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Jason Rupert wasn’t immune to the carnage that was prevalent among the funny cars.  I counted nine Friday night engine changes around the dark Famoso pits.  Kalitta Motorsports crewman Matt Bynum made the trip to Famoso to help his friend Jason with the Mert Littlefield Tribute funny car he crewed on all last season on their way to the AA/FC championship.

Click to enlarge »Old buddies; Dave Densmore (left) and Geno Gastelum got caught up after the years both have spent in NHRA Drag Racing, Densmore is the longtime media and PR guy for John Force Racing and before that with Kenny Bernstein and Geno having spent most of his adult life with the NHRA.

Click to enlarge » The very talented Eily Stafford has moved over to drive the Gruzen Racing “Strange Brew” supercharged Chevy in Nostalgia Eliminator 1.  Not bad for her first outing in the modified coupe as Stafford made it to the Finals, loosing to Steve Schoenfeld's '23 Ford on a holeshot. 

Click to enlarge » Joel Gruzen’s attention to detail now has the rear of the dragster with skimpy women’s underwear rather than an oily rag hanging out of a jeans pocket, as has been the case with previous male drivers.

Click to enlarge » There’s no doubt that these two goofballs were having fun announcing the nitro sessions, but Mike English (left) and Donnie Couch had a ball at the March Meet.  The long oil down timeouts were made a little more entertaining with these guys on the microphone, I actually heard spectators in the stands laughing at their banter.