EVENT RESULTS EVENT NOTEBOOK ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL ROUND RESULTS

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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - 

BARTONE CONTINUES DOMINATION WITH TF MARCH MEET WIN - Tony Bartone remains unstoppable.

This past Sunday, the veteran racer from Long Island, N.Y. won his sixth Nostalgia race in a row dating back to last season.

Bartone’s lastest win came at the prestigious Good Vibrations Motorsports March Meet in Bakersfield, Calif.

“You never go out there and say you're going to win 40, 30 or 20 rounds in a row,” Bartone said. “You go out there and do your hardest. You persevere and you get out there and try to win round by round and the round wins lead to race wins. We have a great team, a great combination and a great crew chief and a fantastic group of guys and I have to salute them all for doing a great job.”

Bartone was the 1996 Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, but he clearly enjoys piloting the “Bartone Bros” Nostalgia Top Fuel dragster.

“The driving comes easy for me,” Bartone said. “They (his crew) do the tough part. They spend long hours. They put the car together. They go on the road. They drive from New York to California, and I want to thank them all.”

The last time Bartone was at Auto Club Famoso Raceway was Oct. 19, 2014. That day he won theTop Fuel class at the California Hot Rod Reunion. He also capped a perfect season with five race wins.

“I only try to give my guys guidance and the monetary support and anything they need from me to get the job done,” Bartone said.

When Bartone showed up at Bakersfield this time his dragster didn’t look too much different than it did last year.

“We attempted to front half the car, but we ran out of time to put a new body on it,” Bartone said. “Hopefully, we will be able to do that before the next race in Bowling Green (Ky., June 18-20). Basically, we just went through the car, rebuilt the motor, and made very few changes as you could see. The car is running on par, and where it left off in 2014. We just have a great race car. I don’t know what else to say. They made us show our hand (Sunday). I had to drive it to the finish line. We try not to do that too often and it resulted in a lot of carnage, but we got the win light and everybody at Bartone Brothers racing couldn’t be happier.”

With his current string of success, Bartone welcomes opponents to knock him off his throne.

“Competition is always welcome and my brother Michael is sitting in the tow vehicle and every once and awhile he says he wants to build a Nostalgia Funny Car,” Bartone said. “I don’t know if that will ever happen, but the idea is certainly in his head.” Tracy Renck

STEVEN DENSHAM CAPTURES FC CROWN AT MARCH MEET - Steven Densham couldn’t hide his enthusiasm Sunday afternoon.

Densham’s joy was a result of him winning the prestigious Good Vibrations Motorsports March Meet in Bakersfield, Calif., at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

Densham, the son of veteran nitro Funny Car racer Gary Densham, became the first member of his family to win the March Meet.

“This means a lot to me,” Densham said. “My crew had everything put together and everything ran flawlessly. We didn’t hurt a single motor. We didn’t hurt a single part. Dad was great on the tune-up and everything just fell our way. The car was amazing. Every lap was a 70 except the final where we pulled a 60. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Densham’s name is no stranger to NHRA, and he certainly didn’t think people were overlooking him this weekend.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Densham when asked if he flew under the radar at the March Meet. “We were probably the best running car out there. Every single lap, we had the best ET every single round, so I think everybody knew what we were coming after and now that everybody has the time sheets to see everybody’s incremental (times) they knew that we were charging hard early. I don’t think we were flying under the radar. I think everybody knew how tough we were.”

Gary Densham has 8 NHRA national event victories and he’s advanced to 21 final rounds. Gary made his first career NHRA nitro Funny Car start in 1982.

Those numbers and his dad’s drag racing accomplishments are what made Sunday’s win even more special for Steven.

“My dad has always been real supportive of me with racing,” Steven said. “He has always helped no matter what and he’s just always been there, so this is as much for him as it is for me. He never had a March Meet win when he raced here back in the day, so I know it was a good accomplishment for him as well.”

Steven acknowledged his father did give him some advice before the final round.

“He told me to just keep my same routine and just go have fun,” Steven said. “He just tells me if it isn’t fun, it’s not worth doing. We come out here and have fun, win or lose. Even losing is OK as long as it is a good race and it’s exciting for the fans and helps the sport.” Tracy Renck

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

QUALIFYING LEADERS ADVANCE - Both Dan Horan [Funny Car] and Tony Bartone [Top Fuel] will race Saturday's quarter-final round.

Horan, who since making his No. 1 qualifying run on Friday, has battled tireshake in subsequent runs. The first round was no different, as Horan rattled his way through mid-track with a 6.006 to get by Chris Davis.

The second round will provide a steeper challenge for the defending champion as he meets John Weaver in the Del Worsham-tuned Dream Weaver Plymouth Arrow AA/FC.

Bartone continued his mastery of the field as he took out Dan Horan Sr. with a potent 5.584 elapsed time. Because only 14 cars made the tow to Bakersfield, Bartone will receive a freebie Sunday.

DIMINISHING RETURNS - With the 16-car Funny Car bump at a slower than usual 6.00, and some Top Fuel teams “qualifying” with 14-second clockings, one clutch manufacturer had his theories about why the qualifying times were so soft and why so many nitro-powered entries missed on their tune-ups.

“Put it where it was, and then turn it down,” Bob Sanders of Titan Engineering explained, in reference to stout numbers posted by both nitro classes in testing two weeks ago. “The air is so good, more is less."

“Everybody who thinks they are going to come out here and rotate the planet,” Sanders continued. “You can’t do that.”

MORE EFFICIENT DAY - Friday's action was dominated with race stoppage for over three hours. Saturday was much better with only an hour of clean-up attributed to oildown. A good problem for Auto Club Raceway Famosa was a 40-minute delay in racing action when sportsman cars couldn't make the call to the lanes. The issue? Too much traffic with incoming race fans.

PULLING OFF A MIRACLE - Funny Car racer Roger Garten know he'd have a late night thrash after breaking the ears on his War Horse Mustang's rearend during Friday's Q-1 session.

The team cleaned up the wounded rearend and made a nearly three-hour journey over to Orange County and met NHRA Top Fuel racer Steve Chrisman and chassis builder Grant Downing. They fixed the damage, rewelded the unit and sent Garten back to Bakersfield.

They returned at 11:30 PM Friday.

"[The broken rearend] was likely a problem I hadn't noticed for," Garten admitted. "It probably fractured and the Q-1 run, probably broke it. It shook hard enough to finish it off."

Garten admits there was a measure of apprehension going into Saturday's final session. The concern was not due to he's being unqualified, but instead the health of the repaired part.

"I was a bit gun-shy waiting for something to happen," Garten said. "Those thoughts will always be in the back of your head. It was fine once I hit the throttle."

Garten's day ended in the first round, as he was a bit tardy in a 5.97 to 5.87 match against Jason Rupert. 

YOUNG AND GREEN - In preparations for eliminations, two-time March Meet Top Fuel winner Jim Young said the Stephen McClain-tuned “Tri-State Racing” AA/Fueler out of Delaware came to the line ready to run fast.

“We got it set on kill. It might have a 5.80 in it," Young proclaimed.

His prediction of an .80 was contingent only if the Chevy-powered dragster went straight and was on all cylinders. Instead, regardless of his winning experience, the “Tri-State Racing” fueler darted to the centerline, which Young kissed and then crossed. This disqualification stung more than most: Young’s competition, Dusty Green, had two-stepped the throttle and red-lighted. Green will face Rick Williamson in tomorrow’s second round.

BIG SHOW BE GONE - Three of the NHRA Mello Yello Series competitors competed this weekend in the nitro ranks. During tomorrow's second round of eliminations, the trio will be spectators.

John Hale, the quickest driver in Thursday's testing, struggled with his combination all weekend -- making the field in a last ditch 5.98 run to land 14th. His frustrations continued into eliminations as he shook early against Richard Townsend.

Jeff Arend was also a first-round casualty. Arend, making his front-engine Top Fuel debut, qualified No. 11 amongst 14 entries. He received a rude awakening in the first round as he lost to Rick Williamson, who blasted out of the gate with a .007 reaction.

The toughest break belonged to Cruz Pedregon, who was unable to get the beautiful California Charger to the finish line under power in qualifying. Adding insult to injury, the two-time NHRA champion wounded his engine in the final qualifying session.

 

 

 

 

THE SURF IS  UP AT BAKERSFIELD - Champion Speed Shop driver Adam Sorokin got a visit in the pits from Tom Jobe, one of the owners and tuners of the legendary “Surfers” AA/Fuel Dragster team that took the 1966 March Meet. Sorokin’s father Mike was the “Surfers’” driver. That 1966 race, then referred to as the US Fuel & Gas Championships, has been considered to be the high-water mark in the history of Top Fuel Eliminator, with over 100 entries attempting to qualify.

Even though Jobe triumphed at that legendary drag race, he quit the sport soon after. Around that same time as Jobe hanging it up, Mike Sorokin was killed in a top-end clutch explosion at Orange County International Raceway. Jobe’s initial conversation with Adam about his following in his deceased dad’s footsteps were less than encouraging.

“I tried to talk him out of this,” Jobe said. “And he told me to take a hike.”

Sorokin nodded. “I told him good luck trying to talk me out of driving a dragster.”

“The kid wouldn’t listen,” Jobe explained. “So now I come out here to cheer him on.”

FOR THE RECORD, JUST ADD ALCOHOL - After establishing low elapsed with a blistering 5.57 on Friday night, Tony Bartone’s team sat out the final qualifying session Saturday afternoon, but his crew were hardly malingerers. They were in the dragster trailer, busy building an alcohol Funny Car motor in preparation for the upcoming NHRA 4-Wide Nationals later this month in Charlotte, NC.

Bartone shrugged off any notions he might make a run at the Heritage Series Top Fuel record.

“Trying to set records in not our goal,” he said. “As long as we make laps, round wins will come, then event wins will come and then records.”

Bartone did not want to appear cocky in adding, “We enter this with our fingers crossed,” he added with humility as other Top Fuel teams jostled for position on the ladder.

SCHUTZ GET A BYE AND A FRY - Top Fuel racer Denver Schutz knows how to work the media, even if it isn't his favorite chore.

“We get no press unless Mendy Fry is backing us up,” Schutz complained to Competition Plus.

Fry crewed on Schutz’s RE3 entry in the 2013 season, when Schutz runner-upped at the March Meet that year. Since then, she has been swapping the pedals on Smokey Alleman’s “Darkside” AA/Funny Car. This year Fry was unable to snag a spot on the Funny Car field, missing the field with a 6.14 tire-shaker. Her loss is Denver’s gain: After that heartbreak, Fry, did in fact mix fuel for Schutz’s RE3 entry, while helping prep the dragster for the first round of Top Fuel Eliminations. Schutz advanced to the second round of eliminations with a 5.81.

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - NOSTALGIA SEASON IS UNDERWAY IN BAKERSFIELD

SAME STORY, DIFFERENT DAY - Tony Bartone let the competition know from the onset of the Good Vibrations March Meet; little has changed since last season.

Bartone, a past NHRA winner in both professional and sportsman levels, won last season's NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Top Fuel series with a clean sweep season. During Thursday's pre-race testing, Bartone blasted out a 5.56 elapsed time at 236.04.

Bartone closed out Friday's qualifying with a 5.573, 241.32.

"We made some very minor changes with the car over the off-season," said Bartone. "We had planned to front-half the car but ran out of time to do that. The car is impressive, it goes out there and it runs good. It runs at the front of the pack and doesn't kill a ton of parts.

Bartone was .14 quicker than No. 2 runner Bill Dunlap.

GUNNING FOR THE RECORD - Bartone is seeking to lower the AA/Fuel Dragster ET record that he already owns. In 2011, he recorded a 5.566 at the 20th California Hot Rod Reunion. During Thursday’s test session while prepping for this weekend’s competition, Bartone threw down another 5.56 blast in a run where he stepped off the throttle on the Bartone Bros. rail-job at only 4.8 seconds into the run.

Bartone, who swept all five races in the 2013 NHRA Heritage Series, has taken off right where he left off, by establishing the provisional Low ET and Top Speed during the first round of qualifying on Friday, with a 5.57 at 241 mph.

In the second round, he failed to improve upon his time, when, after slipping out of the groove, he clicked off his Steve Boggs-tuned mount at half track. Still, his first-round salvo stood for the #1 spot.

 

HORAN'S RIDE TO THE TOP WITH A MISSION - Dan Horan, just like his dragster counterpart Bartone, kicked off his championship defense with a provisional No. 1.

Horan, has his Mustang Funny Car cloaked in a theme bringing awareness to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, was almost .08 quicker than No. 2 Steven Densham.

"All of the money we raise goes to them," Horan said of his fundraising effort on the Manufacturers Midway at Auto Club Famosa. "After winning last year's championship, we wanted to give something back to the community. Children's Hospital of Los Angeles picked us to represent them, and it's a blessing."

HURRY UP ... HOLD ON - A miscommunication between race officials at the shutdown area and in the tower, led to a snafu involving second-generation racer Steven Densham.

Densham was in the next pair to run after Dale VanGundy put his '77 Monza into the sandpit. What was miscommunicated is his extraction from the Famosa Beach.

Densham fired his engine at the instruction of race officials but was told before rolling forward to kill the engine. The situation did very little to deter Densham, who went to the No. 2 spot with a 5.792.

NICE CATCH - Sometimes misfortune can be a blessing in disguise, and for Jason Rupert such was the case. During Friday's Q-1 session, he couldn't get the car in reverse following his burnout and ran on through the shutdown area and exited the track.

Apparently the blower restraint belt got sucked into the injector hat, forcing the engine to idle up. During maintenance, it was discovered the engine had a broken rocker stand.

"We changed a rocker stand instead of a short block, and repairing a body," said crewman Brad Littlefield. "Someone was looking out for us."

DEFENDING CHAMP HAS TOUGH FIRST DAY - Defending March Meet Funny Car champion James Day climbed as high as second in the qualifying order during the second session, but an oildown erased a 5.774 elapsed time. He heads into the final day of qualifications as the No. 19 ranked driver with a 6.273.

The strong run didn't come as a surprise for Day, crew chief Chris Nance and team owner Gary Turner. Unlike last year, they put in some testing laps before the nostalgia season-opener.

"We experimented with a few new things during testing; some things worked and some things didn't, but that's why we test." Day said. "We went back to the shop and looked over the data and race car and regrouped for this weekend."

Day confirmed the team plans to race as many as ten times this season.

" I have all the confidence in the world in this team. " Day said. "Gary Turner puts the best parts under me and I am so thankful we get to come back out and play this year as a family."

 

OH HALE NO - John Hale has been busy racing on the big stage of the NHRA. On an off-weekend, he decided to come back home to his first live - nostalgia racing.

This weekend he's running a new scheme on his competitive Camaro nostalgia Funny Car. Hale unveiled the One Bad Texan theme on Thursday and lived up to its name with the quickest run in testing. He ran a 5.661 elapsed time, which would have landed him atop the 16-car field by almost .05.

Friday wasn't as kind for Hale as he spun the tires extensively on the first pass, netting only a 6.551 and engine damage. The second run provided no improvement. As a result, Hale goes into Saturday's final session unqualified as the No. 24 qualifier.

Hale won the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Hot Rod Reunion in 2011 and 2013 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST - With the NHRA's new strict oildown policy, there would have been plenty of bling headed Glendora's way had Friday's March Meet been a big show event. The penalty for an oildown infraction in the nitro ranks is lost credit for a run. Friday's action was delayed a whopping three hours and fifteen minutes for cleaning up oil. The foam blocks took a beat as 55 minutes of downtime was attributed to replacing crashed units.

THE MARK OF DETERMINATION - During Friday's qualifying Roger Garten suffered a broken rearend with his War Horse Mustang. The damage was so severe that both ears of his car's rearend were nearly broken off. Garten sat out the Q-2 session as he and the crew left on a nearly three hour journey to Corona, Ca., to repair the damaged unit. The team plans to run the final session on Saturday afternoon.

HEAVY HEARTS - Funny Car racer Brad Thompson is pulling double duty this weekend, and doing so with a heavy heart.

Thompson, who drives the Jailbreak 1978 Camaro Funny Car; is mourning the loss of crew member Mike Rehfeld, who passed this past weekend.

“This weekend means that much more," said Thompson. "We are going to work even harder to turn on win lights for Mikey.”

Thompson is also driving the Rain for Rent tribute rear-engine dragster in Famoso's inaugural attempt to run a series for 1970s-era Top Fuel dragster.  The Rain for Rent dragster captured three Bakersfield March Meet titles with James Warren driving.  

CHANGING TRADITION - Cruz Pedregon broke from his usual tradition of racing in the fall at Famosa, and instead made a rare stop at the Bakersfield March Meet. Pedregon has experienced severe tire shake on both runs and, as a result, is on the outside looking in headed into Saturday.

Pedregon is racing his California Charger tribute Funny Car this weekend.

"We've made improvements to our combination," Pedregon said. "We had a few issues to our combination but we had time to get it fixed. It went a .78 with a not so happy combination."

IN HOT PURSUIT - Giving pursuit to Tony Bartone are a couple of sly seniors: Bill Dunlap and Jim Murphy. Dunlap is a 74-year-old veteran of at least five decades of racing Top Fuel cars, and six if one counts Top Gas dragsters.

Dunlap has won the March Meet twice in his career and is champing to procure a third. To that end, in the first session of Top Fuel qualifying, Dunlap laid down a sizzling 5.71 at 232 mph, numbers which were good enough to slot Dunlap #2, just behind Bartone.

Murphy, who described himself as “a very-young 72,” has triumphed four-time at the March Meet, and is out to tie the mark of five event wins set by drag-strip legend Don Garlits. Today, Murphy guided his “WW2” fueler to the #9 spot with a less-than-stellar 6.07.

None of this acceptable to Murphy, who is a four-time VRA champ, one-time AHRA Funny Car champ and UDRA Top Fuel Points Titleist.

WHAT IT MEANS TO ME - Besides the agendas of Bartone, Murphy and Dunlap, how much does a March Meet win to the fueler guys? Stephen McLain took five days to tow his “Tri-State Racing” digger from Delaware to Bakersfield, driving between snow storms. His driver is Wisconsin-based Jim Young, who is also striving for a third March Meet win.

Young legged out a 6-flat at 227 mph, which earned him only the #8 spot. On some significance is his machine’s mill, the only Big-Block Chevy in the field.

Another surprise was the appearance of professional Nitro Funny Car journeyman Jeff Arend, who, up until today, had never made a lap in a front-engine fueler. Arend got the call Wednesday to shoe the Terry Manzer-tuned “Cheetah IV” digger out of Northern California.

 

FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME - Jeff Arend hasn't fully developed an opinion of driving front-engined, nitro-burning dragsters.

"I haven't gotten really far enough to be able to draw a good conclusion," he said. "It's definitely a different experience. There are a couple of things different. The front is so far out there, when they are pulling me up to pre-stage, and I start creeping forward, and then all of a sudden his hand signals to stop. The front wheels being out there takes a little getting used to."

There are other differences in this style of racing.

"When it leaves, it makes a lot of noise, but not overly fast,” Arend continued. “When you're on a run and you feel the car start to drift, after driving one way for 25 years - you turn the wheel a good bit. You don't think in a Funny Car; you just do it. In this car, I learned a little movement can go a long way. I went into the first run knowing I wasn't going to make a full pass unless it felt perfect. It will take a few runs to get a full grasp of driving this car. There's only 14 cars, so I know I am in the field for sure."

About any anxiousness, Arend sounded somewhat nonplussed.

"(The anxiety level) really wasn't that high," Arend admitted. "I've told people that if, when I got in the car, the crew chief had a switch, and when the light turned green -- it made the car go wide open throttle to the finish line and shut it off, I'd be worried. I've done this long enough to where if I don't like something, I know to lift. Not much anxiety. Things will never be where you want them to be when the car isn't built for you, and that's okay. I think everyone was happy here."

Arend, Manzer and his team might be happy, but Murphy, Young and Dunlap are less than satisfied. Look for their pursuit of Bartone to resume with the last round of Top Fuel Qualifying tomorrow at 12:30 PST.