Photos by Mike Burghardt

Bobby Cottrell goes back-to-back winning the Nostalgia A/Fuel John Shoemaker Shoot Out at California’s Sonoma Raceway over the weekend.

Cottrell, 2013-14 NHRA Heritage Series Champion in 7.0 Pro, was the class of the field for the blown alcohol contingent at the 2015 Nostalgia A/Fuel John Shoemaker Memorial Shoot Out and took the win over veteran ‘Doc’ Kin Bates in the Bates and Adams injected Nitro digger.

The event was held during the NHRA Division 7 event at Sonoma Raceway and was as run as a Chicago-style match race event. The injected nitro cars of third generation drag racer Drew Austin (above) in the Austin & Dinsmore Pro/Max dragster and the Allen & Cowin dragster wheeled by Dennis Allen.

The others were the blown alcohol dragsters of Shawn Corbari (above) and Jerry Kumre Jr driving Dennis Murphy’s car joined Cottrell and Bates.

Dennis Allen in the Allen & Cowin A/Fuel Dragster

Each team was given the opportunity to run 4 sessions between Fri and Sun morning with the final determined by the 2 cars with the best averages. Bates was the class of the field running in the 6.20 elapsed time range and Cottrell was close behind with runs in the low 6.30’s, running a best of 6.29.

The final was over quickly as ‘Doc’ Bates smoked the tires while Bobby Cottrell (above) was off on another low 6.30 pass.

Jerry Kumre Jr driving Dennis Murphy’s A/Fuel Dragster

The Nostalgia A/Fuel Association would like to thank drag race manager Georgia Seipel of Sonoma Raceway and NHRA Division Director Mike Rice for their support of this special event.