TOP FUEL B

Mark Malde (left) and Lee Jennings

Top Fuel's B (which means "Bueno!" if you live in Los Angeles and pay attention to the restaurant grades) was laid out like this:

1. Sean Bellemeur 6.178 @ 238.03
2. Lee Jennings sr. 6.207 @ 227.73
3. Rick White 6.377 @ 163.69
4. Rick McGee 6.380 @ 175.91
5. Denver Schutz 6.412 @ 226.07
6. Rick Rogers 6.554 @ 202.93
7. Mark Malde 6.614 @ 215.67
8. Dusty Renteria 6.702 @ 184.53

Also starting with the letter B is "breakage" and we had a little of that. Fred Farndon, Dan Rusk and Glenn Hutchinson were waiting in the wings as alternates, Farndon was out of parts so in came Rusk for Rogers. Hutchinson rode in for Renteria. This side of the show came down to the number 2 and 4 qualifiers. Lee Jennings trucked by Malde and got a free ride through the scales when White was a no show after his stellar 5.93 at only 217. Rick McGee poured his asphalt to Schutz and then Bellemeur to meet up with Jennings in the final. This time it was Jennings over McGee with a 6.121 @ 215.77 to a 6.717 @ 203.48.

Sean Bellemeur was No. 1 qualifier and had top speed of the B main

Low e.t. for the B show was 5.932 for Rick White with a top speed of 245.76 by Bellemeur.

NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR

1. Nate Bugg 6.241 @ 209.10 2. Dan Horan Jr. 6.296 @ 222.77 3. Randy Walls 6.593 @ 209.15 4. Mike Adams 6.790 @ 218.87 5. Mike Savage 6.793 @ 194.46 6. Bob Godfrey 6.925 @ 184.88

Nostalgia Funny Car had seven cars on the lot with six making the call on Sunday. After rather anti-climactic qualifying sessions, the flops filed in as follows:

Many a bleacher bum had thought that a match up between Nate Bugg and Dan Horan Jr. was inevitable; Bugg had Chuck Worsham in his bonnet and Horan had Dale Pulde. Although Horan ran a 6.18 in his match-up with Savage, valve train problems kept him from coming back. Walls defeated Adams and then a reinstated Savage to get his slot in the final. Godfrey got there by swatting Bugg and dodging the Dan Horan Jr. juggernaut when the Mustang couldn't make the call.

So it went, in this break-rule-ridden eliminator, with Randy Walls meeting Bob Godfrey in the final for the first March Meet Nostalgia Funny Car champion.

At the green, Godfrey left on Walls (.517 to a .609) but it was all Walls after 330 feet. So it was Randy Walls (photo) 6.751 to a 8.614 to become the first champ in the books with the new Funny Car class.