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Fresh
Faces Grace Goodguys 17th Nitro Nationals Winner’s Circle Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA – The 17th edition of the Goodguys Nitro Nationals held at the sprawling Infineon Raceway, featured several record runs and numerous first time Goodguys event winners. At final count, 310 pre 1972 racing entries competed in fourteen different classes over the two day race, which was hampered a bit by tumultuous, unsettled weather.
The San Diego, CA based duo of Rick White and Chuck
Neal, both veteran drag racers teamed up to win their first-ever Goodguys
sanctioned event, taking the Red Line Oil Top Fuel division, defeating
other first-time Goodguys finalist Brett Harris of Kayesville, Utah in the
final. Harris did all he possibly could to pull off the victory by cutting
a perfect .000 light (reaction time), but White’s 5.825 @ 250.97
overcame Harris’ 5.906 @ 258.27. Harris 258mph top end charge in the
final round held for top speed of the event. Earlier in the day, White ran 5.775 @ 250.13 – a
career best performance which also stood as the event’s quickest Top
Fuel elapsed time. “This feels awesome,” said White in the winner’s
circle. “We have been running this car since 2003, but it seems every
time we get to an event, we don’t get enough runs to get it dialed in.
That changed today and we were the most consistent and the quickest car in
the field. I owe it all to Chuck (Neal).” Hometown favorite Mendy Fry, a Santa Rosa native, lost her quarter final race when the engine in her top fuel dragster disintegrated in a huge ball of fire. Fry emerged from the incident without a scratch but the concussion of the explosion was felt some 2,000 feet away back at the starting line. She vowed to return to competition later this year.
Dan Horan Jr of Sylmar, California was the top
performer in the Pro Nitro-sponsored Nostalgia Funny Car class,
taking his metallic blue 1966 Ford Mustang to the winner’s circle as the
class’s quickest entry. His opening round 6.056 was the all-time best
run for a Nostalgia Funny Car. He attributed his success to good “air”
(atmospheric conditions) and a great race track surface. “My guys did
everything,” he said. “I was just a passenger today. The car performed
better than it ever has, obviously. We need more fast guys to step up and
build Funny Cars and come out here to race with us. This win feels
awesome” It was back to back event titles for veteran racer
Steve Woods in TCI-sponsored AA/GAS competition. Woods, driving his bright
purple 1948 Prefect (an English Ford sedan) did it the “right way”
this time around, referring to his quirky and lucky win at last month’s
Goodguys 46th March Meet in Bakersfield – an event he won
with some of the slowest times of eliminations. Here at the Nitro Nationals however, Woods was on his
game, getting quicker and faster with each run throughout the day. His
opening round 6.808, was followed with a 6.760 in the semi’s and in the
finals, he defeated rival Howard Anderson with a quicker-yet 6.743 to the
loser’s 6.771. The final round numbers were the best of his career. “I
earned it today” grinned the 65 year old machinist. Woods is a four-time
Goodguys AA/GAS Class Champion and with his back to back wins this spring,
took a sizeable points lead in the Goodguys West Coast Championship
Series. Wilton, California’s Ken Moitoza made sure his
first-ever final round appearance at a Goodguys/VRA event was a good one,
winning the Pro Nitro A/Fuel class over Trinnon Cirello of Costa Mesa.
Moitoza used every bit of his 6.453 @ 216.20 to defeat Cirello’s close
6.596 @ 203.74. And finally it was Chico, California’s J.D. Zink
who bagged the Junior Fuel title by ousting two-time class champion Scott
Parks in the finals. Zink had the field covered by a wide margin
performance-wise. He ran a 6.898 @ 190.59 which was the all time best in
the class and ran 6.911 @ 188.46 in the finals to Parks’ slowing 7.056. Other winners at the Goodguys 17th Nitro
Nationals were John Rasmussen (Junior Fuel B), Ronnie Lennon (Hughes
Performance Nostalgia Eliminator), Bob Lander (Hughes Performance
Nostalgia II), Craig Wallace (Nostalgia III), Mike Ward (A/GAS), Bret
Pichler (B/GAS), Steve Galileo (C/GAS), Bob Nance (D/GAS), and Jim Brower
(High Performance Coatings’ Hot Rod Eliminator). The third stop of the 2005 Goodguys Vintage Drag
Racing Series is August 5, 6 & 7 at historic Pomona Raceway for the 8th
Pomona Nitro Nationals. For more visit www.good-guys.com.
Goodguys
17th Nitro Nationals Final Race
Results: Nostalgia
Top Fuel:
Nostalgia
Funny Car:
A/Fuel:
AA/GAS:
Junior Fuel A:
Junior
Fuel B:
Nostalgia
Eliminator:
Nostalgia
II:
Nostalgia
III:
A/GAS:
B/GAS:
C/GAS:
D/GAS:
Hot Rod
Eliminator:
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© Competitionplus 2005
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