NHRA Heritage Series
Cottrell, Wittenberg, Hix, and Bates Come Out Swinging at the 2018 March Meet
There is a drag strip on Famoso Rd., Kern County, California that has been hosting the Good Vibrations March Meet 
presented by Lucas Oil for sixty years. Originally, the one square mile patch of asphalt surrounded by grape vines and fruit trees, was called the Famosa Drags. Under the auspices of the Smokers Club of Bakersfield, the 1959 U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships set in motion and established a drag race that has endured for decades and remains the destination as the best nostalgia drag race in the country.
The nitro classes are the bedrock of this classic event, and now boast five categories with the addition of 5.90 Funny Car and Rear Engine Top Fuel Dragster. The 16-car open Funny Car attracted 25 entries paced by 2017 CHRR winner Bobby Cottrell driving the Austin-O’Brien ’69 Camaro with a 5.650. To say this team dominated the class would be an understatement. In addition to being #1 qualifier, Cottrell set low ET at 5.588, and in the final round, beat Ryan Hodgson the 2017 Heritage Racing Series champion. Norco, CA’s, Dean Oberg won the 5.90 Funny Car class behind the wheel of the “Holy Toledo” ’67 Jeep.
2018 NHRA HOT ROD HERITAGE RACING SERIES SCHEDULE
GLENDORA, CA – The 2018 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series schedule was announced today by series officials. The series, in its eleventh season, includes classes for front engine dragsters, altereds and gassers, and is highlighted by the nitro burning Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragsters and Nostalgia Funny Cars.
The season opener moves back to famed Auto Club Famoso Raceway and the 60th Good Vibrations March Meet, March 1-4 in Bakersfield, Calif., followed by the Nostalgia Reunion at Sacramento (Calif.) Raceway in early April. The series then heads north for the first of two stops at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho, the NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor with a second stop at Sacramento Raceway slated for June 9-10, a Friday-Saturday night event.
MURPHY, HODGSON, BATES, ENRIQUEZ AND COTTRELL TAKE CHAMPIONSHIPS
GLENDORA, CA – Jim Murphy and Ryan Hodgson captured NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Championships this past weekend at Auto Club Famoso Raceway and the California Hot Rod Reunion presented by Automobile Club of California. Joining the pair were Kin Bates, Don Enriquez and Bobby Cottrell who also locked up 2017 Heritage Series Championships.
Murphy, Santa Rosa, Calif., came into the weekend leading the points over Mendy Fry and Adam Sorokin in Nostalgia Top Fuel. He first won the postponed Firebird Raceway Nightfire Nationals final round on Saturday to extend his points lead. In Sunday’s California Hot Rod Reunion eliminations he again beat out Sorokin in the semifinals to seal up his second championship. Fry, Los Angeles lost to event winner Jim Young in the semifinals to secure the number two spot in the championship.
NHRA HERITAGE SERIES CHAMPIONS CROWNED
GLENDORA, CA – The first wave of 2017 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Champions were crowned this past weekend at Auto Club Famoso Raceway and the Nostalgia Fall Championships.
Dustin Lee and Brandon Frye topped the list taking home the championship in Nostalgia Eliminator I and A/Gas. Lee, Palmdale, Calif., came into the event with a pair of wins on the season and the NE I points lead. He locked up his championship when he took the win in round one over Rick Nordess, coming off wins at the season opener in Phoenix and the June event in Sacramento.
BATES, ENRIQUEZ LEAD WINNERS IN SACRAMENTO
SACRAMENTO, CA – In the final results from Sacramento Raceway and the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series Night of Fire, Kin Bates , Anderson, Calif., and Don Enriquez , Mission Viejo, Calif., took home the wins in A/Fuel and Jr. Fuel respectively.
Bates face off with third generation driver and No. 1 qualifier Drew Austin of Tacoma, Wash., in the final where he was out first and ran quicker at 6.056 seconds, 229.35 mph to Austin’s 6.106, 228.77. Enriquez meet up with Alan Hull in the Jr. Fuel final with Enriquez taking home the hardware in 7.144 at 184.47.
LODRS KICK OFF NORTHWEST RACING IN IDAHO
Boise, ID – The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Northwest Division arrives at Firebird Raceway for the first of 
six events in the division. This Friday through Sunday, May 5 – 7, 2017. Drivers will be racing to earn points leading to divisional and national championships as well as a chance at a share of the year-end purse of more than $519,000.
The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series and the Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars are running in conjunction with the event along with these Lucas Oil Series sportsman classes: Comp Eliminator, Super Stock, Stock Eliminator, Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Street. The division’s JBS Top Sportsman Series and Rig Rentals Top Dragster Series will make their appearances at the event as well. Tickets are $15 on Friday, and $20 on Saturday and Sunday, with children 15 and under admitted free daily with a paid adult. The schedule is as follows:
MENDY FRY WINS MARCH MEET IN HIGH-SPEED MOTORSPORTS AA/FUEL DRAGSTER
Career Best Quickest Elapsed Times for Mendy Fry and High-Speed Motorsports in Historic AA/Fuel Dragster Victory. Top Fuel Eliminations Roundup.
Mendy Fry emerged as the March Meet Top Fuel Champion after five days of side-by-side drag racing at Famoso 
Raceway in Bakersfield, California. Fry drove the High-Speed Motorsports AA/Fuel dragster to the win in a final round matchup with Jim Murphy in the Roland Leong-tuned WW2 entry. Fry staged in and ran a full pass on a single with a 5.59-second ET at 252 MPH after Murphy lost fire on the burnout with a broken fuel pump drive shaft.
Victory arrived with Fry driving the same dragster that she earned her Top Fuel license back in 2004 after working up the drag racing ranks from Junior Fuel. Fry is the first woman to win the March Meet since 1982 when Lucille Lee bested Shirley Muldowney in what was the first all-female Top Fuel final ever. Fry was overwhelmed with emotion after her March Meet win.
OSAGE CASINO TULSA RACEWAY PARK TO HOST TOP FUEL AND A/FUEL NHRA HERITAGE SERIES EVENT
GLENDORA, CA – NHRA and Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park announced today that the Oklahoma facility will host a round of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series event in 2017 for both the Top Fuel and A/Fuel classes.
The event will be held Sept. 22-23 in conjunction with Tulsa Raceway Park’s annual Nitro Nationals event and will the fourth of five events in the series for Top Fuel, and the fifth of six events for the A/Fuel competitors. Both classes will earn NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series points at the event.
HARLESS, COTTRELL, AND FRYE RACE IN THE NEW YEAR WITH WALLYS AT WILD HORSE PASS HERITAGE SERIES OPENER
PHOENIX, AZ – NHRA’s 10th year of its Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series got a jump-start to its new season at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park January 14th and 15th. Although it was a somewhat cool and overcast weekend, the racing on the drag strip was hot and harried. The big news coming out of Chandler, Ariz., was the record-breaking performance put on by the Austin family Pro Max A/Fuel dragster driven by Drew Austin. It was just a few months ago that Adams-Bates rattled the Earth’s orbit with a dazzling run of 6.076 at the 25th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California.
The skeptics should no longer need to concern themselves with the validity of that run. On Sunday, Drew Austin, paired once again with his main antagonist Kin Bates, backed up an earlier 6.111 with a thundering run of 6.064/224.85. Meanwhile, lurking behind the scenes was Jon Brooks’ very potent Grand Prix Racing injected nitro dragster capably driven by John Harless. Harless, the number two qualifier at 6.235/227.27, would later pop Drew’s balloon and win the class when Austin’s powerful Randy Parker slingshot developed a leak and had to be shut off. It was the Tulsa, Oklahoma team’s first ever Wally in Nostalgia A/Fuel dragster.
2017 SCHEDULE SET FOR NHRA HOT ROD HERITAGE RACING SERIES
GLENDORA, CA – NHRA officials announced today the 2017 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series schedule, headlined by the Nostalgia Top Fuel and Nostalgia Funny Car categories. The series, celebrating its tenth season, includes classes for front engine dragsters, altereds and gassers, along with the Nitro burning dragsters and funny cars.
The season opens at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix, Jan. 14-15 for Groups 1 & 2, followed by the famed Good Vibrations March Meet and the kick off for the Nostalgia Top Fuel and Funny Cars, March 2-5 at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., and the Nostalgia Reunion at Sacramento (Calif.) Raceway in early April. The series then heads north for the first of two stops at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho, the NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor with a second stop at Sacramento Raceway slated for June 16-17, a Friday-Saturday night event.
