Photos by: Dave Kommel, Mike Burdghart, and Jeff Burghardt
FINAL QUALIFYING
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JIMMY KELSO MAKES NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR HISTORY AS RAIN SHORTENS CHRR QUALIFYING
Rain limited Friday’s professional qualifying at the Good Vibrations California Hot Rod Reunion to one session, but Jimmy Kelso made sure there was something worth remembering. Kelso hammered out a historic 5.484-second pass at 266.27 mph, becoming the first Nostalgia Funny Car driver to break into the 5.40s at Famoso Dragstrip.
Kelso wasn’t the only driver making noise before the weather took over. Tyler Hester returned from a summer away from racing to lead Nostalgia Top Fuel with a 5.708 at 256.41 mph, while Greg Leahy claimed the provisional Fuel Altered lead with a 6.117 at 201.79 mph.
All three carry their No. 1 positions into Saturday’s final scheduled qualifying sessio.
For Kelso, the remarkable part wasn’t just the 5.484. He had never driven this particular Funny Car the full quarter-mile, and a planned Thursday test session never happened because his crew couldn’t arrive in time.
“Well, I’ve been running 50s from a tuning standpoint, never in the seat,” Kelso said. “This is my first time driving quarter mile in this car. Everything else been 1,000 foot or eighth mile.”
Kelso figured the car had enough to run somewhere in the mid-5.60s, which would have been respectable under the circumstances. Instead, he got considerably more than he bargained for.
“And we were going to try and make a test lap last night, but crew guys didn’t get in on time,” Kelso said. “So we just said, ‘Screw it,’ and went up there. And I thought it was going to go mid-60, but it came on and it was on like Donkey Kong out there. It was hauling the mail and I just held on.”
Apparently, holding on was the easy part. Convincing Kelso he had actually run a 5.48 proved considerably more difficult.
“And when the crew guys got down there, I was like, ‘That was pretty fast. I’ve never been that fast before,'” Kelso said. “And they’re like, ‘You went 48.’ I’m like. ‘BS, I didn’t go 48.’ They’re like, ‘You went 48.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh.’ I had to see the time slip to believe it.”
Jon Capps was Kelso’s closest pursuer with a 5.557 at 262.31 mph, followed by Jeff Arend’s 5.592 at 260.56. Todd Plate was fourth at 5.605, and Shane Westerfield completed the top five with a 5.618.
At the opposite end of the 16-car field, Brad Thompson found himself in a considerably less comfortable position. His 5.932 at 242.65 left him on the qualifying bubble with one session remaining and plenty of competitors looking to send him home early.
While Kelso was rewriting the Nostalgia Funny Car record book, Hester was busy proving a summer away from the cockpit hadn’t cost him much.
Hester’s 5.708 at 256.41 mph put him ahead of Pete Kaiser and four-time Nostalgia Top Fuel champion Tyler Hilton. He did it despite having no racing activity during the summer and wondering whether Famoso’s racing surface would cooperate.
“Well, we didn’t know if it was going to stick,” Hester said. “We just rolled the dice and see what would happen, but it stuck and went 70. It feels good to come off the trailer after not doing anything all summer and lay down one like that.”
The first run back is seldom the most comfortable one, particularly in a front-engine Top Fuel dragster. Hester admitted the nerves were there, but they apparently disappeared somewhere between the starting line and the finish-line clocks.
“Yeah, it just feels good to get the first one out of the way for the weekend,” Hester said. “You get a little nervous and to say, ‘Go knock the rust off of it.’ And after that, it’s usually better. Thanks, man.”
Kaiser qualified second with a 5.746 at 258.32 mph, giving him the faster speed but leaving him 0.038 seconds behind Hester. Hilton, the current points leader, opened his weekend third with a 5.802 at 236.22.
Hilton arrived at Famoso chasing another championship, making every elimination round potentially important to his title hopes. Bobby Cottrell followed in fourth at 6.019, with Bret Williamson fifth at 6.073.
Brendan Murry recorded a 9.421, while Austin Arnerich completed the seven-car order with a 10.665. With Hester, Kaiser and Hilton separated by less than a tenth of a second, Friday did little to settle who will be the driver to beat.
Fuel Altered qualifying presented an entirely different problem, one that probably left a few crew chiefs wishing their cars had been a little slower.
Leahy emerged as the provisional No. 1 qualifier with a 6.117 at 201.79 mph, the quickest legal performance under the category’s imposed six-second limit. In Fuel Altered, too much horsepower applied too successfully can put a team on the wrong side of the qualifying sheet.
Chris Bates blasted to a 5.887 at 248.82 mph, Brandon Seraphone recorded a 5.934 at 208.18, and Mathew Leonard ran a 5.942 at 237.27. All three were quicker than the permitted 6.00-second boundary, leaving their performances outside the qualifying limit.
Leahy stayed on the proper side of the rule and took the top spot. Vince Karstetter qualified second with a 6.176 at 219.40 mph, followed by James Day at 6.737.
Rodney Flournoy was fourth at 6.841, Randy Bradford fifth at 7.147, and Mark Whynaught followed with an 8.207. Saturday’s challenge for the quicker competitors won’t necessarily be finding more horsepower, but figuring out how to use less of it.
Sportsman qualifying resumes on Saturday morning at 8 AM, PST.
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Q1
