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By David Beitler
The 64th annual Bakersfield March Meet at the historic Famoso Dragstrip turned out to be a race against the weather with nostalgia drag racing being the winner at the end . On Friday , the cold and wet weather gave track officials and racers only a three-hour window to get qualifying rounds in . Saturday had more rain coming in from noon on , which allowed only one more qualifying round . The planned second session got delayed due to showers and an oildown well into the night , so the track was already too cold to provide enough traction for the nitro cars . After the qualifying days concluded , last year ’ s NHRA Hot Rod Reunion Fuel Funny Car winner , Drew Austin , stood on top of the ladder after posting a 5.592 at 257.73 mph . Shortly behind him was Billy Morris with his 5.603-second , 257.14 run . Bobby Cottrell ’ s 5.660 at 254.47 run got him into third , Jerry Espeseth 5.688 at 257.48 became fourth quickest and Geoff Monise ended up fifth out of the 23 cars entered with his 5.688 at 256.75 run .
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Bret Williamson grabbed low e . t . in Nostalgia Top Fuel with a 5.789-second , 252.90 run . Pete Wittenberg clocked a 5.868 at 240.94 for second and Jim Murphy 5.937 at 235.27 for the third spot . Tyler Hilton got the fourth spot with his |
6.092 at 194.07 run and Adam Sorokin completed the top five with a 6.092 at 221.74 run . To everyone ’ s surprise , Dan Horan and his team failed to adapt to the tricky weather conditions and failed to qualify for the eight-car field . He |
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID BEITLER |