(Photos Courtesy of Rick Bain) • Redding Motorsports Park hosted the last Top Fuel Heritage Series competition prior to the 2025 California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Good Vibrations Motorsports, October 24–26 at Bakersfield’s Famoso Dragstrip.

Seven Top Fuel Dragsters made the trek to northern California with Bryan Hall in the Hall & Hertzig “Nomad” grabbing the #1 Qualifier position with the team’s 5.906 ET at 246.57 MPH. The  short field would give Hall a first round bye run.

Adam Sorokin in Bobby McLennan’s Champion Speed Shop Chevy-powered Top Fuel Dragster was second qualifier with hits 6.011 ET at 230.29 MPH.

Boise Nightfire Nationals Winner and reigning Heritage Series Champion Tyler Hilton, driving the “Great Expectations” Top Fueler, held onto the #3 slot running 6.381 ET at an early shut off 179.69 MPH.

Rounding out the field was #4 Brendan Murry’s 6.563 ET at 138.51 MPH.

Mike Hilton’s 6.771 ET at 206.83 MPH was 5th and Kyle Hough ran a 6.898 ET at 165.52 for 6th with 2025 March Meet winner Pete Kaiser (below), #2 in Heritage Series Top Fuel Points rounding out the field with an office 9.551 ET.

In the final round, Bryan Hall’s nailed his first victory in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Heritage Series running a 5.99 ET, a career milestone as Pete Kaiser smoked the tires and clicked it early.

In A/Fuel Dragster, longtime competitor Jerry Kumre took home his second Heritage Series Wally (Kumre’s first win was fourteen years ago) with a holeshot victory over perennial champion and Heritage Series points leader Wayne Ramay in the final. Kumre’s .013 light bested Ramay’s 6.13 ET to Kumre’s 6.37 for the win.

In the final round of Junior Fuel, Alan Hull and Brad Woodard, the top two drivers, faced off in a much-anticipated showdown. Hull emerged victorious with a 7.20-second elapsed time, outperforming Woodard’s 8.77 ET

Tony Trimp’s ’65 Mustang took home the Wally in 7.0 Pro over Jason Vanderpool’s ’32 Bantam. Other winners were Ray Padgett in A/Gas, Neal Westbrook in B/Gas, Michael Corrandi in C/Gas, Don Caesar in D/Gas with Steve Madrigal winning in Hot Rod Class.

In NHRA Heritage Series Nostalgia Eliminators, Gabe Brown won in NE-1, Troy Moyle in NE-2 and Mike Munson won in NE-3.

Billed as the second annual “Thunder Under the Lights” Redding Motorsports Park is building an event aimed at drawing a crowd and following for NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel. Ultimately, west coast nitro racers need more places to run — especially venues close to home for the majority of teams in the Series who primarily live west of the Rockies. Events like this are crucial to keeping the spirit of nostalgia nitro and sportsman drag racing alive and thriving.

Going into the California Hot Rod Reunion next week, the Nitro competition will be stout as 14 Top Fuelers are expected to come through the Famoso Dragstrip gates for an 8-car field and a possible 4-car “B” field of competition. A couple dozen Nitro Funny Cars and twelve AA/Fuel Altereds are expected to compete with over 325 Sportsman entries, including Hot Rod.

With an additional bonus for each NHRA Heritage Series Class from ARP Fasteners, the combined Reunion and Nitro Revival events will make for a huge celebration of drag racing and history of the sport, as well as a World Finals for the NHRA Heritage Series crowning the 2025 Champions. Proceeds support the NHRA Motorsports Museum at Pomona, California.

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