NITRO NIGHT WITH WEST COAST HOT RODS
July 28, 2012, FAMOSO RACEWAY, BAKERSFIELD, CA
Since drag racing will not be a part of the Olympic Games, Famosa Raceway staged a great alternative to the 28th Olympiad this past weekend giving high horsepower fans a chance to watch their sport.
The Pedaler and Future Flash in the final round of funny cars
FRIDAY NIGHT DRAGS
Friday night, July 27 Famoso Raceway started with Friday Night Drags which also served as a test and tune session for the hot rods and nitro cars scheduled to run on Saturday.
NITRO NIGHT WITH WEST COAST HOT RODS
About 135 West Coast Hot Rod Assoc. (WCHRA) racers took to the lanes on Saturday at about 1:00 p.m., and that evening they were joined by 11 nitro-burning funny cars, 3 top fuel dragsters, a fuel altered and 2 jet cars which added smoke and fire to the night sky.
West Coast Hot Rod ran two dial-in classes – Sportsman and Open Comp; four index classes – B Gas, C Gas, D Gas, and E Gas; three heads-up classes – Outlaw 8.5, Xtreme 275 and True 10.5. A group of VW’s from Pro Racing Assoc. joined WCHRA running in Pro Mod Bug and Super Street Bug classes as well as D Gas and E Gas. The hot rods put on quite a show Saturday, through the night and into the wee hours of Sunday morning.
HOT ROD RACE RESULTS:
Sportsman: Bill Smith, Jr. the No. 1 qualifier in a ’65 Chevelle took home the gold with an ET of 11.545 on a11.45 dial-in traveling at 111.01. Don Forester was runner up.
Open Comp: Alan Ross the No. 7 qualifier beat No 1 qualifier Mark Miyashio. Ross in a ’65 Mustang ran an ET of 10.637 going 123.06 mph.
B Gas: This class runs on an 8.60 index. The winner, Doug Crumlich, took the win after Brandon Stainaker red-lighted. Crumlich went 98.59 mph with an ET of 9.706.
C Gas: This 9.6 index class pitted Larry Burnitzki against Mark Miyashiro. Although Miyashiro turned in a .006 reaction time, he came in second to the 1967 Camaro driven by Burnitzki who had an ET of 9.624 at 130.73 mph.
D Gas: Alan Ross red-lighted in the finals of this 10.60 index class giving Trey Sommers and his ’56 Chev the win. Sommers had an ET of 10.574 traveling 125.86 mph.
E Gas: The ’64 Chevy Wagon of James Brown beat out the ’72 Chevelle driven by Matt Miyashiro. Brown nearly hit the 11.60 index with an ET of 11.601 with a speed 108.70 mph.
Outlaw 8.5: This 1/8th mile class saw Eric Gustafson and Gary Brandt in the finals. Gustafson’s ’69 Camaro turned in an ET of 5.372 at 135.15 to beat Brandt’s ’86 Mustang which had an ET of 5.426.
Xtreme 275: X 275 is a heads-up class running on a 1/8th mile track. Ryan Jones took the win with an ET of 4.778 traveling 160.46 mph and DJ Reid came in second with an ET of 4.883 going 151.19 mph.
True 10.5: This class pitted Rich Hoyle from Palmdale, CA against Roger Rydell from Lancaster, CA in the finals. Hoyle’s ’63 Chevy Nova took the win after Rydell red-lighted. Hoyle had an ET of 4.706 at a speed of 150.95 mph. After this race, Hoyle maintained his lead in the points.
Pro Mod Bug: The ’64 Bug piloted by Shane Constant turned in a ET of 10.087 going 134.39 mph beating out the No. 1 qualified Bobby Miller. Both these Bugs race in the Pro Racing Assoc.
Super Street Bug: Roger Crawford and Doug Gonzalez, who also race with Pro Racing Assoc. were pitted against each other in the finals. Crawford in a ’58 Karmann Ghia came out on top of Gonzalez’ ’63 Bug. Crawford had an ET of 10.095 and went 133.14 mph.
This is Cindi Crocker and Esther Hollister. They are best friends and they both race yellow VW Bugs – Cindi a ’74 Bug and Esther a ’57 Bug
Eleven nitro funny cars took to the lanes making their first runs at about 8:30 pm. The first round cars were James Day in the Pedaler; Garrett Bateman in Nitro Pirate; Zane Messenger in Future Flash; Rick Rogers in Dark Side; Jack Wright in the Joker, Kebin Kinsely in Pisano, Alex Milodinovich in Hot for Teacher; Don Hudson in Nitro Angel, Dennis Lacharite in Back in Black; Rian Konno in Kazanjian, Lemon & Konno; and Dale Van Gundy in Quarter Pounder. Of these, 8 cars went to the second round which started about 11:00.
After the second round the two quickest funny cars, Zane Messenger in Future Flash and James Day in the Pedaler, were set for the final round. Messenger was the winner of the last Nitro Night but a red light prevented him from repeating his win. Day ‘s final run yielded an ET of 5.918 at 237.63 mph. Day qualified No. 1 with a low ET of 5.846 and top speed of 250.13 mph.
The crew of the Pedlar
A small field of three AA/FD dragsters made two passes. Mendy Fry driving Forever Young, John Rasmussen in Circuit Breaker, and Brendan Murry in Running Wild. Murry took home a “Wally” with a top speed of 203.55 and ET of 6.464. Mendy Fry turned in the low ET of 6.063.
Brendan Murry and his “Wally”
The new BDS fuel altered made its first appearance on Saturday night. This altered is being run by Nate Bugg and LilNate racing.
The jet cars, Terminal Velocity and MAV TV Missile, made two passes billowing smoke and shooting fire into the night sky. The jet cars are an impressive sight and are capable of quarter mile speeds of 268 mph and 263 mph respectively. The jet dragsters are crowd favorites and have to be seen to be believed.
The thunder at Famoso Raceway continued as Saturday turned into Sunday with WCHRA finishing final rounds at 2:30 a.m.
The next Nitro Night with West Coast Hot Rods at Famosa Raceway will be Saturday, September 8 with gates opening at 5:00 pm on September 7 for Friday Night Drags. The VW’s from Pro Racing Assoc. will again be racing with WCHRA in September. Tickets are available at www.famosoraceway.com.
The warm nights at Famoso Raceway combined with the wheels-up launches and smoky burn-outs provided by the WCHRA racers made for a great way to spend the evening. When you add in fire shooting from the headers of the ground pounding, nitro-burning cars it’s a perfect way to spend a Saturday night.
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