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7th Pomona Nitro Nationals
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Same
day coverage of the latest Goodguys Nostalgia Drag Race
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By Mike Aiello Photos by James Drew |
For complete results of the weekend's excitement visit Drag Race Central. A photo gallerycan be viewed at Pomona-Goodguys SATURDAY NOTES - Nitro at Night a great success at Pomona, Funny Cars steal the show and Jack “The Sheriff” Harris dominates Nostalgia Top Fuel.Under the lights - The Good Guys ‘Nitro at Nite” themed race showcases Top Fuel racing under the lights. Judging from the near capacity crowd that showed up for Saturday’s final eliminations, this is just as popular now, in 2004, as it was in 1974. Another crowd pleaser is the Show-n-shine hot rod car show presented in the pit area that is part of the Good Guys image, it is a racing organization started by hot rodders who like to go fast. What’s in a Name? - Classic Funny Cars with names on the doors, instead of sponsors made their return to southern California. With names like Sundance, War Eagle racing, Lil’ Nate, and Crazy Horse, fans of Nitro Funny Car racing the way it was done in the 70’s had to be extremely happy at the cars that hit the track at Pomona raceway. The cars look like they did back in the day with a few changes in support of better safety, and to keep the cost down. The cars are limited to 426 cubic inches, one magneto, and no computer. The drivers, and crewchiefs decided when bringing the class to fruition that keeping things basic was going to be the key to success. Spending much time in the pits watching the crews work on their cars made me notice that maintenance, although meticulous in its own is very basic. Most team’s regular maintenance involved adjusting the valves, packing the chutes, and putting fuel in it. One team’s entire service on the car for the weekend involved changing the engine oil, ONCE. That’s unbelievable for a nitro burning engine that can run 6.20 second elapsed times at 230 miles per hour. In either case the cars still have the same problems as their NHRA counterparts do with parks breakage, several cars suffered problems such as a broken transmission, a broken rear end, and a bad magneto all resulting in aborted runs. Overall, growth of this class seems imminent as more cars are being built as we speak. The top teams in the class feel that next year they hope to see 25 cars show up at a national event. That would be heaven for thirsty nitro fans of Funny Car racing. Harris on his "A" Game - Multi-time Good Guys Top Fuel event champion Jack ”The Sheriff” Harris showed the field why he is one of the best cars out here. Harris ran a stout 5.79 second elapsed time, with a 252 mile per hour speed in the final defeating Rick Whites strong 5.89 at 246. Harris not only has one of the sharpest operations out here, he has one of the most consistent cars in Nostalgia Top Fuel. Realizing they run a 12-inch wide stiff side wall tire, its amazing how his car rarely smokes, or shakes the hides at all. The car makes runs with bracket like consistency, proving that a good combination makes all the difference in the world. Prediction comes true - Dale Pulde, crew chief-tuner/ all around nitro genius made a prediction before his driver Dan Horan made his run in the final vs. Randy Walls. Pulde stated, “We have been fighting a problem with this car all weekend. We just haven’t been able to get the car to run what we know it can run. After the run in the semis we finally discovered what it was and fixed it. I know with the conditions we have here this evening the car will run a mid to high teen’ “. The car ran a 6.17/228, which shows why Pulde has done so well in this sport for so long. “Fast Jack” Beckman in the house -
“Fast Jack” Beckman of Frank Hawley’s drag racing
school, and current NHRA Super Comp world champion made an appearance
at this weekend race driving an A/Fuel dragster. Beckman qualified
in the number 7 spot earning a first round race with Claude Lavoie
of Pasadena, Ca . Fast Jack left first with a .452 reaction time,
coupled with a 6.836, 200.26 defeating a lifting 9 second pass.
Unfortunately for Beckman, his day ended in the second round when
his mount broke. Jack’s racing here at this event really isn’t
the story here, you see Beckman is battling cancer as all of you
probably know and him just having the strength to show up here and
race shows us all what Jack Beckman is all about. We all need to
say a prayer for Jack, and ask for his complete recovery.
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(6-25-2004) - Qualifying began with ambient temperatures approaching 90 degrees, clear and sunny skies with a track temperature of nearly 135 degrees. Given these conditions most of the teams were merely attempting to attain a baseline setup. The afternoon session began at 1pm with most cars struggling for traction.
Early numbers for Funny Car were # 1 qualifier Nate Bugg in the Lil’ Nate Hemi powered Dodge Charger with a 6.386/225.67. He was followed closely by Dan “The Irish Intimidator” Horan, driving the Dale Pulde-tuned War Eagle racing Ford Mustang with a 6.515/ 198.76. The bump spot held down by Jeff Utterback.
Top Fuel was paced in the early-going by Rick McGee leading the way with a 5.966/246.17 chattering the tires until half-track and then driving through it. San Diego’s Rick White held the number two spot with a stellar 5.997/242.65, with bump spot occupied Brendan Murry with a 6.236/207.85, lifting at 1000-ft.
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With conditions as warm as they were, most cars were struggling for traction. The narrow wheelbase and small tire proved to be a formidable foe early in the day. The second round session focused on cool, dry conditions which hoped to bring record times for the Pomona quarter mile. They kicked things off at around 7:30 pm with “Nitro at Night” qualifying. Because of local ordinances, the cars usually cannot run past a certain time. Therefore it is a rare treat the southern California Nitro fans look forward to seeing when the Goodguys come to Pomona raceway.
Funny Car began with the first pair showcasing point leader Randy Walls pitted against Mike Adams. With Nitro belching out of the header pipes, they both crept into giant half-track burnouts. The crowd erupted into a frenzy. Nostalgia Funny Cars were back southern California. Walls posted a tire spinning 6.591/211, with Adams close behind with an on, and off the throttle 6.61/209. Seeing these cars run for the first time since my early days of watching the Coca-Cola cavalcade of Funny Cars racing at US. 30 drag strip, and Illinois own Oswego drag strip back in the mid-70’s brought back some great memories. Number one qualifier Nate Bugg in the Lil’ Nate Dodge Charger led qualifying with a very consistent 6.25/229, he remains on the pole for the race tomorrow. He was followed by Dan Horan Jr. with a 6.31/233.18, Horan’s crew chief Dale Pulde stated before this run they were attempting to run a 6.16, to a 6.18.
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Pulde said, “We basically just left it alone on the setup. We are just going to let the weather come to us, and feel the track will tighten up”.
The ride of the night definitely belonged to driver Jeff Utterback, driving Jeff Gaynor’s 70’ Barracuda starting spitting parts out of the engine at about half track. Then to make things worse he could not get the car stopped in time and put the car into the famed Pomona sand trap. It looked like the car stopped before getting into the catch net, so hopefully the car suffered minimal damage, and the repairs will center on getting all of the sand out. Utterback ended up fifth in the final field.
The bump spot in Nostalgia Funny car eliminator was held by Larry Pettit with a tire spinning, on and off the throttle 7.18/216. The final session in Top Fuel began with still perfect weather conditions. This was indeed a sharp contrast to the heat that plagued most of the cars in the earlier session.
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Jim “Holy Smokes” Murphy ended the day in the top spot in Top Fuel with a jaw dropping last run of the day 5.917/249.65. He is followed closely by Kaysville, UT driver, Jack “The Sheriff” Harris who posted a run of 5.925/249.86. The surprise of Top Fuel for the weekend had to be Upland, Ca. Racer Howard Haight, driving the Butch Blair Lost Tribe-Fugowie Top Fueler who ran a 5.941/245, which put him in the number three position in the eight-car field. Mark Hyla rounded out the “A” Top Fuel field, with a 6.099/240.67.
The Goodguys separates the 16-car Top Fuel field into an “A”
Field, with the top eight cars, and a “B” field with
the latter half of the cars. Top Fuel “B” is topped
by Sean Bellanears with a 6.105/236.84, Bellanears missed the “A”
field by a scant .006. The field is rounded out by Lee Jennings,
with a 6.357/233.52. Final eliminations are slated to begin Saturday
at 5pm.