Pete Wittenberg may have come up short of capturing his third March Meet title just twenty-four hours earlier on Saturday, falling to Jim Murphy in the final round. However, the driver of the Circuit Breaker Top Fuel dragster came back and went all the way on Sunday, using a slew of low 5.70 runs in eliminations to take home his first win at the season-ending race, the Wally Parks NHRA Nostalgia Nationals in Bakersfield, Ca.

"We hurt some parts but other than that we had a great time," Wittenberg said. “We overcame some hurdles. This win is outstanding, it couldn't have gone any better.

”I got to thank my wife. Five days I'm up here. We have twins, they're two years old. I think I'm going to put the trophy in the twin's room. My guys, they've taken their time away to help us out and get this done. To win is excellent."

Wittenberg was a force to be reckoned with from the start of eliminations on Sunday. Qualified in the No. 3 position, the 2020 Heritage Series champion ran a stout 5.718-second pass at over 252 miles per hour in round one to take down Bret Williamson.

The Circuit Breaker driver wound up spoiling the newly crowned Top Fuel champion Tyler Hilton's day in the semi-finals by beating him on a holeshot. Wittenberg got nearly a .03 of a second advantage over Hilton on the starting line and his 5.702 at 252 was good enough to defeat Hilton's quicker but losing 5.697 at 251.

Wittenberg closed it out in the final with another strong low-5.70 pass. This time he ran a sizzling 5.717 at 252 to topple Frank McBee Jr who was looking for his career Top Fuel win and racing in his first ever final.

"It's an honor to be a part of this legacy," Wittenberg said. "Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the Circuit Breaker. I'm thinking about making these special anniversary shirts. We've taken the Circuit Breaker to the next level. I mean I licensed in this car and it went quicker and faster than it ever did before. I made some changes after and that's the homage I wanted to give the legacy. I wanted it to be top-tier. I wanted them to know when we were here, we were here. It feels so perfect. It's like a dream."

Bobby Cottrell has virtually done it all in Nitro Funny Car in the NHRA Heritage Series. And although he has won the season-ending race in Bakersfield once in his career back in 2019, a string of bad luck in the semi-finals the last two years has kept the now six-time Heritage Series champion out of the winner's circle at the second Bakersfield race. That is until today when Cottrell put together an amazing performance at the Wally Parks NHRA Nostalgia Nationals defeating Brad Thompson in the final to close out the year in style.

"This race has been like an Achilles heel," Cottrell said. "Once we made it past the semi-finals you know we just kind of hunkered down and did the best we could and came out on top. You know it was kind of hard on me because we sat out the two qualifying passes and thanks kind of hard on a driver you know. By the first round, that's everybody's fourth pass and that's my second pass.

”I told Bucky that's wearing me out, I don't get any practice or anything like that, but we came out on top. Thank God my team is just phenomenal, I can't be any happier. Bucky is just Bucky. I'm trying to not get emotional about it but just every race we just click."

Cottrell had a bracket car, running between a 5.64 to a 5.66 all throughout eliminations. The driver of the famous green Bardahl '69 Camaro used back-to-back 5.64 at over 260 miles per hour passes to defeat Drew Austin and Tim Boychuk in the first two rounds. Then he backed that up with a 5.65 at 258 to get around Derrick Moreira in the final four and clinch a berth in another final round.

Brad Thompson, Cottrell's opponent gave it a ride in the final round, cutting an impressive (.023) light to Cottrell's (.029) but it was to no avail as the champ was just too strong. Cottrell finished the day with a 5.660 and another blistering 260 mile-per-hour speed to win the race, and finish the year off strong.

"I dumped the clutch, went (.029) on the tree, I was pretty hopped up on the starting line," Cottrell said. "Went 207 or 208 miles per hour to half-track. It hung the wheels for a little bit when I went into high gear so that's a pretty good feeling for a driver so it was pretty fun.

”Unfortunately, we had to run Drew (Austin) in the first round, you know Walt just passed away. He came to me kind of emotional after, obviously Bucky's brother, Drew's grandpa, Pat's dad, you know this one's for Walt. He was just an icon in the sport. He helped me get my job actually with Bucky. Every time Bucky gave me a hard time he was one of the guys who stood up for me so, I'll always remember him, and I'll always love him. This is for you, Walt."