THE 23rd CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION IS OVER.
TOP FUEL WINNER – TONY BARTONE
FUNNY CAR WINNER – DAN HORAN, JR.
This year the California Hot Rod Reunion was the 23rd time “we’re only going to do this once”. The now infamous quote from Steve Gibbs, the godfather of the Reunion, lives on.
After three solid days of racing, the California Hot Rod Reunion (CHRR) came to a close after the final rounds of elimination held on Sunday. This year while the CHRR brought together race teams from around the country and around the world, not all the action was on the ground — with funny car bodies flying through the air and military style twin rotor helicopters and stunt planes buzzing the track, looking up was also entertaining. On Friday Funny Car driver Mike Lewis, in Nitro Nick, launched his fiberglass body after a blower malfunction caused the burst plate to blow. However, Nitro Nick reappeared on Saturday to loud applause and hoots from the crowd, body stitched back together by rivets and fiberglass resin, to qualify No. 11 in the 16 car field. Lewis made it through the first round of elimination, but fell to Dan Horan,Jr., the class winner, in the second round. During Saturday qualifying the body of Donnie Watkins’ Funny Car Thunderstruck shot into the air. Watkins failed to make the cut into the 16 car field.
Exhibition cars, including AA Fuel Altereds ran throughout the week-end. Saturday Winged Express took the line next to Pure Heaven, Bradford sat beside Mr. Boston and just like in times past, Pure Hell and Rat Trap, were side by side at the start, and Iron Mistress ran a bye. Throughout the day Saturday, cars were pushed down the return lane and fired up in preparation for Cacklefest. Cacklefest, another brainchild of Steve Gibbs, was first held in 2000 with seven cars taking part. Now – 14 years later, to quote Gibbs again “more than 10 times that number” participated on Saturday night. Many of the cackle cars were on display during the day Saturday in one section of the pit area near the staging lanes. The newly recreated Barnstormer, the first supercharged fuel dragster raced by Tommy Ivo, was one of the many as was the Yeakel Plymouth AA/FD originally driven by Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen.
When there was a lull in the racing, the Grove offered a look at whole lot of rat rods and hot rods. The Bay Area Roadsters were on hand with about 20 roadsters. Also in the Grove were the food vendors, where lunch could be fashioned with a Bud Light, Sid’s Redneck BarBQue and an A&W root beer float. The Manufacturers’ Midway and the Swap Meet provided ample opportunity to find needed parts, t-shirts, and memorabilia items.
Or you could take a look in the staging lanes which were full most of the time.
The elimination rounds started at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday morning and the final pair, A Fuel, finished at 5:15 p.m.
TOP FUEL: This was a contest between the No. 1 Tony Bartone and No. 2 qualifier White. White in the Neal and White dragster broke at the line giving Bartone a win. Bartone with a reaction time of .352 ran 212.39 mph with an ET of 5.864. Bartone was on top the whole week-end – No. 1 qualifier, Top Speed 256.34 and Low ET 5.635. Bartone also took home the Heritage Series trophy.
FUNNY CAR: The Funny Car finals was a repeat of last year pitting Dan Horan, Jr. in his Patriot Mustang, against John Hale in the Mike Burkhart Tribute Car. Last year Hale came out on top This year Horan took home the money. Horan ran an ET of 5.724 at 254.mph. Jason Rupert, the No. 1 qualifier had the low ET and top speed in this class but was sent home by James Day in the Pedaler in Round 2 of eliminations. This win gave Horan the Heritage Series trophy.
PRO MOD: Mike Maggio got a free ride in the finals when Rob Cacioppo broke at the line. Maggio ran an ET of 5.699, at 259.01 mph. With these results Maggio set low ET and top speed of the day.
A FUEL: Bobby Cottrell was in the winner’s seat in both A Fuel and 7.0 Pro. In A Fuel he met Bill Wayne in the finals. Wayne broke at the line giving Cottrell the win with an ET of 6.355 and speed of 216.06. After a slow reaction time of .156, Kin Bates, who had top speed of the day, didn’t advance to Round 2. Ryan Davenport, No. 1 qualifier and holder of low ET 6.257 broke in the semi-finals sending Wayne to the finals. Davenport held on to his Heritage Series points lead to win the series.
7.0 PRO: This class was split in two – 7.0 Pro and 7.0 Pro B. Cottrell met Eily Stafford, in the Killer Crower dragster in the finals. This is a 7.0 index class and Cottrell ran a near perfect index with an ET of 7.033 to take the win. Stafford broke out with an ET of 6.994. Stafford was the No. 3 qualifier. Both the No.1 qualifier, Chuck Roark, and the No. 2 qualifier, Richard High, went out in Round 1 of eliminations. Cottrell was the No. 9 qualifier. High was the Heritage Series points leader going into the race, but Cottrell ended up with both the race trophy and the series trophy. This proves the old adage – It’s not where you start that counts, but where you finish. Clearly, Cottrell finished in the right place.
7.0 PRO B: Running on a 7.0 index, in the final rounds Jesse Adams met Joey Steckler. Adams left the start with a reaction time of .096 to Steckler’s .103. Adams cross the finish with an ET of 7.046 and Steckler with an ET of 7.094. Adams ran 180.38 mph to Steckler’s 199.85.
JR. FUEL: These cars are running on dial-ins of 7.20, 6.98 or 6.89. Enriquez, the No. 1 qualifier, won his race against J.D. Zink in the final round. Enriquez had a reaction time of .030 and J.D. Zink’s reaction time was .221.
A GAS: This 7.6 index class is one of the biggest with 30 cars in the elimination rounds. Chris Beanes, the Heritage Series points winner, lost his bid to win the Reunion in the 2nd Round. The final round was between Eric Bush in a ’67 Camaro and Dean Hall in a ’62 Impala. This was a close race but Bush was quicker and faster finishing with an ET of 7.607 at 177.37 to Hall’s ET of 7.625 at 177.67.
NEI: Another large 7.60 index class had 36 cars in the elimination rounds. Jason Barta ran the ladder to get to the finals along with Hans Jakob, the No. 1 qualifier. Barta crossed the finish line first with an ET of 7.610 at 172.78 mph. Although Jakob was faster, 173.92 mph, his ET was 7.644.
A/FX: This is a dial-in class. Doug Hampton in a ’66 Fairlane sat next to Mich Akers’ ’60 Impala in the final round. Hampton ran an ET of 10.296 on a dial-in of 10.25. Akers ran an ET of 10.115 on a 10.00 dial-in. Hampton ran 118.70 mph and Akers traveled at 133.43 mph.
We took a lot of great photos at the Reunion. Here are a few.
No matter how great the racing, at some point, it’s over.
Heritage Series racing is finished for 2014. The Series will start again with March Meet 5-8, 2015 at Famoso Raceway. Next year the California Hot Rod Reunion will be held toward the end of October on the 23-25, 2015.
SATURDAY RACE RECAP
The available results after racing on Saturday are below. We will continue to update as more information is available.
Saturday racing started with A/FX and exhibition cars.
Seven Fuel Altereds ran Saturday. Mike Boyd in Winged Express was at the line next to Pure Heaven. After a spectacular burnout, Winged Express crossed the finish line first.
Round 1 of elimination for the Funny Cars has the following pairing: No. 1 qualifier Jason Rupert and No. 16 qualifier Paul Romine; James Day, the No. 8 qualifier next to No. 9 qualifier Tim Nemeth; No. 4 qualifier Rick Townsend next to No. 13 John Hale; No. 5 qualifier Steve Easton and No. 12 Jordan Pawlick, No. 2 Mark Sanders next to No. 15 Roger Garten; Rick Rogers No. 7 qualifier met J Weaver; and, Kris Krabill meets Mike Lewis.
Round 1 of elimination for Top Fuel has the following pairing: No. 1 Tony Bartone has a bye; No. 7 Dusty Green meets Terry Cox, the No. 8 qualifier; Jimmy Young, No. 4 qualifier meets No. 11 Jim Murphy; No. 5 qualifier Rick McGee next to No. 10 qualifier Ron August, Jr.; Rick White, the No. 2 qualifier, paired with No. 13 Dave Hirata; Bill Dunlap, the No. 3 qualifier, meets No. 12, Brendan Murry; and No. 6 qualifier Denver Schutz meets Rick Williamson, the No. 9 qualifier.
The first round of elimination has the following pairing in A Fuel: Davenport and Allen; Austin and Grisel; Wayne and Evans; Waters and Tanko; Bates and Corbari; Beverett and Pauluk; Harless and Zulim; Cottrell and Kumre.
Jr. Fuel pairings: Enriquez and Ramay; Fenton and McCormick; Zink and Scott; and Notzka and Woddard.
After the final round of qualifying Terry Newton was the No. 1 qualifier in A Gas and Frank Herenda was No. 2.
After the 3 round of qualifying in A/FX Larry Knapp was in the No. 1 spot and David Franklin was No. 2.
Hans Jakob was No. 1 qualifier in NE 1 and Dan Schrokosch was No. 2 after the final round of qualifying.
As always at Hot Rod Reunion, the Grove was filled with hot rods.
We’ll have an article about the entire event with photos posted Monday evening.
FRIDAY RACE RECAP
Racing on Friday started at 8:30 a,m. and was the start of qualifying rounds. The morning started with exhibition runs, followed by qualifying round 1 for A/FX, NE1, and A Gas. More exhibition runs then round 2 of qualifying for A/FX, NE1 and A Gas. At 1:00 the Funny Cars ran round 1 of qualifying followed by round 1 of qualifying for Top Fuel, AA/Fuel Altered, A/Fuel, Jr. Fuel, Pro Mod, and 7.0. By 5:00 p.m. the track was secured for the night. Tomorrow it all starts again at 8:00 a.m. with exhibition and qualifying. Top Fuel will have a 2nd round of qualifying at noon with a 2nd round of qualifying for the Funny Cars at 1:00 p.m. Round 1 of eliminations for Top Fuel will start at 3:30 pm with Round 1 of eliminations for Funny Cars at 4:30 p.m. Honoree presentation will be at 5:30 and Cacklefest will start at 6:00 p.m.
Funny Cars: At the end of racing today Mr. Explosive, Mark Sanders, was the No. 1 qualifier of the 29 cars that qualified with an ET of 5.724 at 245.23 mph. Dan Horan, Jr. qualified No. 4 but had the fastest run of the day at 255.48 mph. Jason Rupert, the No. 2 qualifier, turned in an ET of 5.759 at 251.44 mph.
No. 1 Funny Car Qualifier Mark Sanders
Top Fuel: Tony Bartone sits atop the 12 cars that qualified today. Bartone ran an ET of 5.635 at 247.84. No. 1 qualifier, Jim Young, ran 5.793 at 250.97. Young’s 250.97 mph was the top speed.
Top Fuel No. 1 Qualifier Tony Bartone next to Rick White
Pro Mods: Eleven Pro Mods qualified today. Marc Meadors had the quickest ET, 5.749, and top speed, 255.34. No. 2 qualifier Andrew Berry turned in an ET of 5.857 at 254.09 mph.
Marc Meadors, the No. 1 Qualifier in Pro Mod
Jr. Fuel: Seven Jr. Fuel cars qualified today. Fred Notzka was the No. 1 qualifier with an ET of 7.164 and turned in top speed of 185.49. No. 2 qualifier Mark McCormick had an ET of 7.234.
7.0 Pro: Another large field with 28 cars qualifying thus far. This class runs on a 7.0 index. No. 1 is Ronnie Lenvon with an ET of 7.029 at 194.13 mph. Bobby Cottrell qualified at No. 2 with an ET of 7.058 and matched Lenvon’s speed of 194.13. Jim Fersch had top speed in this class of 200.95 but he broke out and qualified No. 26.
A Fuel: 17 cars qualified in A Fuel. Kin Bates has both Low ET and top speed. Qualifying No. 1 Bates ran an ET of 6.307 at 224.62 mph. No. 2 qualifier John Harless ran an ET of 6.354 at 218.41.
No. 2 A Fuel Qualifier John Harless
A Gas: This 7.6 index class qualified 27 cars. Rafael Quiroga ran an ET of 7.620 at 166.50 to qualify No. 1. No. 2 qualifier Ray Padgett turned in an ET of 7.627 at 178.80. Dennis Burch had top speed of 185.00 but broke out and qualified No. 27.
NE1: This class runs on a 7.6 index. Hans Jakob qualified in the No. 1 spot with at ET of 7.606 at 167.00. No. 2 Don Schrokosch turned in an ET of 7.607 at 176.86.
Gary Reinero in his AA Gasser
Check here again tomorrow for all Saturday race results.
THE 23rd CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION OPENS FRIDAY OCTOBER 17 AND RUNS THROUGH SUNDAY OCTOBER 19. We will be at the California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway this week-end. We will post daily race updates with an article and photos posted on Monday evening.
The gates open Friday at 8:00 a.m. with qualifying and exhibition runs all day. The 1st qualifying round for the Nostalgia Funny Cars will start at 1:00 p.m. followed by Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragsters at 2:00 p.m. Funny Cars and Top Fuel Cars will hold their first round of eliminations on Saturday and elimination rounds will complete on Sunday. Cacklefest will start at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Grand Marshall this year is Mike Dunn and the Honorees are Bob Brooks, Hugh Tucker, Cortopassi Brothers & Butler, Sid Waterman and Dennis Varni.
