NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series said goodbye to April in a big way over the weekend hosting two events: one at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho, and a second at historic Sacramento Raceway in Northern California. With the March Meet (Bakersfield) rescheduled for the end of May due to COVID restrictions, the two races finally gave Heritage Series competitors a reason to unload the race cars from their trailers. With Group 1 and 2 racers set for Sacramento and nitro Funny Cars at Boise, only Top Fuel dragster would have to wait for Bakersfield in which to make their 2021 debut.

The Heritage Series race at Sacramento Raceway was part of the track’s annual Funny Car Fever event. In addition to the 11 Wallys awaiting the Group 1 and 2 Heritage racers, there were gleaming statuettes for CIFCA Funny Cars and AA/GS. The weather was cool and overcast, but the racing was heated, exciting, and unpredictable. 

Unpredictable? Well almost. Does Kin Bates’ name ring a bell? The popular driver from Anderson, Calif., wheeled the Adams-Bates A/Fuel Dragster to another win in what was been a more than decades-long domination of that class. In the final round against Wayne Ramay, “Doc Bates”, as he is known, got the jump off the starting line (.086 to .151) and that advantage was sufficient to get the win light with a 6.104 at 217.67 to Ramay’s hard-charging 6.049 at 199.94. 

Then there is Steve Faller’s incumbency of the 7.0 Pro class. Faller has won back-to-back 7.0 Pro titles starting in 2019 and shows no inclination to vacate the position to anyone else. Paired in the final round at Sacramento against 2018 champ Lawton Ferreira Jr., Faller was superb once again with an .040 reaction time coupled with a 7.060 which was more than enough to subdue Lawton Jr.’s. marks of .086 at 7.234. Matt Baldonado closed out Group 1 winners with his victory over Dan Fenton in Jr. Fuel Dragster. The No. 4 qualifier was sharp in his final round with metrics of .037 RT at 7.066 on a 7.01 index. Fenton had a troubled run and shut off early.

The competition for Wallys in Group 2 was lethal as usual. In a terrific A/Gas final, No. 1 qualifier Mike Mossi sliced off a .009 RT on veteran Frank Merenda only to see visions of his Wally vanish by two thousandths when a 7.598 showed on the scoreboard in his lane. In B/Gas final, No. 3 James Black escaped Mossi’s fate with his 8.597 when opponent Mark Laeger kept the peddle down in pursuit of Black and carded a much quicker 8.548. 

NorCal legend Artie Paiva won C/Gas over Chris Robbin. Again, it was Paiva’s RT (.038 to .068) advantage that forced Robbin to breakout (9.576) because of the chase. Another Nor Cal icon, Don Fournier from Sunnyvale, battled Elk Grove’s Vincent Reali for D/Gas honors. It was a nail biter with Fournier coming out on top (.070 RT and 10. 647) to Reali’s .082 RT and 10.645. Then, there’s Chris Neal’s quest to win a Wally. He finally got it done at Funny Car Fever. The Hot Rod winner got his ’57 Chevy 210 in the Sacramento Raceway winner’s circle with his victory over Don Thomas.

Nostalgia Eliminator 1 went to former champion (2015) Jason Barta. The final round was a sensational drag race against No. 1 qualifier Dave Lawson. The early incrementals were nearly identical (.021 and .029), and Barta held on to that advantage with a 7.631 to Lawson’s 7.634. Wes Anderson won Nostalgia Eliminator 2 over finalist Eddie Lucas, and No. 1 Jeff Follin was a dominant winner in Nostalgia Eliminator 3. California Independent Funny Car (CIFCA) winner saw Tony Trimp defeat a tire blazing James Maher, and Bill Fitting prevailed in AA/GS.