When Mello Yello nitro drag racers get some time off for the Memorial Day weekend, the last weekend off the NHRA circuit from now till July, instead of taking a break Del Worsham, Gary Densham (below), Paul Lee and Brandon Welch have elected to bring Big Time nitro Funny Car racing back to San Diego for the first time, in a long, long time!
“My daughters, Kate and Maddy are scheduled to race at a Junior drag racing event this weekend,” said Worsham. “However, then I got to talking to Rick (Reynolds, Barona drags track operator) and we talked about how cool it would to have some nitro racing out at the event. Rick was totally for it. So I called in some favors and people have been wholly supportive. I cannot believe how quickly everything got put together.” Worsham will utilize one of Donnie Couch’s Jr Dragsters, on loan from the West Coast Funny Car Factory stable.
Worsham will be one of four NHRA Mello Yello nitro Funny Cars at Barona Drags. He’ll be running a special Champions paint scheme featuring his 25 years in the sport of drag racing and his three championships in both the IHRA and NHRA, as nitro comes back to the San Diego area. The other Funny Cars participating: Gary Densham, driver of the Densham Motorsports nitro Funny Car; Paul Lee, driver of the McLeod nitro Funny Car; and Brandon Welch, driver of the Auto Anything nitro Funny Car.
In addition to the nitro Funny Cars and the Junior drag racing series event, Worsham has recruited several Nostalgia Funny Cars; the “Dream Weaver” Plymouth Arrow driven by John Weaver, Will Martin’s “Speed Racer” Dodge Omni (above) and Alex Miladinovich’s “Hot 4 Teacher” Mustang.
Also appearing is James Day driving Gary Turner’s swoopy “Pedaler” Dodge Challenger (above), Dennis Swearingen’s “Nitro Cowboy” and Danny Gerber’s Firebird.
The Fuel Altereds are led by the “Black Sunshine” Fiat driven by Jeff Utterback (above), “Godzilla” 23 T Bucket driven by Rodney Flournoy (below), Nathan Bugg in his family’s “Lil Nate” fuel altered and the “Trouble Maker” Dodge roadster driven by veteran Jim Holtz truly make this a one-of-a-kind event.
Worsham wanted to shout out to a few companies that have supported a return to nitro in the San Diego area, “We could not have made this event happen without the support of Auto Anything, CP Carrillo, Kalitta Motorsports, McLeod Clutches, Red Line Oil and TMS Titanium, ” said Worsham.
Ticket prices are $25 for those 17 and older and $10 for children ages 10 to 16. Children under the age of 10 are free. This epic event is expected to sell out, so fans are encouraged to get there early to purchase tickets.
For more information on the May 28th Nitro Battle – please visit: Barona Dragstrip
Alex Miladinovich’s “Hot 4 Teacher” Mustang
Brandon Welch- AutoAnything.com nitro funny car
Nathan Bugg’s “Lil Nate” fuel altered
The “Dream Weaver” Plymouth Arrow driven by John Weaver
Dennis Swearingen’s “Nitro Cowboy” Dodge Challenger
Danny Gerber’s “Wasn’t Easy” Firebird
A waste of time. 1/8 mile track, only allowed 330″ under power. A show, not a race. Five hours for $25, you do the math.
Too good for Barona huh Pete? Go spend $65 a day for the NHRA 1000ft show.
Hey Pete,Stay home
Show? Could be, but a helluva show. Love Barona.
I use to go to Barona all the time when I was stationed in San Diego, I crewed on Widowmaker ’64 Plymouth Savoy, Hellbound ’50 Plymouth Business Coupe, and Fallen Angel Chrysler Conquest.
Although I moved back to the Missouri and spend my time now at Gateway Motorsports Park, I still miss Barona as a outlaw 1/8 mile track.
Nothing to complain about here.
Fontana isn’t allowed to run nitro cars even with the sound proofing.
You have to go to Bakersfield, Sonoma, Sacramento, Arizona or Nevada to see these types of cars run.Pomona is only twice a year.
Barona is the only Nitro show yer gonna see in San Diego/Riverside County so be glad the Barona track operators & Del Worsham & Co. took the gamble to put this deal together. I thank them for that.The fans got to see the 1/8 mile version of the real deal.
There should/will be other Nitro events scheduled at Barona this summer.
Spectators need to realize that Barona is a 1/8 mile drag strip with only a 1/4 mile of shutdown & 300 feet of sand+net at the end.
Top fuel cars cat hit speeds of 280 mph at the 1/8 mile.
Are they gonna run all out at Barona? HELL NO!
Do the math.
It would be nuts to do so without another 1000 ft of run out and get it stopped safely.The drivers want to go home in one piece too!
Most people who race can appreciate that.
As it was the cars were pushing the limit on Saturday night.
They were not tip toeing through the lights.
Paul Lee reset the Barona track ET record to 3.28 seconds.
Del Worsham was not too far off that pace and had the weather cooperated I’m sure he would have taken a shot at the new track ET record.
Too bad the delays from the door car wrecks & cleanups delayed things.Some hard luck for the door car racers that rolled over ,but thankfully they walked away .The weather finally closed in and the remainder of the event got called for safety reasons.The weather conditions Saturday night were reminiscent of Lions drag strip when the marine layer would move in there and racing would have to stop.
Ya cant drag race on a rain slick track.
That’s just a racing deal.