In round two of Funny Car, veteran tuner Ray Zeller found his tune up for the cold track, moving Lee Paul Jennings to the top of the class with a strong 6.203 at 223.43 mph, but Steve Romanazzi also found the horsepower to pilot his Vega “Warrior” to a close 6.235 at 229.70 mph, moving both cars into the final round of the Chicago-style event.
Round two of Top Fuel brought together the two quickest dragsters to that point as Rick White backed up his first round performance running 6.157 at 217.39 mph to Adam Sorokin’s improving 6.300/240.47 pass, setting up a final between the same two cars, Chicago-style.
In the final rounds Don Taros from San Pedro, CA, defeated a red-lighting Dale Shubert in the NE1 category with Taros running a near-perfect 7.593 on a 7.60 index with 171.51 mph.
The Nitro Funny Car final brought back Jennings’ 1970 “Code Red” Dodge Challenger against Romanazzi’s Vega, only to find the “Warrior” broke a coupler on the burnout giving Jennings a single and the event victory. Romanazzi now leads the NFCA points with a 34 point advantage over Nate Bugg’s “Lil Nate” Cuda and 38 points over Ron Capps driving the Godfrey and Gaynor “Oblivion Express.” Capps was unable to attend the Fontana event due to a prior commitment.
In the final round of Top Fuel Rick White cranked out low elapsed time and mile per hour of the meet with his stout 5.910 at 246.48 to defeat Sorokin’s 6.002/212.66 even though Sorokin’s .034 reaction time gave him the starting line advantage in a close top-end race.
One of the goals of the Nostalgia Nitro Shootout was to test the waters for future nostalgia-type events and by the ticket sales and enthusiasm of the grandstand spectators it was apparently a success. It was reminiscent of a typical Saturday at Irwindale with some nitro floppers and dragsters and an assortment of gassers, roadsters, coupes and exhibition cars like the “Winged Express” with the non-stop activity of a small Manufacturer’s Midway, Cackle Cars, and some show cars on display.