Fuel & Gas Championships Bakersfield, CA

20th Goodguys Hot Rod Nationals, Indianapolis, IN

Mopars at E-Town, New Jersey

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NHRA Heritage Series #4 - Fuel & Gas Championships
By: Christy Thom
Photos by: Darrell Conrad & Pam Schavrien

May 29, 2008 officially kicked off the fourth NHRA Heritage Series event the Fuel & Gas Championships at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, CA. Immediately upon entering the pit gate you noticed the rich, black asphalt stretching nearly to the timing booth. Although not entirely complete the new pit pavement extends all the way to Hot Rod parking and believe me it made all the difference in keeping the rig as well as racecar clean. It is so refreshing to see track operators reinvesting profits into their facility.

The call to the lanes for first round qualifying came early Friday morning and calling to the lanes did not stop until mid evening. I was pretty caught up in my own car dilemma to notice the exact time that cars stopped making passes but what I do recall is Nostalgia Eliminator, Gas Classes and Hot Rod all made at least two passes if not three. Even with a wounded dragster we still invited friends and racers to join us for our racer appreciation BBQ courtesy of Monaco Las Vegas. Bascom Racing, Helter Skelter, Tea Pot and Crew, nitro king Brad Thompson, and Cabo Wabo Guru Eric Christian were some of the wonderful racers that shared their Friday evening with us. The BBQ nights have been changed to Friday as that seems to be an evening pretty open for most so come by and join us in September!

Saturday was a repeat of Friday with teams getting three qualifying passes. On one hand racers that don’t typically have their tune up right off the trailer were able to fine tune their machines making the bump in the index classes so tight there was only 4 to 5 tenths separating #1 to #16. Those teams with “right off the trailer” tune ups found that more qualifying passes wasn’t necessarily a good thing as they were forced to continue running to hold their spot in the field. Which ever side you may be on it was a great show for the fans and the action was seriously non stop!

Stellar weather, more passes than racers knew what to do with and a smooth running event lead to amazing eliminations. Each class had hair raising elimination rounds with most wins coming from holeshots! Unstoppable Brad Thompson lost to R&B Entertainment’s shoe Adam Sorokin. The PA crackled and shrieked as the announcer screamed the results, both drivers ran a 5.71 but Sorokin left on Thompson and never looked back. Final round action saw Sorokin lose to Tory Green of Highspeed Motorsports.

Overall the event was well rounded with great drag races and a relaxed pit atmosphere. I am looking forward to tearing into the Vintage Fuel Dragster, getting the Fugitive Project car completed and regrouping to hit it hard in September for the Heritage Series event in Fontana. For video coverage of the event tune into our next Episode of VintageFuelTV, available on YouTube.com or From the Drivers Seat.

Event Results

Top Fuel - T. Green defeats A Sorokin
A/Fuel - K Bates defeats B Wayne
AA/Gas - C Abbey defeats J Kaplan
Junior Fuel A - S Parks defeats J Zink
Junior Fuel B - B Hammer defeats D Carter
NE I (7.60) - A Frye defeats J Book
NE II (8.60) - D See defeats D Bascom
NE III (9.60) - L Lister defeats J Lyon
A Gas (7.60) - D Matson defeats R Patten
B Gas (8.60) - E Bush defeats A Cobb
C Gas (9.60) - D Araiza defeats K Phillips
D Gas (10.60) - A Ross defeats D Fournier
Hot Rod - J Furiani defeats G Lynch