat at 3:30 p.m. and Funny Cars at 4:30 p.m.  The Honoree Presentation will start at 5:30 p.m. and Cacklefest at 6:00 p.m.    Saturday night Cacklefest is reserved for the push-start cars and a 60+ car field is typical.

Sunday gates open again at 8:00 a.m. with eliminations starting at 9:00 a.m.  The self-start Cacklefest will start at  11:00 a.m. with Funny Car Round 2 of eliminations starting immediately thereafter.  Round 2 eliminations for Top Fuel will start at 11:30 a.m.  Exhibition runs will continue throughout the day as time permits.  Final elimination runs for all categories will start at 4:00 p.m.  The award presentation is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. with the Reunion closing at 6:00 p.m.

The classes racing this year are Nostalgia Top Fuel, Nostalgia Funny Car, A/Fuel, Jr. Fuel, 7.0 Pro A, 7.0 Pro B, A/Gas, Nostalgia Elimination I, A/FX, and Nostalgia ProMod.   At last count 41 Funny Cars have registered for the 16 car field which should make for good racing as the nitro-burners thunder down the track.

Timingtower.com will post race results on Saturday night and a full article with photos will be posted on Monday night.