True 10.5 – Timing Tower

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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3rd ANNUAL NMCA WEST STREET CAR NATIONALS

admin — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:59:18 +0000

The NMCA West 3rd Annual Street Car Nationals was held March 28-30, 2014 at the Fontana Dragway. This is the first major event to be held at the Fontana drag strip since it reopened the end of February 2014. Sunday morning the event opened at 8:00 a.m. with Chapel Service with bracket time trials starting at 9:00 a.m. Round 1 of the Index eliminations started about 10:00 a.m. After the opening ceremony which included the invocation and singing of the national anthem, the pro mods took to the lanes to kick off round 1 of eliminations in the heads-up classes. SUNDAY RACING The heads-up classes included Garrett Turbo Pro Mod, Mickey Thompson TT5, Procharger Street Outlaw, Lucas Oil N/A 10.5, and ARP Outlaw. ARP Outlaw is an 8th mile class, all the others are quarter mile. However, while typically a quarter mile class, this week-end the pro mods ran to 1,000 feet to ensure they had enough track to stop before hitting the sand. Garrett Turbo Pro Mod: This class went through two elimination rounds and the finals. Scott Oksas ran the fastest time travelling at 234.61 mph. In the final round the No. 1 qualifier John Mihovetz , sat next to the No. 7 qualifier, Robert Costa. Even though Costa was first off the line with a reaction time of .071 to Mihovetz’ time of .177, Mihovetz crossed the finish line first with an ET of 6.535 going 219.61 mph. Unfortunately, in the second elimination round, Rick Snavely crossed the center line and went head on into the wall. Costa was in the opposite lane when Snavely crossed over and fortunately the two didn’t collide. Snavely appeared to be unhurt. John Mihovetz, above, the Garrett Turbo Pro Mod winner. After crossing the center line Snavely tried to straighten out, but couldn’t. Mickey Thompson TT5: Only 4 cars raced in this class. The No. 1 qualifier Mark Luton ended up in the sand at the end of the track on Saturday, but was back for round 1 of eliminations on Sunday. Luton met Dana Cook in the final round. Cook went red and Luton coasted across the finish line at 111.20 mph. Luton ran 197.94 mph in round 1 and was the fastest and quickest car in this class with his Saturday ET of 6.750 at 219.79 mph. Below Luton is doing a burnout. Procharger Street Outlaw: Only two rounds of elimination and a final were required in this class. James Lawrence went into the sand at the end of the track in Round 1 but came back for round 2. When he left the line in round 2, Lawrence left a coating of sand spread over the first 30+ feet of track. In Round 2 Lawrence was sent home by the ’57 Chevy of Armen Maghdessian. Maghdessian and Kevin Young sat side by side in the final round. Young’s ’86 Camaro was quicker and faster than Maghdessian’s Chevy running an ET of 7.454 at 193.24 mph to Maghdessian’s ET of 8.296 at 179.85 mph. Below Kevin Young is shown leaving the line. Lucas Oil N/A 10.5: This class was decided after 2 rounds of elimination and the finals. The final round was a dual between the ’68 Camaro of “Gypsy Mike” Valentino and the ’68 Camaro of Tony Aneian. Valentino came out on top with an ET of 8.312 at 167.12 mph to Aneian’s ET of 13.284 and 97.93 mph. Aneian couldn’t get off the line posting a reaction time of 1.069. ARP Outlaw 8.5: Again 2 rounds of elimination and the final determined the winner. The No. 1 qualifier George Raygoza and the No. 2 qualifier Dan Hale ran through the ladder and met in the finals. The final round of this race was incredibly close, but Raygoza lost the match-up at the start line with a reaction time of .124 while Hale left with a .094 reaction time. Hale had an ET of 5.271 and Raygoza’s ET was 5.279. Hale’s mph was 142.04 while Raygoza’s was 142.03. A good race. NMCA West Pro Comp: This is an index class running cars in A on a 7.90 index, B on an 8.90 index and C on a 9.90 index. Twenty-one racers took to the lanes for the first round of elimination. After 4 rounds of elimination, Bob Harris in a ’02 Pontiac sat next to Paul Wiechamnn’s ’00 Corvette. Both of these cars ran in C on a 9.90 index. Harris with a reaction time of .017, an ET of 9.914 and mph of 157.80 took the win. Wiechmann had a reaction time of .030, ET of 9.988 and mph of 129.43 mph. Currie Ent. Open Comp: This is another big class requiring 4 rounds of elimination and a final round. Mike Nordahl the No. 1 qualifier met Ryan Chesleigh the No. 21 qualifier in the finals. Nordahl ran on a dial-in of 10.52 and Chesliegh’s dial-in was 9.44. Nordahl took the win with an ET of 10.533 at 127.55 mph and Chesleigh broke out with an ET of 9.436. Granatelli Mustang Madness: 17 Mustangs created the madness in 4 rounds of eliminations plus the finals. Justin Spencer survived the 4 elimination rounds to meet Anna Marciano in the final. Marciano had a bye in round 4. Spencer ran on a dial-in of 9.65 and Marciano posted a dial-in of 10.16. Spencer had an ET of 9.647 and Marciano’s ET was 10.135 – a double break out. Because Spencer ‘broke out less’ he took the win. Justin Spencer in his winning ’00 Mustang is shown below. Hedman Hedders Nostalgia Street Car “NSC”: 32 cars ran in this index class on indexes ranging from 8.5 to 12.0 with AA running on an 8.5 index and H running a 12.0 index. The No. 15 and No. 30 qualifiers made it through 4 rounds of elimination to meet in the finals. In the final round Merle Williams and Paul Geis both running in F on an index of 11.0 were […]

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WEST COAST HOT RODS & SUMMIT RACING Sept. 14-15, 2013

admin — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 18:39:37 +0000

WEST COAST HOT RODS – FINAL RACE OF THE SEASON. With the West Coast Hot Rod Association/Summit season finale off to a good start, gremlins suddenly struck the track computers mid-afternoon Saturday and shut down the 1/8th mile timing lights in the AutoClub lane. While this is an inconvenience to quarter mile racers it makes racing impossible for the three classes of cars that run heads-up for an 1/8th mile. After repeated attempts to exorcise the gremlins and a 1-1/2 hour delay, the decision was made to run 1/8th mile classes down the Budweiser lane and determine qualifying based on times. Unfortunately the shutdown occurred as a large contingent of heads-up cars were in the lanes and the delay and subsequent rearrangements pushed racing well into Saturday night. By Sunday the Famoso crew had repaired the computers and with the gremlins sent elsewhere the event finished nearly on time Sunday afternoon. West Coast Hot Rods raced three heads-up classes on the 1/8th mile: Outlaw 8.5, True 10.5 and Limited 10.5; with quarter mile classes running in Open Comp (a dial-in class) and B, C, D, and E Gas, (index classes). For the first time a Top Doorslammer class was added running on dial-ins of 6:60 to 7:59 with qualifying on reaction time. The heads-up, Open Comp and the Top Doorslammer classes ran qualifying on Saturday and finals on Sunday. The Gassers ran qualifying and eliminations both days. B and C Gas classes were combined and D and E classes were combined. Summit ran dial-in classes: Sportsman, Pro, Super Pro and Motorcycle. Summit ran qualifying and eliminations both days. On Saturday WCHRA racer Mike Williams took home the trophy in B/C Gas and Sabrina Capps was the runner up; and, in D/E Gas Steve Barta finished first with Josh Conrad in second. Summit Sportsman racers Pam Hulse and CW Hoefer went to the finals with Hulse winning; in Super Pro Steve White the #1 qualifer won over Greg Tremain the #6 qualifier; in Pro James Kirkman took the win after James Alexander red-lighted; on the Motorcycles Anthony Delatorre came in ahead of Terry Rollin. Sunday started with an early morning non-denominational service and the cars began filling the lanes at 8:30 a.m. About 200 racers were in the pits racing in 11 classes including the new Top Doorslammer class fielding 10 cars. Below are all the Sunday winners. SUNDAY FINALS – West Coast Hot Rods: B/C Gas: Two B Gas Camaros met in the final round which pitted #3 qualifier Ashley Deuschle against #2 qualifier Tom Fowler. Fowler had a reaction time of .003 to Deuschle’s reaction time of .015 but, Deuschle took the win when Fowler ran a 8.598 on an 8.6 index. Deuschle ran 156.84 mph and Fowler topped out at 151.78 mph. D/E Gas: #1 qualifier Josh Conrad and #6 qualifier Steve Barta, both running on the D Gas index of 10.60, staged for the finals. These two were also in the finals on Saturday when Barta prevailed. Sunday, Conrad came out on top with a reaction time of .018 running a near perfect ET of 10.605 at 129.65 mph. Barta broke-out with a too quick 10.573 ET. Top Doorslammer: This first-time-ever WCHRA class qualified on Saturday with Keith Morovich qualifying #1, Brenden Frye #2, Frank Merenda #3, Scott Loomis #4, Steve “Flattop” Faller #5, Jim Data #6, Tom Huggins #7, Gary Wake #8, Tom Mettler #9 and Ray Padgott #10. In the semi-finals on Sunday, Tom Mettler in his 2001 Dakota P/U got the bye while Steve Faller in his 1963 Corvette ran against Keith Morovich in a ’67 Nova. Morovich took the win to meet Metler in the finals. In the finals, Metler took home the money with a reaction time of .026, ET of 7.522 on a 7.45 dial-in going 181.62 mph. Morovich had a reaction time of .059 and ran an ET of 7.601 on a 7.56 dial-in going 174.08 mph. Open Comp: Dustin Lee in a ’53 Ford won the race over Lori Dodes in her 1997 Chevy S10. Lee had a reaction time of .084 to Dodes’ reaction time of .427. Lee ran on a dial-in of 11.60 and an ET of 11.645 going 102.17. Dodes had a dial-in of 10.46 but her ET was 10.446. Limited 10.5: This heads-up class pitted Mike Salki the #3 qualifier against #1 qualifier Allen Gadberry. Salki in a Camaro ran the ladder to sit at the lights in the finals. Salki posted a reaction time of .091, ET of 5.279 and mph of 133.08 to take the win. Gadberry ran an ET of 5.242 and mph of 134.56 on a reaction time of .133. Although he didn’t win the finals Gadberry was the #1 qualifier, had low ET of 4.564 and top speed of 134.56 for the race. Outlaw 8.5: The finals found DJ Reid and Ryan “Toaster” Jones side-by-side at the lights. Reid’s ’68 Camaro crossed the finish line first to take the win. Reid with a reaction time of .097 ran an ET of 5.383 at 133.07 mph. Toaster Jones came in second with a reaction time of .048 an ET of 5.514 at 147.37 mph. Toaster was the #1 qualifier, ran the race low ET of 4.945 and top speed of 155.38 mph. True 10.5: Norman Chang and Jeff Kyle, the #1 and #4 qualifiers respectively, were in the finals. Kyle broke at the line giving Chang the win. Chang had an ET of 9.486 on at reaction time of .256 traveling at 68.85 mph. SUNDAY FINALS – Summit Pro: After 5 rounds of elimination CW Heofer, the #1 qualifier met Mike Beckwith, the #5 qualifier, at the line. Hoefer was first off the line with a reaction time of .027 to Beckwith’s .208. Hoefer running a dial-in of 12.38 ran an ET of 12.509 at 100.08 mph to Beckwith’s 115.51 mph and an ET of 11.708 […]

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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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