Buds on fruit trees mean March Meet is near
By MIKE GRIFFITH
After a December of rain and January of fog, I noticed the tell-tale signs of spring as I strolled though my fruit trees a day ago -- green shoots and buds on a nectarine tree.
Which means that the largest nostalgia drag race in the country -- the annual March Meet Drag races at Auto Club Famoso Raceway -- is not far off.
Well, it is a little farther off than usual. Normally contested the first or second weekend in March, the race has been moved back to the third weekend -- March 18-20 -- due mostly to NHRA national event scheduling.
Three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Shirley Muldowney, who made the March Meet Top Fuel finals three consecutive times - 1981-'83 and won in 1981 -- will serve as Grand Marshal of the event. She beat Bakersfield's Doug Kerhulas in the 1981 March Meet, then fell to Lucille Lee the following year in the first-ever all-female final in Top Fuel history.
Muldowney, whose life was chronicled in the 1983 film "Heart Like a Wheel," won 18 NHRA national events and was named fifth in the NHRA's list of the top 50 drivers of all time. She is best known for shattering the gender barrier by competing - and winning - against the top male drag racers of the time.
In a sure sign that nostalgia racing may have come of age (we've known that for years here in Bako), the NHRA will award all class winners in Heritage Series events (of which the March Meet is one) the coveted NHRA Wally trophy.
Once again, nitro-burning front-motored Top Fuel dragsters and nostalgia Funny Cars will be the main lure with both featuring 16-car fields
But with the popularity of the Funny Cars --there were 32 at last year's March Meet and 40 at the Californian Hot Rod Reunion last October -- track operator Blake Bowser plans to have the non-qualified cars compete in a Chicago-style shootout which gives all who want another timed run with the quickest two returning for a final.
MIssing from this years race will be Group 1 cars -- A/Fuel, Junior Fuel, 7.0 Pro and AA/Gas Supercharged -- as Bowser wants to keep the car count at a manageable level of about 450. The Group 1 cars will not compete in October at the CHHR.
Super 3-day passes ($75) are available online at famosoraceway.com as are forms for race entries, car show registration and camping.
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