Good Vibrations Motorsports March Meet - Auto Club Raceway Famoso - Bakersfield, CA
NOTE: Click on the thumbnails to display the full-size images
It's May 27th today... and here we are featuring the Good Vibrations Motorsports March Meet, being held in late May for the first - and hopefully last - time of the year. Our Colorado correspondent made the trek across the mountains from the Denver area to sunny central California, and the warm environs of Famoso Dragway in beautiful Kern County. Wednesday's early test 'n' tune saw numerous cars going down the track; most for the first time in 2021, and for some, the first time in nearly a full year. We've got the first batch of photos from this four, actually five, day drag racing extravaganza.
Racers from the Group 1 & 2 categories were allowed to make two test passes yesterday, and today all racers, except Top Fuel and Funny Car make their first qualifying runs. The nitro racers have a test session in the late afternoon, early evening hours, and that promises to be quite a prelude to the full-on action that starts tomorrow.
We start our coverage with two pics of Johnny Kirschenman in his - and I'm just guessing here - '55 T-Bird flopper. He runs as part of the CIFCA (California Injected Funny Car Association) and they will be an official eliminator category at this year's running of the March Meet. While some of the cars are still injected, most are running blown alcohol engines as the group is trying to stay relevant in this age of very fast race cars
(LEFT) Another of the CIFCA cars, this time Rick Alvarado and his "Little Mighty Mouse" entry
(RIGHT) We move to a Nostalgia Eliminator 1, with Sabrina Pecora in her '37 Fiat Topolino (near lane) lined up against an unidentified early Hemi-powered dragster in the far lane. These cars run on a 7.60 index
(LEFT) Moving down one notch to Nostalgia Eliminator 2 (running on an 8.60 index) we've got Jim Miller in his "Compulsive Obsession" '29 Ford Roadster (near lane) paired up with an unidentified stretched altered in the far lane
(RIGHT) It's Robert Johnson in his injected dragster (near lane) running against Steve Olmscheid's '23 Ford altered "Bad Ass" in the far lane
(LEFT) It's "Kin Hee's Revenge" (hard to decipher the Olde English script) and the competition number isn't in my database (aka: Drag Race Central)
(RIGHT) We've got the details on this pair: George Chatterton in his '37 Fiat Topolino "Hitman" (near lane) and Adam Westbrook in his '32 Bantam roadster (far lane)
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Making one of his first launches in a seriously powerful AA/FA, young Dylan tests the Famoso traction
We lead off today's photo coverage of the March Meet with the always popular 7.0 PRO class, then it's straight into Junior Fuel, followed by A/Fuel Dragster. Note that two combinations are allowed in A/Fuel: injected on nitro or blown on alcohol. Junior Fuel is just injected nitro with small block (mostly Chevy) engines.
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(LEFT) Making another pass in his 7.0 PRO '32 Bantam roadster, Vince Generalao Jr. lights up the hides on the burnout
(RIGHT) Bannering a name that's been around the sport of drag racing since the 1950's (!), Chris Bates is wheeling the "Boudakian Racing" 7.0 Pro '23 "T" roadster
(LEFT) Ageless veteran Don Enriquez is still at it, and very competitive, in his Junior Fueler
(RIGHT) Coming all the way from Melbourne, Australia is Shayne Stewart (near lane) and he lights the tires right off the line in his A/FD, while in the far lane, Arizona's Rick Ewens leaves hard with the tires hooked up
(LEFT) In the near lane, Kris Krabill got acclimated to his new ride in the "Screamer", with a half track pass (6.79 - 139.06, while in the far lane, Matt Melendez carded a solid 5.90 - 230.61 in the "Cacklin' Critter" Challenger
(RIGHT) Two more of the regulars on the Heritage Series circuit came out next, with Billy Morris in the "Problem Child" Camaro (near lane), while Matt Bynum (far lane) wheeled the "Cecil Matthews Motorsports" entry to an early shutoff 6.16 - 183.22
A great looking side-by-side battle between veteran flopper and digger pilot Dan Horan (Jr.) in the "Infinity Plumbing" Camaro (near lane)
and rookie Kamaka Pocock in Don Nelson's "California Hustler" ended a little early Pocock as he shut off early to a 6.04 - 197.48 clocking,
while Horan drove it all the way through the lights to a big number of 5.59 - 260.11 on his first test run
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(RIGHT) Las Vegas resident James Generalao Jr. tested the 6.00-index for the AA/Fuel Altereds and found he had a little too much power as he clocked a "breaking-out" 5.89 - 211.36 despite lifting off the loud pedal at the 1000 ft mark
(LEFT) Bringing out the "Capitol Punishment" Camaro for the first time in more than a year, Tony Jurado put down a very impressive 5.75 - 222.66 even though he was off the throttle early
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Getting in a solid pass was Jim Murphy in his WW III entry as he laid down a 5.91 - 249.53 (near lane), while on the far side, the unique looking and sounding (small-block Chevy power) "Champion Speed Shop Special" driven by Adam Sorokin shut off early to a 6.48 - 162.18
Returning to the nostalgia ranks for a one-shot appearance was Jason Rupert, filling in for the unavailable owner/driver of his former ride (Pete Espeseth), as Jason made his first pass in his old car in two and a half years. Showing absolutely no rust after his long layoff, Rupert pushed his old mount to a 5.719 - 254.42 on his first pass
In case you're wondering why we're not getting any top end shots or closeup starting line shots, there's two reasons: one, media credentials were allegedly in short supply (according to Famoso Dragway management), hence we have our correspondent shooting from the spectator side grandstands, and secondly, as you'll see in the photo below, there's a virtual tent city erected over the top rows of the pit side grandstand, preventing him from getting high enough above the track to get any really good shots.
You've got to get there pretty early in the morning to snag a spot at the top of the grandstands for your pop-up canopy
We've got photos from Saturday's final qualifying sessions, starting with Xtreme Pro Mods West, then moving right into the Nostalgia Funny Car & Top Fuel classes, followed by some of the California Injected Funny Car Association entrants, and finishing with the always popular and unpredictable AA/Fuel Altereds. Hope you enjoy them!
(LEFT) While not strictly speaking a nostalgia class, with the 2014 Challenger of Troy Ferry in the near lane, the Pro Mods put together a fairly tightly
bunched field, with a quarter second separating the top seven qualifiers. Ferry's best time in qualifying was
(RIGHT) In the near lane, veteran Sean Renteria topped the field in his unique '65 Valiant with a very good
(LEFT) Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of Brad Thompson's System One sponsored "Jailbreak" car, but we managed to snag a pic of his helpful BUG (Back-Up Girl). We can however, report that she must have helped as Brad snuck into the bump spot with an improved 6.033 - 211.96 that was good enough to anchor the field
(RIGHT) The first pair of cars we can show from the final AA/Funny Car qualifying session are Billy Morris and his Camaro-bodied "Problem Child" in the near lane, paired up with the Northwest's Michael Peck Jr. in the Quote Wizard-backed "Instigator". Morris stepped up in a big way on his last shot, climbing from the #19 spot all the way to #6 with a very good 5.727 - 247.02, while Peck picked up a tenth and five mph, to move from #12 to #8 on the final qualifying list
(LEFT) One of the longest competing Funny Car teams in the pits, the Van Gundy, Clark & Monise group, with their iconic "Quarter Pounder" (near lane), were barely hanging on to a spot in the field with a 15th best 6.098 - 219.40 from Friday, but they pumped up the volume to the tune of a 5.813 - 232.75 to move up to #13 in the field. In the far lane, the "Cacklin' Critter" Challenger of Matt Melendez kept the throttle open to the finish line, picking up a full tenth from his Friday best of 5.923 to a #15 qualifying 5.852 - 233.20
(RIGHT) Running by himself in a last ditch attempt to stay in the field, Terry Jongewaard in the '79 Omni failed to hang onto to the bump spot (from Friday) as he couldn't improve on his earlier 6.136 - 232.43 and ended the weekend in the 2nd alternate spot and an early trip home
(LEFT) Before we move on to the Top Fuel Dragsters, Don Nelson's "California Hustler", with Hawaiian import Kamaka Pocock at the wheel,
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(LEFT) Running all by himself at this point, as his red-lighting opponent kept the pedal to the metal, the Hot Rod Eliminator winner, Marvin Rules in his flamed '73 Vega took it easy enroute to the winner's circle with his 10.320 - 131.78 taking the automatic winlight
(RIGHT) The D/Gas final between Tony Citro in the '75 Camaro (near lane) and Don Fournier in his beautiful '48 Anglia (far lane), went to Fournier as his 10.631 - 112.49 was more than enough to cover Citro's slowing 10.904 - 95.35 pass
(LEFT) Doing almost everything right, by leaving first and running quicker, the runnerup in B/Gas, Val Miller in his sharp looking '71 Cuda, gave it all away with a breaking-out 8.572 - 154.37 against the 8.60-index, giving John Saliani (not shown) the win with his safe 8.649 - 156.05 effort
(RIGHT) In the A/Gas final, a pair of Chevys battled it out, with Roy Castagnetto in his '67 Nova (far lane) taking the win with a dead-on the index 7.600 - 174.05 run, as Rich Harrison and his '69 Camaro (near lane) was just a hair slower at 7.615 - 178.76 for the loss. Making the race even closer was the (.031 to .034) reaction time advantage which went to Harrison, making the finish line margin just twelve thousandths of a second
(LEFT) In a real old school-looking race, the Nostalgia Eliminator I final featured the winner, Steve Schoenfeld in his "Buddy's Toy Too" altered (near lane) running close to the 7.60 index, with his 7.634 - 165.31 coupled with a good reaction time of .030, forcing Dustin Lee (far lane) in his dragster into a breaking out 7.586 - 171.51 in a futile effort to overcome a slight reaction time disadvantage (.045 leave). It was close at the finish with just three hundredths separating the cars
(RIGHT) In Nostalgia Eliminator II, an 8.60 index class, winner Terri Scaduto (far lane) in her front-engined dragster took the win with a 8.604 - 156.57 pass over a breaking out Sam Tucker, as his 8.586 - 153.75 in his bright white '32 Bantam was just a little too quick. It was a close launch for the competitors, with Scaduto's .022 light just edging out Tucker's .030 leave. The margin at the finish line was only one hundredth of a second
(LEFT) The Nostalgia Eliminator III final featured a double breakout on the 9.60 index, with Don 'The Kid' Morris (near lane) the worst offender, giving away the win despite a 9.519 - 132.23 pass, and making Ed de Staute (far lane) with his 9.554 - 139.63 in his '59 'Vette. De Staute left first (.026 to .064) which made for a photo finish, with just .003 separating the cars at the stripe
(RIGHT) Moving up the performance ladder to Junior Fuel, the ageless veteran Don Enriquez, wheeled partner Bob McKray's dragster (near lane) to yet another winner's circle appearance, with his final round 7.229 - 185.54 (on a 7.14 index for the "C" class car) holding up for the win. In the far lane, runnerup Brad Woodard in his "A" class car, running on a 6.89 index, lost with a very good 6.975 - 189.66 effort. Showing that age hadn't slowed his reflexes, Enriquez left first on Woodard, by a margin of .018 to .025, and his small holeshot held up for a four thousandths of a second lead at the finish line
(LEFT) Here's the runnerup in the A/Fuel Dragster class, as Sabrina Capps left waaay too soon (-.253 redlight) and threw away a competitive 6.366 - 207.72 effort
(RIGHT) This photo clearly shows the big lead that Sabrina had due to her early leave, as the automatic winner, Kin Bates in his "U.S. Air Force" car, put down a very good 6.156 - 226.24 pass for the win
In case you're wondering what the Nitro Pro Comp category is all about: it's a grouping of what was intended to be a rear-engined Top Fuel class with specs from the first generation (1970's) of the back-motored diggers. They tried to promote it at the Hot Rod Reunion for a while, but never attracted more than a small handful of competitors. Now they've opened it up to the "homeless" dragsters, and the occasional flopper that can't run with the "big boys" in the Nitro Nostalgia Funny Cars class (AA/FC).
(LEFT) Here's the Nitro Pro Comp final, with Billy McDevitt in the "Borjon Auto Center" dragster (near lane) trailing perennial winner Mike Halstead in his "Mike's Transmissions" entry at the 1000 ft mark. After near identical reactions, Halstead coasted across the line with his 5.955 - 185.38 barely covering McDevitt's fast closing 5.990 - 237.92 pass. The gap at the 1320 mark was barely a car length
(RIGHT) We've got a single shot (so far) from the AA/Fuel Altered final round, with runnerup Johnny West up to speed in his "Plan 'A'". He lost due to a -.012 redlight and shut off to a coasting 7.157 - 140.93 as Eric Gates took the win at a leisurely 8.913 - 98.26 in his "Agent Orange" entry
Here's the CIFCA (California Injected Funny Car Association) "B" field final round, showing James Maher in the "Junior Vibes" '85 Ford Tempo (near lane) taking the win with a 7.143 - 186.30 (just over the 7.10 index) over Pete Ortiz Jr. (far lane) in his mean looking '97 Olds Cutlass "Outcast" who clocked a 7.382 - 192.28 in the losing effort. Making it close at the finish line was Ortiz's reaction time advantage (.046 to Maher's .161), which left Ortiz .128 behind at the quarter-mile mark
(LEFT) Seemingly running by himself, Adam Sorokin in the awesomely cool looking "Champion Speed Special" took an easy win (6.158 - 202.00) in the first round of Nostalgia Top Fuel (AA/FD) eliminations, as opponent, and top qualifier, Bret Williamson, in the "Forever Young" entry, smoked the tires and shut off to a 13-second clocking
(RIGHT) In the next pairing, Dan Horan Jr. (near lane) looks to be slightly ahead of opponent Frank McBee Jr. (far lane) as they pass half track
(LEFT) A closeup of Frank McBee Jr. as he speeds away
(RIGHT) Heading for the top end, it's Dan Horan Jr. (near lane) coming from behind to take a 5.824 - 244.25 win over the good effort of Frank McBee Jr. in the "Valley Thunder" (far lane), who trailed with a solid 5.954 - 248.75 clocking. Leaving first by an .052 to .125 margin, McBee came close to catching Horan at the finish line, but fell a little more than a car length short
(LEFT) We now move to the first round of eliminations for the AA/Fuel Altereds, running on a 6.00-index. In the first pair, it's Arlington, Washington's Tom Padilla in his "Red Dragon" (near lane) '27 T-truck pulling ahead of James Generalao Jr. and his "Impatient" entry, but breaking out in the process, wasting a fine 5.968 - 216.20 effort, to hand the default win to Generalao's slowing 7.349 - 124.59 run
(RIGHT) It looks like a bit of a runaway win for Pete Peterson (near lane) in his '48 Fiat Topolino in the next pair, but his just-too-quick 5.910 - 227.96 was another breakout (and low e.t. of the round). Taking the win was Eric Gates (far lane) in his "Agent Orange" '23 'T' with a decent 6.384 - 203.74 effort
(LEFT) In a first round battle in AA/Fuel Altered, Mark Whynaught in the sinister looking "Nitro Mamba" '23 "T" (near lane) took the win with a 6.109 - 202.97 over the breaking-out Nick VanHorn in the "Panic!" '32 Bantam (far lane), as his quicker 5.976 - 246.57 was just under the 6.00 index. Leaving .046 later than the winner, VanHorn really kept the pedal down, evidenced by the HUGE top end speed, in a futile effort to take the win
(RIGHT) Moving to the second round of eliminations (first round run Saturday evening), the Nostaliga Funny Cars (AA/Funny Cars) saw the pair of Kamaka Pocock in Don Nelson's "California Hustler" (near lane) matched up against the "Northwest Hitter" of Bucky Austin, wheeled by Bobby Cottrell. After a near even leave, Cottrell's low e.t. and top speed of the meet 5.605 - 262.64 covered Pocock's very game effort of 5.745 - 252.47 for the win and lane choice in the semis
The last pair of the round featured Michael Peck Jr. in the Quote Wizard-sponsored "Instigator" (near lane) taking an easy win over Brad Thompson (far lane) by a margin of 5.708 - 258.37 to the losing 6.458 - 158.84 for the "Jailbreak" Camaro. Despite a better reaction time (.047 to .111), the gap at the finish line was several train lengths as Thompson's car trailed several pistons worth of "death smoke" on the top end (right photo)
Moving on to Nostalgia Top Fuel (AA/Fuel Dragster), the first pair had Tyler Hilton in the Jim & Allison Lee-owned "Great Expectations III" running away from Jim Murphy and his "WW III" entry, taking the win decisively with a conservative 6.201 - 237.84 clocking against Murphy's coasting 12.469 - 68.39 effort. On the right, we see Hilton nearing the finish line
(LEFT) With only three cars in the Nitro Pro Comp class, there had to be a loser in the first round of eliminations, and it was Jeff Utterback in the "Advanced Surfaces" '74 Vega, dropping a not-even-close decision to Mike Halstead, as Utterback's 7.43 - 124.97 was a long way off the 5.90 class index.
(RIGHT) Seen here in the first round of eliminations, the eventual NE1 (Nostalgia Eliminator 1) winner, Steve Schoenfeld in the "Sonny's Toy Too" altered, as he tested the 7.60 index with a free pass when his opponent broke before staging. Schoenfeld's 7.598 - 174.62 was just two thousandths under the index to indicate that he was dialled in almost perfectly