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MARCH MEET 60! FAMOSO RACEWAY, MARCH 1-5, 2018

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 23:16:56 +0000

MARCH MEET 60 All of the photos shown below are on our SmugMug site. Click on the SmugMug icon: All the photos on SmugMug are available for purchase. TUESDAY EVENING UPDATE We have received all Monday race results. All final results are reported after the two funny car galleries below. Photos of the Sunday night nitro car winners can be seen under SUNDAY RESULTS, also below. TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE As yet the tower has released no race results from racing on Monday. However, we were able to learn that Kin Bates won A Fuel running an ET of 5.85 at 233 mph. Below are two galleries representing most of the large field of Funny Cars that showed up for March Meet 2018. All March Meet 2018 final round of elimination race results: Sunday nitro car finals Funny Car – Bobby Cottrell met Ryan Hodgson. Cottrell ran an ET of 5.723 at 241.41 mph to take the win. Hodgson turned in an ET of 5.957 at 240.31. Top Fuel – Pete Wittenberg sat next to Mendy Fry in the finals. While Fry took the early lead, after Wittenberg stumbled off the line. Fry was disqualified after she crossed the center line giving Wittenberg the win. AA/Fuel Altered – Dan Hix was the winner. He met Eric Gates in the finals. Hix ran an ET of 6.301 at 168.13 mph. Gates had trouble from the start running an ET of 9.914 at 93.32 mph. 5.90 Funny Car – Dean Oberg in Holy Toledo motored down the track after Jeff Utterback broke at the line. Oberg ran 14.196 at 59.74 mph. Rear Engine Top Fuel – Mike Halstead took the win with an ET of 8.290 at 223.95 mph to beat Billy McDevitt who ran at ET of 18.171 at 42.60 mph. An examination of the winning speeds in the finals versus top speeds of the weekend reflects that the fuel cars noted above, which ran after 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night, ran significantly slower on the cold track. (Funny Car – weekend top speed 259.61 – finals winning speed 241.41; AA Fuel Altered – weekend top speed 209.94 – finals winning speed 168.14; Rear Engine Top Fuel – weekend top speed 257.14 – finals winning speed 223.95.) The races reported below took place on Monday. A/Fuel – Kin Bates (photo shown at the top of the article) beat Rick Ewens in the finals. Bates ran an ET of 5.894 at 233.88 and Ewens had a ET of 6.072 at 220.84 mph. Jr. Fuel – John Marottek took the win with an ET of 6.871 at 190.86 beating Matt Baldonado who turned in an ET of 7.061 at 185.36 mph. 7.0 Pro – The winner of this class was Ronnie Lemon with an ET of 7.128 at 168.39. Runner-up Tony Trimp ran an ET of 7.294 at 193.29 mph. Nostalgia Eliminator I – This 7.6 index class was won by Dan Schrokosch with an ET of 7.619 at 178.19 mph. Ed Silberman was runner-up with an ET of 7.621 at 164.51 mph. Nostalgia Eliminator II – Sam Tucker took the win in this 8.6 index class against Todd Fernandez. Tucker ran an ET of 8.621 to 146.88 an Fernandez ran an ET of 8.603 at 153.44. Fernandez lost this race at the line with a reaction time of .043 to Tucker’s .019. Nostalgia Eliminator III – Ed DeStaute won this race after Jim Miller broke. DeStatute ran an ET of 9.575 at 139.69 mph. A Gas – Frank Merenda won this race after a double break out. Merenda ran an ET of 7.550, on a 7.6 index, at 174.93 mph. Eric Busch ran an ET of 7.535 at 179.40 mph. B Gas – This class runs on a 8.6 index. Neal Westbrook took the win on a red-light by Tim Mulvhill. Westbrook ran an ET of 8.568 at 161.57. C Gas – PJ Glacalone won this 9.6 index class. Glacalone ran an ET of 9.666 at 132.37 while Larry Hesseman Jr ran 9.600 at 136.72 mph. Glacalone got off the line first with a reaction time of .024 to Hesseman’s .095. D Gas – This is a 10.6 class. Dan Fournier turned in an ET of 10.647 at 123.77 mph to take the win. Dan Ficher, runner-up, broke out with an ET of 10.566. Hot Rod – Dale Hicks running on a 9.71 dial-in ran an ET of 10.639 at 96.66 mph beating Anita Hendry who broke. Below are photos of some of the cars racing at March Meet. This nice looking ’40 Ford pick-up did an impressive burn-out, but then the drivetrain grenaded on launch scattering small pieces of metal at the start line. Below are two galleries of cars in the grove over the week-end. Not many folks braved the rain, mud and puddles to come out. We will update the final race results as information is received. All of the photos shown above are on our SmugMug site. Click on the SmugMug icon: All the photos on SmugMug are available for purchase. _____________________________________________________________________________ SUNDAY RESULTS After a long cold day at the track, racing ended on Sunday night under the lights after 7:00 p.m. Most classes didn’t complete elimination rounds and will finish on Monday. However, Funny Car, Top Fuel, Fuel Altered, Rear Engine Top Fuel and 5.90 Funny Car did finish. The cold track hampered the performance of the nitro cars. At the end of racing on Sunday – the winners were: TOP FUEL – Mendy Fry in High Speed met Pete Wittenburg in Circuit Breaker in the finals. Fry took the lead off the line and opened the gap until she reached half track when she got loose and drifted over the center line taking out some of the timing cones. This disqualified her and Wittenburg and Circuit Breaker are the 2018 Top Fuel March Meet champions. Wittenburg had a reaction time of .161 but smoked the tires after leaving the line. He ran […]

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MARCH MEET, FAMOSO RACEWAY, BAKERSFIELD, CA

admin — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 07:19:27 +0000

MARCH MEET 2017, FAMOSO RACEWAY After being rained out on Sunday, the 2017 March Meet continued on Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. As usual the Hot Rod class led the way. We do not have results from A Fuel and Jr. Fuel final eliminations. When the information is available it will be posed. Top Fuel – Mendy Fry in High Speed went to the winner’s circle. Fry ran an ET of 5.59 at 252.66 mph. Murphy shut down after his burn-out giving Fry the win. Funny Car – Kris Krabill in the Bucky Austin car met Ryan Hogdson in Pacemaker in the finals. Pacemaker ran an ET of 5.60 at 259.91 mph to win the race. Krabill’s car caught fire at the finish line. Although Krabill is unhurt, the same cannot be said for the car. Both cars in this race were pro-mod style ’69 Camaros. Fuel Altered – The Tramp driven by Bryan Hall met James Generalao in Impatient. Hall crossed the finish line first, running both quicker and faster than Generalao. Hall ran an ET of 6.60 at 214.45 mph while Generalao ran an ET of 6.43 at 189.42 mph. A Fuel – Kin Bates was to meet John Harless in the final round; however, neither could stay until Monday and the final round didn’t take place. Jr. Fuel – no info available. Rear Engine Top Fuel – Mike’s Transmission dragster driven by Mike Halstead met Jim Maroney in the final round. Maroney drove a Candies & Hughes dragster. Halstead ran an ET of 6.04 at 229.43 to take the win. Maroney ran an ET of 7.29 at 135.61. 7.0 Pro – Todd Elington in a ’23 Ford took the win over Mark Hall in the Hall Bros. ’23 Ford. Elington hit the index with a ET of 7.0 at 189.23 mph. Mark Hall ran an ET of 7.26 at 144.61 mph. A Gas – Steve Galileo in a ’63 Corvette met Mike Mossi’s Camaro in the finals. Mossi took the win with an ET of 7.60 at 169.04 mph. Galileo ran too fast and broke out with an ET of 7.57 in this 7.60 index class. B Gas – no info available. C Gas – Chris Rea in a ’64 Chevy II ran against the ’58 Austin driven by Gary Lynch. Lynch broke out with an ET of 9.56 and Rea took the win with an ET of 9.53 at 139.07 mph. D Gas – Ed Carey in his ’71 Camaro ran against the ’67 Camaro of Mike Rabener. After a double break out Carey took home the trophy. Carey ran an ET of 10.56 and Rabener ran an ET of 10.54. Hot Rod – The ’46 Plymouth of Justin Crosby ran against the Ford Maverick of Josh Wagner. Crosby ran an ET of 10.74 on a 10.62 dial-in at 124.35 mph and Wagner broke out running 11.53 on an 11.60 dial-in. Crosby took the win. NE I – In the final elimination round Dan Martin in a ’23 Ford ran against Dan Schrokosch in an ’89 Tuttle dragster. Unfortunately Martin’s car wasn’t running right and he ran an ET of 9.48 while Schrokosch won the trophy when he ran an ET of 7.78 at 153.63 mph. NE II – Todd Fernandez in a ’32 Bantam met Danny See ina ’23 Ford roadster in the final round. See went red at the start and Fernandez took the win running an ET of 8.58 at 153.97 mph. NE III – A ’63 Corvette driven by Ed DeStaute ran against Rob Kold in a ’23 Ford. After a double break-out DeStaute took the win running an ET of 9.52 at 139.99 mph. All of the photos shown in this article are available on our SmugMug site and all photos are available for purchase. There were 10 top fuel cars running at the March Meet. Below are some of them. There were 27 Funny Cars at the show. Below are Funny Cars at the top end. Funny Cars at the start line. Fuel Altereds were there too. The Gassers and the Hot Rods were out in force. Did you ever wonder about the best place to watch a drag race? These two found it!! There were a lot of nice cars in the Grove on Saturday and Ian found a nice one to pose with. One particularly interesting vehicle was a 1948 REO pick-up. The well-deserved trophy won by the REO was “Best of the ’40’s”. Here are several more cars in the Grove – And still more – Racing on Monday went until about 1:30 p.m. and then the March Meet for 2017 was over. Although the March Meet was plagued by bad weather – it was great and we look forward to next March. All of the photos shown in this article are available on our SmugMug site and all photos are available for purchase. SUNDAY RECAP Racing didn’t go as planned today. It was raining at Famoso Raceway at 9:00 a.m. when the first rounds of racing were due to start. Hot rod class, which was scheduled to run first, didn’t get to the lanes until 1:00 p.m. Once the cars started going down the track, the race went fairly smoothly until early evening when the stormy weather returned. Rain, hail, and falling temperatures, brought racing to halt for the day postponing the 2017 March Meet until Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. The final rounds in some classes have been set: Top Fuel – Jim Murphy in WW2 will meet Mendy Fry in High Speed. Murphy ran an ET of 5.63 at 244.92 mph to earn a spot in the finals. Fry ran an ET of 5.78 at 220.76 mph to advance to the finals. Funny Car – Kris Krabill, running an ET of 5.74 at 244.47 mph, took out Jason Rupert to advance to the finals. and Pacemaker driven by Ryan Hogdson put Mike McIntire’s McAttack on the trailer. Hogdson ran an 5.71 ET at 251.06 […]

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SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO, JUNE 27, 2015

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 18:51:57 +0000

The first Saturday Night Nitro at Famoso Raceway will be held Saturday, June 27, 2015. The nitro cars will run their first round of qualifying at 8:30 p.m. with the NITRO SHOOTOUT at 10:30 p.m. Running throughout the week-end will be MEGA MOPAR, WCHRA, and WEST COAST OUTLAW PRO MODS. We’ll have an article and photos posted Monday evening. The week-end schedule: SATURDAY 12pm Mopar Time Trials 12:45 M/C Q1 1:00 Index Q1 1:30 Mopar Time Trials 2:15 M/C Q2 2:30 Prep 2:45 Index Q2 3:15 WCHRA Heads Up Q1 4:00 M/C Q3 4:15 Pro Mods Q1 4:45 Mopar Time Trials 5:30 M/C R1 5:45 Prep 6:00 Index Q3 6:30 WCHRA Heads Up Q2 7:15 M/C R2 7:30 Pro Mods Q2 8:00 Parade and Prep 8:30 Nitro Qualifying Break 10:30 Nitro Shootout, M/C R3, Pro Mods Q3, then finish M/C eliminations SUNDAY 9am Mopar Q1 9:45 Index R1 10:15 WCHRA Heads Up Q3 11:00 Pro Mods R1 11:30 Mopar R1 12:15 Index R2 12:45 WCHRA Heads Up R1 1:30 Pro Mods Semis 1:45 Mopar R2 2:30 Index R3 2:40 WCHRA Heads Up R2 3:15 Pro Mods Final Finish – Mopar, Index, Heads Up Eliminations.

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CALIFORNIA HOT ROD REUNION

admin — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 23:30:21 +0000

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. […]

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