SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO JULY 13, 2013 FAMOSO RACEWAY

admin — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 01:01:03 +0000

Robert Overholser in the California Hustler on his way to winning A hot Saturday produced a track temperature of 152 degrees and hinted at the sizzling night of racing to come. Friday night test and tune had affirmed that points leader Dan Horan, Jr.’s Patriot Mustang was the car to beat, but the hot action started at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night when 13 nitro funny cars pulled into the staging lanes — their teams thinking upset. On Friday night Dan Horan, Jr. ran a 5.80 ET in testing. The first pair at the line were Rian Konno in the Kazanjian-Lemon-Konno car and Chris Bennet in Pure Heaven. Konno took the win with an ET of 5.894 at 238.76 mph making him the #4 qualifier. Next up was Dennis La Charite in Back in Black and Ed Dougan in the Fighting Irish. Dougan prevailed with an ET of 6.139 at 199.64 mph. Dougan was the #9 qualifier and first alternate for the final eight. Then came War Horse driven by Roger Garten sitting next to Bob Godfrey’s Burn ‘N Money. War Horse was the first to cross the finish line with an ET of 6.115 at 233.72. Next at the line was Darkside with Rick Rogers at the wheel side by side with Quarter Pounder driven by Dale Van Gundy. Van Gundy turned in an ET of 5.962 at 241.20 mph to advance to the finals as the #7 qualifier. When California Hustler met the Pedaler, California Hustler driven by Robert Overholser became the #3 qualifier when it took the win over James Day in the Pedaler. Day became the #5 qualifier. Overholser had an ET of 5.885 at 238.51 mph. The final pair to face off was Dan Horan in his Patriot Mustang, the current Blitz points leader, and Dennis Taylor in Evil, Wicked, Mean and Nasty. Horan ran an ET of 5.809 to qualify at the #2 position and Taylor ran an ET of 5.958 making him the #6 qualifier. Devery Howard in Bays and Ruppert Black Plague had a bye running an ET of 5.780 at 246.30 to become the #1 qualifier. The final field of 8 cars was set: Howard #1, Horan #2, Overholser #3, Konno #4, Day #5, Taylor #6, Garten #7 and Dougan #8 (Dougan in Fighting Irish moved into the #8 spot when Van Gundy in Quarter Pounder couldn’t make the final call.) The second round of funny car racing got underway around 11:00 p.m. Rian Konno and James Day were first up. Konno turned up the heat by running an ET of 5.753, which at that point was the quickest time of the night. Konno easily beat James Day in the Pedaler. The second pair at the line was Overholser in California Hustler and Dennis Taylor in Evil Wicked, Mean and Nasty. Overholser got the action sizzling with an ET of 5.720 at 246.84 mph. Taylor turned in an ET of 6.859 at 115.64 mph. Next up was Dan Horan, Jr. who ran a smokin’ ET of 5.764 at 253.66 mph. While Horan was faster than Overholser, he wasn’t quicker. Horan ran against Ed Dougan in the Fighting Irish. Dougan started the race in the Budweiser lane, broke past the half-track mark sending him into the Auto Club lane behind Horan. The last pair at the line was Roger Garten in War Horse and Devery Howard in Black Plague. Howard red lighted giving Garten the win with an ET of 6.385 at 161.52. After crossing the finish line War Horse hit the wall. Garten was uninjured. A Blitz race is won by the quickest running winning car. At the end of the night Robert Overholser in the California Hustler finished in the No. 1 spot with an ET of 5.720; Rian Konno finished at No. 2 with an ET of 5.753; and, Dan Horan, Jr. ended up at No. 3 with an ET of 5.764. The Boise/Bakersfield Blitz now moves to Boise for race number 4 of the Blitz. That race will be held August 8-11. The top eight points holders of the four race Blitz series will face off in a special race to be held at The March Meet in 2014. California Hustler in the Winners’ Circle Before, between and after rounds of Funny Cars, other nitro burners kept the action going. Rick White in the top fuel car Neal and White along with top fueler Circuit Breaker made runs. Mike Sullivan and son Jeremy fielded a supercharged nitromethane burning Hemi Fiat AA/FA turning in an ET of 6.37 at 202 mph. Also making 8 second passes were the nitro Harley’s. The two jet cars, MAV Missile and Terminal Velocity, made two runs during the evening – once at the end of the first round of funny cars and once at the end of the funny car racing. These two cars put on quite a show with billowing smoke, popping fuel, and shooting fire. West Coast Hot Rod Assoc. heads up classes, True 10.5, Outlaw 8.5 and Limited 10.5, also raced Saturday evening. These three classes race on an 1/8th mile track. Below are some of the West Coast Hot Rods running this week-end. All photos posted on this page can be ordered from www.timingtower.smugmug.com or you can contact us directly at timingtower@gmail.com. After the first round in Limited 10.5 Mike Salki was the #1 qualifier, Gary Brandt qualified at #2 and Allen Gadberry was the #3 qualifier. The final race was between Mike Salki in a ’67 Nova and Gary Brandt in an ’86 Mustang. Although Salki and Brandt had close reaction times (.068 and .071), Salki was quicker and faster and took the win with an ET of 5.306 at 133.14. The Outlaw 8.5 class ran 3 rounds of eliminations and the finals. The final race found Ryan “Toaster” Jones in a ’65 Nova next to Matt Sendejas in an ’83 Mustang. The Nova crossed the finish line first with an ET of 4.854 […]

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SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO, JUNE 15, 2013

admin — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:12:54 +0000

SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO UNDER THE LIGHTS – FAMOSO RACEWAY Anybody who has ever watched nitro cars race know they are a fickle beast, but Dan Horan, Jr. seems to have his red, white and blue Mustang dialed in. Horan was the winner of this second race in the Boise to Bakersfield Blitz. This was the second of a four race “Blitz” taking place this summer with two races in Boise and two in Bakersfield. Horan is king of the hill in the Blitz so far having won the first two races. Nitro burners showed up in abundance this week-end for the first Nitro Night of the season at Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield on June 15, 2013. – 18 funny cars, 4 top fuel cars, a few altereds, and some nitro burning motorcycles. Even 3 or 4 A-fuel cars that run in the NHRA Mello Yello series showed up. Although the “Nitro Night” started on Friday with test and tune, Famoso allowed not only the nitro cars to start testing on Friday, but allowed in 75 cars to do some testing, make licensing passes, or just have some fun. These 75 cars included pro mods, super comps, junior dragsters, and 7.0 pro cars. While it was still daylight, the crews were busy in the pits getting the cars ready to go and it was a good chance for the fans to get up close and personal with their favorite cars and crews. The Blitz racing started at 8:30 pm on Saturday night. When the lights went on the funny cars went on parade in front of the grandstands. The Star Spangled Banner – and then racing was underway. Of the 18 funny cars in attendance, 15 made the call. The match-ups started with Scared Straight against Holy Toledo, then the California Hustler met Hot for Teacher, followed by Darkside and the Kazanjian, Lemon & Konno car, then the Pedaler against Nitro Pirate, War Horse ran against Back in Black, with Evil Wicked, Mean and Nasty meeting Rich Townsend in his yet to be named car, Dan Horan, Jr. took the line next to the Fighting Irish with the Bays & Rupert Black Plague getting a bye run. The quickest eight cars went to the final round at 10:30 pm. The photos below are of some of the fuel cars running on Saturday. When the nitro fumes cleared, the eight qualifiers: were Dan Horan, Jr. at No. 1; Rick Rogers in Darkside at No. 2; No. 3 was James Day in Pedaler; No. 4 was Devery Howard in the Bays & Rupert Black Plague; Robert Overholser in California Hustler was No. 5; No. 6 was Rian Konno in the Kazanjian, Lemon & Konno car; No. 7 was Mike Halsted in Scared Straight; and Roger Garten in War Horse. Below are photos of the cars in the final eight car field. In the first race of the final round James Day in the Pedaler met Rian Konno in the Kazanjian, Lemon & Konno car with Konno taking the win with an ET of 5.902 at 245.99 mph. The second pairing found Mike Halsted in Scared Straight sitting next to Rick Rogers in Darkside. Rogers had an impressive .075 reaction time but broke on the way to the finish. Halsted finished with an underwhelming ET of 6.760 at 138.06 mph. Halsted had some problems of his own at the top end that shut the track down for a 45 minute clean-up. Dan Horan, Jr. and Roger Garten in War Horse waited out the delay at the line. When the all clear was given War Horse couldn’t make the call and Dan Horan, Jr. made his winning pass unopposed. Horan ran an ET of 5.812 at 253.09 mph. The final race pitted Robert Overholser in California Hustler against Devery Howard in the Bays & Rupert Black Plague. Overholser was first off the line and took the win light with an ET of 5.815 at 243.28. Howard turned in an ET of 5.810 but with a reaction time of .328 lost the race to Overholser’s hole shot. The winners of the final two races, Horan and Overholser, ran nearly identical ETs but Horan was 3/1000’s of a second quicker and nearly 10 mph faster giving him the trophy. Saturday night the stands were filled with fans enjoying the warm night air while watching the red hot action on the track as the headers from the nitro cars shot fire into the sky. The next Nitro Night, and the 3rd race in the Blitz series, will be on July 13 at Famoso when the nitro cars will be running with West Coast Hot Rods heads-up classes (True 10.5, Outlaw 8.5 and Limited 10.5). The 4th and final race in the Blitz series will be in Boise on August 8-11. Famoso will host a final Nitro Night on September 7. All of the photos you see here and many more are available for purchase on our SmugMug site. Click here to take a look http://www.timingtower.smugmug.com

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Nitro Night – Timing Tower

SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO JULY 13, 2013 FAMOSO RACEWAY

SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO, JUNE 15, 2013