Mother Nature slows things down a bit at Famoso
The busiest group of folks at Famoso Drag Strip on Saturday were the track crew who worked throughout today to get a wet racing surface into racing shape.
Twice they got close to having it ready only to be foiled by a rainshower.
Finally, the sun broke through, wind helped dry things and at 3:30 in the afternoon the final session of nitro qualifying for the Good Vibrations Motorsports March Meet got underway.
It didn’t disappoint. Especially for defending NHRA Hot Rod Heritage champion Tyler HIlton.
Hilton was on the outside of the eight-car field when he pulled into the staging lights needing a solid run to not make an early trip back to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hilton and Co. showed the rest of the field why they are a favorite for a third straight NHRA Hot Rod
Heritage Series title with a 5.625-second run at 257.14 mph to surge into the No. 1 qualifying position.
“We struggled, man,” Hilton said. “It started in testing (on Thursday). We had some parts issues, just
goofy stuff happening but it came around here in the end.
“I didn’t think we were going to get to run. I’m glad we did. Famoso, the track crew, they did a hell of a job.”
Back in October Hilton was in the same position — out of the field — until he grabbed the top spot on his final run at the NHRA Wally Parks Nationals.
“It seems sometimes we start off kind of slow and it
takes a few rounds but we end up getting there when it counts.” he said. “We’re happy. We’re a tenth (of a second) ahead of the next guy.”
That guy in second is Pete Kaiser, at 5.735/255.82. Adam Sorokin is third (5.745) with Pete Wittenberg, who won the Wally Parks National last year, fourth at 5.819.
“We’re in incredible air
right now,” Hilton said of the ability of the supercharged engines to produce horsepower. “We’re not going to change anything, Adjust a little bit here and a little bit there for the air and run it again. We’re going to try and get a third championship this year. That’s why we’re here. It’s a long way here.”
On the Funny Car side, Shane Westerfield stood at the top of a 16-car field with his 5.613/258.57 blast on Friday night before rain
brought a halt to the second round of qualifying.
But the most consistent driver has been Paul Monise who started a string of runs in the 5.60s during Thursday’s test session. His 5.620 run at 259.11 (top speed of the meet so far) slotted him
into the No. 2 spot.
Bobby Cottrell, who has won three straight March Meets, is third (5.635/256.94), followed by Derrick Moreira (5.681) and Corey Lee (5.682).
Mathew Leonard qualified No. 1 in Fuel Altered at 5.601 with Mark Whynaught second at 6.186. Two-time NHRA Funny Car champion Ron Capps was fifth at 6.58.
Elimination rounds begin at 8:30 a.m. with the first round of Funny Car slated for 11 a.m., followed by Top Fuel and Fuel Altered.