he 45th annual K&N Filters March Meet, brought to us by the Goodguys and VRA, doesn't make sense. It's the first race of the season, it's in the middle of nowhere i.e. Famoso, CA, (sorry, "Bakersfield") and it consistently outdraws all the other races on the vintage calendar in both spectator and car count.

There are so many different aspects to this deal that it is hard to describe. You have the rockabilly cats at the finish line, the car- show-time-out-doll types, the swap-meeters, fans of every imaginable size and flavor, the legendary Vipers, and, of course, the racers.

For a lot of the nostalgia folks, this race is it. The big one. The end all. Mecca. But whatever you want to call it, the March Meet is a must see, must do event. Maybe event is the wrong word, how about happening?

This year, of course did not disappoint. New rules in Top Fuel and the addition of a fuel Funny Car class added to the pre-happening hype.

So what happened at the happening?

TOP FUEL

Top Fuel had 21 cars looking to fill two eight-car fields. After a top end incident involving Bob Richardson's Circuit Breaker during Friday's qualifying session, we were down to 20 cars. After the much-talked- about Butch Blair/Howard Haight car pass carnage (see Agent 1320's notes on this), we had 19 cars. After three qualifying sessions, the A- show runners looked like this:

1. Jack Harris 5.907 @252.8
2. Jim Murphy 5.919 @255.31
3. Bill Dunlap 5.937 @ 221.72
4. Jeff Diehl 5.995 @ 247.45
5. Jason Ritchie 6.071 @ 241.22
6. Brendan Murry 6.137 @ 230.59
7. Pete Kaiser 6.145 @ 229.59
8. Chuck Tanko 6.173 @ 227.50

In eliminations, Harris (photo) made short work of Tanko and Diehl, running a 5.888 to snake the surfer. Murphy k.o.'d Kaiser with a 5.961 and almost got bit by Brendan when both cars slowed, with Murphy's 6.321 holding Murry's 6.709. And just like it is supposed to work out, we had numbers 1 and 2 in the final.

Harris was away first with a .496 light to Murphy's .505, but the OSH car came around to get to the stripe first with a 5.882 @ 247.38 to Nitro Thunder's 5.926 @ 241.22.

Low e.t. for the A show was Murphy's 5.882. Top speed, Murphy's 255.31. And he scored all these great numbers under the new rules and a new compound tire. Some "expert" on one of those message boards predicted that low e.t. would be a 5.99. Boy! The nerve of that guy!