CHRR - XIV: The 2005
NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion
Famoso Dragway - Bakersfield,
California
September 30 - October 2, 2005
by Vic Cooke
The numbers declare it the fourteenth gathering for what has become one of the
yearly classics on the drag racing calendar, but in many ways it was more like
the fourteenth chapter of a continuing epic. Like a compelling TV serial, the
next installment is more than just a reshuffle of the previous ones. Sure
there’s a familiar “schedule” that is followed, yet for those attending
regularly there is a distinct sense of continuity with things picking up right
where they left off. There’s further developments among the familiar prominent
characters as well as some new ones entering the picture with a contributing
story role. And
there’s always plenty of drama, surprises and unexpected twists that compare
with the most gripping “whodunit.”
Organized by the staff of the NHRA Motorsports Museum and presented by the
Automobile Club of Southern California, it is a grand celebration that
transforms the early years in the colorful history of the drag racing sport into
a tangible and dynamic part of the present. “Living history,” the NHRA calls it,
and appropriately so.
The distinguishing difference between CHRR and a mere “nostalgia meet” or
“vintage car exhibition and race” is the “reunion” concept behind the event. It
involves the whole spectrum of personalities associated with the sport, ranging
from its most legendary figures to loyal longtime fans. The accent is on fun and
social interaction among all involved, of participation rather than just a
presence, inan atmosphere brimming with all the trappings and reminders of a
fabled past. Not the least of the elements making it so tantalizing is the
location itself, historic Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield. Only modestly
upgraded over the years, it is a smallish place by contemporary standards but an
undisputed colossus in the annals of the sport. To that mystic atmosphere add a
collection of lovingly preserved or replicated racing cars, mix in the exciting
on-track competition and exhibitions that are woven through the proceedings, and
you have an blockbuster of an entertainment experience! Even comparative
newcomers to drag racing find it quite an amazing and fascinating event.
Each year the city of Bakersfield overflows it’s capacity to accommodate the
legions that descend on the place from not only California, but points far and
wide. Were this really a TV-series, the Energizer folks would surely be a prime
sponsor, as the event just keeps “growing and growing....and growing!” Who could
have foreseen the event becoming such a phenomenon that it would find itself
becoming a significant part of drag racing history?!
Arriving at mid-day on Thursday, we noted a good turnout of early-bird
arrivals...certainly more than seen just a year ago! By mid-day on Friday, the
pits were virtually at capacity. These early hours afford a good opportunity to
meet old acquaintances and scope out some of the entries making a first-time or
only occasional appearance at the event.
The “Eagle Electric” Top Fuel car, beautifullyrestored by Bucky
Austin, was on display for the first time
at CHRR.
The arrival of several “new” restorations from the Northwest was eagerly
anticipated by many. Although previously debuted at other events, making their
first CHRR appearance was Bucky Austin’s stable of beauties, including the
fabulous “Eagle Electric” fuel dragster originally owned by David Herensberger.
Bucky also brought his fine restoration of Jerry Ruth’s 1970-71 front-engined
Top Fueler (Jerry himself was in the entourage and drove the
car during Cacklefest), as well as Austin’s own “Northwest Hitter” AA Gas
Dragster. Another visitor from the Northwest was Ruth’s arch-competitor Herm
Petersen, bringing along his recently completed restoration of one of his
Petersen-Fitz front-engined racecars.
Jerry Baltes had his magnificent reproduction of the Croshier-Baltes-Lavato
dragster on display at CHRR for the first time, following its earlier public
debut at the NHRR in Bowling Green. "Tom Hanna's entourage included another
entry that was first seen at NHRR-2005: the new Creitz & Donovan dragster
restoration. Bob Creitz and Steve Carbone were both attending to show the car
and participate in Cacklefest." Sonny Messner brought his authentic replica
of Don Garlits’ “Swamp Rat III” together with areplica of Garlits’ Dodge
pushtruck from that period to the event, the former being built for Sonny by
none other than Garlits himself. Another fabulous reproduction from the
early days of the sport was Dode Martin’s outstanding Dragmaster “Two
Thing,” a very unique side-by-side Chevy twin featuring twin front-mounted
blowers with a common injection plenum. A truly excellent piece of work!
Dode Martin, one of the principals behind the ubiquitous Dragmaster
Chassis so popular in early drag
racing, recently completed this reproduction of his early “Two Thing” twin-engined
dragster. A great
example of early innovation and clever engineering, and a stellar re-creation.
Other first-timers included a couple of very nicely done dragsters of lesser
“pedigree” than those just mentioned, including Bob Debergh’s “Paradise Alley”
and Jim Frye’s “Old Timer” ‘65 Woody chassied digger, as well as several others.
It wasn’t just dragster-class cars providing the "new entry” interest, but other
types of historic racing vehicles as well, such as Ken McIntyre’s immaculate
reproduction of Big John Mazmanian’s candy-apple-red ‘42 Willys AA/GS. Home once
again in California was the Mondello & Matsubara Fiat AA/FA, having passed
through several hands before being recently acquired by present owners Pete
Eastwood and Karpo Murkijanian. In “well worn” but original condition, M&M is
about to enter a complete restoration. Photos of these cars are included in the
comprehensive photo album portion of this report.
Track action begins on Friday at the event, with time trials and a single
qualifying session for each of the contested eliminator categories. Space and
time constraints preclude running some of the slower nostalgia classes at CHRR,
tending to make it somewhat of a dragster-dominant field of entries in
comparison to typical “nostalgia” meets. Top Fuel, A-Fuel, and Junior Fuel (A
and B fields) are the pure dragster classes contested. The door-car classes
include AA/Gas Supercharged , A/Gas and SS/FX. Finally, Nostalgia Eliminator
(7.60 index) and a catch-all “Exhibition” class (no eliminator) cover the
remaining contestants and the spectrum of car types. It makes for a very high
caliber and fast-paced program.
With clear skies and temperatures in the upper-90's, hot track conditions
tempered the performances recorded on opening day. When the smoke cleared and
the first day’s racing drew to a close, Brad Thompson was the top qualifier
leading the huge field of 23 Top Fuel entries with a 5.95/232, closely followed
by Sean Bellemeur with a 5.99/246. Mike Austin topped the A/Fuel field with a
6.47/217, while Chris Abbey led the AA/Gas Supercharged
field on the strength of his 6.72/206 pass.
Reunion honorees were recognized at the formal reception at the Doubletree
Inn on Friday and again during
a trackside presentation before Saturday’s crowd. Theyincluded (L-R) Dale
Armstrong, Dave Wallace, Sr.,
Dave Uyehara, Jack Williams, Shirley Shahan, Dick Landy and Leon Fitzgerald.
Missing is Bill Simpson.
Friday night the focus of the event transfers to the Doubletree Inn in
Bakersfield, where the official reception and honoree-recognition ceremonies are
conducted. It’s a jam-packed social occasion, overflowing the entire premises,
and a bonafide who’s-who convention among racing-world notables of all
persuasions together with contemporary racing participants and hordes of fans
attending the event. Inside, Dave McClelland acts as emcee during the
always-entertaining honoree introduction ceremonies, while outside the parking
area is filled with a fine collection of street rods and the atmosphere of a
“street party” prevails. In between the two, the lobby and hall areas of the
hotel serve as a giant cocktail lounge and gathering place. The formalities of
the evening are capped off with the firing and warmup of a Top Fuel Cacklecar or
two outside of the hotel lobby. It’s a surreal scene with a tight-packed crowd
huddled around the thundering, flame-throwing nitro cars in such an
unconventional setting, and is always a highlight of the event. This year the
dragsters of Jerry Ruth and Herm Petersen performed the ceremonial fire-ups and
cackleruns, with longtime racer Kenny Logan occupying the seat of
Petersen’s car. As always, the raucous groundshaking provided a few
moments of nitro-nirvana for the appreciative throng!
Fans pack the Famoso grandstands and fences for Saturday’s thriller
program.
Saturday’s activity is in a word, intense. Things start early and run long into
the night. Attendance surges for the extravaganza, and the entire place is
simply pulsing with activity. A second round of qualifying in all categories is
run through the afternoon, interspersed with exhibition appearances of some of
the Cacklefest cars for push starts, and occasional burnouts and short squirts.
An afternoon banquet under the “big top” tent is the only respite, offering yet
another opportunity to mingle admidst old and new friends.
Weather conditions were almost identical to Friday, but the performances
recorded stepped up a notch. Chris Abbey maintained his top spot on the AA/GS
qualifier list with an improved 6.69/207. Mike Austin also maintained the top
spot in A/Fuel by stepping up to a 6.37/219, but close on his
heels was Kin Bates with a 6.38/219. The biggest shakeup was among the Top
Fuelers. No fewer than ten cars crowded into a 6.10-6.15 e.t. window, but this
only covered the 12th through 21st qualifying slots! “Young Lions” Sean
Bellemeur and Adam Sorokin nailed down the top two qualifying positions with
their side-by-side second round qualifying passes of 5.86/253 and 5.93/234
respectively. Pete Kaiser improved with a 5.95/249 clocking to secure the #3
starting position, while Brad Thompson clung to fourth on the strength of his
first-session performance. It would end up being the quickest qualifying 16-car
field in CHRR history, with Mark Hyla holding the 6.115 sec. anchor.
Nitro at night, as the first round of Top Fuel eliminations plays beneath
the starry skies over
Bakersfield.
An hour’s intermission preceded the evening program, which commences with Round
1 of Top Fuel eliminations. Top Fuel at night is always a spectacle no matter
where it happens, but there’s something especially wonderful about viewing it at
CHRR on the “hallowed ground” of so many major nitro contests in bygone years.
There are moments when things achieve a near-spiritual level! The cooler track
and night air had a predictably beneficial impact on performances, with 6 of 8
pairings displaying 5-second e.t.’s on the winner’s timing board. Quickest of
all was Brad Thompson with his 5.82/251 defeat of Scott Mason. Also advancing
were Williamson, Schutz, Sorokin, Bellemeur, Kaiser, White and Rogers. “Upset”
losers (with better-qualifying e.t.’s
in the pairings) included Murphy, Dunlap, Harris and Cox.
Next on the agenda was an exhibition session for a handful (literally and
figuratively) of Fuel Altereds! If anything outshines Top Fuel at night, it can
only be these erratic nitro-missiles! A near-tragedy struck during this session,
however, when Ty Norton lost control of his car approaching half track and
veered hard into the retaining wall. The car rolled on the impact and spun to
the opposite side of the track, crashing again in a shower of disintegrating
parts.
It looked extremely serious, but Norton’s injuries were miraculously less
serious than feared and we are pleased to report he is expected to recover
fully.
The ensuing cleanup effort forced cancellation of the remaining Fuel Altered
exhibitions and an impromptu changein plans for the pre-Cacklefest parade of
participating cars. The parade was held on the fire-up road rather than the
track itself, with the cars then turning around in the back lot to return for
the Cacklefest itself. How can words describe a Cacklefest comprised of over 50
cars! There has never been such a scene before, as car after car after car
push-started down the fire-up road and U-turned onto the track surface to assume
it’s position along a row that grew to past the 1000' mark. Significantly, the
last nine cars to push down and join the lineup were the original nine cars
making up the entire Cacklefest field when it was first staged here in 2000.
What a sight! What a sound! What scarcely-contained chaos! Needless to say it
was yet another record for the number of cars participating, and things can’t
grow much more without running out of dragstrip! The “wonders of the world” grew
by one this night in Bakersfield!
The height of Cacklefest at CHRR, as John Ewald puts on a
headerflame and thunder show with
“Mastercar.”
As customary, the Cacklefest scene afterwards turns into an open-air promenade
for all present, as many of those watching it from the stands descend onto the
track as the last car clicks off. Amidst the steaming iron and lingering scents
of spent nitro, congratulations and thanks are offered all around, as the
emotional impact of the spectacle is allowed to slowly wane. It’s quite a while
before the last car finally tows back to the pits.
Saturday night is a short one, and suddenly it’s Sunday morning and time for
final eliminations. Red Greth in the “Speed Sport” has the ceremonial honor each
year of making the opening pass of eliminations in “Old Noisy” then Top Fuel
takes to the stage. It’s an abbreviated day of racing due to the limited number
of eliminators involved with most requiring only three rounds to settle.
Consequently the event slowly unwinds as those with longer tows home choose an
early departure. For some reason it seems like the “CHRR magic” dispels a bit
more with each passing round as things become more businesslike in moving toward
a conclusion. Perhaps it’s just the sadness at seeing it all drawing toward a
conclusion.
Fuel Altereds at full throttle dance past the tree on their re-scheduled
Sunday exhibition appearance.
Randy Bradford went on to defeat Ron Hope in the “Rat Trap” in this match
up.
But the thrills were hardly over. Between rounds, the cancelled AA/FA exhibition
session from Saturday night caused by Ty Norton’s accident was reinstated.
Included was an appearance by legendary “Winged Express” of Marcellus and Boyd,
with Mike Boyd at the wheel. Mike has really been
on a tear this season since W-E was equipped with a Donovan mill in place of
it’s original iron 392, and has managed to clock 200+ mph passes in the car at
most of the tracks run. He would do the same again at CHRR, complete with a
wheelie-hop at the 1000' mark that marks the typical hairiness of most runs in
this wild, wild car! What a showman!
Another unexpected treat came in the form of exhibition runs by several of the
Top Fuel cars eliminated in earlier rounds. This year Jack Harris has
semi-retired and relinquished the driver’s seat in the “Nitro Thunder” NTF car
to son Brett. However, “Nitro Thunder” had been one of the “upset” losers during
Saturday evening’s first round. Jack had a hankering for one last pass in his
old trusty steed, and had a special set of experimental M&H tires available that
offered promise of exceptional results. Jack strapped in to race opposite Terry
Cox in “Cheetah III” for this exhibition encounter, with the result being a
busted run for Terry but the history books for Jack. There wasn’t a jaw in the
house that didn’t drop when the timing boards lit up with 5.72/265.09 numbers at
the conclusion of his near-perfect pass....one of the quickest runs ever and a
record speed by a margin that should keep it a record for
quite a spell! What an amazing feat!
Jack Harris launches into the history books with a world-record
front-engine dragster pass of
265.09mph on this spectacular run!
Highlights of the elimination action are included in the photo collection
accompanying this report, so we will just comment on these briefly. In Junior
Fuel (A), John Haire was the only car to run in the 6's at this year’s event,
doing so twice during Sunday’s eliminations, including his final round defeat of
nearest-competitor John Zink. In A/Fuel, eliminations went pro-forma with #1 and
#2 qualifiers Austin and Bates meeting in the final. It was a
bizarre race, with Bates “winning” it on a foul-start by Austin, then “losing”
it by crossing the centerline down track!
In Top Fuel, #1 and #2 qualifiers Bellemeur and Sorokin were surprisingly upset
in the second round of eliminations, leaving Brad Thompson as the highest
qualifying car going into the third round. Interestingly, Thompson had licensed
at this event only last year, and now found himself in a favored position to win
his first major title if he could maintain a consistent pace. That he did,
recording a string that read 5.82, 5.94, 5.98 and 5.98 in winning CHRR 2005. His
opponent in the final, Denver Schutz, had been a few ticks slower and much more
erratic than Thompson in his round advances and overcrowded the
tree to a foul-start in his quest to upset the rookie. A hearty Nitrogeezer
“congratulations” to Thompson on his well-deserved victory!
CHRR-XIV Top Fuel Eliminator Brad Thompson as seen during
eliminations.
Wrapping up our report, we include below a summary of the final results. If you
couldn’t attend, perhaps what you read and see here will persuade you to make
CHRR-XV a must, and we hope enjoy the album collection covering some of what you
missed. If you were among those fortunate enough
to attend, we hope this review helps keep the memories alive till next time.
As usual, our thanks to the NHRA Museum Staff for another stellar event, and for
the help provided by Bill Groak and Mike Hollander in facilitating our bringing
this view of it to you. It becomes redundant calling each event “the best yet,”
but it’s the simple truth, and we can’t wait for the next chance to see if
things once again “pick up right where they left off!”
"There is so much to see and tell about CHRR that even our
giant album of coverage can't show you everything. But we
try, with 197 images for your viewing. It's our most comprehensive coverage
ever, so
CLICK HERE
and dig in!"
Final Round Summary:
Top Fuel:
B Thompson, (0.102) 8.163 112.55 def. D Schutz, (-0.037 foul) 6.561 165.56
A/Fuel:
M Austin, (-0.024) 22.583 35.46 def. K Bates, (0.052) DQ-Centerline
Junior Fuel -A:
J Haire, Right lane, (0.023) 6.990 190.55 def. J Zink, (0.115) 7.031 189.79
Junior Fuel - B:
B Hammer, (0.084) 7.329 182.18 def. D Enriquez, (0.096) 7.371 182.77
AA/Gas Supercharged:
S Renteria, (0.055) 6.763 207.32 def. E Moss, (0.106) 6.828 206.56
A/Gas:
M Mahood, Left lane, (0.037) 7.674 0.074, def. S Castelli, (0.103) 7.649 0.049
Nostalgia Elim:
R Raymond, (-0.012) 7.685 0.085, def. B Runyon, (-0.024 foul) 7.651 0.051.
