When the dust settled at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California, a New Yorker, a Canadian, a couple Arizonians, and a fistful of Californians had won their respective classes at the coolest nostalgia drag race in the world. The weather in Bakersfield was virtually perfect from the time that qualifying started on Thursday morning to the time that the last of the cars were loaded into their trailers on Sunday afternoon. Droves of fans came by the day and hundreds (a thousand plus?) of ’em lived in relative harmony in the sizable camping area that Famoso Raceway has to offer. The swap meet was huge and diverse as usual, the famed Famoso Grove was filled with cool cars each day, and as they have in years past drag racing luminaries could be found on the track, in the pits, and even in the stands watching the racing. Like at all good races, there were heavy favorites, dark horses, and once the racing got going there were upsets and non-stop action. So who won in the nitro classes? Let’s find out!

Top Fuel –

New York’s Tony Bartone took home what had to be one of the most satisfying race wins of his long and storied career. Bartone is the owner and driver of the quickest and fastest front engine dragster in history but for whatever reason, the car has never performed consistently after crossing west of the Mississippi River. Last season Bartone won the NHRA New England Hot Rod Reunion and the critics took notice. With that in in their caps, the Bartone team was at Famoso to really show the world what they were capable of and they did so in fine fashion. Ron August, Rick McGee, and Rick White all felt the wrath of the hungry New Yorkers as Bartone worked his way down the line. Against August, the team leaned on the car and went 5.62, flatly outrunning the competition. The next round Bartone won on a significant hole  shot, his .062 light to McGee’s .220. This allowed a slower 5.82 to beat a significantly quicker 5.70. Lastly, Bartone combined both elements and tree’d Rick White and then outran him as well for the event win. The California boys can’t talk about curses, snake bites, hexes, or bad juju anymore. Bartone broke through in fine fashion with one nasty rail!

Darr Hawthrone photo

Nostalgia nitro funny car –

The two men who found themselves in the final round of funny car eliminations couldn’t have taken more disparate to reach the moment. On one side was Dan Horan Jr. in a car that was tuned and rolling like it owed the mob money all weekend. The Mustang of Horan was BY FAR the most consistent and vicious performer at Famoso living in the low 5.70s and high 5.60s over the four days we saw it run. It wasn’t melting parts, it wasn’t spinning the tires, it was like watching poetry in motion. Horan was the number one qualifier and he looked like it. The other half of the tandem was James Day who happened to be driving the great looking Pedaler funny car. As the number 1o qualifier, Day and his crew had their work cut out for them. We all stood and watched as Horan marched through the first three rounds of racing with literally zero problem. He had the competition covered and proved that fact by out running them. Day on the other hand was having a more adventurous time on race day. He knocked off Del Worsham on a hole shot in round one, got an unexpected bye in round two when Steve Densham had a problem on the burnout, and Pete Gallen redlighted in round three to move day into the final. Perhaps sensing that he needed to bring something to try and trip up the charging Horan, Day made a quick staging move, deep staged, and perhaps rattled Horan. When the tree flashed, it was Day leaving with an .043 light and Horan way late with a .200 reaction time. That huge disparity allowed Day’s 5.86 to beat Horan’s 5.72. The place went nuts!

Fuel Altered – 

While it was claimed that this was the first time that there were AA/FA’s at the Bakersfield March Meet, that’s not entirely true. As far back as 1962 there were fuel altereds at the race (then known as the US Fuel and Gas Championships). Gabby Bleeker won the class in ’62. While they have not been a regular feature, it bears noting that fact to give history a nod. The rules for the fuel altered class at the March Meet were interesting and designed to promote close racing, which they did. Cars had to run nitro and there was a 6.00 “index” for competitors. The index was more of an ET “floor” to prevent modern cars come in and destroy classily proportioned machines which were expected. There were eight slots available to be filled for eliminations an after qualifying they were filled with a mix of classic fuel altereds like Pure Hell, Pure Heaven, The Winged Express, and modern machines like The Witch Doctor, Nasty Dave, Oberg Racing’s Fiat, etc. As if it were scripted out (and we can promise you that it wasn’t) a modern car met a classic in the final with DanHix in his modern AAFA and Jeremy Sullivan driving the classic “Mike Sullivan” Fiat bodied racer. It turned out to be an awesome race with Hix winning but having to work for it when the Sullivan machine made its best run of the weekend falling short with a 6.21 to the thundering 6.11 of Hix. The AA/Fuel Altereds were a fantastic part of the show and we hope that they remain for years to come.

BONUS GALLERY! —