Harris, Austin dominate at March Meet

Brett Harris, son of Jack Harris, qualified No. 1 at 5.692 and capped a spectacular weekend with a 5.674 effort to beat Rick White in a fantastic final at the March Meet in Bakersfield, Calif.
Harris got the jump off the start and maintained that edge throughout the race, pulling away at the finish to beat White's 5.684, the quickest ever run for the California Hot Rod Reunion winner. Harris thundered through at 263.77 mph to White's 259.36.

Harris sliced through is competition throughout the day. He equaled his qualifying effort in a first-round win, ran 5.73 in a quarter-final win and stepped up to a 5.65 in his semifinal win over Denver Schutz.
All told, the Harris father-son combo now have five March Meet titles between them, with “Sheriff” Jack owning three and Brett now with two. “We like Bakersfield,” Brett said after the race. “We’ve figured out the track and have it dialed-in.”

In Funny Car action, Bucky Austin made a record-setting run to his third straight victory at Famoso. Austin qualified No. 1 at 5.778 and ran in the 5.70s in a all three elimination rounds, setting the record at 5.723 in his final-round win over Garrett Bateman, who ran a game 5.853. Compete final round results are in our Sunday Race Coverage.  (James Drew photos) [3/9/2009]