CALIFORNIA HUSTLER WINS SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO – September 19, 2015 at Famoso Raceway.
Famoso Raceway, north of Bakersfield, California was a busy place this week-end. Saturday during the day the fuel cars were testing and getting ready for Saturday Night Nitro. In addition, NHRA Heritage Series racers ran qualifying in classes NE I, NE II, NE III, A, B, C, D, Gas and Hot Rod, and Fun Ford Week-end ran qualifying in classes, Quick Ford, Fast Ford and Street Ford.
At 6:30 Saturday night the funny cars lined up to parade down the return lane prior to the start of racing. 16 Funny Cars, 6 Fuel Altereds and 5 Top Fuel cars ran two sessions each. The first session all 16 funny cars ran with the quickest 8 returning for the finals. Likewise all 6 fuel altereds ran, and the quickest 4 returned for the final. The top fuel final was a match up of the 2 quickest cars.
AND THE AA/FA WINNER IS – CORY LEE IN CALIFORNIA HUSTLER
ROUND 1 – FUNNY CARS
First to the line were Mendy Frye in Darkside and Alex Miladinovich in Hot for Teacher. Frye ran an ET of 5.909 at a speed of 213.81 mph while Miladinovich turned in an ET of 6.044 at 229.47 mph. Both returned for the final round qualifying in the No. 3 and 5 positions respectively.
Next Dean Olberg in Holy Toledo met Dennis Swearingen. Holy Toledo, a ’67 Jeep, crossed the finish line first with an ET of 6.273 at 220.33 mph. Swearingen ran an ET of 6.642 at 217.53. Holy Toledo qualified at No. 7 to earn a spot in the final 8.
Jack Wright met Burnin’ Money driven by Bob Godfrey. Wright turned in an ET of 6.704 at 214.11 mph. Godfrey had trouble and finished with an ET of 10.784.
Richard Townsend’s Nitroholic ran against Marcus Lawson. Lawson backed away from the start line but Nitroholic qualified No. 1 with an ET of 5.807 at 248.71 and returned for the final round.
California Hustler now piloted by Cory Lee met Quarter Pounder driven by Pete Peterson. Lee took the win light with an ET of 6.031 at 248.84 with Peterson turning in a 6.050 ET at 231.71 mph. Both returned to the final round.
The Pedaler and Jailbreak were the next pair. James Day in Pedaler ran 246.03 mph with an ET of 6.654 and Brad Thompson in Jailbreak had a disappointing ET of 13.37 at 77.91 mph.
Dan Horan, once again showing the red, white and blue on his Mustang, met John Weaver in Dream Weaver. Horan turned in an ET of 5.824 at 246.89 mph while Weaver ran an ET of 6.30 at 187.68 mph.
Marcus Lawson ran a single pass, backfired and the top end and turned in a 7.475 ET at 143.8 mph.
THE FUNNY CAR FINALS
The final 8 were: Richard Townsend in Nitroholic, Mendy Frye in Darkside, Cory Lee in California Hustler, Alex Miladinovich in Hot for Teacher, Pete Peterson in Quarter Pounder, Dean Oberg in Holy Toledo, Don Hudson and Jack Wright. The first pair in the finals were Cory Lee in California Hustler and Alex Miladinovich in Hot for Teacher. Lee got off the line with a reaction time of .068 and reached the top end with an ET of 5.893 at 249.30 mp Miladinovich was slow off the line with a reaction time of .150 and ran an ET of 5.988 at 206.70 mph.
Next Pete Peterson in Quarter Pounder sat next to Mendy Frye in Darkside. Peterson crossed the finish line first with an ET of 6.108 at 226.01 mph with Frye following with an ET of 6.936 at 145.13 mph.
The third pairing was Don Hudson and Dean Oberg. Oberg and Holy Toledo didn’t make the call and Hudson ran a single. He ran 229.55 mph with an ET of 6.298.
Finally Richard Townsend in Nitroholic met Jack Wright. Wright broke and Townsend ran an ET of 6.026 at 213.77.
Cory Lee was both fastest and quickest in the finals and took home the money.
FUEL ALTEREDS
Six Altereds ran Saturday night. Lil’ Nate Bugg was out with a ’23 Ford, Dan Hix with a ’34 Chevy, Jeff Utterback in a ’48 Anglia, Jim Holtz in a ’34 Ford, James Valencia in a ‘23 Ford and James Generalao Jr. in a ’23 Ford.
The final runs were made by James Generalao, Jr in Impatient and Jeff Utterback in Black Sunshine Impatient got to the end of the track first with an ET of 6.101 at 227.61. Utterback ran an ET of 6.336 at 191.35.
Black Sunshine
The second run was made by Dan Hix, in Heatseeker. He ran a single with an ET of 6.169 at 156.30.
Heatseeker
James Generalao, Jr. was the winner of the finals.
TOP FUEL
Five top fuel cars ran – Bill Dunlap in High Speed, Jim Murphy in WWII, Rick White in the Neal & White car, Adam Sorokin in the Champion Speed Shop car and Rick McGee. The final round pitted Bill Dunlap against Rick White and Dunlap came out on top with an ET of 5.754 at 240.34 to White’s ET of 5.734 at 247.88.
Check our Images for sale on
Nostalgia Fall Championship ran this week-end also. Saturday was qualifying with elimination rounds held on Sunday. This week-end was the final race of the Heritage Series for NE I, NE II, NE III, A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, D/Gas and Hot Rod. Below are some of the cars racing this week-end.
NE I is a 7.60 index class. Joey Trotsky was the No. 1 qualifier In this 13 car field and finished the race in the No. 1 spot. In the final round, Trotsky in a ’32 Bantam met Denise Gilbert in a ’37 Topolino. Gilbert went red at the light and Trotsky finished with a 7.606 ET at 177.88 mph to take home the trophy for the race. Jason Barta captured the Heritage Series trophy.
Joey Trosky
Eighteen racers came to race in NE II. This 8.60 index class ran 4 elimination rounds and the finals. J. Todd Fernandez, the No. 10 qualifier, met Terri Scaduto, the No. 16 qualifier in the finals. Scaduto broke and Fernandez took the win. Fernandez’ ’32 Bantam ran an ET of 8.613 at 154.62 mph.
NE III fielded 11 racers. Wes Morris was the No. 1 qualifier and ended the day as a winner. Morris met Lindsey Lister in the finals. Lister was first off the line with a reaction time of .003. Although Lister was quicker and faster than Morris, she was just a little too quick, running a 9.590 in this 9.60 index class. Morris ran an ET of 9.615 at 133.22 mph. Roger Turley went out in Round 3 of elimination but still took home the Wally for the Series.
Fifteen racers ran in the A/Gas competition, a 7.6 index class. Richard Wilson qualified No. 1 but went out in Round 3 of eliminations where he met Steve ‘Flattop’ Faller. Faller took home the A/Gas trophy. In the final round Faller and his big block ’63 Corvette met Casey Treur ‘s ’33 Willys. Faller won this race at the line with a reaction time of .020. Treur’s reaction time was a quick .052 but that .032 delay cost Treur at the end. Faller ran an ET of 7.651 and Treur ran 7.655. Faller travelled at 174.12 mph and Treur 174.89 mph. Faller took home the race trophy but Keith Morovich captured the points race to win the Heritage Series. Below is a photo of Faller and Treur in the final round.
B/Gas, an 8.6 index class, turned out 15 racers. Doug Araiza and his ’69 Camaro ran the ladder and met Roy Castgnetto’s ’65 Chevelle in the finals. Araiza was off the line with a .033 reaction time and Castagnetto went right with him with a reaction time of .040. Castagnetto ran too quick with an ET of 8.570 and Araiza turned in a near perfect index of 8.603 at 156.95 mph. Doug Carter from Henderson, NV took home the Wally for the Heritage Series.
Doug Carter in his ’69 Camaro
C/Gas was a big class with 19 racers. After 4 eliminations rounds and the finals, Mike Munoz in a ’65 Olds 442 took home the trophy. Munoz with a reaction time of .064, got beaten off the line by Chris Kurtis who had a reaction time of .021. But Munoz ran an ET of 9.628 at 137.00 mph and Kurtis ran 9.677 at 137.92 mph.
Mike Munoz and his ’65 Olds
D/Gas runs on an index of 10.60. Mike Rabener in a ’67 Camaro met Don Fournier and his ’48 Anglia in the final round. This was a close race with Rabener running an ET of 10.639 at 125.09 mph and Fournier running at ET of 10.652 at 127.01. Rabener won the race and the Heritage Series.
Mike Rabener’s ’67 Camaro
Hot Rod class had 21 racers and the cars ran on a dial-in. The final round pitted Randy Aguilar in a ’67 Malibu against Meghan Gorman in a ’73 Nova. Aguilar ran on a 9.86 index and ran a 9.949 ET at 132.83 mph. Gorman ran on a 10.45 index and ran a 10.498. ET. Aguilar ran .089 off his dial-in and Gorman ran .048 off the dial-in at 128.66 mph. Aguilar crossed the finish line first and took the win.
FUN FORD
Kyle Kelley took home the trophy for the Quick Ford Group.
Roger Turley came from Salt Lake City with his ’23 Ford, secured the season championship Wally in NE III and picked up the Fast Ford trophy along the way.
After the racing was complete, the Blake Bowser from Famoso Raceway and Steve Gibbs from NHRA were on hand to give out the Wallys – both to the race winners and the series winners. Below are some of the award winners.
And then it was over and Blake and John Bowser rolled up the award banner.
Check our Images for sale on
Cory Lee ran an ET of 5.89 at 249.30 mph to win the final Saturday Night Nitro of the season.
An article and photos of Saturday Night Nitro will be posted Monday evening.
Saturday Night Nitro will be held on September 19, 2015 at Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield. Timingtower.com will be there and we’ll have an article and post photos of all the action by Monday evening.
Mendy Fry in Darkside, winner of the June Saturday Night Nitro
Auto Club Famoso Raceway wraps up the Summer with a full weekend of drag racing as Auto Club Famoso Raceway hosts The NHRA Heritage Series Nostalgia Fall Championships, The Good Vibrations Saturday Night Nitro and Fun Ford Weekend, September 18-20, 2015 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.
Racing takes place all weekend with the Good Vibrations Saturday Night Nitro Show taking center stage Saturday Night. The show will feature Nitro burning Funny Cars, Fuel Altereds, Top Fuel dragsters and Jet Cars. The weekend kicks off on Friday with a test and tune for all weekend participants from noon to 5pm.
Saturday night is “Fan Appreciation Night”. Tons of prizes will be raffled off all night long to all fans in attendance. Prizes include; restaurant gift cards, performance parts supplier gift certificates, hockey tickets, concert tickets, and much, much more.
Tickets are $40 for the weekend. (Saturday and Sunday)
Single day Tickets are available at the gate for $20 on Saturday or Sunday.
Auto Club Members can show their card and get single day Saturday or Sunday tickets for $15.
Kids 12 and under are free with a paid adult.
Gates open at 8am each day. For more details, visit Famoso Raceway.
