Ask and ye shall receive
10/7/05
Jeff Burk Photo |
hat’s
right, ask and ye shall receive. This is what I live for,
my column being written for me. Lots of great information
was sent to me after my prodding last month and I just can’t
stand it. Where do we start? How about with one of my personal
favorites, yes, I do play favorites and it almost always
includes nitro and Pete Jensen. Ladies and gentlemen, the
Foothill Flyer team! A.K.A. the Free Mexican Airforce!
How crazy is this? With all the “reality” TV
crap going on nowadays none of it is watchable, correct?
Add in some nitro and the Foothill Flyer team and I just
might run out and buy an idiot box! It seems as though some
film goofs have been following these screw-ups this season
and want to pitch it to a couple of cable outlets. The filming
has so far focused on the new driver Jerry Kumre Jr. (so
says JJ) and his getting the feel for the new team. Sure,
and Jensen hasn’t gotten lots of camera time. Myself,
I will pay big bucks for the outtakes involving Pete Jensen
and his attempting to be P.C. and or “camera friendly”.
oh yea, so far this year they have ran a 6.14 at Boise.
Good luck at the CHRR guys! Want to know more about these
clowns? www.nitroflyer.com
Did I mention the CHRR? For those of you who have been
under a rock for 14 years, the CHRR is also known as the
California Hot Rod Reunion, held each year at good old Famoso
Raceway near Bakersfield. This event has become one of the
two premier nostalgia events of the year, the other being
the March Meet of course. This is NHRA’s deal and
has grown by leaps and bounds especially since the inclusion
of the popular “Cacklefest.” This year there
are over 40 cars entered for the ’fest and as I reported
in an earlier column there are going to be over 100 of these
cars soon vying for a slot at this event or the other reunion
held at Bowling Green in the spring.
While I am pecking away at my trusty old ’puter the
wire wheel set are having their yearly ball at Famoso. As
of last check with the tower, this looks to be the baddest,
meaning tightest, field ever for nostalgia Top Fuel—16
cars with low being Sean Bellemure with a 5.86 @ 253 and
the # 16 spot being held down by Mark Hyla with a 6.11 @
216. Twenty-four cars rolled the water and the DNQs have
some familiar faces within—Mendy Fry, Howard Haight
and Lee Jennings. And they all ran teens! Although I’m
sure Rick Rogers will still be partying even with his DNQ.
How about a 6.11 with a 9 to be the 17th car? Speaking of
Mendy, you should check out her new web presence. It’s
awful easy to look at…the site too. http://www.mendyfry.com.
Heard from another of my personal favorites and that would
be the Frantic Fueler folks. These guys run the devils own
late model 426 for power and to add insult to injury they
also run a big tire. More power to em! While their schedule
consists of only match races they are “doing it for
love” to steal a line from another front motor fanatic.
From my experience the match race deal, at least for the
Funny Cars, has been nothing but fun. Oh, and you get paid.
Check out their schedule here: http://compfab.com/ff/index.php
This is a public service announcement, please check out
this site and participate: http://www.vintagenitro.org.
Sunny Wiersma runs this place and she has done a whole lot
for the vintage racing scene in the Midwest. It only takes
a few minutes and it doesn’t hurt too much. Check
out the stuff by Raven, you won’t be sorry.
With only one event left on our calendar for this season
things are winding down. The Goodguys finals are the end
of this month at Famoso. Rick McGee is leading points in
Top Fuel and Dan Horan Jr. is leading in Funny Car. The
only thing safe to say about the points chase in Funny Car
is that I won’t be taking the title this year. Stay
tuned for next season! 
Editor's Note: Sadly, this is Jeff Utterback's last
"Getting Nostalgic" column for DRO. We will miss
him and his insights into Nostalgia drag racing, and we
wish him luck in his future endeavors.
