Today’s weather for the March Meet could not have been any more different than Friday and Saturday, with not a cloud in the sky and afternoon temperatures in the high-60s to low-70s. The crowd was smaller, as it always is on Sundays, and unfortunately not very many show cars returned to their spot in the grove, but that certainly didn’t effect the crowd’s mood nor the racing action. The program went off without a hitch and amazingly the Fuel cars only suffered one oildown to halt the progress for an hour or so. When the shoutin’ was over with, Tim Boychuk and Jim Young went home with the coveted March Meet crowns in Funny Car and Top Fuel, respectively. But we know you just want to see the photos, so have at it! We’ll see ya later in the year with more Hot Rod Heritage racing action! Special thanks to our same day coverage presenting sponsor, Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels!
This year's Grand Marshall was Billy Meyer (left), former NHRA Funny Car driver and owner/builder of the Texas Motorplex, eralded as the first NHRA “Super Track” with stadium-style seating and the first all-concrete racing surface. His winning percentage as a driver is second in NHRA history to only John Force. Drag racing owes a lot to Meyer's vision, which he conceptualized in the '70s and built in '88.The honorary starter was Art Chrisman, one of most legendary drag racing heroes there is. Art won the first March Meet on March 1, 1959 when the Smokers car club invited Don Garlits out to California to prove himself against the West Coast racers. Chrisman beat Garlits in the first round and went on to win the race against local driver, the late Tony Waters. Art and his son, Mike, founded Chrisman Auto Rod Specialties where they currently build and restore hot rods.Chad Head, son of former NHRA Funny Car racer Jim, went all the way to the semifinals of Sunday's eliminations running stout 5.70s but lit the red bulb by -.077 seconds against Tim Boychuk's Firebird.Here's a shot we never got a chance to show you yesterday. It's Wayne Mellinger's '78 Corvette Funny just seconds before getting squirrely at 1000 feet and turning hard right into the wall. Wayne wasn't hurt but the car was toast and missed getting in the show. It was the only crash of the Fuel classes.Del Worsham took out James Day in the first round and ran a 5.851 in the second, but Roger Garten's 5.804 sent him packin'.That's former Fuel driver Mendy Fry lining up Denver Schutz's Top Fuel car. Mendy was the "mixologist" on the crew, blending the nitro and alky. The team was like a buzzsaw during eliminations, taking down everyone they went up against to make it to the final. But during that last race, they just couldn't keep up with Jim Young's thundering top-end charge.It was cool to see Tony Foti at the March Meet. Foti has long been a fixture at Southern California dragstrips, representing the LAPD's DARE program. His B/Gas Camaro is still flying the po-po colors.War Horse is Roger Garten's '73 Mustang Mach 1 Funny Car. After sending Del Worsham back to the trailer he went down swinging to Mark Sanders, the eventual runner-up.Boychuk and Sanders waiting for the final round.
In the final, Sanders (far lane) got a slight holeshot (.137 to .157) but was shooting ducks as Boychuk (near lane) cruised to a 5.814 at 249 mph fo the win.
Your 2013 March Meet Top Fuel champion is Jim Young from Salem, WI. Jim's a crop-duster by trade, no joke, which must be fruitful enough to fund a top notch vintage Fuel team. His final round speed of 269.08 mph, we believe, is a new record for the class. His e.t. was .05 seconds quicker than Denver Schutz's, but the mph shows that the car was marching on the top end.
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For 55 years, the greatest drag racers in the world have been descending upon Bakersfield, California and the Auto Club Famoso Raceway for the one and only March Meet, and this weekend, flocks of retro nitro-burners, drag racing legends, classic automobiles, and the fans who still long for yesteryear have returned for another edition of drag racing’s ‘Woodstock’. The March Meet is the vintage drag racing scene’s U.S.Nationals in Indy, “The Big Go Old-School” so to speak. Auto Club Raceway Famoso here in the orange groves 10 miles north of downtown Bakersfield has seen it’s share of huge events in the past, that’s for sure, and its still happening at this, the biggest nostalgia event of the year.
The event actually started on Thursday but was rained out on Friday, and we’re here on Saturday and Sunday to bring the action. The only problem is our “same day” coverage has had major technical issues. For one, there is no internet service at the track and your Dragzine staff does not have satellite upload capability for this event, so our coverage tonight will be quick and to the point. Check back tomorrow night (or Monday morning depending on where you are) for a complete wrapup of the event highlights, which we can do once we get back into “the big city” of Los Angeles.
Today’s weather was mostly cold and heavily overcast, though the sun did poke out every now and then and the crowd was once again massive, with spectator parking filling the entire parking lot and also extending over a quarter-mile in each direction on the main highway in front of the track. So, without further ado, here’s a summary of what went down today.
Jim Young put his Neil & Parks front-motored digger on top of the Top Fuel field's qualifying order with a 5.687 at 245mph.In the second spot in Top Fuel is Denver Schultz, also in a Neil & Parks car, with a 5.736.
Rounding out the 12-car Top Fuel ladder is former champ Adam Sorokin in the Champion Speed Shop Special cockpit car. Adam blew the tires off in his two qualifying passes and coasted to a best of a 13-second pass. There’s a good chance he’ll figure it out for eliminations and be right in the game, so stay tuned.
The Funny Car field was packed yet again, with 34 of the ground-pounders trying to qualify for a 16-car field. At the top of the heap by the end of Saturday's two rounds of qualifying was Jason Rupert's '69 Camaro with a thundering 5.702 at 254 mph.
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NHRA Funny Car racer and past champion Ron Capps loves the vintage scene and wheeled the L.A. Hooker Plymouth Arrow to the second spot on the ladder with a 5.735 at 245. He's one of several NHRA national event heroes doing the vintage thing this weekend.
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Here are the final qualifying ladders for Top Fuel and Funny Car, as well as A/Fuel and Junior Fuel.
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The March Meet has a large swap meet with pretty much anything automotive related you can think of, from parts to 'glass bodies, tools, wheels, and intake manifolds. It was a bit muddy in spots but should be nice and dry by Sunday.
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Just as big as the swap meet at the March Meet is the car show. Saturday's inclement weather kept the participation down, but there were still some great cars there and we expect a bunch more on Sunday. There's a little bit of everything, from vintage race cars to musclecars, customs, street rods, and trucks. Top Left: At the end of the tree-lined grove where the show is, which is also at the end of the spectator grandstands, is the usual spot of a group of hardcore original rat rods/trad rods.
