The WEST COAST HOT ROD ASSOCIATION recently announced the debut of their new association, formed to give West Coast “Heads Up” doorslammers another place to race. The plans high payouts and a variety of heads-up classes for 2007. 

 “As racers gear up for the 2007 season, they now have a choice in where they race,” Series Director Don Chavez said. “The WCHRA has not been formed in opposition to the PSCA, like some think, we have deliberately avoided any date conflict to allow racers participate with both sanctioning bodies. Our plan is to radically promote the way the West Coast racers are perceived in the drag racing world.  This association was formed ‘For Racers, By Racers’.

"Over half of the world's known top “Street Legal” racers are based and race east of the Rio Grande; we plan on encouraging them to race in the West through movement towards a standardized set of rules. Our racers have shown they can run with the best but traditionally have only been able to do it at major events like Orlando and the SCSN, a common rules package will allow for more events with a seamless crossover. I have been in communication with some directors of other associations and they feel this is long overdue. I personally think we have the best and most dedicated racers in the business, unfortunately for the most part they are still unknown, we plan to change that. We want to compete with, against and along side some of the legends. We want to introduce them to the other half, the half that they’ve been missing, the West Coast half. It is our aim to promote the series through all forms of media; RPM Magazine already knows how important the West Coast is and has been actively promoting it for the last few years. They have agreed to cover all our events, and with that commitment we feel we have the first piece of the puzzle in place. Our website is in the developmental stage and will evolve as time goes on. Our commitment is to our racers; to promote them; they are the stars of this series and deserve to be treated as such.

“We have been lucky enough to have companies like Mike’s Transmission, Deeds Performance, DYNO-FLO, Team Racing Enterprises , Hickok Race Cars and Orme Brothers come on board as sponsors at an early stage in the proceedings. This is allowing us to announce substantial purses where the racers can take home more money than has previously been available to them. The payouts are generally going further back into the field, negating the need to reach a semi-final to win some money. Additionally there are also going to be incentive payments to the #1 Qualifier and a Season Points Fund is currently being set up with Champions crowned in every class. The WCHRA team is hard at work, putting together a Contingency program to further reward their racers. HeadsUpRacer.com is going to sponsor a ‘Racer of The Event’ award that will be presented to the racer that goes above and beyond or simply excels during the event. The first event at Speedworld will also see a Pro Street winner bonus of $2000 awarded to the winning racer.         

When the WCHRA rolls into Speedworld Motorplex the racers and fans will hardly recognize the facility. Gone are the steel guard rails, replaced by concrete and the concrete launch pad has been extended by 120’. Former racer, Bill Botelho is now the track manager and is firmly committed to giving the WCHRA a premium track surface along with all the other requirements to run a safe and successful event.