Tue, 12 Mar 2013, 19:06 PM
Racing from Coast to Coast
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By Bob Frey
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Once the NHRA drag racing season gets underway there aren't
a lot of weekends off for the teams. About the only time they get to sit back
and relax is usually between the
Phoenix
race and the Gatornationals. With two open weekends between those two events
you would think that most drivers, crew members and teams would want to take
that time to do whatever it is they do when they are not racing. Oh, wait. What
they do when they are not racing is go to the races. Whether it's to watch or
race, a lot of the members of the teams involved in the
NHRA Mello Yello series will search out a track or an event near
them and spend their "free" weekend doing something that involves racing. Last
week a lot of them could be found at the famous track in
Bakersfield, California
taking part in the equally famous "March Meet." With
Billy Meyer serving as the "Grand Marshall" and the great
Art Chrisman being named as the
"Honorary Starter" the event carried on a tradition that started in 1959 when
Mr. Chrisman himself won the first race by beating
Tony Waters in the final round. Since I have recently mentioned a
couple of great books that I think every drag racing fan would like this is the
perfect time to mention another.
"The
Chrisman Legacy," written by
Tom
Madigan, is a wonderful book about one of drag racing's great families. With
classic stories and lots of historic pictures this book tells the history of
the Chrisman family and it details that first
Bakersfield race, a race that changed
everything for Art and his family. I can highly recommend this book although
the tough part maybe finding it. I suggest you go to
www.chrismanlegacy.com and order
yours today while they last.
Now, back
to
Bakersfield.
The Car Show Corral.
Photo copyright 2013 Dave Gerard
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It doesn't seem to make any difference what coast you are
running on when it rains! The weather played havoc with the schedule in Bakersfield and they
scrambled just to get the race finished. As tough as it was for the racers it
wasn't exactly a picnic for the fans either, many of whom came for the car show
and the swap meet and it was wet and muddy in both of those locations. When
they finally did get on the track the winners were Jim Young in the dragster class and Tim Boychuk in the Funny Car class. Of course when they first ran
the event "Funny Cars" were the ones with the engines in sideways or the ones
with three wheels. Believe it or not cars with those particular configurations
actually ran at Bakersfield
at one time or another, and one of them was raced by the Chrisman family. Among
the current NHRA stars who were in Bakersfield were Ron Capps, Del Worsham, Jim Head, Robert Hight and, as every
early drag racing commercial said for years, "many, many more." The legends
were there, too, and that's what makes the "March Meet" such a fun place to be.
Hirata, Hobbs and Vodnik
Photo copyright 2013 NHRA
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With previous winners like
Don Prudhomme,
Bob Muravez,
Art Malone,
Connie Kalitta
and
Don Garlits, having your name on
the winner's trophy from Bakersfield is quite an accomplishment for any drag
racer, and believe me they had some nice trophies. And just taking a quick look
at this year's roster shows names like
Gotelli,
Sorokin and
Haight among others who are carrying on the great Fuel & Gas
tradition...The team of
Hirata, Hobbs
and Vodnick will be honored this week at the Hall of Fame inductions in
Florida and they have a great history at Bakersfield.,
Did you know that
Kenny
Hirata and
Phil Hobbs won the
Top Gas class in 1966, the same year that
Mike
Sorokin won the Top Fuel class? And
Bobby
Vodnick etched his name into the Fuel & Gas record books, too.
Did you know that in 1965 Bobby,
who was driving for
Dick Belfatti at
the time, was the number one qualifier at the "March Meet?" But here's the most
amazing part. Bobby qualified with a time of 7.32 and the number two qualifier,
a man by the name of
Danny Ongais,
qualified with a time of 7.60. When you can lead a field of sixty-four top
caliber cars at
Bakersfield
by almost three-tenths of a second you know that you did something special.
Congratulations to all of the winners at this year's March Meet and thanks to
everyone who has kept that great tradition alive...And, since I mentioned the
Hall of Fame here's a special thanks to
Summit
Racing,
NHRA and
Lucas Oil who will be the major
sponsors of the event for this year and, hopefully, for years to come.
Eddie Krawiec testing at South Georgia Motorsports Park.
Photo copyright 2013 Chris Simmons, BME Photography
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While thousands of fans and racers were on the West Coast
last weekend it's the East Coast that will be the center of the racing world
this weekend. The annual Amalie Oil Gatornationals
is set to kick off in a couple of days and it will include the Pro Stock
Motorcycles and the Pro Mod Cars for the first time this year. Without getting
too technical (because I can't) there are some new rules in both of those classes
that could have an impact on which type vehicles and which drivers win the race
and maybe the championship. In the bike class it is a two-valve engine with
standard pushrod sizes and that directly affects the Harley-Davidson riders, Eddie
Krawiec and Andrew Hines. Having
said that I don't think there is anyone involved with the bike class that
doesn't think the two Harley riders, and the Vance & Hines team, will again be threats before the year is
over. They may not hit the ground running in Florida (although they could) but they will
be factors before too very long. Remember, when they first came out with the
Harley's they struggled a lot, but after a few races they hit their stride, and
last year they had one of the most dominating teams ever in any class. I have
always said that no matter what the rules are the really good teams, and make
no mistake about it the V & H team is really good, will adapt and thrive in
the end. For instance, you could tell Frank
Manzo that he has to run a four-barrel carburetor on his car, and as
Adam Arana testing at South Georgia Motorsports Park.
Photo
copyright 2013 Chris Simmons, BME Photography
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radical a change as that would be, before long Frank would be at the head of
the pack and the same is true for
Terry
Vance,
Byron Hines and their
entire organization..In addition to the changes in the rules the bike class
will see
Matt Smith fielding three
bikes, the
Sovereign Racing team,
led by
George Bryce, will have a new
look and the "Hectors" will be joined by Adam. That's
Adam Arana joining his father and brother in the Pro Stock
Motorcycle class and that should be, or at least it could be, a very potent
trio.
Matt Smith will have three
bikes racing in Florida including his, his wife
Angie and
John Hall, and
after some early season testing Matt is very optimistic about his chances this
week. Stay tuned.The Pro Mod class also underwent a rules change in an effort
to make to bring parity to that class. Of course any time you have more than
one engine combination in a heads-up class you're never going to make everyone
happy and the Pro Mod class has three. There are the turbocharged cars, the
supercharged cars and the nitrous-powered machines, and regardless of how you
set the rules someone is going to be unhappy. With my limited knowledge of the
rules I do think that this may be the most competitive season ever in the Pro
Mod ranks and all three combinations seem capable of winning. Eight of last
year's top ten finishers, including the reigning champion
Troy Coughlin, are entered for this week's event so we should get
an indication of just how those changes worked out.
Jim Head at the 1982 Gatornationals.
Photo copyright 2013
Auto Imagery, Inc.
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Chad Head was in Bakersfield this past
weekend and he made it to the semi-finals in the Nostalgia Funny Car class
before an untimely red light put him on the sidelines. This week he will make
his NHRA Funny Car debut at the wheel of his father's car. Jim Head, who has always said that he likes tuning the car more
than driving it, will give the keys to the family car to Chad who will
try to make the tough sixteen car field. As tough as it is for a rookie driver
to make the field I think that Chad
will get in and he could be a factor on race day. Did you know that Jim Head competed at twenty-seven
Gatornationals events and that thirteen of those were in a Funny Car? His best
start was in 1998 when he qualified second in the dragster class while his best
Funny Car start came in 2008 when he was fifth in the field. His best showing
on race day was a semi-final and he did that twice, in 2007 and 2008. Did you know that Jim's first
Gatornationals event was in 1982? He qualified 16th in the field and
lost to Connie Kalitta in round one
while Shirley Muldowney went on to
beat Don Garlits in the final round. Just mentioning those few names gives you
an indication of the star power that has always been a great part of this race...I
mentioned Frank Hawley and his
seminar with Jack Beckman last week
and this would be a good time to mention that Frank is a two-time
Gatornationals' champion. Did you know
that Frank won the race in 1982 and 1983 and he went on to win the championship
in both of those years? Frank is one of eight Funny Car drivers who have won
the race more than twice and out of that group three drivers, John Force, Ron Capps and Tony Pedregon will be competing this
week. All in all there will be eight former Funny Car winners in the field, or
attempting to get in the field this week so it should be quiet a shootout in
the Funny Car class.
Joe Amato defeated Mike Dunn
in the 1997 Top Fuel final.
Photo copyright 2013 Auto Imagery, Inc.
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In the dragster class six former champs will be in Florida this week and of
those Tony Schumacher and Larry Dixon lead the way with four wins
each. Did you know that they
are tied with Don Garlits and Joe Amato
for the most wins at this historic event? Since both drivers appreciate the
history of the sport how neat would it be for one of them to win and be all
alone at the top of the Gatornationals' Top Fuel list?....Larry and his team,
led by Lee Beard, may be the
surprise team of the year so far. Ok, so it's only been two races and that
doesn't really indicate any trend but the fact that they are in the top ten is
pretty impressive I think. With his four wins it's obvious that Larry has had
success in Florida
but did you know that he has
an overall record there of 37-12 and that computes to a 75% winning record? A
good showing here could solidify his spot in the top ten before he and the team
head to Australia
to race there over the Easter weekend. Regardless of what happens this weekend
it looks like Santo Rapisarda made a
good choice in Larry and Lee and I hope they get to race at most of the NHRA
events this year. If so, they could be one of the big stories of 2013..We're
only two races into the season and did
you know that there are only four teams in Top Fuel who have won a
round at each race? To show you how competitive the class is this year think
about the fact that Shawn Langdon
won the first race and then lost in round one at the next while Morgan Lucas lost in round one at
Pomona and made it to the final round in Arizona. It's going to be that kind of
season this year in the dragster class. The only constant so far has been Tony
and the Army car which has made it
to the final round at both races so far. Did
you know the only other time Tony did that to start the year was in 2000
when he was runner-up at Pomona and won in Arizona? Ironically that
year Tony didn't win the championship, Gary
Scelzi did. Of course in 2012 Antron
Brown opened the season with back-to-back final rounds and we all know how
that turned out, don't we?
Curt Steinbach testing
earlier this year at Bradonton.
Photo copyright 2013 Auto Imagery, Inc.
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Depending on the weather the Pro Stock class could be the
one to watch this week. Historically the Gainesville
track is very fast and the Pro Stock teams love it. Even after racing at every
other national event track since last year's event the Gainesville track is
still the site of two of the quickest and four of the fastest Pro Stock runs in
history. To show you how much the Pro Stock teams love Gainesville did you know that the Pro Stock
record, either elapsed time or speed, has been set twenty-five times at the
Gatornationals and that is by far the most of any track on the circuit?....All
of the usual contenders will be there and it's always nice to see new faces in
any of the classes too, so we welcome Curt
Steinbach to the Pro Stock class. Curt has raced a lot of fast cars over
the years, from Top Sportsman and Pro Mods, from 2004 Cavaliers to 1963
Corvettes, but this will be his toughest test ever. Competing at the highest
level, and that's what NHRA Pro Stock is, will be a challenge for anyone so
good luck to Curt in his debut in the class..Six current or former champions
will be in action and Mike Edwards
will be looking to defend his championship. Did
you know that only four Pro Stock drivers have successfully defended
their titles in Gainesville? The best is Warren Johnson who won it nine times overall including four years
in a row (1991 - 1994) and Jason Line
who has four wins including three straight between 2009 to 2011. It should be
some fun in Florida
this week.
John Lombardo at 1985 Gainesville.
Photo copyright 2013 Auto
Imagery, Inc.
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In addition to all of the excitement in the pro ranks and
the Pro Mod class I will be watching the battle in the Top Alcohol Funny Car
class as well. Frank Manzo, who has won this race eight times, will be in
action and he will get a real early-season challenge from several of the other
drivers including Mickey Ferro who
has already won the Gatornationals three times. Did you know that every time Mickey won the race he beat Paul Gill? John Lombardo Jr., who put up big numbers at the Division 4 race
two weeks ago, and who won the season-opening Winternationals, will also pose a
big threat to Frank. John made it to the semi-finals in Florida
last year and his NAPA car is running very well. Did you know that John's father
went to the final round here in the Funny Car class in 1985 where he lost to Kenny Bernstein? The TAFC class could
be one of the most exciting eliminators at the race and that's saying a lot..Good
luck to all the racers in Florida
and let's hope for lots of sun which means lots of great racing.
NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]
Nov 11- POMONA 2 - Thursday Schedule
Nov 11- POMONA 2 - Top Fuel Preview
Nov 09- Loaded 2027 Schedule Announced for NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Top Alcohol Funny Car Final, Round 4 Eliminations
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Competition Eliminator Final, Round 5 Eliminations
Nov 06- LAS VEGAS - Top Dragster Final, Round 5 Eliminations
Nov 05- POMONA 2 - Event Preview
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster
Nov 02- LAS VEGAS - Summary of Eliminations in Competition Eliminator
