The 2022 March Meet at Famoso Racway

[J. S.]

Jon, I just checked and its 40% saturday

Of course, these weather reports can be all over the road at times. According to "weather.gov", they show 90% for Fri, and 70% chance for Sat. Boo!! Fortunately, these forecasts are frequently wrong, so we will see what the next few days brings. How dare it rain on our March Meet parade.

 

[Ramjet]

Updated - Weather report for FAMOSO (March Meet). Even though we are pretty much always in a draught it will almost always rain or get cold when a Drag Race is scheduled at Famoso in March.
Mcfarland Ca. Weather including 33559 Famoso Road
Wed - 74/44 2% Rain
Thur - 65/41 59% Rain
Fri - 57/37 22% Rain
Sat - 52/32 24% Rain
Sun 56/32 10% Rain
Since Wednesday is mostly Set up - Tech & Paid T&T no problem, but Thursday is for Heritage lower classes Q1. Problem is If there is much rain the drainage is bad under the track and there will be weepers. Same thing for Friday & Saturday. Also 32 to 50"s degrees (AIN,T) very conducive to much evaporation.

Re-Boot on the weather -
Thursday 72/44 5%
Friday 57/37 24%
Saturday 50/33 44%
Sunday 56/33 6%
The reality here is the Highs without Sun are usually only for maybe 1-2 hours. Those who get a decent hit Tommorow will be in a good qualifing spot. Friday and Saturday could be problamatic. Today was good. The last little NE1 car that I built ran 7:60-4 on a 7:60 index on test day at 2250 ft. DA. - tommorrow will be a crap shoot. The track is GOOD for now and the humidity is about 25%. By the way the announcers version of "Weepers" are fixed is a little different than what I usually see on the track.

 

[glofria]

Cars are running down the track now.

 

[qtermile14]

Looking at the Weather Channel site radar, and it looks like rain until about 1PM today.

 

[.]

$5 gal gasoline keeping me home this time.

 

[glofria]

The price of gas and potential snow on The Grapevine is keeping me home, but I'm keeping up with whats happening at the track.

An article in the local rag:

Capps returns to March Meet seeking second Fuel Altered championship

Ron Capps acknowledges that stepping away from his day job and driving an AA/Fuel Altered may not be the brightest thing to do.

www.bakersfield.com

 

[Cliff]

Where is Don Enriquez? Not listed in JR/F. Also noticed Sean Bellemeur is running A/FD. "Watching" on compplus.com.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

Did anyone notice that a "Cole Foster" of Salinas, CA is qualified in NE-1? I'm pretty sure that he is the son of the late, great Pat Foster. Cole must be round 60 now, so he is no youngster. But this is the first I have heard of him trying his hand at drag racing, just like his dad.

Yes, Cole is Patty's son. He has been in that car a hand full of time the past year or two. Brendan Murry is a "driver coach" so to speak for Cole. He has a lot of good people behind him, hoping and wishing him well. I do not have a lot of info on this deal, but I feel this is something that Cole is trying to do one his own, without handouts. I hope he sticks with it for many years.

Photos from Cole's FB page from prior events...

 

[J. S.]

That dragster looks like an actual old car from the '68 to '70 time period, complete with Tom Hanna body. I am real curious to know the history behind it. Maybe it is a Woody car that his Dad helped build? I can't tell without looking at the car from the rear. Looks like a blown alcohol engine. That is a neat deal! He needs to put his name on the body somewhere like the old days, so us fans know he is in the car.

I think those NE classes would be a great way to go drag racing for relatively minimal cost. Too bad there are so few chances to race those cars during the year.

 

[Nunz]

Pat Foster had such a rich history in the sport, between driving a bunch of different cars to being a great fabricator. I know Cole does fab work as well, I believe I've seen some custom bike work of his, he's very talented as well. Great to see him behind the butterfly!

 

[glofria]

Heads-up Comp Plus's youtube channell has some videos up now.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjgSA-obSnTxpqxy4tfc72g

 

[Cliff]

I was looking at Elims and noticed that most of the R/T in T/F and F/C were really kinda horrible. Was wondering if that is because of the way the cars are set up? I wish there were more AA/FD, the class has come down to a handful.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

$h!t track. $h!t weather.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

As far as more NTF cars, they are out there. Travel and maintenance expenses need to go down, and payouts need to go up. I made a list of Heritage Series legal NTF cars about five years ago, and updated it every year. 2019 or 2020 was the high water mark of 36 cars. Currently for the 2022 season it is at 27. It is an even split between West Coast and Midwest teams. Jim Young's Extreme Top Fuel group in the Midwest tends to have better payouts and higher car counts.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

There are also 9 cars that are currently inactive. 3 cars that are a second car (old or backup) for those teams. 5 cars building built. And 2 outlaw cars that are not Heritage Series legal.

 

[glofria]

I was looking at Elims and noticed that most of the R/T in T/F and F/C were really kinda horrible. Was wondering if that is because of the way the cars are set up? I wish there were more AA/FD, the class has come down to a handful.

Here on th west coast, the sad reality is that most of the racers (and crew) are aging out. Just look at some of the pit photos and you'll see a lot of grandpas and grandmas working on and around the cars. Shoot, Jim Murphy who runnered-up is over 80 years-old and I'm glad he's still out there.

Now as for myself, if I were to all of a sudden came into wealth, would I put something together and start running a car. Not likely. But I wish Jimmy and the guys in the MW all the success in th world, because that's where the future lies for N/TF.

Yes, the track was challenging at times, but some great numbers were put up too. Look for another race to be held at this track Memorial Weekend. Not officially announced, but that was the word being said in the stands.

 

[roscoe37]

well we waited till sunday to go,great weather.cool racing, not to many people. glad we went.cant wait to hear more about that new race date

 

[glofria]

Brad, I stoled this from Mike English's Facebook page, so all questions can be directed towards the email address.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

That would be Darr Hawthorne. He helps with the UNFC series, and has the Nitro Reports show.

 

[Mike]

Cliff, Don did not run the MM this year. Partner Bob McKray wasnt feeling well.

Sean, runs the family funny car with a t-bucket body in A-Fuel.