--- Home Page
--- What's New
--- Features
--- Features
--- E-mail

The latest update as of May 31, 2021



March Meet 2021 poster --- March Meet in May poster

We've got the first installment of photos from Sunday's eliminations at the Good Vibrations March/May Meet and they show most of the finals in the sportsman and some of the PRO categories. Our hard working correspondent started the long, hot drive home from Bakersfield at 4:00 a.m. today and won't be sending any more photos until at least tomorrow. That will give us a bit of time to catch up on all the great photos he sent us over the past week and fill in the blanks (details and captions) on the race. Stay tuned to this page for regular updates throughout the next few days.


Marvin Rules - Hot Rod - #1046 - '73 Vega --- Tony Citro - D/GAS - #767A - '75 Camaro (near lane) vs 
Don Fournier - DGAS - #F762 - '48 Anglia (far lane)

(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


Val Miller - B/GAS - #7542 - '71 'Cuda --- Rich Harrison - A/GAS - #7720 - '69 Camaro (near lane) 
vs Roy Castagnetto - AGAS - #7476 - '67 Nova - 'Solar Needs Racing' (far lane)

(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


Steve Schoenfeld - NE1 - #689V - 'Buddy's Toy Too' (near lane) vs 
Dustin Lee - NE1 - #7998 (far lane) --- Sam Tucker - NE2 - #7161 - '32 Bantam - 'Buddy's Toy Too' 
(near lane) vs Terri Scaduto - NE2 - #772T - FED

(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


Don Morris - NE3 - #H747 - '23 T (near lane) vs 
Ed de Staute - NE3 - #716 - '62 Corvette (far lane) --- Don Enriquez - JRFuel - #723 (near lane) vs Brad Woodard -
JRFuel - #7537 - 'Alcohol Abuse' (far lane)

(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


Sabrina Capps - A/FD - #7574 --- Kin Bates - A/FD - #7573 - 'U.S. Air Force' (near lane) 
vs Sabrina Capps - A/FD - #7574 (far lane)

(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


Billy McDevitt - NPC - #7295 (near lane) vs Mike Halstead - 
NPC - #3 (far lane) --- Johnny West - AA/FA - #7066 - 'Plan 'A'

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


James Maher - CIFCA

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

Adam Sorokin - AA/FD - #766 - 'Champion Speed Shop Special' --- Dan Horan Jr. - AA/FD - #7736 (near lane) vs Frank McBee Jr. - 
AA/FD - #775 (far lane)

(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


Frank McBee Jr. - AA/FD - #775 --- Dan Horan Jr. - AA/FD - #7736 (near lane) vs 
Frank McBee Jr. - AA/FD - #775 (far lane)

(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


Tom Padilla - AA/FA - #601 - 'Red Dragon' (near lane) 
vs James Generalao Jr. - AA/FA - #7841 - 'Impatient' (far lane) --- Pete Peterson - AA/FA - #7212 (near lane) vs Eric Gates - 
AA/FA - #7536 - 'Agent Orange' (far lane)

(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


Mark Whynaught - AA/FA - #E737 - 'Nitro Mamba' (near lane) 
vs Nick VanHorn - AA/FA - #7354 - 'Panic!' (far lane) --- Kamaka Pocock - AA/FC - #808 - 'California Hustler' (near lane) 
vs Bobby Cottrell - AA/FC - #776 - 'Northwest Hitter' (far lane)

(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


Michael Peck Jr. - AA/FC - #6591 - 'Instigator' (near lane) 
vs Brad Thompson - AA/FC - #791 - 'Jailbreak' (far lane) --- Brad Thompson - AA/FC - #791 - 'Jailbreak'

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)


Tyler Hilton - AA/FD - #379 - 'Great Expectations III' 
(near lane) vs Jim Muprhy - AA/FD - #774 - 'WW III' (far lane) --- Tyler Hilton - AA/FD - #379 - 'Great Expectations III'

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


Jeff Utterback - NPC - #735 - 'Advanced Surfaces' --- Steve Schoenfeld - NE1 - #689V - 'Sonny's Toy Too'

(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