NHRA Hot Rod Heritage at Fontana
With NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Race Series Championships and points on the line, the racers got a chance to close the deal at Auto Club Dragway at Fontana, CA. For some classes this would be their world finals as only NE 1 and up will be racing at the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion on Oct. 10-12 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway.
The racers were greeted with fantastic weather as Friday and Saturday the temp never got over 85 degrees with a nice breeze and Sunday was just a bit warmer. The car count in all the classes was not a great turnout, which was a shame for the fans who filled the grand stands and pits all weekend, the fans got to see a very safe and quickly run program. The racers put on a great race as not one car crashed and there were only a couple of slight oil downs. Steve Gibbs and the NHRA Heritage Series personnel did a great job, along with the Auto Club Dragway crew from track manager Beth Rice on down.
A FUEL
(James Drew photo)
In A Fuel the number one qualifier at 6.348/223.02 was Kin Bates in his “Flying Fortress,” but on Sunday morning after the warm up metal was found in the oil filter. Upon dropping the pan more metal was discovered so they checked a few of the rod and main bearings and found damage too severe to fix. Since their spare motors were at home getting freshened up for the Reunion, Dr. Bates had to withdraw from competition. Coming into this weekend Bates could have wrapped up the championship, but other racers now have the chance to catch him in points.
A Fuel winner Darrell Waters (James Drew photo)