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The latest update as of October 29, 2019

The 28th annual began under sunny skies on Friday at Bakersfield's famed Auto Club Famoso Raceway. It was the first of three days of a mix of nostaliga car show, memorabilia vendors, swap meet afficionados, hot rod enthusiasts, and some serious hardcore drag racers, the Reunion has something for everyone. And what we have to start our report is the first qualifying session for the (NITRO) Nostaliga Funny Cars.

NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR - Q-1

(LEFT) First out of the (water) box was James Maher in the brand new (and not in competition this weekend) "Good Vibrations" car.

(RIGHT) Making the first qualifying pass of the weekend was Mike Halstead in the "Smokey's Darkside" Challenger. Mike put down a decent 6.182 - 236.01 that put him #15 in the field.

(LEFT) and (RIGHT) It's two views of Brad Thompson backing up the "Jailbreak" Camaro under the direction of his BackUp assistant. "Kitten with a Whip" is the first thing that comes to mind. After the reversing performance, he "whipped" his mount to a 6.079 at an early shutoff 210.54 mph, to slot into the #14 position.

(LEFT) Despite the ominous appearance of copious amounts of smoke out of the headers as he staged - and especially when he brought the R's up - "Hollywood" Kris Krabill saw the "Cascade Automotive" Camaro clean up on the launch and post a respectable 5.910 - 243.99 to hold down the #11 position at the end of the session.

(RIGHT) Ryan Hodgson "Pacemaker" 5.891 - 245.72

(LEFT) Justin Taylor "Evil, Wicked, Mean & Nasty" 5.810 - 227.54

(RIGHT) Jerry Espeseth "Rolling Thunder 2.0" 5.945 - 236.92

(LEFT) James Day "Speed Sport 5.690 - 254.66

(RIGHT) Tony Jurado "Capitol Punishment" 5.780 250.00

NOSTALGIA TOP FUEL - Q-1

(LEFT) Drew Austin 5.941 - 230.76

(RIGHT) Rick McGee "Overtime Speical" 6.108 - 194.91

(LEFT) Bret Williamson "Forever Young" 10.766 - 74.67

(RIGHT) Mendy Fry "High Speed Motorsport" 5.595 - 237.42

(LEFT) Tyler Hilton "Great Expectations III" 6.282 - 186.15

(RIGHT) Dusty Green "Triple Threat" 6.738 - 147.57

(LEFT) In case he needed extra help backing up (triple vision?) Dusty Green was able to deploy a trio of HOOTERS girls to make the reversing process easier

(RIGHT) Frank McBee Jr. "Valley Thunder" 6.987 - 129.27

NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR - Q-2

(LEFT) Ryan Hodgson "Pacemaker" 5.815 - 248.84

(RIGHT) Matt Bynum "Nitro NIck" 5.767 - 250.60

(LEFT) Billy Morris "Problem Child" 5.775 - 238.72

(RIGHT) Dan Horan "Strive Testing" 5.768 - 258.72

(LEFT) Jeff Arend "California Hustler" 5.860 - 245.90

(RIGHT) James Day "Speed Sport" 5.735 - 254.14

(LEFT) Leading his son into the water at the start of his burnout, Gary Densham signals Steven to hit the throttle.

(RIGHT) Steven Densham "Teacher's Pet" 5.751 - 251.72

(LEFT) Jeff Gregory "Madness" 6.053 - 227.11

(RIGHT) Bobby Cottrell "Austin & O'Brien" 5.683 - 258.50

Bill Windham "Shakedown" 6.218 - 227.77