Nostalgia Fall Championships – Timing Tower

NOSTALGIA FALL CHAMPIONSHIPS, SEPT. 15-17, 2017

admin — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 23:37:38 +0000

Famoso Raceway, near Bakersfield, CA, hosted the NHRA Nostalgia Fall Championships September 15-17, 2017. See our SmugMug page for all the photos shown below, and more. All are available for purchase as either print or download. Click on the SmugMug icon: After several very hot days in Southern California, thankfully this week-end there was no “bake” in Bakersfield. The temperatures were in the upper 80’s giving us great weather for the race. Nostalgia Fall Championships was the final points race for the Heritage Series Group 2 racers. Group 2 includes A, B, C, and D, Gas, Hot Rod, NE 1, 2, and 3. The track was also open for testing throughout the week-end – a handful of AA/FC cars were working out the bugs before the upcoming California Hot Rod Reunion; a couple of drivers made licensing passes. The racing was continuous throughout the week-end. Saturday the event closed at 5:00 p.m. with qualifying for the Group 2 cars complete. Eliminations for Group 2 racers were held on Sunday along with continued testing. The final pair of A Gas cars took the lanes for the last elimination round at about 1:30 p.m. NE 1 This 7.6 index class had a 6-car field in the elimination rounds. Dustin Lee, No. 1 qualifier, went out in round 2 letting Mark Engle meet Jason Barta in the final round where Barta took the win. Engle red lighted giving Barta the win on a break-out with an ET of 7.581. In the photo below Jason Barta sits next to Kenny Upton at the line. Barta put Upton on the trailer in round 2 of eliminations. NE 2 – NE2 is an 8.6 index class. Terry Linblad met Tim Beeman in the finals. A double break-out gave Linblad the win. Linblad ran an ET of 8.585 to Beeman’s quicker ET of 8.556. Terry Linblad starts his burn-out while on the way to winning NE 2. NE 3 – Ed DeStaute took home Wally’s as both the race and series winner. DeStaute and Lindsey Lister were tied in the points before this race. DeStaute prevailed over Lister in the 1st elimination round. Lister gave up the race with a reaction time of .057 to DeStatute’s .005. DeStaute met Jim Miller in the final found and ran an ET of 9.612 while Miller turned in an ET of 9.630. A GAS – This class runs on a 7.6 index. Brendon Frye, the No.1 qualifier, ran the ladder, and took home the Wally. Brendon Frye advanced through the elimination rounds even after turning in break-outs in rounds 1, 2 and 3. Frye met Brian Rogers in the finals and ran an ET of 7.663 at 176.58 mph. Rogers had an ET of 7.726 at 178.21. Frye was quicker. Below is a photo of Brandon Frye’s happy crew after he makes the winning pass to take home the A Gas trophy. B GAS – This 8.6 index class ran four rounds of elimination and Jeff Carter took home the trophy. Carter qualified at number 10 but beat the No. 1 qualifier, Neal Westbrook, in the semi-finals. In the final round Carter met Rich Harrison, the No. 2 qualifier, at the line. Once again, the finals saw a double-break out with Carter turning in an ET of 8.599 while Harrison had an ET of 8.588. Carter broke-out less than Harrison which gave him the win. Below is Jeff Carter, the B Gas winner. C GAS – Brian Smith went into this race sitting in the No. 1 spot in the points race. Smith advanced to the finals after a double-break out in the semi’s to meet Dan Barrie. Barrie lost the race at the line with a reaction time of .055. Smith’s reaction time was .024 and this .031 of a second made the difference. Barrie was quicker with an ET of 9.6 to Smith’s 9.61 and faster at 139.98 mph to Smith’s 139.46, but Smith got to the finish line first and took home the Wally for both the series and the race. Below is a photo of Brian Smith holding both Wallys. D GAS – Mike Rabener won after a double-break out. Rabener met Don Fournier in the finals. Rabener turned in an ET of 10.585 to Fournier’s 10.556. Rabener was series points leader and took home the Wally for both the race and series. Below is Mike Rabener holding both of his Wallys. HOT ROD – Mark Kirby took the win in the final round of this 19 car field. Kirby ran on a dial-in of 11.12 and ran 11.089. He met Josh Wagner who turned on the red light at the start. Below Mark Kirby does an impressive wheel stand. There were a lot of cars racing this week-end. Below are a few: And a few more: There were a bunch of cars doing testing this week-end: Below is a gallery of the Nostalgia Fall Championship winners: The photos below are of Heritage Series winners that did not win the race this week-end – Dale Hicks and his Hot Rod ’68 Camaro and Dustin Lee and his NE1 dragster. The finals for the fuel cars will be on October 20-22 at the California Hot Rod Reunion. While the fuel cars are well — fast — they don’t provide the wheels up launches or the assortment of different cars we saw this week-end with the Group 2 racers. It was a perfect week-end. See our SmugMug page for all the photos shown above. All photos, and more, are available for purchase as either print or download. Click on the SmugMug icon: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ SUNDAY RACE RECAP We’ll have complete coverage of the 2017 Nostalgia Fall Champion race, including photos, Monday evening. Until then – below is a list of the winners of the various classes: A-Gas Brendon Frye B-Gas Jeff Carter C-Gas Brian Smith D-Gas Mike Rabener Hot Rod Mark Kirby NE 1 Jason Barta NE 2 Terry Linblad NE 3 Ed […]

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SATURDAY NIGHT NITRO – SEPTEMBER 19, 2015

admin — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 22:42:37 +0000

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. The second run was made by Dan Hix, in Heatseeker. He ran a single with an ET of 6.169 at 156.30. 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. Eighteen racers came to race […]

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