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.
Jim Murphy in WW2
Mendy Fry in High Speed
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 mph to earn a spot in the final round.
Ryan Hogdson in Pacemaker
Kris Krabill
Fuel Altered – Bryan Hall in the Tramp ran an ET of 5.98 at 240.85 mph win the semi-finals and will meet James Generalao in Impatient in the final round. Generaldo ran an ET of 6.47 at 217 mph to advance to the finals.
The Tramp driven by Bryan Hall
James Generalao in Impatient
A-Fuel – Kin Bates took the win in the semi-finals when Drew Austin went red at the light. In the semi-finals John Harless had a bye and made a leisurely run down the quarter mile on his way to the finals. Bates and Harless will meet in the finals.
Kin Bates
John Harless
The weather forecast for Monday is mostly sunny skies, no rain, and all classes will finish up then. We’ll have all the race results posted Monday night with photos from throughout the week-end.
SATURDAY RECAP
Racing was good today.
Funny Car – After the 2nd round of elimination Mike McIntre sits in the No. 1 spot with John Hale at No. 2. Tomorrow McIntire will meet Densham and Hale will meet Rupert. McIntire has low ET at 5.549 and Horan has top speed 262.28 mph of the race.
Top Fuel – Tony Bartone is the No. 1 qualifier and will meet Mendy Fry tomorrow. While No. 2 qualifier Jim Murphy will meet Rick McGee. Bartone has low ET of the race at 5.635 but Green has top speed of 256.21 mph.
A Fuel – This class will run its first round of elimination tomorrow. Kin Bates is the No. 1 qualifier and will run a bye in the first round of eliminations. No. 2 qualifier Austin meets Waters the No. 9 qualifier. Bates has both Low ET 5.978 and top speed 233.08 mph of the race.
Jr. Fuel – First round of eliminations is tomorrow with No. 1 qualifier Marottek meeting No. 8 qualifier Hull in the first round. No. 2 qualifier Carter will meet No. 6 Fenton. There will be 8 Jr. Fuel cars running tomorrow.
A Gas – First round of eliminations is tomorrow with No. 1 qualifier Crisp meeting No. 8 qualifier, Galileo in the first race. Morovich the No. 2 qualifier will meet Fowler, the No. 9 qualfier. There are 14 cars running in the first round.
B Gas – The first race in the elimination round will pair Foti against Aralza. Foti qualified No. 17 and Aralza at 25. No. 2 Hop will run against No. 10 Handley. This is a 16 car field.
C Gas – 40 cars will be running eliminations tomorrow. First up is No. 1 qualifier Hoover running against. No. 22 qualifier, Becker. No. 2 qualifier, Chamberlain meets O’Neal, who qualified 23rd. This is a 40 car field.
D Gas – No. 1 Akers meets Morton, the no. 21 qualifier, in the first race. The No. 2 qualifier, Boardman meets Gonzalves, who qualified 22nd. 40 cars will run eliminations tomorrow.
NE I – No. 1 Heiber has a bye round in the first race tomorrow and No. 2 qualifier Upton meets Kinchen who qualified at No. 19. The field is now 33 cars.
NE II – See, the No. 1 qualifier has a bye round in the first race. The field is 15 cars. The No. 2 qualifier, Beebe will run against No. 9 qualifier, Van Gordon.
NE III – Eliminations in this class has reduced the field to 8. First up tomorrow is Carlson against Miller. No. 1 qualifier Lister will run off against Gillespie, the No. 4 qualifier.
There were a whole lot of nice cars in the grove today.
FRIDAY RECAP
Friday was a great day for racing – and will likely be the best day of the week-end. Tomorrow is predicted to be cooler and the Sunday forecast calls for cooler and rain. Hopefully, that will be about as accurate as usual and the day will be sunny and warm.
Friday got off to a slow start when one car in the second pair of racers in the Hot Rod class laid down a debris field from the start line to the finish line causing a 2 hour delay. Rather than end at 5:30 pm as scheduled racing ended close to 8:00 pm. This wasn’t all bad though because the nitro classes started running at dusk and put on a good show spitting flames through the exhaust pipes.
Funny Car – James McIntire in McAttack sits in the No. 1 spot with an ET of 5.549.
Top Fuel – Jim Murphy in WW2 is in the top spot with an ET of 5.724.
AA Fuel Altered – Dan Hix in HeatSeeker ran ET of 6.284 to take the top spot.
Rear Engine Top Fuel – Brad Thompson is in the number 1 spot in Rain for Rent after running an ET of 6.562.
7.0 Pro – The No. 1 spot is held by Richard Phillips with a near perfect ET of 7.001 in this 7.0 index class.
A Gas – Dan Crisp is a ’67 Chevy is No. 1 after turning in an ET of 7.604. Again a near perfect index in this 7.6 index class.
B Gas – Tod Barker in a ’48 Anglia ran an 8.605 in this 8.6 index class to be in the No.1 spot.
C Gas – Wayne Hoover driving a ’67 Nova set the top ET of 9.603 on a 9.6 index.
D Gas – Brad Akers is his ’65 Chevelle ran an ET of 10.602 on a 10.60 index.
NE I – Stan Heiber in a ’23 Ford holds the No.1 spot with an ET of 7.602.
NE II – Danny See also in a’23 Ford ran 8.603 to sit in 1st place.
NE III – Carl Carlson in a ’27 Ford ran 9.602 to be No. 1.
A Fuel – This class ran on Thursday and Kin Bates is No. 1 with an ET of 5.978.
Jr. Fuel – John Marottek is No. 1 in a ’15 Neil Parks dragster with an ET of 6.876.
Tomorrow promises some good racing. In the index classes all of the No. 1 contenders ran near perfect index times.
We will have another race recap tomorrow evening.
MARCH MEET will kick off on Thursday, March 2 and run through Sunday, March 5, 2017 at Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield, CA. Timingtower.com will be at the event and will post race results Fri. and Sat. evenings with some fuel car winners on Sunday. We’ll have a full article with photos posted Monday evening.
This race is part of the NHRA Heritage Series and all classes will run – top fuel, funny cars, groups 1 (A/Fuel, Jr. Fuel, 7.0 Pro) and 2 (NE 1, NE 2, NE 3, A Gas, B Gas, C Gas, D Gas, Hot Rod). Qualifying in all classes start Friday at 8:15 a.m. Saturday gates open at 8:15 a.m. with Group 2 Round 1 eliminations. Group 1 will also run eliminations on Saturday, with qualifying continuing for top fuel and funny car. Fuel Altereds will run qualifying rounds on Saturday. Eliminations in all classes will continue on Sunday beginning at 9:00 a.m. Final rounds for the nitro cars are scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
Check back here during the week-end for updates.
