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Bakersfield,
CA - 10/24/12: The
21st edition of the California Hot Rod Reunion disappointed no
one. It lived up to its rock star billing and then some. The
weekend featured Chamber of Commerce weather and a race track
second to none. There was no doubt that Auto Club Famoso Raceway
operators Blake and John Bowser had their facility ready for
what was the largest CHRR ever. The smooth as glass concrete
quarter mile yielded incredible times in both Top Fuel and Funny
Car.
Add to that the
hard working folks from the NHRA Wally Parks Motorsports Museum
and the crew at Famoso insured those in attendance enjoyed 3
full days of great racing, tons of cacklecars and the reason
the reunion started in the first place, tons of friends getting
together while we still can.
A special factor
was added in this year in the form of a silent auction to benefit
the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum. Nearly 100 unique and
rare items went on the block and the end result was over $26,000
to benefit a great cause.
On the racing
side the victors were Rick Williamson (Nostalgia Top Fuel), Mike
Lewis (Nostalgia Funny Car), Marc Meadors (Nostalgia Pro Mod),
Ronnie Lennon (7.0 Pro), Bud Hammer (Junior Fuel), Les Davenport
(A/Fuel), Rob Patten (A/Gas), Don Taros (Nostalgia Eliminator
I), Dewayne Sanders (7.0 Pro Group 2) and Doug Hampton (AFX)
were all crowned winners at the event.
The 2012 NHRA
Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series champs were also crowned at the
Hot Rod Reunion. Adam Sorokin won his second Series championship
in Nostalgia Top Fuel and Jason Rupert took home his second consecutive
win in Nostalgia Funny Car at Famoso.
This year I'm
going to forego my normal lengthily lead-in because people come
here for the photos so without further ado we'll go right into
Top Fuel.
For the full
event story visit: 2011 CHRR on the NHRA Museum News
Top
Fuel First Qualifying Session
Friday 2:45 p.m.
Weather conditions: air temperature 86 degrees, relative humidity
40 percent, barometer 29.31 inches, adjusted altitude 2,762 feet.
The first session
was led off by John Rasmussen on a single in Bob Richardson's
"Circuit Breaker".
John
carded a solid 6.002 at 241.63.
Next
out for another single was Rick White in the Neal & White
entry.
White
carded a strong 1.043 sixty foot time.
White
threw down the gauntlet on this one, a picture perfect 5.787
at 249.67.
The first pair
out was Rick McGee in the Tedford & McGee "Overtime
Special" and Dan Horan Jr. in Dan Sr.'s car.
McGee
left really hard clocking a stout 1.022 60' foot time.
Horan
was way soft and made it to half track before a big boom ended
the run.
McGee was on
a monster run but clicked it at the 1000' mark slowing to a 5.945
at just 187.16. His 1/8 mile time was 3.762 at 216.20 which was
the fastest 660' speed ever for a NTF car.
Next out was
Bill Dunlap in the seat of the High Speed Motorsports car and
Jim Murphy in his WW2 Racing entry.
Both
cars had decent leaves with Murphy being the quickest to the
60' mark.
Murphy made a
great baseline pass of 5.792 at 226.01. Dunlap clicked it early,
as planned, to a 6.134 at 200.08.
Third pair was
Rick Williamson in the Craig Racing car and Brendan Murry in
his late model hemi powered "Running Wild Racing".
Rick was the only driver with even a remote chance of overtaking
Sorokin for the TF title.
Williamson
left like a rocket while Murry's car struggled.
Williamson carded
a stout 5.750 with a big speed, 261.02. Murry gave up early and
coasted through.
Next up was new
Crop Duster driver Paul Romine, and Adam Sorokin in the Champion
Speed Shop SBC car,
The big yellow
car jumped out of the gate and hauled ass. Sorokin smoked the
tires at the hit.
Romine's potentially
low ET run didn't have a long enough fuse and he was done by
the 1000' mark but still ran a 5.883 at 207.69. However, there
was a lot of bleeding which shut the track down for a major clean
up.
The next to last
pair pitted Mendy Fry in Mike Fuller's Forever Young and Howard
Haight in the Mr. Boston car.
Fry had
a better 60' time but Haight passed her by the 330' mark.
Haight's engine
was finished by the 1000 foot mark necessitating another lengthy
clean up.
Oiled
in, Haight did a nice job of keeping the car in its lane.
The last
pair was Tony Bartone and Terry Cox in the Cheetah IV.
Not sure
what happened to Bartone but his engine went silent right after
the hit.
Cox made it to
the other end with a 5.900 at 249.72 but it would cost them an
engine thus ending their weekend.
And so
ended a very long TF qualifying session.
Top
Fuel Qualifying - Session
Two
Top
Fuel - Round
One
Top
Fuel - Round
Two - Final
Funny
Car - Semis,
Final & Misc.
Other Winners & Cars
Pits 'n People
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