Surprises at WCHRA Summer Nationals Sizzler
When the West Coast Hot Rod Association rolled into the Auto Club Famoso Raceway for the Deeds Performance Summer Nationals presented by Holders Air Conditioning and Heating it was a race of many surprises, many of them before racing commenced!
First, Mike’s Transmission Pro Street Championship leader Steve Paulauskis was not on hand as he had sold his Team Transit Mix Inc supported Cavalier in the week leading up to the race! Second was the appearance of many-time PSCA champion Ed Thornton and the twin turbo ’57. Imagine the duel if these two had been able to face off against each other! Not that the fans were deprived of excitement.
Art Hodges
Ed Thornton
Art Hodges claimed his first ever WCHRA pole. Gil Nevarez was a late show and was tagged onto the back of the field. In the weirdest of races Thornton fell to Nevarez when the starter threw a quick tree as he thought Thornton was going to overheat after sitting on the two-step for what he thought was too long. The resultant early green never gave the turbo ’57 the opportunity to get into high boost mode and Nevarez was long gone by the time it did.
Gil Nevarez
Gentile was the next to shock when he took out Hodges on a hole shot. That set up a turbo versus blower final and Nevarez used his new found consistency to dip into the six thirties to take the win. His 6.375 at 224.60 was enough to take out Gentile and set a new speed record.
