Inside the world of drag racing.

As most visitors to this website know we run two cars that are currently being raced in Nostalgia Eliminator II which is an 8.60 second index or break-out class. Here’s how we did.

At the 49th March Meet there were 37 cars trying to qualify for a 16 car field in NE-2 and I managed to qualify the dragster No. 1 in Friday’s qualifying session with an 8.61.1 but got moved down to No. 2 in Saturday’s qualifying session when George Chatterton moved up with an 8.60.2.

Jason was driving the Fiat at this race and in Friday’s qualifying session the Fiat decided to act like an Altered and made a hard left into the left lane just after the start. Jason peddled a couple of times and got it back into the right lane before the 330 mark and finished the run in his own lane with an ET of 11.608. We checked the roll-out of the slicks to see if that might have caused the car to hook left at the launch, but both tires measured 102.5 so that wasn’t the problem. We knew the air pressure of the tires were equal so we couldn’t think of anything else to do before the Saturday qualifying session. For Saturday’s session Alex Mikkelsen (American Roadster) who is our chassis expert suggested Jason do a longer burnout to lay down more rubber and hopefully give the Fiat a better track to run in. That seemed to work because the car lifted the front wheels off the ground and carried them straight past the 60 foot mark. Jason stayed in it and “legged” it to an 8.41 which was a great run, but a little too quick for the class.

Jason then moved over to help his brothers Scott and Mark who were crewing this weekend for both cars. I managed to make it through 3 rounds of eliminations and found myself in the final against a car driven by Dan See out of Fresno, California. He had been running consistent 8.60’s in eliminations whereas my times were ranging from 8.61 to 8.65. I figured that the only chance I had against his consistency was to try to get him on the line. I tried to cut the light, but only managed to “bulb” by .016 seconds. On top of that when I launched the car uncharacteristically got out of shape and since there was no way of catching See I lifted and motored through with an 11.641 ET.

Even though I didn’t win, Scott, Jason, Maria, Mark, Justine and I all agreed that this was one of the best weekends we’ve ever had! It wasn’t just the racing either. It was being with the old friends we’ve made at the track and the new people we met at this race. That’s what I love about Nostalgia racing. The atmosphere and the friendliness of the racers harkens back to the era I grew up in where we would rather beat an opponent on the track than in the pits, so we’d help him get his car running so we could do just that, beat him on the track.

Labels: 49th March Meet, Famoso Raceway, March Meet

In the off season I wasn't to sure what to expect of the March Meet because Good Guys backed out of drag racing. I was sceptical about the nostalgia drag racing scene because that's what we race. We race in the Nostalgia Eliminator 2 class with our 1938 Fiat Altered and our 1968 Front Engine Dragster. Our crew is mostly all family members helping out. There are four drivers and two race cars and we all share the driving duties.

This past weekend in Bakersfield, Ca. was so much fun. We met and got to know more people in our class as well as hanging out with the family. The Famoso Raceway staff did an amazing job with organizing the March Meet. NE2, our class had to sit for a bit longer than we would've liked to for first round competition. Other than that everything was smooth sailing from there on. John & Blake Bowser and their staff was very professional and accommodating to the racers.

I guess if you want to anyone can find something to complain about if that's what you're looking for. It would've been nice to have another qualifying run but we had two, that's cool. I'm sure if you really want to get down to it, I'm sure there are a lot of little things that could have been better but I couldn't tell you what they are.

In my opinion, the 2007 Annual March Meet was a huge hit for everyone that attended. Famoso Raceway staff did a wonderful job and everything went smooth and everyone was very professional about everything. Thank you to all the racers who made this event so great and fun to be at. I can honestly say that this was the best March Meet that we've attended since we started racing.

See you at the next big event,

Jason Spence
Spence Family Racing
NitroJunk Racing Classifieds

Labels: Famoso Raceway, March Meet, Nostalgia Drag Racing

Beat the wait at the gate and purchase your Single Day Admission or 3 Day Super Pass in advance! Tickets are on sale now at Vallitix. All tickets include parking, spectator admission, pit access as well as car show and swap meet access! Seating is general admission.

For additional information check out the March Meet Page.

Labels: Fuel Altereds, March Meet, Nostalgia Drag Racing, Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars, Top Fuel Dragsters