JBA supports local drag racing by sponsoring Barona Drag Strip and RaceLegal. Last night, July 24, 2010, Barona hosted its Funny Car Summer 2010 show. It was a fun time and the crowd seemed to enjoy it, even if one of the funny cars did try to eat a crew member!  I’ll apologize in advance for the lame night-time photography….let’s just call it “special effects” and let it go at that. The pictures don’t tell the definitive story, just random shots. Chris Boyer was on the microphone, the ice cream truck was armed and dangerous and the weather was perfect. One stop at Sonic on the way home and we called it a night. See the pictures for more details. -bt

Race track, not street! The RaceLegal organization provides a low-cost, safe and legal alternative to street racing. JBA team member Steve Fenn took his SBC-powered Vega over to Qualcomm for the RaceLegal event Friday May 21st. His best time was 6.19 with a 115.67 top speed. There was no way to hook up right off the starting line so it was kind of launch, let off, straighten out and then hammer it again. Still fun no matter what! Many thanks to Scott Thompson for great cheeseburgers! Good to see Jim B.’s nitrous-hungry ‘67 Mustang and PG’s emaculate and very quick Chevy truck. I’m an idiot and forgot my camera, so all I’ve got is one cell phone video. JBA Vega at RaceLegal Drags  Upcoming race dates include June 4th, 18th and 25th…go to RaceLegal.com for the extended schedule and more info. -Bruce Tucker

JBA made the run up to El Mirage for the two-day season opener May 15-16 and hung out with our favorite land speed racing club—the San Diego Roadster Club. Not to toot SDRC’s horn too loud, but four club season championships in a row. ‘Nuff said. Lots of fast cars and bikes hauling ass on the dirt. SDRC club member John Noonan made the fastest two-wheel run ever at El Mirage on his ‘Busa…242 mph! Whoa. See the pictures for more of the story. -Bruce Tucker

Check out the video I made on YouTube from last Sunday as I take on the AutoX competition at the Texas A&M Sports Car Club’s 2nd race of the Spring semester!  Some of the turns were pretty tight but I managed to swing the old Cobra around and take away a trophy for 5th place out of 17 competitors in the Street Tire Mod (STM) class and was only 0.342 seconds from 4th.  I have the video’s from my 3 other runs from different camera angles so I may post those up later when I have time, but until then enjoy, and Gig’em Ags!

Here is another video from my first run as I am trying to figure out the course…

J. Bittle and the J. Bittle American Racing Team finished in 8th position at the Coronado Speed Festival September 26-27th. J. Bittle’s #29 1968 Trans Am Mustang uses a rare 302 tunnel-port V8 that was originally a factory prototype engine used by Ford engineer Ed Hinchliff. The engine was intended to be an upgrade to the factory Mustangs at the time, but the project was scrapped in favor of the Boss 302 engine. In race trim, Bittle’s 302 makes 475 horsepower, enough to keep him in the top 10 at race events such as the Coronado Speed Festival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I went down to the local 1/8 mile dragstrip just 20 minutes south of me and made a few passes in the old ‘69 Mach 1. I couldn’t get much traction but I plan on returning soon to hopefully hook up and make some clean runs, maybe even head a little farther south to the 1/4 Mile track in Sealy! For now I just made this short little video clip of the 1/8 mile run in Navasota,TX….Check it out and let me know what you think!!!

Team JBA showed up to display and support the Wicked Stangs drag day at Barona Saturday the 22nd of August.  Long time JBA customer David Schwartz of PSCA Drag Radial fame brought out his monster turbo fox body to check out his new parachute andnd new timing belt tension.  David is second in PSCA points with4 races to go as he tunes up for Vegas next month. 

Austin Bittle pulled the ex-UC High School drag Fairlane out of moth balls and proceeded to spank his Dad leaving him on the starting line as the GT500 proceeded to break a pinion gear and deposit gear oil on the starting line after the burn out.  Seems Dad was really hitting the clutch with a dream of hole-shoting his son for once…Stewart Bittle as crew chief set tire pressures and assisted in eliminations till the mid-night finish under the lights. 

The JBA display at the track was well recieved with Shaun Dove and JR Twedt spending great time with many competitors and spectators talking JBA Racing Engines and Services.

 

 

We don’t just talk racing, we live it. On this blog you will be able to follow Team JBA as we put our money where out mouth is!