Antique cars at Fontana

Words by James Drew
Photos by James Drew and Marty Reger

Anything that lasts 39 years has got to be popular and that certainly was true for the 39th Annual Antique Nationals at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Calif. The pits were packed, but this event is more about having a good time and visiting with fellow car enthusiasts than hardcore, high-pressure racing.

The quickest hot rod was Dean Prochison with a 9.28 e.t. and the slowest took over 24 seconds to travel the quarter mile.

The quickest race car was Dan Bridges, who was driving a straight eight cylinder front engine dragster on nitro. This was the last front-engine dragster built by the late, great chassis builder Woody Gilmore in 1972 or ‘73 (this information was furnished by the car owner and has been verified by the numbers on the chassis data plate).

Randy Ferguson, who hails from Rolling Hills Estates in Calif., made his quickest run ever and launched with the wheels up and laid down an 8.244 at 160 mph to defeat Mr. Flathead. Don McCain’s rear engine flathead expired right off the line, running 14.379 at 65.89 mph for the loss in the final round of Top Eliminator.