18th Annual CHRR NTF Coverage

[Pam Schavrien]

18th Annual CHRR Nostalgia Top Fuel coverage
Bakersfield, CA – Oct 16-18

The final stop on the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series was the 18th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion, which was presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California at Famoso Raceway.

Because of the morning fog and an accident clean up, the first round of NTF qualifying finally got underway shortly after 3:00 PM on Friday. As the long anticipated nitro fumes began to permeate the “Patch” with its sting, it was evident early on that the left lane was not the one of choice.

Except for Rick McGee, virtually every car that had drawn the left lane struggled to make their way down track. When all was said and done Rick Williamson held the number one position with his 5.923 ET as Ed Schwartz 12.028 landed him on the bump.

In front of a “standing room only” crowd of excited on-lookers, Saturday’s NTF’s final qualifying order comprised a very surprising list that did not include last years reigning Champion. Unlike the day before, the track conditions were very good and the numbers reflected it several diggers qualified in the 5’s. With every pass the line-up numbers bounced around like lotto balls in a tumbler.

Below is the final qualifying order for Saturday night’s first round of eliminations:

01 Brett Harris.............. 5.890 / 252.17
02 Rick McGee............ 5.862 / 245.03
03 Rick Williamson....... 5.885 / 237.90
04 Rick Rogers............. 5.910 / 255.75
05 Troy Green............... 5.975 / 254.45
06 Jim Murphy.............. 5.978 / 250.97
07 Adam Sorokin.......... 6.041 / 225.11
08 Brad Thompson........ 6.067 / 199.33
09 Mark Hyla................ 6.105 / 211.56
10 Terry Cox................. 6.106 / 235.78
11 Brendan Murry.......... 6.151 / 186.87
12 Denver Schutz.......... 6.285 / 242.91
13 Mark Mulde.............. 6.418 / 214.79
14 Mike McLennan....... 6.460 / 184.53
15 Ed Schwartz............. 6.846 / 185.26
16 Mike Chrisman......... 8.217 / 107.97
---------- Not Qualified ----------
17 Rick White............... 8.369 / 105.57



ROUND ONE ELIMINATIONS
At precisely 6:00 PM the first pair of NTF to the line was Mike Chrisman and Brett Harris. With Rick White waiting in the balance as the alternate, Harris was poised to take the lead in the Championship points. The only thing that was between him and the coveted Wally was two win lights.

At the hit Harris was the first to open the blades, however from that point on it was anybody’s race. Both cars lost traction and were forced to peddle their way down the entire 1320. Harris stopped the timer first with his 7.000/225.79 effort over Chrisman’s 7.841/133.98.





Up next was Ed Schwartz in his historic looking slingshot, he was up against Rick McGee in the Overtime Special digger. The race was McGee’s from the time the tree turned green. Though Rick was out first Ed ran out of clutch early on, putting him out of the running. McGee advanced to the next round with his 5.904/240.25… Schwartz coasted across behind him with an 8.320/110.47.




The next pair promised to be a great match, Mike McLennan was about to face off with Rick Williamson. Once staged McLennan unfortunately rolled the beam and handed Williamson the win. Rick had his own set of problems with immediate tire spin at the green which yielded him a 6.865/141.50 on the board.




It was then Mark Malde’s turn at the tree, his challenger was Rick Rogers in the Fugowie fueler. Rick’s boot made contact with the throttle first and made a clean run very much like his best qualifying effort. Mulde on the other hand suffered problems about half way to Grandma’s house as his ride went silent. Rogers was happy to take the victory with his 6.139/231.36 over Malde’s 7.979/108.52.




Right behind them was a pair of white cars driven by Troy Green and Denver Schutz. Staged and ready for battle their reaction times were separated by one thousandth of a second. Green was out first and had a trouble free stroll down Broadway, however Schultz had problems sticking to the track. Troy advanced to round two with his lane choice effort of 6.055/230.65 as Denver boxed it up with his 7.041/218.81 peddle job.





Pair number six hosted Brendan Murry in his brand new “Running Wild” entry and the legendary Jim Murphy. As the match played out Murry broke on the burn-out which left the track all to Murphy to do what ever he wanted to… and he choose to run it out the back door! Jim’s lean, mean, green, machine screamed across the traps at 5.976/236.84.





Once the track was cleared Terry Cox rolled his Cheetah IV through the bleach box. In the other lane was Adam Sorokin in his radical “Champion Speed Shop” streamliner!
The moment Adam saw green he was gone and never looked back. Terry did his best to run him down but to no avail his 6.038/216.08 could not catch up to Sorokin’s 6.022/218.55.





The final pair of the night was now front and center, it was Brad Thompson against Mark Hyla. Though the two executed their burnouts simultaneously only one made it back to stage. For reasons unknown to me Hyla broke and was unable to vacate the track appropriately, therefore forcing Brett to shut down.

As the track was being cleared Thompson needed to take on another load of nitro; so in an effort to keep the program moving along Mike Boyd (in the Winged Express) and Ron Hope (in the Rat Trap) made their exhibition passes on queue. Immediately there after Thompson made his way back out and recorded a slip-sliding, tire smoking 10.968/78.42 gallant effort.






ROUND TWO ELIMINATIONS
The following morning brought better weather conditions which made for better racing. Shortly after twelve bells Rick Williamson and Jim Murphy were prepared to go “tire-to-tire” for the win. Williamson put the hole-shot on Murphy and gave him a fist full of good ole competition to the stripe, narrowly freezing the timer at 5.867/250.06… Murphy was three feet behind him at 5.870/251.18!





Staged next was Adam Sorokin and Rick McGee, both promising to hold a great deal of excitement for all that gazed upon them. The bulbs dropped and so did Adams throttle… it was his race until the little Chevy power plant started to belch fire and nosed over at the top end. McGee wasted no time making up for lost time and blazed through the lights clicking it off at 5.814/249.79. Sorokin’s hard charge yielded at very respectable 5.935/209.15. Make no mistake, the Champion Speed Shop boys are creeping up on this mechanical masterpiece and (I believe) will soon be in the 5.70’s!





Right on their tail following two-by-two was Rick Rogers and Troy Green; with both being very capable of putting the other on the trailer it was a great match. Unfortunately Rick’s tootsies tagged the throttle about three thousandths to soon, giving away the day to Troy.

None the less, the boys behind the butterflies ran as fast as their little tires would take them… all the way to the other side of the 1320! Their numbers were right there, looking pretty darn good on paper, however Green’s 5.983/222.27 was the only one that made a difference. Rogers impressive 5.978/242.32 was enough to make a grown man cry.





The last ones in line were Brett Harris and Brad Thompson. Harris initiated his burnout and Thompson followed, both then staged tot-to toe in the beam. The tree activated and Thompson got a big jump on his opponent but fell prey to the traction gremlins as Harris gained the lead.

No sooner than that, he too was smitten and handed the lead back over to Brad till the 1000 foot mark when death smoke started coming out of the holes. Brett’s smoking guns too, managed to squeak by him in the lights and secured his NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series Nostalgia Top Fuel Championship title! It was a white knuckler for sure!






ROUND THREE ELIMINATIONS
Little by little the lines in the staging lanes were getting shorter and shorter. It was time for heavy hitters Troy Green and Brett Harris to go to battle. All decked out in their armor they mounted their nitro gulping, fire breathing, ground pounding dragons and lined up for the joust!

Bill then lit the bulbs and sent them on their way; Green was the faster of the two and maintained his distance into the final round. Harris proceeded to break a valve which blew the burst plate, which caused the oil filter to disembark, which coated the track with a layer of sticky-slip-n-slide stuff! Troy was thrilled with his 5.879/226.35 but knew he had a tough opponent in the next round. Brett then called it a season with his final 2009 pass of 10.051/98.92 as the safety crew brought out the sweepers.





Bringing up the rear was the pairing of Rick McGee and Rick Williamson. McGee had lane choice and elected to take the (not so recently oiled down) left lane, putting Williamson in the right. Upon completion of their burnout rituals the two staged anxiously. Much to everyone’s surprise Williamson cut the tree too soon and sent McGee into the final round against Green.

In doing so, the purple piston eater did not take the shortest route to the finish line as he skated around narrowly avoiding the center stripe foul. As he got on the brakes at the top end he was certain that his 9.012/91.37 did not earn him lane choice.






ROUND FOUR ELIMINATIONS
And then there were two...
Though the very long weekend was about to come to an end the excitement level did not diminish one bit! At precisely 6:06PM the setting sun provided a perfect stage for the best run of the meet! Green had lane choice and McGee got the left over’s. Both wanted this win so bad they could taste it. Rick bolted everything in the trailer on his ride to give him the best possible chance against last years NTF Champion!

As the Christmas tree lit up the evening sky so did the header flames on both cars. McGee was out of the box first, hunkered down and never looked back! Green was right there at his side pulling as hard as the High Speed Motorsports digger could dig! Just under six seconds later it was all over with Rick McGee taking home the gold and bragging rights.

His killer (low ET of the meet) 5.761/247.38 was now in the history books forever and giving him his second CHRR career win. Troy had nothing to be ashamed of; his stellar 5.919/252.17 was nothing to sneeze at! Like every team out there they gave their best and should be very proud!




Congratulations to Rick McGee and the “Overtime Special” team for an outstanding win and to Brett Harris (and team) for your 2009 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series NTF Championship crown!

Photo Coverage Of The 18th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion

~ Darrell Conrad