Hale gets first win; Harris takes second

Words and photos by Darr Hawthorne

John Hale not only won the race but he ran the best ET in the short history of the AA/FC class with a 5.589/255.97 clocking in the final.

It took career-best elapsed times, track records and final round holeshots to determine the winners of the 20th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion at Auto Club Famoso Raceway. 

Dallas, Texas, native Hale wowed spectators and fellow competitors in his final round victory over Kris Krabill.  Hale carried the front wheels off the line in his ’69 Camaro funny car on the way to recording the quickest and fastest run in AA/FC history, running a jaw dropping 5.589 ET at 255.97 miles per hour to Krabill’s solid but losing 5.783 ET at 248.75 mph. 

After Hale and his Guy Tipton-led crew, with help from Garry Kennedy, struggled in nitro funny car, qualifying just thirteenth and then winning with an off-the-pace 5.915 first round victory over the Paul Smith-tuned Jon Capps’ 5.921 in round one of eliminations, the team opted to install a new engine.

 “We suspected we had a camshaft problem. We had another short block in the trailer with a cam that we had run before and knew it was a true deal. We put it (the engine) in last night and things started going back our way,” said a proud Hale as he headed to the Winners Circle.

When asked what this meant to his season, Hale answered, “This definitely seals the deal on our Drag Racing Online AA/FC Championship and shows that it wasn’t a lucked-into deal, but to come out here and run with these West Coast guys and do what we did today, I don’t know if it’s going to sink in for a while… and I hope it doesn’t.” 

Hale defeated Mike Halstead driving the “Nitro Angel” in round two and then James Day driving Dale Pulde’s “War Eagle” Firebird in the semi-finals.