After going on a championship winning spree in 2009, for the Walker Racing Group to set out in anticipation of an even better 2010 season could be considered nearly impossible. However, thus far in 2010 the team looks to be on the same torrid pace.

Across both Pacific Street Car Association and West Coast Hot Rod Association Pro Street competition this season, Randy Walker and his crew have put their unmistakable nitrous-assisted ’74 El Camino in four final rounds, taking three consecutive wins in those finals and setting career bests in elapsed time and speed.

Walker says the team knew they couldn’t rest on their laurels after their unprecedented season last year and went to work upgrading their operation wherever possible.

Records Career Bests, Four Finals, Three Consecutive Wins to Open 2010

After going on a championship winning spree in 2009, for the Walker Racing Group to set out in anticipation of an even better 2010 season could be considered nearly impossible. However, thus far in 2010 the team looks to be on the same torrid pace.

Across both Pacific Street Car Association and West Coast Hot Rod Association Pro Street competition this season, Randy Walker and his crew have put their unmistakable nitrous-assisted ’74 El Camino in four final rounds, taking three consecutive wins in those finals and setting career bests in elapsed time and speed.

Walker says the team knew they couldn’t rest on their laurels after their unprecedented season last year and went to work upgrading their operation wherever possible.

“We knew we would have the bullseye on our backs this year, so we made quite a few changes to the car over the winter,” Walker said. “We lightened the car even further, made some chassis updates, got the car wrapped with some of our new sponsors, and most importantly upgraded to a new 826 cubic inch engine.” The new engine has been the biggest boost to Walker’s arsenal, propelling the full size El Camino to a stunning 6.163 at 224.96 MPH, both career bests, on the third full pass with the Charles Carpenter-tuned 5.200 bore space monster.

Walker’s first victory of the season came at the WCHRA Spring Nationals at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, CA in March, where, ironically, he won from the bump spot after battling winter rust in qualifying. Putting together a string of 6.40s and taking advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves, Walker overcame the odds and worked his way to winner’s circle.

“That was our last race with the 762 cubic inch engine we’ve run for several seasons,” said the Palm Desert, CA custom auto shop owner. “We got lucky here and there, but you have to have an occasional break to snag a win at this level. With our new engine on the way, we felt we would be stepping up and would be able to race our way to a few more wins.”

Once their new bullet hit the track, that’s exactly what they did. After posting the career-best 6.16 at nearly 225 MPH, which are both PSCA Pro Street nitrous records, at the PSCA RC Construction Services California Nationals at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA, the team headed back to Bakersfield for the WCHRA Summer Nationals. There they would qualify number three with a 6.28 and work their way through Scott Oksas and Jay Diedrich before meeting up with number one qualifier Rod Burbage in the finals. Burbage had been the class of the field all day, running low 6-teens on his way to the final round. Walker wasn’t far behind with a 6.20s pace, but had his work cut out for him in the finals.

“We were the heavy underdog going into the finals,” Walker said. “But that’s why you run the race; Rod was late on the tree and we were able to take the holeshot win.” Walker’s 6.222 at 224.04 was enough to hold off Burbage’s 6.111 at 238.47 MPH, marking Walker’s second WCHRA event win in as many races.

Switching back to PSCA competition, the Walker team’s next race would be the Summer Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Qualifying fifth with an off-pace 6.567, Walker again struggled in qualifying but found a way to win when it came time for eliminations. Making his way through the field, Walker would meet up with perennial front runner and pole sitter Clint Hairston and his turbocharged GTO in the final round. After a between-round thrash to repair oil ring problems was cut short, the team loaded up and headed to the lanes with an engine they knew would run, but would puff a large amount of smoke until the car left the line.

“We alerted everyone involved with the race, including the Hairston team and track officials, that our car was safe to run but would smoke out of the left bank until I dropped the clutch,” Walker explained. “Unfortunately, the smoke was very bad and caused interference with the timing system, holding the beams when the car left the line and throwing the elapsed time off.”

A 5.88 and 223.36 MPH flashed on the scoreboard, as did the win light. Walker’s car made it to the finish under full power, while Hairston ran into problems in the other lane. Due to the timing system interference, video reviews were used and clearly showed Walker and Hairston leaving the line at virtually the same time, with Walker crossing the finish line first. Based on these reviews, the PSCA management awarded the event win to Walker but disallowed the elapsed time, a decision that was agreed upon as the correct one by everyone involved at the completion of the event.

“I hate that it turned out like that, but you have to do everything you can to try to get the win,” Walker said. “We feel the track and race officials made the correct decision in awarding us the win, and we’re glad we took a shot at making the run. My brother and crew chief, Duane, and Charles did everything they could to alleviate the problem, but we simply couldn’t totally correct the issue between rounds.”

With the controversial win behind them and the PSCA taking the summer off before returning to action in September, the Walker Racing Group is looking ahead to their next race, the WCHRA Nationals at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield on July 16 & 17. As the current WCHRA points leader, they’ve gotten a nice start to repeating as Pro Street champs but know they’ve got their work cut out for them.

“We’ve picked up a lot in E.T., but we’d like to match that with some of our old consistency,” Walker admits. “That’s our main goal right now. If we can do that, hopefully we can stay on top in WCHRA points and work our way back up the PSCA charts after missing the first two races. We’ve had an awesome start and we’re looking forward to what the rest of 2010 has in store.”