TOP FUEL ELIMINATOR

For the third year in a row the Top Fuel field at the CHRR race was short enough entries to fill the advertised 16-car field with just 13 teams at the event but it was a quality field nonetheless. Tony Bartone (above) had already clinched his second straight Hot Rod Heritage series championship before this event started and it looked like he was going to win yet another Bakersfield title when he had one of the worst competitive RT’s of his driving career (0.216) and lost in the semifinal round to Denver Schutz despite recording a 5.826/202.82 to Schutz’s slower 5.908/244.82.

On the other side of the ladder Bill Dunlap of Capitola, Calif., went to the final round on the strength of a string of 5.60 ET wins and raced to the victory when he bested Schutz.

In the finals, Dunlap powered to a winning run of 5.695 at 255.58 to the losing run 5.838 at 255.58. Dunlap defeated Brendan Murry, Dave Hirata, and Rick White to advance to the finals. This was the second win of the season for Dunlap at a Hot Rod Reunion event as he also won the Bowling Green race.

“I was lucky enough to win the inaugural event here in ’92,” Dunlap said. “It is the crew that gets me there. I’m just the lucky guy who gets to push the pedals. The crew that we put together for this race is amazing. I have to blame it all on the crew.”