Words and photos by James Drew

he nostalgia racers had not just themselves to battle but they also had to fight Mother Nature as each day brought different racing conditions for the teams at the 2nd Annual NHRA Heritage Series event at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Calif.

The wind was consistently strong, but the temperature was different every day. Friday’s test and tune was greeted by cold track conditions as a storm was blowing through southern California and the track never got above 60 degrees, causing most of the racers to spin their tires upon leaving the starting line.

There was a noticeably low turnout of participants at this year’s race. Whether it was because of the iffy weather, the weakened economy or competing events (a Super Chevy Show was held at the track just a week before, the NHRA National event was held the same weekend in Las Vegas along with another Super Chevy Show event in Arizona), fewer than two hundred cars attended the event.

The racing was good in all classes with the exception of Friday qualifying when the third car in the Hot Rod class caused a two and half hour delay as synthetic transmission fluid was deposited onto the track from the starting line all the way to the last turn out. The track personnel worked as fast and hard as they could but the full length of quarter mile had to be scraped by hand as a torch was needed to get it up.

A brand new grill house and brewery called Omaha Jack’s had a successful promotion, helped by the long down time: bring your race ticket stub, buy one dinner and get a second one free. The owners of Omaha Jacks came out to the track Saturday afternoon to see the racer they were sponsoring, D/Gas Bob Williams in his ‘49 Anglia.