The 2019 California Hot Rod Reunion was completed at Auto Club Famoso Raceway on Sunday, Oct. 27, crowning not only event winners but also champions in the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series.

For the second consecutive year, Mendy Fry raced her High Speed Motorsports dragster to victory with a run of 5.526-seconds at 264.91 mph in the Nostalgia Top Fuel final against Pete Wittenberg who red lit at the starting line. She had already clinched the 2019 championship going into this event. (Dave Stoltz photo)

In Nostalgia Funny Car, Bobby Cottrell landed in the winner’s circle when he ran a 5.675 at 249.90 in his 1969 Camaro bettering Tony Jurado‘s pass of 5.859 at 233.80. Cottrell also clinched the NHRA Heritage Series World Championship in the category for the second year in a row.  (Jamie Shores-Fraijo photo)

We’ll have complete results coming later in DRO.  [10/29/19]

Larry “Spiderman” McBride crushed the competition Sunday, Oct. 27, at Rockingham Dragway, stopping the quarter-mile timers in a best-in-history 5.607 seconds at a jaw-dropping finish line speed of 263.10 miles per hour to win the Top Fuel title for the fourth time in five years in the track’s annual Man Cup Motorcycle Series event.

After tuning up with a qualifying time of 5.620 at an even 263 mph, the veteran from Newport News, VA, unloaded on defending race champion and erstwhile point leader David Vantine of Hamilton, NY, in the final round to move back to the top of the rider standings in his bid for an unprecedented 20th series title.

McBride, who fell behind Vantine in the points race after a rare first round defeat in the Man Cup opener, will move on to Valdosta, GA, where he can win his sixth straight Man Cup title. Before Saturday, McBride’s 5.677-second run at 250.74 mph last year at Bowling Green, KY, was the benchmark for drag racing motorcycle performance.

Although McBride’s qualifying number gave him an immediate psychological edge, it was Vantine who earned the right to pick his lane in the final round after he beat former Ray Price Racing standout Tommy Grimes with a time of 5.808 in the semifinals.

Grimes, the veteran from Winston-Salem, NC, was the No.2 qualifier ahead of Vantine astride “The Beast,” a bike owned by four-time European Top Fuel Motorcycle Champion Per Bengtsson of Klippan, Sweden.

Sam White of Chapin, SC, whose final round victory over two-time reigning series champion Preston Bartlett of St. Augustine, FL, means that the Man Cup Pro Fuel title won’t be decided until the finale.

Among the other Sunday winners was veteran Mark Rendeluk of Oklahoma City, OK, who won Pro Open while Chris Edwards of Bessemer City prevailed in Pro Street. Rendeluk beat 2017 Rockingham winner Niki “Niki Zak” Zakrzewski of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, the fastest woman on two wheels, when she suffered an uncharacteristic loss of concentration at the start and gave up an enormous advantage that she simply could not overcome.

Pro Mod was won by 69-year-old Paul Gast of Grand Island, NY.

It was a good day for Puerto Rican riders Pablo Gonzales and Ricardo Marte.  Marte was beaten in the Super Comp final by Jason Herron of Lexington, SC, while Gonzales won the Saturday Pro ET race, was a Saturday semifinalist in Street ET and was one of the three riders still in contention when rain halted racing in Pro ET on Sunday.   [10/29/19]

From left, Bob Tasca, Mike Neff and Jon Schaffer.

Veteran tuner Mike Neff will join Tasca Racing fulltime beginning at the Las Vegas race in a multiyear deal, according to team owner Bob Tasca III, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Funny Car. Neff will serve as co-crew chief with Jon Schaffer, who joined Tasca Racing in 2019.

“Mike Neff brings a level of experience and tone to the team that is invaluable,” Tasca said. “Neff and Jon complement each other so well. Our success on track this year shows it. It’s so important to have the right combination of people behind you and I think we’ve done that.”

“I’m excited to be back working on a Funny Car,” said Neff, who formerly was with John Force Racing as a tuner and a driver. “And I’m excited to be back with Jon (Schaffer). Jon and I have worked together quite a bit in the past and we have a great working relationship. It’s good to be back working with Bob and his family, too. Bob worked hard to get Ford back. They have a great team over there at Ford Performance and it’s good to see them in drag racing again.” [10/29/19]

In testing for the “Turkey Bash 2K19” event at Ohio Valley Dragway in Kentucky, Jonathan Capizzi of Holland, MI, set a new stock bottom end (SBE) record for LS Engines with his 4.506 @ 155.70-mph pass.

Starting with a Gen IV 5.3L pulled from a 2011 Suburban, Jon outfitted it with a Garrett Gen 2 88mm turbo, a custom ground Baker camshaft and 799 casting heads that he hand ported himself. He topped the engine off with a Holley EFI system including a Dominator ECU, Holley Hi-Ram intake manifold/fuel rails, a slew of Holley sensors and methanol fuel.  (photo courtesy Holley)  [10/29/19]

The Burkster has a Three Stooges tie that he has worn at special occasions for years and so we just had to share Sean Renteria’s Pro Mod at the California Hot Rod Reunion. (The Agent must say, however, that he’s always been a Shemp fan too.) Unfortunately, Renteria lost in the first round to Ed Thornton. (Dave Stoltz photo) [10/29/19]