If you were to ask the sagatious staff here at DRO what they were doing New Year's Day, the answers would, depending on who you asked, range from, "Blergh", to "Head hurts I hate you die", to "Zzzzzzz". But there were quite a few people who were able to exhibit enough self control the night before to make it to the track and ring int he new year through high horsepower.

New Year’s Day at Fontana

Words and photos by Donna Bistran

While the months of December and January leave most drivers sitting on their couch watching old races on tv or tinkering in their shop waiting for race season to begin, drivers in the southern California area get to bring their rides out to the Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, CA for the annual New Year’s Big Buck Bracket Bash.

This year followed that tradition and brought nearly two hundred cars out to enjoy a weekend of racing, friends and festivities under beautiful sunny skies.  The low 80’s temperatures over the weekend made track conditions optimal helping drivers to hook and make some great passes.

Round one was ran on Saturday and in the Electronics class Branko J. Sindicich and his ’92 Mustang finished out the year by having the best reaction time in his class with a .002.  Paul Mitsos and his 2008 Dodge ran the fastest pass in the class with a 7.647 et on a 7.62 dial at 179.61 mph.

In the No-Electronics Class,  Richard Miller and his ’69 Camaro celebrated the end of the year with a perfect reaction time, while Bill Unruh and his ’68 Camaro had the fastest pass of the round with a 9.550 et at 145.27 mph on a 9.25 dial.

New years day was celebrated by Don Mehling, taking the win in the electronics class over Kevin McClelland.  In a first or worst case scenario, McClelland cut a .005 red light, giving Mehling the victory despite breaking out with a 8.52 et on an 8.53 dial.

In the No-electronics class, John brooks and his ’67 Mustang ran an 10.199 et on a 10.16 dial upsetting Ryan Priddy and his ’70 Nova, who ran a 10.079 et on his 10.08 dial.