WCHRA Rocks Famoso
The famed Auto Club Famoso Raceway played host to the West Coast Hot Rod Association season opener April 12-13 for the Team Performance Products Spring Nationals. As is the norm at these events, the showcase class was Mike’s Transmission Pro Street. Number one qualifier was John Mihovetz (shown above) in the Accufab-backed 2002 Cougar followed by Clint Hairston (below) and WCHRA newcomer Tim Henry.
The class showed its diversity with blown, turbocharged, nitrous and normally aspirated entries but at the end of the day it was Hairston in the Pertronix Performance Products twin turbo GTO that would eventually face off against Mihovetz. Not that it was easy for Mihovetz, in the semi against fellow turbocharged racer Mike Bowman, the Accufab Cougar eked out the win by a scant margin of only .010 of a second. Notably the two finalists were running the smallest cubic inch motors on the property, but even they had trouble in the final, both running off their previous pace, Hairston taking the win 7.082 at 197.97 to a 7.232 at 211.61.
Outlaw 10.5 saw hired gun Rick Snavely (shown) behind the wheel of Slim Zeinaty’s ’91 Camaro and Snavely did what he is paid for, taking the top qualifying spot and advancing to the final. Mark Luton may have only qualified third but did a good job in the semi-finals to advance to meet Snavely. However the Luton wheeled ’05 Mustang was no match for the LA resident and Snavely stroked it to an easy win, 7.411/196.97 to an 8.446/178.18.
A good field of True 10.5 cars put on a great show for the fans over the newly mandated distance of an eighth of a mile. Series Director Tim Rigby explained the change in format, “We wanted to make things closer and more like the rest of the country. The eighth mile format does that, as well as alleviating any chassis certification problems. It obviously works as Hoyle and Holder ran a small block and big block respectively and both ran a 5.11.”
It was only fitting that the top qualifiers, current Champion Roger Holder and Rich Hoyle would meet in the final. Holder fell slightly off the pace and Hoyle took the win 5.115 at 140.66 to Holder’s 5.273/146.65.
Pro Stock was the battle of Perris, CA racers. Robert Wasso took the pole ahead of class regular George Mitchell. Mitchell then strapped a .079 to .169 starting line advantage on Wasso and took an easy win 8.794 @ 156.95 to Wasso’s off the pace 9.580 @ 143.86.
The Drag Radial class continues to be popular and the field proved that. Artis Houston wheeled his fan favorite ’71 Nova to the pole position and advance all the way to the semi-finals before falling to Bob Kopp. Kopp had put away notables like Dave Bowman and Slim Zeinaty on his way to the semi and was running a string of 8.4 second passes. Derrol Hubbard had put away Frye and Schwarz on his way to the semi-final and took the bye to meet Kopp. Hubbard took the advantage but the tricky track caught him out and he fell off the pace handing an easy win to Kopp.
It was good to see the A/FX cars back with the WCHRA. Local racer Greg Dreher was totally on form and advanced to the final with his ’67 Mustang. Mitchell Akers traveled all the way from San Diego and made the trip worthwhile by facing off against Dreher, but Dreher was too consistent and took the win to lead the newly formed championship for A/FX cars.
Other winners included; Modified: Bill Hickok, A/Gas: Ken Ratzloff, B/Gas: Jeremy Griffie, C/Gas: Mark Capps, D/Gas: Charlie Whittaker, Open Comp: Jason Barta, .5 Full Tree: Steven Hulse, Pro Mod Bike: Chicago Joe.