Have any Bobby Baldwin gear? Maybe just some bright-blue and white clothing to honor the independent Top Fuel racer who competed from the 1980s through 2001? Well, get it out of the closet and wear it to Auto Club Raceway at Pomona! Maybe sit in “24/24,” Section 24, 24 rows up. That’s where Krista Baldwin has sat here at her hometown racetrack for 29 years, for many years watching her late father race and carrying on the tradition since he passed away unexpectedly in September 2001 from a brain aneurysm.
Krista Baldwin is a spectator no longer. She’s competing for a spot in the 16-car show, like her dad and her mother’s dad, Chris Karamesines, have done. And at this race, her eighth NHRA national event this year but first at this sentimental and storied venue, her car is sporting the retro look of her dad’s dragster.
“The last 20 years we have been honoring my dad on Fridays at Pomona,” she said. And it was no different this year – unless one counts the fact she is honoring his memory by making passes in her own McLeod Racing / Lucas Oil Dragster, one she bought from her grandpa and operates with tuning and guidance from lifelong friend Scott Graham, who happened to be crew chief for Bobby Baldwin.
She urged fans and friends to “come out to the track and swing by the pit so I can see all of your BB gear. I’m so excited to see everyone!”
Baldwin said, “Coming home with the home team is a huge win. I have been with Scott since I was born. And now we have the opportunity to work together, like how he and my dad used to work together. We have made some huge changes to the car and the tune-up, and we are on the right path to the elusive 3.7 second run. And hopefully we will achieve that this weekend in front of our friends and family.”
She works for Paul Lee in her 9-to-5 job and is general manager of his Funny Car team. And both she and Lee have welcomed Mainline Sales, AB&I Foundry, Breen Engineering, Largo Concrete, Fire Safe Group, APSS, and Four Seasons Landscape to their programs.
Krista Baldwin was born and she grew up just a few miles from the Pomona dragstrip, in Upland, Calif. Bobby Baldwin owned a land-grading business in Upland but grew up just over the Fairplex Drive hill from the track. From his childhood on, he never missed a Winternationals or Finals, either as a spectator or a competitor.
And his daughter said, “I grew up at Pomona. My childhood was all about watching my dad and my grandpa race Top Fuel, but I especially remember being with my dad at Pomona. One of his last races he attended was the 50th anniversary race in July of 2001 at Pomona. To return to my hometown with a Top Fuel car is a complete dream come true. I would fantasize as a kid of what it will be like to race Pomona, and now I get to actually experience it.”
She first drove Karamesines’ dragster to get her license in 2020. Last year, she made five races. In 2022, she purchased the team and equipment from her grandfather and expanded her schedule to eight events and two match races.
