NHRA Hot Rod Heritage at Phoenix, Arizona

A New Tradition Begins

Words by Jim Baker     
Photos by Tim Marshall

Kin Bates Sr. dominated A/Fuel with Low ET of 6.194 seconds and Top Speed of 229.20 mph. He also won the class.

After three attempts to land a ‘Heritage’ event back in Arizona, it finally happened. What used to be an automatic Arizona date at Speedworld Raceway turned up-side down when the Northwest Phoenix area track suddenly closed three years ago.

At the time, Wild Horse Pass was also undergoing changes from the original Firebird strip to the renamed track as it is today. It is owned by the Wild Horse band of the Gila River tribe of Native Americans. Their beautiful Casino sits adjacent to the raceway.

We attended this race on Jan. 16-17 with anticipation and were not disappointed. Saturday morning was nice sunny weather and a great turn-out of Heritage faithful as well as support from the local Arizona racers. The pits were pretty much full!

A big weather change did occur Saturday afternoon when clouds closed out the sun and the temperature dropped to the cool 50s. However, by Sunday all was sunny and warm again for eliminations. The entire Groups 1 and 2 Nostalgia were included, but not the fuel categories of AA/Fuel Dragster and AA/FC Funny Car. The top nitro burners will debut for 2016 at Bakersfield’s March Meet in a few weeks.

Kin Bates (far lane) got the A/Fuel win over Bill Wayne.

The top class at Wild Horse was A/Fuel Dragster which was pretty much dominated by popular Kin Bates, Sr. all the way from Anderson, Calif. Arizona was in the running as Bill Wayne powered his car to runner-up from Bull Head City, Ariz. Bates had Low E.T. and Top Speed of the meet at 6.19 seconds and 229.20 MPH. There were seven FED dragsters in the first round call.