NITRO NIGHT WITH WEST COAST HOT RODS, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012 FAMOSO RACEWAY, BAKERSFIELD, CA
NITRO CARS
September 7-8, 2012 was the final of three Nitro Nights held at Famoso Raceway this summer and was the last chance for the nitro burning Funny Cars to run before Hot Rod Reunion. Dan Horan, Jr., let it be known he would be the one to beat at the Reunion. Horan in his Ron Swearingen-tuned car was the quickest and fastest running an ET of 5.752 at 253.95 mph in the final round. [Timingtower.com is giving away 2 full event passes to Hot Rod Reunion. Scroll down to read contest rules.]
James Day, winner of the second Nitro Night, in the Pedaler, couldn’t repeat and had to settle for the No. 2 spot with an ET of 5.864 at 246.03 mph. Horan also bested Jason Ruppert, the 2011 Heritage Series points leader, in the Mert Littlefield car. Ruppert ran an ET of 5.843 at 246.30 mph.
Brendan Murry was at all three Nitro Nights in his top fuel car, Running Wild, and took home the top fuel trophy at the 2nd Nitro Night in July. Murry has been sorting out his change-over from a big-block Chevy to a Hemi. A couple of A Fuel cars ran this week-end, as did a couple nitro burning motorcycles with one running an amazing 193 mph.
Watching the nitro burners run under the lights has proven very popular as the crowds at Famoso Raceway has grown considerably with each event.
WEST COAST HOT RODS
This week-end was also the finals of the West Coast Hot Rod Assoc. (“WCHRA”) series – three of its races were run with the Nitro Nights. Famoso held Street Legal Drags on Friday night which allowed the WCHRA racers a chance to do some test and tune before qualifying and eliminations started on Saturday. WCHRA ran eight classes – True 10.5, Outlaw 8.5, B-E Gas, Sportsman and Open Comp.
Running with the WCHRA racers were several Volkswagens (Bugs and Ghias) from the Professional Racing Assoc. (“PRA”). The Volkswagens raced in D and E Gas, Pro Mod Bug and Super Street Bug. The pits held about 100 WCHRA racers when qualifying started at 1:00 pm on Saturday.
Final round results were:
Heads-Up Classes:
True 10.5 – Al Jimenez in a ’72 Camaro. Jimenez was the #1 qualifier, ran low ET of 4.741 and top speed of 161.88 – in this class. His final round ET was 4.773 at 143.22 mph.
Outlaw 8.5 – Thed Dec in a ’69 Camero. The final round found Dec and Mark Washington at the line. Dec with a reaction time of .034 took the win over Washington who had a .117 reaction time. Dec had a final ET of 5.410 at 136.10 mph. While George Raygaze was the #1 qualifier, with low ET of 5.267 and top speed of 142.25, a red light in round 3 put him out of the race.
Index Classes:
B Gas – Richard Deuschle – Deuschle, the #9 qualifier prevailed over Wes Anderson the #8 qualfier in the final round. Anderson broke but Deuschle ran an ET of 8.657 on the 8.6 index going 112.29 mph.
C Gas – Larry Burnitzki – ’67 Camaro. Burnitzki took the win and Mark Miyashiro red lighted in the final round. Burnitzki had an ET of 9.593 on the 9.60 index traveling at 141.09 mph. Ernie Mcallister, the #1 qualifier went out in Round 2 in a match-up with Miyashiro.
D Gas – David Roed – ’63 Nova II. Roed advanced to the final round on a break-out by Lori Dodes in Round 2. Roed ran an ET of 10.688 on the 10.60 index at 123.63 mph with a reaction time of .033. Runner-up Steve Barta lost the final at the line with a reaction time of .091.
E Gas – James Brown – ’64 Chevy Wagon. In the final round Brown ran an ET of 11.865 on an 11.60 index against #1 qualifier Morgan Wiggers. Brown who was quicker than Wiggers ran 102.93 mph while Wiggers was faster at 105.38 mph.
Dial-In Classes:
Sportsman – David Dodd, Jr – ’70 Duster. Dodd, the #1 qualifier, ran 11.062 on a 10.08 dial-in racing against David Ochoa on a ’05 1000cc Kawasaki. While Dodd and Ochoa both crossed the finish line at 119.58 mph, Ochoa red-lighted giving Dodd the win.
Open Comp – Alan Ross – ’65 Mustang. Ross ran an ET of 10.610 on a dial in of 10.59. With a reaction time of .026 Ross beat Diane Diedrich in a ’65 Chevy II to the finish line. Diedrich broke out with an ET of 10.283 on a dial-in of 10.30. Ross ran 119.47 mph.
Volkswagen Classes:
Pro Mod Bug – Shane Constant in a ’64 VW was the #1 qualifier came in second to Anthony Heinds in the final round. Heinds in a ’65 VW ran 106.43 with an ET of 13.432 in the final round to best Constant’s ET of 14.651 at 81.13 mph.
Super Street Bug – Roger Crawford – ’63 Bug. Crawford, the #2 qualifier, had an ET of 10.101 and traveled at 133.29 mph. The #1 qualifier, Doug Gonzales, didn’t put up a fight with an ET of 25.037.
WCHRA racers provided a great summer of racing, showing off with some near vertical wheelstands, smokin’ tires and some wheels up launches. Last year WCHRA raced under the lights at Famoso to beat the heat of summer in California’s Central Valley, but teaming up with Famoso Raceway for Nitro Nights and the Bugs from the PRA provided race fans with a varied format that kept the action going for more than 12 hours on Saturday.
The racing lasted until nearly 2:00 a.m. Saturday night and sometimes it’s hard to stay awake.
FRIDAY NIGHT DRAGS
Famoso Raceway hosted Friday Night Drags and a whole lot of cars, bikes, and jr. dragsters showed up. Along with the fuel cars and WCHRA racers, Friday night was well worth watching.
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