Gasser Madness Coverage of the 16th annual Automobile Club of Southern California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Holley, was made possible by Pirrone Racing. 

Like a moth to a flame, each year I make the "dread sojourn" from my home near Mt. Lassen, CA to the historic home of the "Smokers Fuel & Gas Championships" (aka "The March Meet") at Famoso, just north of Bakersfield, CA on Route 99.  For me, setting out a little after 3 AM, it was almost a 480 mile drive and took just a bit over 7 hours this year.  For 16 years now, Famoso, now known as the Auto Club Famoso Raceway, has also been the home of the California Hot Rod Reunion which is the largest nostalgia drag race anywhere.  The CHRR has also spawned the National Hot Rod Reunion now held each year at Columbus, OH.

I arrived at the Auto Club in Bakersfield at about 10:30 AM on Thursday to attend the Media Day event where, after picking up our media credentials and a short introduction by Tony Thacker, Executive Director of the NHRA Motorsports Museum, we were treated to a fireup by Don Garlits in the Swamp Rat VIII and the company of several of drag racing's luminaries including Tony Waters, James Warren, "Mousie" Marcellus and, of course, Don Garlits.  After a nice lunch, it was out to the track for me to do some official meandering around the, already surprisingly full, pits. 

Some racers and fans had actually started arriving as early as Monday and had started filling the pits on Wednesday.  By Thursday evening, the pits were essentially full.  By Friday, there were transporters, motorhomes, race cars and trailers completely filling seemingly every paved (and some unpaved!) square inch on the property!  Prior years had seen a lot of empty space as one approached the back of the pits where the return road passed the timing booth and scales.  Not this year.  This year it was full!

One thing different for me this year was the fact that I did not get starting line photo credentials for myself.  I had two great photographers, Tim Hanaseth and Dan Kaplan shooting for me.  GasserMadness.com, like other media outlets,  is allowed only 2 starting line passes and I felt that Dan and Tim could do better than I.  So, for the first time since I started going to the races again in 1997, I did so in the role of a fan with no special access.  I spent more hours in the stands than I had, in total, since before I started crewing back in 1965.  I have to say, as much as I enjoy being on the starting line to shoot photos (and I really DO enjoy it!), it was nice to not HAVE to be on the starting line to shoot photos. 

Friday was a fun day for me.  Around noon, I got my first fireup in a nitro car.  Wayne King was kind enough to let me get a "cackle" in the 1964 Doss-Clayton-King Top Fuel Dragster.  VERY cool!  Thanks again, Wayne.  Don't worry, I'm still a "Gasser Guy", but I'm also a drag racing fan who grew up watching these wire-wheel cars and certainly understand the attraction of nitro!

Friday night at the Doubletree in Bakersfield is another "don't miss", with presentation of the honorees, several nitro fireups in the parking lot, a number of cool displays, and a lot of people to meet and talk to.  This year the honorees included Ed "The Ace" McCulloch, John Buttera, Rocky Childs, Jim Albert, "Red" Greth, Mike Jones, Mike Kuhl, and Carl Olson.  Also present and honored were several members of the US Drag Racing Team who went to England in 1964 to show the Brits what drag racing was all about.

As usual, Saturday was seemingly the "big" day when the most fans show up...and show up they did, in droves.  This despite the difficulty in reaching Bakersfield from the Los Angeles due to a major fire in a truck tunnel that had actually closed Interstate 5, THE major North/South thoroughfare in California.    That didn't really slow things down much at Famoso, though.  A full day of qualifying  and exhibition runs, followed by the Cacklefest at night, was drag racing nirvana!

It all wraps up on Sunday with eliminations in Top Fuel, Junior Fuel, AA/Gas Supercharged, A/Gas, Nostalgia Eliminator, Nostalgia Funny Car, and A/FX, along with lots of exhibition runs by those for whom there was no class to run.  These pages will concentrate of images and results for AA/GS and A/G along with many photos of the Exhibition cars, the Cacklefest, and more.  As usual, check out the photos and results for TF, NFC, Jr Fuel, NE1, etc. at Don Ewald's We Did It For Love site. 

In closing, I would be remiss if I didn't mention a couple of NHRA employees who didn't make it to the California Hot Rod Reunion this year, Bob Daniels and Wally Parks.  Bob, the former Director of NHRA's Division 3, and Manager of NHRA's Indianapolis Raceway Park passed away earlier this year, shortly after the National Hot Rod Reunion.  Wally...well, if you don't know who Wally Parks is, you probably got to this page by mistake!  Bob and Wally, you are both greatly missed!