(Words by Darr Hawthorne – Photos by Jeff & Mike Burghardt and Zak Hawthorne)
Going into the third year, Saturday Night Nitro has evolved into an awesome event for west coast funny car racers and fans of nitromethane racing at Auto Club Famoso Raceway, located north of Bakersfield.
Many spectators attending have commented on how these events at Famoso are reminiscent of Saturday night funny car events all over the US – at York US30 and Englishtown to Fremont and Irwindale. With a family entertainment value of $25 bucks per carload Famoso Raceway is a great way to watch an evening of nitro action.
After a Friday night test session for about a dozen nitro cars, NHRA Heritage series points leader Dan Horan drove his Ronnie Swearingen-tuned “Patriot” Mustang to the quickest and fastest in testing. He carded a stout 5.721 elapsed time at 255.92 miles per hour, the class of the field. Crew Chief Swearingen said with that ET to build on, “There’s probably a 60 (5.60) in it for Saturday night.” Horan won the 2013 Boise Bakersfield Blitz prizes with solid, bracket-like 5.70 runs against the competition at four events last year.
When Saturday’s heat began to cool at sundown the nitro funny cars lined up for the traditional parade prior to the single round of qualifying. Taking the lead was Oakdale, California’s Richard Thompson in his “Nitrohaulic” Camaro nailing the top position running a 5.797 elapsed time at 239.23 miles per hour.
Winner of one 2013 Saturday Night Nitro and runner-up in the Boise Bakersfield Blitz was Robert Overholser in the “California Hustler” ’77 Firebird. His 5.899 ET at 245.76 mph landed in the second position for the evening’s elimination round.
2014 March Meet funny car winner James Day wheeled Gary Turner’s beautiful “Pedaler” ’78 Dodge Challenger into third, running a 5.937 ET at 244.52 mph.
Sitting in fourth was veteran Roger Garten driving his revamped “War Horse” ’73 Mustang rounding out the five-second funny cars with his 5.943 ET at 239.02 mph.
Dale VanGundy, another veteran funny car racer drove his “Quarter Pounder” Dodge Challenger funny car into the fifth slot with a 6.096 elapsed time at 230.37 miles per hour.
Dean Oberg drove the “Holy Toledo” ’68 Jeep to the sixth slot with his 6.110 ET at 230.10 mph.
The “Fighting Irish” Camaro with Rick Rogers driving, finished qualifying in seventh with a 6.215 ET at 218.80 mph.
Rounding out the Quick 8 was Bob Godfrey’s “Burnin’ Money” ’72 Barracuda with a 6.375 ET at 220.30 miles per hour.
Unfortunately, Brad Thompson’s 6.809 ET in the “Jailbreak” Camaro led the five non-qualified funny cars finishing outside of the money round, that included Dan Horan who smoked the tires on his Mustang and aborted the run.
Cory Lee, driving Dennis LaCharite’s “Back in Black” GTO also failed to make the Quick 8.
Eliminations began with Richard Townsend’s 5.977 ET taking the win over Bob Godfrey’s 6.010.
Both Rick Rogers and Robert Overholser smoked the tires with Rogers taking the win at 11.305 ET. Then Roger Garten won over Dale Van Gundy with a holeshot 6.105 over Van Gundy’s 5.986.
Finally James Day ran the low Elapsed Time of the round with a 5.812 ET at 243.28 in his win over Dean Oberg’s 5.926 ET at 232.91 mph. Day and owner Gary Turner grabbed the $3000 cash payout for the quickest winning elapsed time of eliminations.
For the second time this year, the Gary Turner’s “Pedaler” nitro funny car team celebrated in the Auto Club Famoso Raceway Winners Circle with the cash.
Thankfully we’ve got the Les Mayhew Nitro America video from the first Saturday Night Nitro event of 2014 play it and see what you missed.
With the season opening Ignitor at Firebird Raceway and Saturday Night Nitro 1, two legs of the Boise Bakersfield Blitz are now complete. Next event on the schedule for the Blitz is the upcoming 43rd Boise Nightfire Nationals on August 7 – 10 where both Heritage Series nitro funny cars and top fuel dragsters will also compete with the West Coast Outlaw Pro Mods and a huge Firebird Bracketeer program.
After two events, the top eight points earners in the Boise Bakersfield Blitz qualifier bonus program are:
#1 Richard Townsend 42 points
#2 Robert Overholser 39 points
#3 Roger Garten 38 points
#4 Dan Horan 35 points
#5 Brad Thompson 28 points
#6 James Day 21 points
#7 Kris Krabill 20 points
#8 Dale VanGundy 19 points
At the end of this series, the top points earner receives a Boise- Bakersfield Blitz Winner’s jacket and special trophy, $1,000 cash, a 55-gallon drum of nitromethane and a $250 gasoline/diesel gift card.
In addition from our great friends in the racing aftermarket:
• A drum of Prolong 70 weight Nitro Racing Oil
• 5 room nights at Hampton Inn & Suites in Meridian, ID
• $750 Hedman Hedders U-build nitro funny car header kit
• $250 product credit at Aeromotive Fuel Systems
• $250 blower re-stripping from Littlefield Superchargers
• $250 product credit at Taylor Motorsports
• $250 gift certificate from Stith Printing
• a Replay XD 1080 Mini camera system from BangShift.com
The runner-up finisher receives $500 cash, a 55-gallon drum of nitromethane, 3 room nights at Hampton Inn & Suites in Meridian, ID and a $100 gift certificate from Stith Printing.
For the participants, a special eight-car show will be part of 2015 March Meet qualifying with an additional cash payout.
