Bakersfield, CA - March 06-08, 2009: Horrible economy aside, the 51st anniversary of the March Meet can be summed up with an amalgamation of superlatives that would send an English major scrambling for their Thesaurus. Under three days of Chamber of Commerce skies, the largest car count/spectator attendance in history filled the hallowed Famoso Dragstrip grounds for the event that lived up to its star billing - and more.

John and Blake Bowser along with one of the best crews ever assembled put on a drag race for the ages. From the full pits on Thursday to the Winners Circle shots on Sunday this was an event brimming with an accommodating facility, incredible racing surface, friendly staff, full bore fans and record performances.

"It was daja vu all over again. Seriously, it could have been 1966, 1972 or even 2008 as perfect weather, packed stands and incredible drag racing competition all added up to another wildly successful March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway near Bakersfield, Calif. And speaking of 2008, the 2009 winner were certainly familiar: Bucky Austin once again claimed the Nostalgia Funny Car category and the Harris family continuing its winning ways as Brett Harris took the Nostalgia Top Fuel title. Both racers also got a points jump on the competition as the March Meet is also the season opener for the NHRA's eight-race Hot Rod Heritage Series.

Austin, who won the Hot Rod Heritage Series Nostalgia Funny Car championship last year, beat Garrett Bateman, Tacoma, Wash., in the Funny Car final with a record-breaking time of 5.72 seconds at a blistering 246.77 mph. Garrett finished with a 5.85 time at 245.36 mph. Both Austin and Bateman drove cars owned by Steve Plueger.

"We've accomplished a lot here in Bakersfield," Austin said after the race, "but it takes a good car, a great crew and a little luck. Everything has to go right. My hat's off to Steve (Plueger) and the whole team."

Austin may have team support, but Brett Harris has family support. Brett and his father, Jack, have dominated the Nostalgia Top Fuel competition at the March Meet the last three years. Brett won it in 2007, Jack in '08 and Brett kept it going in '09 by beating Rick White of San Diego in championship race. Harris, from Kaysville, Utah, ran a 5.67 (263.77 mph) to White's 5.68 (259.36 mph). It was a career best ET and speed for White and the quickest NTF race in history. Harris also claimed the low ET (5.65) and top speed (263.77 mph) during the three-day event.

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 a lot," Brett said after the race. "We've figured out the track and have it dialed-in. We've been dominate here, but we try to dominate everywhere. But the March Meet is the big-big one. It's the Indy 500 of drag racing. This is the one event you want to win so you can pump your chest all year long."

More than 500 race cars in 14 classes were entered in this year's March Meet, which is now celebrating 51 years of racing at Auto Club Famoso. Last year's 50th anniversary drew record crowds, but there was concern that the soft economy would take a toll on the race entries and the crowds this year. But the economy be damned, again it was a blast from the past as the stands were full, as were the vendors midway, swap meet area and the hot rod/street rod and cacklecar lined Grove. And other than an incident between Dan Horan and Mike Chrisman in the first Top Fuel qualifying session it was a very safe race as well.

"People came out to forget their troubles and enjoy themselves with some affordable family fun," said Blake Bowser, vice president and general manager of the Kern County Racing Association, operators of Auto Club Famoso Raceway and producers of the March Meet. "That's what has made this race and track so popular over the years: People want to see a great show and have fun. Hopefully we can continue to provide this for years to come."

 

 

FINAL RESULTS OF THE 51ST MARCH MEET/NHRA HOT ROD HERITAGE SERIES, AUTO CLUB FAMOSO RACEWAY

NOSTALGIA TOP FUEL

Round 1:

Denver Schutz, Fresno CA, Stirling-Rodeck, Left lane, (0.119) 5.824 242.45 def. Howard Haight, Brownsburg IN, Stirling-Hemi, (0.084) 6.974 142.26

Troy Green, Anaheim CA, Stirling-Donovan, Left lane, (0.129) 5.932 231.12 def. Brendan Murry, San Jose CA, Stirling-Arias, (-0.500) NT-Broke Before Staging

Brett Harris, Kaysville UT, N&P-Rodeck, Left lane, (0.098) 5.692 250.13 def. Mark Malde, Windsor CA, Stirling-Chevy, (-0.500) NT-Broke Before Staging

Rick White, San Diego CA, Hansen-Rodeck, Left lane, (0.138) 5.788 246.57 def. Rick Rogers, Atascadero CA, Stirling-Donovan, (0.190) 6.412 172.57

Jim Murphy, Santa Rosa CA, Thornhill-Rodeck, Left lane, (0.148) 5.768 225.50 def. Rick Williamson, Stockton CA, Davison-Chrysler, (0.116) 9.011 85.77

Brad Thompson, Visalia CA, Crossbow-Rodeck, Right lane, (0.084) 5.991 232.91 def. Rick McGee, Exeter CA, Tedford-Donovan, (0.132) 6.020 206.23

Mike McLennan, Oakley CA, URC-Rodeck, Left lane, (0.126) 6.610 210.47 def. Terry Cox, Clarkburg CA, URC-Hemi, (0.149) 8.140 86.99

Shannon Stuart, Riverside CA, Stirling-Donovan, Right lane, (0.135) 6.024 226.35 def. Adam Sorokin, Glendale CA, Uyehara-Rodeck, (0.073) 6.120 240.44

Round 2:

J Murphy, Left lane, (0.327) 5.960 209.64 def. B Thompson, NT-No Show

B Harris, Left lane, (0.053) 5.735 243.30 def. S Stuart, (0.181) 6.084 232.19

R White, Left lane, (0.131) 5.819 245.03 def. M McLennan, (0.070) 7.244 131.57

D Schutz, Left lane, (0.021) 6.009 251.95 def. T Green, (0.087) 6.289 187.77

Round 3:

R White, Left lane, (0.289) 5.719 247.38 def. J Murphy, (0.177) 8.022 113.36

B Harris, Left lane, (0.079) 5.656 257.28 def. D Schutz, (0.118) 5.843 258.17

Round 4:

B Harris, Left lane, (0.057) 5.674 263.77 def. R White, (0.090) 5.684 259.36

Low ET: Brett Harris 5.656 seconds
Top Speed: Brett Harris 263.77 MPH

 

Photos by: Bob Brown, Stephen Justice, Steve Wallace, Dan Kaplan, Tim Hanaseth, Pam Schavrien, Darrell Conrad, Paul Huchins, John Ewald and Don Ewald

Special thanks to Darryl Jackman and dragracecentral.com for blow by blow stats. He makes my job so much easier.

 

 

March Meet Preview - Highlight Shots

Complete round by round coverage - 2000+ photos - coming soon.

 

6:46 p.m. The entire weekend had been leading up to this pair in the final of Top Fuel. Brett Harris and Rick White were the class of the field and deserved to be here. Harris caught a slightly better light and held on to what was one hell of a drag race that was the quickest side by side match-up for front engined fuelers in history. White was quickest at every split except for the one that mattered. Harris' 5.674 at 263.77 nipped White's 5.684 at 259.36.

 

 

 

 

Brett Harris' incremental times: 60ft-1.025 sec., 330ft-2.609, 660ft-3.814/207.85mph, 1,000ft-4.823

Rick White's incremental times: 60ft-1.016 sec., 330ft-2.599, 660ft-3.805/207.37mph, 1,000ft-4.820.

 

 

The ball got rolling on Thursday when MM PR director Bill Groak organized a killer Media Day.

 

Track Manager Blake Bowser fielded questions, gave interviws and received awards.

 

 

Brad Thompson gave the media a blast of nitro with his NTF car.

 

Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau Manager Don Cohen got the thrill of his life when he did a fire-up in John Ewald's Mastercar.

 

 

Following a week of rain and cold weather, Friday was dry but the normally tight Famoso track was not ready for the 3000 HP fuel cars. With the exception of Rick White and Rick McGee, nobody had much luck getting from point A to point B under power. Low track temp and lack of rubber made for an interesting first session.

 

 

The first pair of the first session on Friday -- Top Fuel qualifying got off to auspicious start when Dan Horan got out of the groove early on and made a sharp move into the left lane which was occupied by Mike Chrisman in the Paso Posse car. Horan's header took out the left rear tire on Chrisman's ride leaving him rudderless and ultimately pinned to the guardwall for a long slide to the other end.

 

Horan caromed off of Chrisman, had a short flight followed by a very rough ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in his own lane, it looked for a second like Horan may just come out of this in one piece but a wide open throttle ended any chance of that happening. Just after this shot the spinning right tire drove the car hard into the guardwall (below) rendering Digger Dan unconscious and motoring to toward the top end.

 

 

 

 

Chrisman came to a stop just short of the first turn-out and was able to get out of the car on his own,

 

 

 

Horan's engine finally blew up and the car slid about 75' into the sand trap which did its job of stopping him.

 

Dan was extracted by Don Irvin and the excellent Famoso Safety Safari. During the process he regained consciousness and the Life Flight helicopter was canceled. He was transported to the hospital by ambulance and was released on Tuesday left to nurse multiple injuries. It is safe to say his racing days are finally over.

 

 

 

 

 

Horan wasn't the only driver who had an issue with the left lane. Brett Harris made a move to the right and ended up sharing the lane with Adam Sorokin. Fortunately he was far ahead of the sleek Chevy car and didn't get dangerously close to Sorokin.

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Murphy went the other way when he got oh too close to the guardwall forcing him to abort the run.

 

 

 

 

The ever consistent Rick White was low in the first session with a 5.852 at 253.52.

 

 

1 7131 Rick White, San Diego CA, Hansen-Rodeck 5.852 253.52 253.52
2 701 Rick McGee, Exeter CA, Tedford-Donovan 5.945 236.03 236.03
3 702 Mike McLennan, Oakley CA, URC-Rodeck 6.065 207.27 207.27
4 774 Jim Murphy, Santa Rosa CA, Stirling-Rodeck 6.236 178.71 178.71
5 1 Troy Green, Anahiem CA, Stirling-Donovan 6.260 186.79 186.79
6 7917 Brad Thompson, Visalia CA, Crossbow-Rodeck 6.440 172.71 172.71
7 700 Terry Cox, Clarkburg CA, URC-Hemi 6.902 139.01 139.01
8 724 Denver Schutz, Fresno CA, Stirling-Rodeck 7.160 241.41 241.41
9 787 Shannon Stuart, Riverside CA, Stirling-Donovan 7.195 134.18 134.18
10 7380 Rick Rogers, Atascadero CA, Tuttle-Donovan 9.221 96.37 96.37
11 772 Rick Williamson, Stockton CA, Davison-Chrysler 9.657 76.17 76.17
12 747 Mark Malde, Windsor CA, Stirling-Chevy 10.880 70.93 70.93
13 7188 Brendan Murry, San Jose CA, Stirling-Arias 11.739 80.11 80.11
14 766 Adam Sorokin, Glendale CA, Uyehara-Rodeck NT
15 7736 Dan Horan, Big Bear CA, Woody-Donovan DQ
16 7125 Mike Chrisman DQ

 

 

"Vegas Heat" lived up to its moniker in the first session when some rods decided to exit on the top end. Craig Michael and the car were fine and a new bullet was ready to go by nightfall.

 

 

 

 

Tom Padilla had a rough outing in the brand new Satellite of Dave Benjamin. Good looking car that was just finished Wednesday night. This is the first full pass on the car.... well, almost full pass.

 

 

Going into the lights (and right under the boom crane) Padilla experienced a huge blower explosion which literally launched the body into orbit. By all accounts NOBODY has ever seen a body go as high as The Dragon did.

 

 

 

These were shot from the crane which means Dan was already 60' in the air.

 

 

 

 

 

After what seemed like forever, the body finally came to rest on the track. Believe it or not, the latest report is the "glass guy" thinks he can re-roof the Satellite and save the rest.

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff Utterback had to abort this Q2 attempt in the Pisano & Matsubara tribute car.

 

 

On Saturday the racers who were competing at the 1959 March Meet assembled in the cacklecar compound for this once in a lifetime photo op. How many can you name?

 

 

On Saturday and Sunday WDIFL photogs John Ewald and Dan Kaplan had the best seat in the house and left The Patch with some great shots.

 

 

 

Perfect racing weather, lots of nitro and a SRO crowd - that sums up the weekend.

 

 

By the second TF qualifying session Saturday at noon, the track was where it needed to be and the times reflected the improvement. Defending Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series champ Troy Green legged it through to a 5.822 at 261.78 which would stand for top speed until the final round on Sunday.

 

 

While Jim Murphy was busy clocking a 5.767 at 240.77, Mike McClennan was busier trying to stay in his lane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side by side, both Howard Haight and Brett Harris had engine problems in session two. Haight burnt up some aluminum clocking a 6.336 at 187.34.

 

The good news was Harris went #1 with a sterling 5.692 at 251.32. The bad news was he banged the blower which resulted in the belt tearing off an oil line ( seen below hanging off right side of engine) which resulted in a lengthily clean up.

 

 

 

 

The third and final qualifying session saw only five cars come out to try to improved their positions. Troy Green led off with a 5.933 at 252.38 which did not improve his time from session two.

 

 

The only pair featured Mike McClennan and Brad Thompson. It was not pretty.

 

McClennan's Mike Fuller hemi came unglued at the 1000' mark and burned far into the shut down area.

 

 

 

 

 

Oil from McClennan's engine was so bad that it covered Thompson in the other lane leaving both drivers flying blind.

 

 

Like I said, this was ugly. Thompson literally came to a stop on McClennan's chutes. By his own account, he missed running into the back of the blue car by about three feet.

 

 

 

During round one on Sunday good friends Brad Thompson and Rick McGee met. In a close one Thompson took the win light with a 5.991 at 232.91 while McGee slowed to a 6.020 at just 206.23.

 

 

Oiled in, when Thompson pulled the chutes he got a real shock... the back end of the car came "at least 5 feet off the ground". Brad was sure he was going over - again. Somehow the car settled and he came to a safe stop. But not knowing what caused the car to misbehave in the shut down, the team opted to park the car and pass on round two. One would have to look at the way the chutes are mounted first thing.

 

After Brendan Murry was shut off with an oil leak, Troy Green took a round one single which resulted in a wounded engine that would necessitate a swap. To add insult to injury, Denver Schutz would have lane choice in round two.

 

 

 

 

 

Howard Haight collected some timing blocks while Denver Schutz ripped off a nice 5.824 at 242.45 for the round one win.

 

 

 

Rick White continued his trip to the final by defeating Mike McClennan in round two with a 5.819 at 245.0.

 

 

Terry Capp suffered a first round hole-shot loss in Ron Hodgekins Bubble Up Firebird.

 

 

Teammates Bucky Austin and Garrett Bateman on their way to the final.

 

 

 

In the semis, Austin took out Lee Paul Jennings in the new sleek American Revolution entry. Jennings gave Bucky a race (including a hole shot) but his 5.876 at 244.56 was not enough for Austin's 5.789 at 242.06.

 

 

After the semi-finals in Top Fuel Rick Williamson came out for a test pass and it proved to be a costly one. The blower let go on the top end sending the entire rotor assembly out of the front of the case.

 

 

 

Mike Halstead won the Funny Car 'B' field with a 6.03 at 239.

 

A very happy winner, Brett Harris just after taking off his helmet.

 

Father Jack and good luck charm, Tami Beck with Brett.

 

 

On Sunday Steve Gibbs finally got his push start thanks to John Ewald and his Mastercar. Gibbs did a masterful job of lighting on the fireup road, making the turn and idling all the way up the track. Full coverage will be on Cacklefest.com soon.

 

 

 

 

In all there were 20 cacklecars - 14 in the main pit compound and 7 in The Grove. They were, as usual, a huge fan attraction. The Cacklefest on Saturday was a smash as well. Much more on Cacklefest.com coming soon.

 

 

 

Cindy Gibbs got herself 4 fire-ups over the weekend including two in the Warren-Coburn-Miller car which she now declares her "favorite".

 

 

 

Complete round by round coverage - 2000+ photos - coming soon. Check back in a few days.