I was able to make it to the March Meet that was last weekend in Bakersfield, CA. This is the first race of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series (Nostalgia race) and included Nostalgia top fuel, funny cars, etc. It was great, there were at least 4 Mavericks and 3 Comets including the Plastic Fantastic Maverick Funny Car! I couldn't get very good pictures of the funny car because it was soooo crowded, but I'll post what I have later. I heard HotRodBob (member here) announcing. He also interviewed the Maverick funny car driver. During the interview he mentioned the Maverick enthusiasts and our Maverick board :bananaman. Good job HotRodBob! It was soooo cool to see a Maverick funny car race down the track. He qualified with a 6.26 or something and ended up winning the first round. I raced in D/Gas, which is a 10.60 index class with about 54 cars trying to qualify for 32 spots. I went 10.51 on my first pass. We only had 2 shots at qualifying so I was a bit nervous on Saturday but was able to get a 10.66 by letting off at the 1000' mark. I won 1st round and should have won 2nd round . I won $60 so that was cool, and racing in front of a crowd of 30,000 was fun. A 65 Mustang won D-Gas. The other Mavericks and Comets did pretty good too. I saw Ron Capps, Jack Beckman, Robert Height, Don Prudhomme, Tom McEwen and many other big drag racers. They also had an awesome fireworks show on Sat night, which my family loved. The only bummer was that I saw a top fuel driver get killed on Saturday. When I saw him keep accelerating all the way to the end of the track I figured it was not going to be good. Very sad. Other than that it was a great family racing weekend.
Congratulations. Sounds like a good time. Would like to go some day but it seems like something is always going on at the same time. Was sorry to hear about John Shoemaker. Sounds like he had a massive heart attack and kept on going. He crossed the finish line at about 250mph. He was 65. My condolences go out to his family.
The Racing was GREAT!!!! Erick, your car looked GREAT from the tower. Sorry I didn't get to meet you there. Heck there were enough mav/comet guys to set up our own BBQ after the days racing. Thanks for the Kudos. It was great announcing about our club cars and the rest of the race. When I spoke to Baker in the tower after he qualified I offered to let him tow his car with my Mav at the next race in B'Field (Fuel & Gas Finals) and he said that he would like that, so I'll remind him as time goes by. I think it would be great seeing the pair. I asked one of the track Photographers for a photo of the Plastic fantastic doing his burn out. Hope he remembers. If he sends it, I'll post it here. He had a minor fire on his second pass that put him out of the race. For those that have only seen photos of this car, well it looks SOOOOOOO much better in person. I grabbed one of the hero cards they had about the car in their pit, but the guy I bought my Mav from snagged it from me as he was there as well, but to lazy to walk down to get his own ..LOL.. The T/F driver that died was John Shoemaker. Great guy from all accounts.(http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/384552.html). (http://allamericanfueldragsters.com/Shoemaker.shtml)Past T/F champ Gary Beck had his son Randy licencing for Top Fuel there. He ran a low 6 second pass at about 220 mph and the hit the guard rail hard after the finish line. He was cut out of the car, but walked away. Great representation of club cars at the race. Maybe we can make it a mini meet in the fall ?
That would be soooo cool to have your car tow his funny car. Will you be at the Vegas funny car race? I'm looking forward to going to that one too. If your there, I'll come to the tower to see you like I did in Pomona at the Nitro Nationals. The announcing was great last weekend. Each one of you had a very different and distinct style. I didn't realize Mike English has been around so long and knew so much. Who was the stoner sounding guy? He was funny.
Erick, Mike English is older than dirt. According to rumor, he used to race chariots. Ask him about him and Guy Price in the first chariot race.
Mikey has been around for a LOOONNNNGGGG time. Must have started announcing when he was still in diapers..... I met him at LACR in the early 80's. He ran Bracket 4 at the time. He would loose first round, buy into the second chance bracket and win the money..... We started calling it the English bracket. The Stoner sounding guy is John Madajasic (Magic Man). He lives the way he sounds. He and I met when he was the program director at a radio station (B-Rock?) in Bakersfield and I was announcing roundy round races. His station was one of the track sponsors. We would get into the whole thing like we did at this race. Made people laugh and we loved it. Then about 12 years ago he joined Goodguys and we carried the show on the road to all the Goodguys races. I did the car shows as well. We had fun. He is also the track announcer in Bakersfield now as well as a full time student. He will start teaching in public schools next year.... warn the mothers! As far as the Vegas race goes, If NHRA calls me and I'm not working my regular job, I'll be there. I'd like to do all the Heritage races I can, but will do what they call me for. My regular job keeps me on the road a lot so my ability to do the races is limited these days. Worked at LACR for 20 years, but don't want a weekly job like that at this time. Got old spending the week end at Bernie's every weekend. It did take me 20 years though for it to get old.... I missed the people more then anything else. I walk through the pits now every chance I get to say hi.
