The Vintage Auto Racing Association (VARA) held their Route 66 Classic Vintage Road Races at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana,CA April 29-May 1, 2011. JBA stopped by on Saturday April 30th to check out the action. Interesting weather…warm with clear blue skies and high winds that tried to tip everything over! In addition to five run groups that included a variety of vintage iron, the event featured a cool collection of historic Champ and Indy Cars from all eras of open wheel racing. As always, see the images for more of the story and if you like Austin Healys, check out the last 15 pictures!

The West Coast Fuel Altereds put on a great show at Barona 1/8-Mile Drag Strip April 23, 2011. Lots of fun watching the drivers try to hook up for a full pass…especially after sunset when the track cooled off and it got damp. Quickest run we saw was a 4.32 ET at 152.95 mph. The two quickest altereds of the day met for a final showdown at about 10pm and it was worth the wait. At the finish line, the cars were separated by 1/100 of a second with the winner laying down a 4.54 ET. If you want to see a video of that final, click here. In addition to the altereds, a number of local hard-runners came out, including J.D. Watkins with a couple passes in the 4.80′s with his notch Mustang. The white Courier with the blown monster motor hooked up for a full pass. Rick Reynolds ran his black Pinto in the 5.30′s and was tough to beat. Dennis Gonsales was running his green Mustang. Bunch of fast bikes ran in the 5.00′s and 6.00′s. The show included Junior Dragsters, a quick VW that was on the juice, and one guy on a quad! Muchos gracias to Quickdraw for the great barbecue and beer! All in all, a good time. And a big thank you to the guys at Barona for putting on shows like this. Support local drag racing! Check out the attached pictures for more of the story.

One really cool feature at the Good Guys Del Mar Nationals is the autocross event. You’ll find the best performing street machines at the show ripping through the cones or hanging out in the parking lot trackside. Manufacturers such as Detroit Speed, Ridetech, Hotchkis and Agent 47 bring out their best handling cars to compete alongside a combination of street rods and other independent participants. Here are a few pictures of some of the competitors during Saturday’s event.

Caught the 4th day of the NHRA Winternationals Drag Race at Pomona that included the finals for the Pro Stock, Funny Car and Top Fuel classes. It was a beautiful setting…clear, crisp weather with snow-capped mountains in the background. Don “The Snake” Prudhomme was honored as part of the NHRA 60th Anniversary Season celebration. Congrats to Jason Line, Robert Hight and Morgan Lucas for their class wins. A few random images are attached. -bt

The San Diego Region of the Porsche Club of America held an autocross in the southeast corner of the Qualcomm parking lot today, February 12, 2011. Lots of beautiful, fast cars filled the pit area. Owners took their turns running hard through the cones and a good time was had by all!

Monster Jam is always a fine evening of family fun. The 2011 edition at Qualcomm was no exception, however the layout didn’t seem to lend itself to great freestyle runs. Everyone still loves Grave Digger who won both the race portion of the event and the freestyle. The families that bailed out early did their kids a disservice…missing the best runs in freestyle. It’s surprising just how high the trucks get off the ground. They look like toys out on the dirt, but you can clearly hear the 1,500 hp big blocks working. -bt

If you’ve never been to a big-time NHRA drag race, throw it on your “bucket list”. Nothing like 8,000 hp top fuel dragsters and funny cars running side-by-side at 300 mph! Even way up in the stands you can feel the heat as they pass by. The sound is unbelievable…you’ve got to hear it to believe it. We cruised up to Pomona for the last event in the National Hot Rod Association’s 2010 season. Saturday isn’t as crowded and you get to see some runs after dark. One of the best races of the weekend was the last Funny Car race on Saturday…John Force defeated Matt Hagan in a really close showdown between number 2 (Force) and number 1 (Hagan) in season points. On Sunday, John Force won the season championship in Funny Car and then the event itself. Force was joined in the winner’s circle at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona by Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Shane Gray (Pro Stock), and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle). Larry Dixon, Greg Anderson and TE Tonglet clinched the season championships in Top Fuel, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle respectively. Check out the pictures for a look around in the pits, staging lanes and grand stands. And thank you Carl for the additional pix. -bt

Mother Nature must have figured that El Mirage Dry Lake needed some restoration work since she rained out both the October and November SCTA land speed trials (see the pictures below). Although it’s always disappointing to cancel land speed events, there are two redeeming factors. The first is that the lake bed should have an even better racing surface for next season after a long winter hiatus. And the second, is that the San Diego Roadster Club was leading the points after the last meet in September and so the club winds up #1 in points for the 5th season straight. Not that the club wouldn’t have done it anyway, but now it’s final and in the books. Congratulations to the SDRC on another victorious season of running fast and safe! And thanks to SCTA secretary Miriam Macmillan for the photos. -bt

The 13th annual weekend of vintage racing featured more than 250 cars competing in nine race groups on a 1.7-mile course on the runways of North Island Naval Air Station, Coronado. It’s the only auto racing venue in the world held on an active U.S. Navy runway. Combined with a huge car corral, a car show, military displays, Maynard’s Garage, drifting demos, vendor booths, flyovers, Leap Frog performances, new-car test drives, food and live music—it’s a must-see San Diego tradition. And the event is a fund raiser for the Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation Fund for family support! 

J. Bittle brought out his historic 1968 Trans Am Mustang to race in Group 9 and what a weekend. J sat on the pole for the Saturday Trans Am race and went on to win the race! On Sunday, he sat on the pole again and finished half-a-car-length out of first place in one of the most exciting finishes in Coronado’s 13-year race history.  JBA also served a few hundred hot dogs each day in our pit area and co-hosted a booth with our buddies from Custom Auto Body and San Diego BMW Motorcycles. All in all, a great weekend of racing with friends and family.

The attached pictures run through the weekend with shots taken in the pits, a little racing action and quite a few shots from the Car Corral. If you didn’t make it this year, be sure to join us next year!

Barona Drag Strip hosted the 39th Antique Drags Sunday, September 19th at their 1/8-mile facility. The Antique Drags lost access to a quarter-mile drag strip years ago when Carlsbad closed and recently the event changed “management”. But fortunately, the Antique Drags continues to survive due to strong support from drag race fans in San Diego County. A good crowd turned out again today and were rewarded with sunny skies and side-by-side drag race action, not to mention the Mr. Frosty truck. JBA continues to support drag racing in San Diego as an annual sponsor of Barona Drag Strip. See the attached pictures for a sampling of burnouts and cars in the pits and staging lanes. -bt

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